Austin from a Dallas perspective...

Well, between the 45 minute commutes to the class and the class itself, this is the first I've actually had to sit down and put some thoughts to virtual paper. I'm in Dallas for the week taking some security training and we're staying at a "classic" example of New Urbanism, The Hotel Belmont on Ft. Worth Ave. It's a redone 1940's vintage hotel that has been contemporized with funky furniture, accessories and hip artwork while the nights are filled with hipsters circulating around the outdoor bar with world trance music pulsing from the speakers. It's a great example of New Urbanism as the surrounding area is still a bit rough and in desperate need of redevelopment (so much so, in fact, that on one of the morning commutes, I counted over half a dozen stray dogs in a pack across the street in an unused building). And as it's site plan shows from the developer, this block will eventually be home to townhomes, condos and even a small gym. Sharyn and I spent about 2 hours in the bar last night and overall, while it was a great experience, I couldn't help but think about Austin and it's current boom in development, not only because I think about it quite often but also because it was a topic of conversation with others.

Sharyn and I (mostly Sharyn) wound up talking to quite a few people circulating by our table and most were locals from the surrounding Dallas area (I think we stuck out as Austinites as we were two of 3 people there wearing t-shirts and I was the only one sporting a backwards-facing Red Hat Linux ballcap). What I found interesting (and probably just polite conversation on their part) was that when we mentioned we were from Austin, to the last one of them, each of them said what a great town it was and asked if we were still "keeping it weird." Almost all of them asked if Austin had changed from the last time they were there some X number of years ago. And with our combined Austin resident year total of 46 years between us, we found ourselves being quite honest in our replies.

"Well, Austin is still a great city but it's now starting to morph into Dallas," we would say as we overlooked the sunset-bathed downtown Dallas skyline to the east; the towers of glass slowly changing from cool blue to orange to iridescent black (our table being the one closest to the "No Alcohol Beyond This Point" sign).

"Is Austin still the live music capitol of the world?"

"Well, comparatively speaking, the city council have passed ordinances that many Austinites feel have cut into that lifestyle and has harmed that reputation. They've passed noise ordinances for 6th street for all the people who live in the surrounding area as well as a smoking ban in all the bars," we would say as our newly met friend would light up cigarette in front of us. "That's too bad. That just doesn't seem like the Austin I remember," they would respond. I would then mention the Domain and they would incredulously look back at us and say "Why does Austin need a Louis Vuitton?" or something to that effect.

Now, should I derive any grand meaning out of these random conversations from these Dallas-ites? After all, I've been using the term "Dallas wannabes" in the past as a descriptor for some of our esteemed council members. To be honest, I just don't think I had the opportunity to talk to enough people of different stripes to get a representative gauge of how Austin is perceived from up here in the city that I feel is quickly becoming Austin's new role model.

Development should happen downtown, that I'm fully behind. If developers want to build 50-story nose-hair clippers and retractable pens, I say go ahead. Now where we, the taxpayers of Austin, subsidize that development, I'd like some input on that. Where that development produces gentrification, I'll probably have a problem with that (as a quick walk around the block here in Dallas will show the stark gentrification that will soon be in full force as the starting prices for a 900 sq. ft. townhome at Dilbeck Court will be $225k). And where *all* of the development going on in downtown Austin is "luxury," I'll always have a problem with that as I feel that will kill the cultural diversity that makes Austin what it is and why the people we talked to have such fond memories of Austin. As fellow blogger Prentiss Riddle states:

"Meanwhile, I wish that a little of the civic excitement going into ultra-high, ultra-hip, ultra-dense housing for the ultra-rich would be channeled into some semi-high, semi-hip, semi-dense housing for the semi-scraping by. "

Here, here, my friend. Here, here...

Updates and Corrections: This entry was originally written on Thursday, hence the post date but was not finished until today, Saturday. I wanted to get some links in there before posting. I'll be making a few more posts about the trip to Dallas and posting more pictures from my crappy cam-phone.