Live data from Hacker News

They Just Moved to Austin. Now They Want to End One of Its Traditions

texasmonthly.com

351–360 of 502 posts

Re: They Just Moved to Austin. Now They Want to End One of Its Traditions

#351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have there been any natural experiments where less-wealthy white folk were priced out by more-wealthy non-white? I think the driver of gentrification is economic class not race/ethnicity. Wealthier and whiter show up together but may not be the same thing.

Have there been any natural experiments where less-wealthy white folk were priced out by more-wealthy non-white? Cupertino and Saratoga CA are exactly such experiments.

Is the word “gentrification” used in describing the shift?

Re: They Just Moved to Austin. Now They Want to End One of Its Traditions

#352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NYC is building pied-a-terres for money launderers. The whole Hudson Yards was engineered as a phony rehabilitation of Harlem so they could sell visas to millionaires who could then turn around and buy a luxury apartment in the "blighted" neighborhood they revitalized.

> The whole Hudson Yards was engineered as a phony rehabilitation of Harlem Hudson Yards is not anywhere remotely near Harlem, and was built on a deck over what's been a rail yard for a century. I'm don't love what was built there, but it certainly wasn't rehabilitating Harlem and not a single person was directly displaced by building there.

It isn't anywhere near Harlem but they created a special zone that connected HY through central park to Harlem so that it could qualify for special redevelopment incentives.

Re: They Just Moved to Austin. Now They Want to End One of Its Traditions

#353

Longtime Austin resident.. to all the people moving here, I always say: "Remember what compelled you to move here and defend it."

I dunno... I moved town to Manchaca and 1626 from Fredericksburg, cause I thought it might be easier to get gigs. IMO that place is terrible to get paying musical work, so I left to go play in the mountains. Where, ironically, it is much easier to find paying musical work. All the folks I had been playing with out in the hills (literally, 'the boys' from that Luckenbach, TX song) all had a similar feeling, though the…

Yes, I'm cynical about Austin proper specifically, especially as my property taxes have 4x in the last 10 years and the piles of human excrement on the street have grown. If you do the math around the bonds that come due in the next 5 years, it's going to get ugly.

But I can hope that people will think before they push for the same behavior and policies that they've left.. but not counting on it.

Re: They Just Moved to Austin. Now They Want to End One of Its Traditions

#354
post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Heck, my upstairs neighbor complained about my music on the weekend during the day without introducing themselves and not diplomatically. Tangential (and probably just a perennial old guy complaint), but it seems like people have forgotten how to do this. If you have an issue with something your neighbor is doing, then go talk to them . Don't leave an aggressive note. Don't let it boil over until you're so upset yo…

The risk of a confrontation escalating makes dealing with such things myself a very unattractive option, especially if it's a stranger. I've had a simple, polite request to turn down the thumping music at 1 AM end with me blocking punches, retreating to my unit, and calling the cops. Better to leave it to people who do such things professionally.

That's why you introduce yourself to all of your neighbors to your unit when you move in. I tend to bring them some food or something when I do it. That way they're not a "stranger" and their first context of your face isn't you complaining at 1am. You should consider it next time you move somewhere.

Re: They Just Moved to Austin. Now They Want to End One of Its Traditions

#355

I live in this neighborhood, about three blocks north of where the car club meets. I’m white. I’m a homeowner. You get the picture. Honestly, these people complaining in Weaver sound insane. They moved into a community and it’s their job to integrate with the community. We have a Brit who lives on my street that does community organizing and he’s been wonderful about building a sense of community that integrates the…

> With that said, I think there are legitimate criticisms about the car club. For one, they absolutely trash the place every Sunday. When I walk down to the lake on Monday, there’s just tons of trash on the ground. I don’t know who picks it up but it’s certainly not the car club. Also, doing burnouts and donuts on public streets sounds fun but it leaves the road covered in tire rubber and I imagine it smells awful while they’re doing it.

Sounds to me like those legitimate criticisms are exactly what the "insane Weaver residents" are complaining about. That and the violation of noise ordinances in a residential area, for half the weekend, every single week.

People move around in America. Both within cities and across cities. I don't see why people shouldn't be allowed to complain about laws being broken, just because they are new to a neighborhood. If the city decides that certain neighborhoods are exempt from certain laws, they are certainly welcome to make that official. And make it very clear to prospective tenants that the "normal laws" do not apply in those neighborhoods. Alternatively, there are also plenty of non-residential areas where people can gather, play ear-piercing music, trash the place, and have all the fun they want.

I don't understand why having laws, enforcing them, and residents requesting for their enforcement, is somehow a bad thing. Much less a matter of racial debate. Selective and subjective enforcement of rules are generally harmful to people of color - we need more consistently enforced laws, not less.

Re: They Just Moved to Austin. Now They Want to End One of Its Traditions

#356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"They moved into a community and it’s their job to integrate with the community." Is that a broadly-accepted opinion? Does it apply consistently to all cultures -- e.g. does it apply when nonwhites move into a white area? And, does it reflect reality? Do new populations really preserve the prexisting culture in practice?

I 100% agree - you are a guest on probation when you move into a new area dominated by people different from you. In the international arena, when visitors wade in and start telling locals "What they are doing wrong and try to boss people around", that has name: UGLY AMERICAN! This is no different in this case. Most of American history has had new folks ASSIMILATE and INTEGRATE. That happened with my immigrant family…

"you are a guest on probation"

I made no such claim.

Re: They Just Moved to Austin. Now They Want to End One of Its Traditions

#357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have there been any natural experiments where less-wealthy white folk were priced out by more-wealthy non-white? I think the driver of gentrification is economic class not race/ethnicity. Wealthier and whiter show up together but may not be the same thing.

Parts of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia

Those are classic cities where the word “gentrification” might get used. Now for the interesting part- has that word been used as part of describing the changes?

Re: They Just Moved to Austin. Now They Want to End One of Its Traditions

#358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's pushing people out is the rising cost of property, caused by more and more money bidding for less space. If the government had done more to create more space, prices would not have risen so dramatically. What if government policy for the last few decades had been to keep housing as affordable as possible. So if average rent in a city started increasing, the government would make sure new apartments and got bui…

We'd end up with megacities who'd continuously expand and grow denser, swallowing their surroundings in that case, wouldn't we?

[deleted]

Re: They Just Moved to Austin. Now They Want to End One of Its Traditions

#359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So many words about race, nationality, community, white privilege and literally no mention of wealth, economic inequality or at least increased mobility of labour. This is what I “love” about modern American discourse.

exactly. the elites couldn't be happier about the discourse being diverted away from the real issues. instead they have everyone caught up in a moral panic over melanin and identity. https://i.imgur.com/wusW5Rn.jpg

Sowing artificial conflict among the plebes is a tried and true technique.

Re: They Just Moved to Austin. Now They Want to End One of Its Traditions

#360

Real estate law has this concept of “Coming to the nuisance” where if you know that there is some kind of “nuisance” nearby and you move next to it anyway, you can’t complain about it later. I’m not a lawyer so I’m probably pedantically wrong about it in some way but that’s my understanding of it. People do this with small local airports all the time. They move in, knowing full well (or should know full well) that th…

Sounds like well off people moving from London to a sleepy village in the country and then complaining about the church clock chiming, cocks crowing, and the smell of silage from the farm next door.
Post reply on HN