Austinist: The Accidental Gentrifist: Shiva Went That Way

Benj

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 01:17:52 -0600

Is Austin an island, or a safety valve? Is Austin so remarkable because it's so liberal, or because it's the black sheep of a conservative state that also respects individual freedom? Apoca-whomever, what you don't understand is that what a thing does is as relevant as the crushing weight it works against.

apocatastasis

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 18:56:59 -0600

Where did I say I hated it?

LoudMouth

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 18:32:21 -0600

"Chill out and don't judge." Nice. Way to prove your point. Why did you apply to UT for grad school if you hate it so much?

apocatastasis

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:58:05 -0600

There are some great things about Austin, and the fact that it is socially progressive and live-and-let-live is definitely an asset to the city. The development of the city is going to change how people live, work, and play, and I have my doubts about whether or not it's for the better. All the same, "progress" does not have to equal . I am a native New Orleanian who attended UT after Katrina. I finished my degree at Tulane last May, moved to Houston (I live in Montrose now), and am moving back to Austin at the end of this month for grad school at UT. I have to say, the whole "Keep Austin Weird" attitude is perhaps the most irritating and pretentious thing about living in Austin. I have heard so many people utter the banality "oh, that's SO Austin" that it makes me want to vomit just typing it here. Sure, celebrate what is great about your city. But the whole "Austin is weird" thing is premised on the idea that Austin is practically some Martian mecca. Yet Montrose, in Houston, is about as "weird" as anything in Austin. New Orleans, on the whole, is a much more unique place than Austin and much less pretentious about it. Further, much of Austin is pretty damn generic, pedestrian, and even conservative (you cannot imagine how many stares and dirty looks I got while walking through DOWNTOWN Austin, on FOURTH street, while holding the guy I'm dating's hand...I don't even get that here in Inner Loop HOUSTON!). The best thing that could happen would be for Austinites to stop obsessing over image. Much is being lost in the weirder-than-thou faux-bohemian attitude. Austin is losing its laid-back vibe not only to "progress" (i.e. the douchebags buying condos in the new skyscrapers downtown) but also to those who support, I guess you'd say, "regress" and look with disdain at the rest of the city through their square, non-prescription, emo glasses. Chill out and don't judge. I thought that THAT is what Austin was supposed to be known for anyway.

b

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:00:06 -0600

your origami has many folds, my friend. i like their sound. also, if you buy local, you can come back as whatever you want in the next life. that's no gimmick.

mdahmus

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:42:15 -0600

If you view the old downtown's aspects of abundant parking but very little to which you'd want to actually go, save a show at Liberty Lunch once or twice a week, then, yeah, growth sucked. For most of us, a downtown that shitty was a bug, not a feature.

Tarvin

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:33:28 -0600

So the issue HAS to be growth vs. decline?

jmn4

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:59:50 -0600

can i play Kali in the movie version of your article? I really feel close to that role(i was born with multiple arms.) Sadly, in this closing door/opening window world, jesus christ bestowed on me just one penis. I felt cheated for a time, until I realized that making a bukkake film with me alone standing in for the gaggle of overweight losers "anointing the virgin," would only serve to alienate me further from the very fellows i desired to entertain. A single tear for Kali? Not in my eye... On the growth issue, lets remember that its the growth of a cancer that kills you, not a single cell. To truly "triumph" over nature, it is incorrect to apply the knowledge and mindset of the last couple thousand years. The "aren't we so smart with our two little legs and opposable digits" mentality. The victory for our species will truly be at hand when we recoil from the idea of manifest destiny, and embrace a politics of reducing our unsustainable numbers, while simultaneously increasing the standard of living for those deemed worthy of continuing to inhabit any given area on the planet. "be fruitful and multiply" is a con perpetrated on us by the pharisees, and the popes, and anybody who believes God should be calling the shots here on OUR floating speck of dust.

misssteak

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 09:30:40 -0600

The cycle of "moving up by dumbing down" is something I've always had a difficult time accepting -- especially in light of our culture's current rejection of anything intelligent. This method of "spirituality" almost seems too easy and when applying it to city planning frightens me a bit. There is a difference between simplicity and stupidity. There is difference acting from a position of intelligence and acting from a position of acquiring capital. Now we also know from past experiences that socialistic utopias don't work out so well...but that's another story. I think we can ask for a higher standard from our city and city planners -- come on, Keep Austin Weird was a marketing scheme that only came around less than 10 years ago. We act like it's been our theme for a half a century. I think recognizing that the tagline is a marketing ploy is necessary. Cities change, it's what happens. The issue is being intelligent about it -- perceiving what needs will exist in 50 years, not being overwhelmed with greed in the moment, and also realizing that nothing will remain static. Perhaps our parasitic existence will be our downfall. Perhaps in 50 years austin will have been taken over by 10' tall cockroaches and our shiny buildings will be covered in Kudzu. Perhaps we will have achieved enlightenment. Our maybe we'll still be fighting every new thing that comes to town with our Keep Austin Weird Army.

heyzeus

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 09:02:23 -0600

Growth is good if you like, for example, to have a job, and for your city to have the revenue base to do civic projects and to just maintain current infrastructure. Try living in a midwestern city that is losing citizens and businesses. You'll find the problems of urban decay are a little more dire than the problems of urban growth.

pd

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 04:05:49 -0600

This article was written in 2002: http://www.metroactive.com/papers/cruz/12.18.02/nuz-0251.html

shmoothaustin

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:33:59 -0600

i understood you up until 'The Argument'. It's funny that you mention 'growth' because just today i watched a Docubloggers episode where everyone in it was like 'Growth is good!'. http://www.docubloggers.org/?p=243 The is actually no good reason that i can think of to suggest that 'growth is good'. Most immediately, when I think of 'growth', i think of 'destruction'. How does anyone see it any other way? We get massive, new glass and concrete towers, and we lose access to the sun and skyline when we're on those sidestreets, we welcome more and bigger polluters to the downtown area, we drive up rents so we kick and local shopowners - destroying what little culture might actually still survive downtown, etc. On just about every conceivable count I can think of, growth is a very bad thing - something to be avoided at all costs. So, let's keep austin weird, and let's start examining this elusive concept called 'growth' a little bit more closely from now on instead of just parroting 'growth is good' every time we get a chance. That's the first step. Once we decide as a community that 'growth' is a euphemism for 'destroying the culture of Austin and the environment while making rich people richer', then we can work on finding creative solutions to our problems, like everyone less time in the office, and more time working for the benefit of the community: http://www.worklessparty.org/

Edie

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:30:53 -0600

Wow, the life of a meerkat is appealing, and who wouldn't want to look like that. Thank you for making me laugh out loud multiple times and simultaneously feel better about the fact that I'm losing brain cells by the minute. And, I guess I should respect the crackheads on my street.

M_Twilson

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:25:07 -0600

Darwin may agree with you. He did, after all, title one of his books Descent of Man. Though I do have to say, please watch the show "Meerkat Manor" on Discovery Channel/Animal Planet/PBS. They are feisty little suckers who do not mind practicing realpolitik. Besides the fact that we stole that line from another city, I do have to say that as I have grown up here I have realized more and more that the cultivators of our weirdness are tired, tired people who create their own myth of the value of meaningless eccentricity in order to avoid meaningful growth. Yes I applaud them for not sticking the same old mold as most people, but staying in that stage of growth, with the idea that uniqueness can be "acheived," ain't much better.

kenneth1

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:00:19 -0600

"...there's a good chance that the weirdness that defines us is a myth, a hoax..."? Please. Have you ever ridden the 1L bus?