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

texasmonthly.com

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

#431

Post by stjohnswarts »

chmod600 wrote: post #287
howinator wrote: post #238

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…

"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?

Clearly it didn't happen during colonialism. It might be time to realize that the ways of the white men aren't necessarily best for all though. I'd think we should have come full circle on that by now.

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

#432

Post by jbroson »

whack wrote: post #355
howinator wrote: post #238

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 wh…

"Sounds to me like those legitimate criticisms are exactly what the "insane Weaver residents" are complaining about."

Really, the white dude who complained to the cops to do something about the black and latino car club because they are "scary" is just genuinely concerned about law and order and the imperative that all minor violations of local codes must always be enforced?

Color me skeptical.

Calling the cops on scary black people for minor infractions of ticky-tack laws is how Eric Garner and many others have ended up killed at the hands of law enforcement.

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

#433

Post by jfengel »

lacker wrote: post #408
Decade wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. It indeed does smell awful, and the tire dust is filled with toxins that you probably don’t want in your system; that have already been implicated in the deaths of salmon. It’s also very loud, well over 100 dB. That’s enough to cause permanent hearing loss.…

Yeah, the article is clearly pro-car-club but it seems to disregard what to me is the main question - is this car club doing anything illegal? If they aren't breaking the law, then it's not appropriate to call the police. If they are breaking the law, driving illegally in some way, or drinking in public where it's not allowed, then of course it's okay to call the police.

I think the point of the article is "It's illegal but we've been ignoring it, and we shouldn't have to change that just because outsiders moved in."

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

#434

Post by stjohnswarts »

LudwigNagasena wrote: post #300
howinator wrote: post #238

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…

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.

Those are inextricably locked up with race in America, you aren't paying attention to statistics if you don't think there's correlation. Sure there are poor whites. but your chance of being poor and white is much lower than if you're black or latino. A huge portion of it does depend on who currently holds wealth and that is extremely weighted towards white people. The bootstrapping methodology/theory only gets you so far. Sure some people manage to break through the glass ceiling. I managed to break away from being "poor white trash" for example. I was also quite gifted in math/science and had uneducated but stable, caring parents. Lots of people in my community grew up in pure chaos and drugs and didn't stand a chance and fell right into the same destructive patterns. Sure there's the whole 99% vs 1% but race can't be swept under the rug while you're far more likely to die by cop if you're a POC rather than white. We can be activists for both types of change.

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

#435

Post by int_19h »

sjg007 wrote: post #194
int_19h wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do cars on his property bother you?

6 of them, in violation of city ordinances. Two on the grass. We all agreed to the rules.

Let me rephrase that. Do you support the ordinances in question? If so, why?

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

#436

Post by vel0city »

hindsightbias wrote: post #385
vel0city wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are most people working on cars at their home doing it because they're wanting to do modifications most shops won't do, or because they're trying to save the few hundred dollars an hour in labor charges to do some things that take a few minutes of reading and an understanding of lefty-loosey righty-tighty? A few of my friends and myself tend to do most of the maintenance on our cars and motorcycles by ourselves. If I…

If one drives down Alameda street in SF you'll see a lot of people trying to stave off a repair bill they can't afford with amateur shop night. I get not having a neighbor who runs a covert or not-so-covert shop next door, but these laws are bludgeons written for selective enforcement.

Yeah, and IMO if someone is running an auto shop out of their garage it would be better to go after that with things like licensing or zone enforcement for using their house as a commercial property. The arguments for laws like banning repair of vehicles on residential properties seems like trying to make something that's already illegal extra illegal. Ding the people for illegal modifications or running an unlicensed/improperly zoned commercial operation, don't screw over the people just trying to save a few bucks by using their own labor.

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

#437

Post by jbroson »

toolz wrote: post #244
542458 wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because race is deeply entwined with culture, and culture is in everything. Every culture owns cars, but not every subculture does things with cars that require you to do most of the work yourself in your driveway. It’s like Ehrlichman’s famous quote: “We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, an…

There are an incredible number of topics that are deeply entwined with culture and issues of many kinds, that doesn't mean it's useful to turn a local law concerning garage mechanics into something about race. Would allowing only minorities to work on their vehicles at home solve the problem? It seems obvious (to me, at least) that it wouldn't, so why would race need to be brought into the equation when it's so much…

It sounds like you are just angry at the mere mention of race.

Like we should just go through life pretending like race plays absolutely no factor in any law, human interaction, or bias unless someone says the "n" word or something.

Given our history as a country that seems INCREDIBLY foolish.

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

#438

Post by vel0city »

x0x0 wrote: post #270
toolz wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does it seem like people feel the need to make anything they can about race? (Maybe I'm just overly sensitive and it doesn't happen as much as I perceive, to be fair) I don't agree with the law, but literally every race owns vehicles. Why complicate the issue with racism if there doesn't need to be any complication? Seems like a clear cut issue that people can unite over that instead is being made into a minority…

Take this article for example. A white lady comes and sees a bunch of predominantly black and latino folks with a tradition of hanging out in a park and screwing around with their cars. And then says this: > “You can’t tell me drugs aren’t being distributed over there,” she huffed. “The brazenness of it all just kills me!” Yeah, it's a mystery why people are assuming there's some racism going on there. I have no idea…

> The code also prohibits individuals to perform repairs which use "tools not normally found in a residence"—another vague term which creates an elucidation of the law, placing it up for deliberation depending on the individual deciphering the legal code.

Dang, it feels like more and more people I know are no longer into fixing things themselves, it almost seems like it'll get to the point where things like hacksaws and ratchets might be included in that vagueness.

I know many people who have garages with an old fridge fridge, a car, and maybe an electric string trimmer that hasn't been touched in several years. If such a garage becomes the norm, just having a screwdriver might be against the law.

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

#439

Post by [deleted] »

sneak wrote: post #414
wing-_-nuts wrote: post #413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still haven't seen what your suggested course of action is? Alright, let's say I have a neighbor playing loud music at 2am. I walk down, ask nicely if they'd turn it down. They ignore me. What then? What am I supposed to do from that point?

You seem to feel your options are escalate to violence (or the implied threat of same) by calling the cops, or just deal with the loud music. I personally am with Asimov: violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. It has little to do with whether you employ the violence/threat yourself, or call a man with a gun over to do it for you. The correct course of action in almost all circumstances is "do nothing". There…

[deleted]

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

#440

Post by stjohnswarts »

clipradiowallet wrote: post #361
howinator wrote: post #238

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…

> Also, doing burnouts and donuts on public streets That bit "on public streets" is material - that makes it illegal. Calling the police is the normal course of action there, right?

No, it's a common practice at this particular event. If it's been going for decades and no one has complained why should this one couple come in and try to impose their will on the community, especially with the overtones of racism/gentrification? Old Austin is disappearing pretty rapidly on the East side I can understand why they (the community) pushes back. Note everyone wants white picket fences and perfectly sculpted lawns.
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