Quote:
Originally Posted by chinchaaa
why? bigger cities have been able to make it work
|
I'm not so sure. All the good bars in every big city are in the cool neighborhoods and not in the downtown districts. Chicago, NYC, San Francisco... in the times I've spent there, no one ever went downtown to hang out. They go to Logan Square, Boys Town, Wicker Park, Old Town, Bushwick, Greenpoint, Bed-Sty, Williamsburg, the Mission, Castro, Hays Valley, etc.
I think everyone fears these neighborhoods in Austin getting killed because everything has for most of its history revolved around the downtown district. The difference with those cities is that the neighborhoods are already developed and here in Austin everything is so spread out. There definitely is development going on all over Austin, but it's still so far away from having a "true city" vibe. I'm sure the light rail would expedite that process. But also, what Austin has is truly unique and special. Not very many cities have such a large entertainment district within their downtown. But Austin has like 5 districts alone (East 6th Dirty 6th, West 6th, Warehouse District and Rainey).