October 3, 2007
Old West Austin Named One of 10 Great Neighborhoods
The American Planning Association has named Old West Austin one of the first ten Great Neighborhoods in America, noting that "Resident Participation Keeps Neighborhood Character Intact." Some might quibble with the characterization of this neighborhood as the "most dense and diverse" in Austin. Also, some haters would probably dispute (apparently contradictory) statements like "Voluntary efforts of residents and developers alike have kept the neighborhood's character intact in the absence of local ordinances governing building size or style" and "By keeping housing sizes reasonable, the [McMansion] ordinance helped curb escalating home prices." Who cares about the write-up! We won! Austin rules!
Image by Larry D. Moore from Wikipedia Commons.
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I'm Some Hater!
OWANA has the most astronomical home prices anywhere in the city - makes Hyde Park look affordable. I still pay attention there because we'd love to move back someday (still own our condo), but come on. If McMansion's had any impact at all yet, it's been to make it more, not less, expensive to have a single-family house there.
Diverse? DIVERSE!? Are you shitting me? DIVERSE???!!!
HAHHAHAHAHAHAH!
OH! They must mean diverse like "my ancestors were from Germany while your ancestors were from Austria."
Without the UT graduate students, there is no diversity in that neighborhood. It's only a matter of time before UT cashes in on their property on 6th street and bulldozes that Stalinist nightmare of an apartment complex. Nothing says "home" like barbed wire fences and low-slung, beige, concrete buildings.
Sadly, the coolness of Matthews Elementary is likely short lived. It'll be about as "diverse" as the customers at Jeffrey's in a few years.
despite my best intentions, #3, i could not help but laugh OUT LOUD at your comment. Kudos, mystery commenter.
#3: that was pretty hilarious
SolMan, there's still plenty of multifamily in the neighborhood even after UT cashes out - and it's unlikely it'll get redeveloped anytime soon (very expensive prospect to knock down a whole apartment bulding and rebuild). There'll still be a surprising amount of diversity there just because there's a limit to how much a 1960s era cheap apartment can rent for.
The thing that they got so blindingly wrong was equating single-family with affordable. The only way to afford to live in OWANA is to buy a condo or rent one (or an apartment). Even M1EK couldn't swing a single-family house there (I'd have gladly bought a rowhouse if that option hadn't been outlawed by zoning code; and would have considered a 3-bedroom condo if such beasts existed outside the ultra-luxury market; because the neighborhood kicks NUNA's ass in so many ways. Sigh.)
Yeah, even heyzeus couldn't afford a single family house there. And I'm special.
I give the 'hood credit for preserving the historical character of many/most of the properties there...but "reasonable" housing prices? diverse? McMansions curbing escalating property values? Noooooooooo sir.
There is a lot fo diversity between a families who makes $600K per year and $2.6M a year. You people need to lighten up, its sort of like the new Eastside.
West Austin was East Austin before East Austin was East Austin. Just ask Charles Clark. http://austin.smallplanetguide.com/rentals/index.php?p=clarksville_austin_neighborhood
Hey, THAT'S MY HOOD!
TY #10, that's the point I was getting at with #9 - I don't think most people realize that.
I rent in old west austin and it actually is pretty diverse. the sweet home baptist church (where the clarksville historical marker is) is a social hub for the african american residents of the neighborhood and beyond. I see many houses that have been passed down from the previous generations. it's not all rich white folks. it is possible to find reasonably priced rental properties that aren't yucky apartments in the area, you just have to be willing to look. now buying property is another story...
Thank you #9 for knowing your history.
Best regards,
#10
"it is possible to find reasonably priced rental properties"
That depends on your definition of reasonably priced.
Yes, the prices in that neighborhood are out of reach for most of us regular citizens, but it would be much worse if they were actually putting up McMansions everywhere. Just look a little west on the other side of Mopac and you'll see what would happen. In the neighborhoods between Lake Austin Blvd. and Enfield, anytime an old house goes up for sale, some developer knocks it down and squeezes the biggest, ugliest thing possible on the lot.
It may be expensive, but it is a great neighborhood.
$1/per square foot is reasonable for central austin.
guest #16, restricting supply of housing is what McMansion is all about - it discourages garage apartments and duplexes - which are the only form of housing remotely affordable on single-family-zoned lots in central Austin. The supposed impact on single-family homes is BS - if anything it will increase prices for those because there's now an ever-more limited supply of places you can build more than N square feet (combined with garage apartment and other secondary dwelling units).
I pay less than $1 per sq ft in Clarksville and my place is fairly nice. I admit I got lucky though.
I rent an apartment in this neighborhood, and am very happy to see this article. i love my hood. it is very expensive to rent/own a house here though, ill never be rich enough to do that :[ but am happy with a humble apt. who needs a house anyway?
I learned in an American Studies class at UT that Clarksville was a freedman's neighborhood established by ex-slaves from the Pease plantation north of Enfield, between Mopac and Lamar. My family friend who lives in Clarksville says she knows of multiple African American families who have lived in their houses there for generations, probably since the end of slavery itself.
"multiple". As in "two".