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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

#81

Post by perl4ever »

skissane wrote: post #42
chrisco255 wrote: post #5

"The new arrivals have forced many Black residents to move out of the city: In 2000, about 10 percent of the Austin’s 656,000 residents were Black. By 2017, that percentage had dropped to around 7.5" Well, article definitely commits a statistical fallacy there. Austin is one of the fastest growing cities, especially from 2000-2017 period. The fact that the percentage went down (from 9.5 to 7.5), while the city's popu…

According to US Census data [0], between 2000 and 2010, the City of Austin (meaning the city proper not the metro area)'s "African American (non-Hispanic)" population fell by 5.4% (a decline of almost 3,500 people). Over the same time period, its overall population grew by around 20% (from 657,000 to 790,000). That seems more consistent with what the article says than with the picture you are painting. [0] https://ww…

I hate to state the obvious, but it's been a decade since 2010, even if the stats aren't conveniently to hand.

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

#82

Post by dylan604 »

hindsightbias wrote: post #71
JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd imagine one's views on gentrification are largely shaped by which side of the gentrification they're on.

As long as they personally don’t have to throw grandma down the stairs, they’re ok with it. The price of progress. Since TX doesn’t have Prop 13, they are going to be annoyed with the tents cluttering their views.

Not having Prop 13 and not know where you are posting from, what is Prop 13?

edit: apparently, it's some sort of limiting of property tax. yes, texas does not have that, as property tax and sales tax are the only taxes. no state income tax has its pros/cons. it's part of being a texan to annually challenge your homes appraisal value. the only time i've ever had an issue with property tax was my first home when i was 21. it was new construction, so for the first year of the loan, the value was based on the unimproved lot. the next year, escrow doubled because they updated to the new value with the house, and needed to double dip to cover the difference from the previous year. more than doubled the payment. hard lesson to learn.

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

#83

Post by techsupporter »

brundolf wrote: post #70
adjkant wrote: post #36

At the general level, I doubt anyone is surprised to see this story, and there will likely be more to come as tech flocks to Austin (though it was already a notable tech hub with some of these pressures already before the billionaires decided to give it the seal of approval). To me, the more interesting question here is how does Austin avoid what happened to SF, where tech hollowed out nearly all of its existing cult…

I've been here for seven years. It definitely feels like we're on the track toward what people describe SF as. Several cultural institutions have gone out of business in my time here, everything's getting more shiny and less weird, the homeless camps are growing enormous due to rising rents/displacement, etc. We're not SF yet, but we will be before long if nothing changes. I held out a small hope that covid and the r…

> I held out a small hope that covid and the remote-work wave would stem things a little bit, but it's hard to say whether that's happened. If anything, the influx could have increased due to the exodus from SF.

This is exactly what we're seeing in the Seattle area. A lot of people in the various circles I'm in thought, as we entered the early stages of this pandemic really settling in for the long-haul, "well, phew, at least it'll put a breather on housing costs."

Nope.

Because of the "work wherever you want" and Seattle and Puget Sound still being a wonderfully attractive place to live, the pace has accelerated. Housing prices here have shot up by double-digit numbers, even inside the city limits from which people are supposedly "fleeing." Both the north and south ends of Seattle, even West Seattle where the main road link has been severed for a year (as of today), have seen massive upticks.

The Department of Licensing has released statistics that show that the number of California driving licenses and vehicle titles exchanged for Washington ones is the second-highest it's been in ten years, with only 2018 being higher, and that's with most DOL offices being closed or heavily restricted due to in-person limits from the virus. (The influx of cars isn't going to do our "pristine environment" any favors, either, and I look forward to the even-louder rants about how terrible traffic is driving by oneself from Marysville to Queen Anne for a hockey game).

Meanwhile, people around here continue to insist that building is bad and, I shit you not, that if we simply don't build then the people will stop coming. I don't know why anyone still thinks this; it hasn't been true for twenty years, why should now be any different? And the new arrivals aren't keen on building more or making sure newer arrivals have space because, well, they moved here, to this spot because they liked it that way and, gosh-darn-it, this space is going to stay like this forever.

It's getting quite frustrating. After many, many years of waiting and hoping and moving around, I finally live near where a light rail station will be opening in the coming year-ish and I fear, even on my moderately good tech salary, I'm not going to be able to afford to live here before the train arrives, or shortly thereafter.

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

#84

Post by billylindeman »

olivermarks wrote: post #34

A variation of this rinsing out of any local culture is going on in Sacramento County California, where arguably gentrification has resulted in a 2019 autocratic edict that residents are not allowed to work on cars in their homes except fluid changes, with fines if you are found to have professional tools on the premises. https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/it-is-illegal-to... Since Sacramento County is appro…

what the actual fuck. as someone who grew up in metro detroit this disgusts me.

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

#85

Post by vorpalhex »

adjkant wrote: post #74
vorpalhex wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those traditional black neighborhoods were bought up, demolished and turned into luxury apartments at insane prices. At one point I was on the east side and saw an old black woman rocking on her front porch in front of a 70's shotgun shack, next to an ugly post-modern 2 story house with a lambo and a tesla sitting outside of it. I don't think increasing housing density is the answer. We really don't need more luxury…

> I don't think increasing housing density is the answer. We really don't need more luxury apartments or million dollar condos. This was my first natural instinct maybe 5 years ago, but seeing the differences in gentrification stories has made it clear it's far worse to keep density the same. If nothing in the city changes and rich people decide they want to flock to your city (in this case, tech workers), it's a giv…

What about the people who own houses? For all their faults, those houses were affordable and many residents owned them. Now they've been forced out by increased property taxes.

Those luxury buildings are going exclusively into poor neighborhoods because they have the cheapest land and least restrictions.

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

#86

Post by Bukhmanizer »

There are ways that people talk about gentrification that always makes me slightly uncomfortable. As a non-white person, something always feels like gentrification is something that “good” white people like to blame “bad” white people for doing, when the real problem tends to be wider and more systemic.

In this particular instance I find myself asking why it matters that the Weaver residents were originally not from Austin. If you’re born in Chicago, shouldn’t you still have the same rights as someone who was born in Austin? That includes the right to complain. However it doesn’t mean anyone has to listen to you. As other users have pointed out, it’s not exactly a new situation for people to move to a neighborhood and immediately try and kick their neighbours out. It’s just that most of the time they’re told to kick rocks.

It seems to me the real crux of this issue is that rich white people are so much more prioritized by the law that a couple of irate Karens can overrule an entire neighbourhoods opinion. It has nothing to do with where they’re from or gentrification.

Not that gentrification doesn’t cause it’s own problems. But the way some people talk about it, as though existing residents are entitled to a higher set of rights, leads down some pretty dark paths, especially when newcomers are of a different nationality, or race than current residents. It reminds me of something that used to be said a lot in jest when I was younger in the 90’s and 00’s and working in fast food. Whenever people gave me extra work to do, they justified it by saying something like, “well, he should just be grateful he isn’t working in a rice paddy” (I’m from Singapore originally, but ok). There seemed to be this view that because my parents chose to move to Canada when I was young, I was somehow entitled to fewer rights, even as a citizen.

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

#87

Post by DoreenMichele »

tacitusarc wrote: post #24

This is a really abnormal article to see on hackernews. I generally don't expect to see the politics of a random city in the U.S. here. Maybe because Austin is becoming more of a tech hub? So now the politics of the city seem more relevant to the tech community?

My take: It's an article about housing issues in a tech hub. Those are plenty common here.

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

#88

Post by chrisco255 »

skissane wrote: post #42
chrisco255 wrote: post #5

"The new arrivals have forced many Black residents to move out of the city: In 2000, about 10 percent of the Austin’s 656,000 residents were Black. By 2017, that percentage had dropped to around 7.5" Well, article definitely commits a statistical fallacy there. Austin is one of the fastest growing cities, especially from 2000-2017 period. The fact that the percentage went down (from 9.5 to 7.5), while the city's popu…

According to US Census data [0], between 2000 and 2010, the City of Austin (meaning the city proper not the metro area)'s "African American (non-Hispanic)" population fell by 5.4% (a decline of almost 3,500 people). Over the same time period, its overall population grew by around 20% (from 657,000 to 790,000). That seems more consistent with what the article says than with the picture you are painting. [0] https://ww…

That's a good find, I'd like to see the 2020 census data but we're still waiting on that. At any rate, when you look closer at the data from 2000 to 2010, you see several trends:

- Black 18+ pop increased from 45.5K to 46.2K - Black children pop decreased from 18.7K to 14.5K - Hispanic pop increased from 200K to 277K (most significant demographic increase) - White, non-Hispanic percentage decreased from 53% to 49% - Asian percentage increased from 4.7% to 6.3%

Either black people in Austin had less kids from 1992-2010 than 1982-2000 (possible, given the stable adult pop numbers) or black families left for the suburbs or other cities entirely.

In 2010, Austin real estate was still quite affordable and the east side was not quite developed (article mentions a house could be bought for $100K there).

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

#89

Post by fuzxi »

richiezc wrote: post #77
quantified wrote: post #55

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.

vancouver?

Quite a bit of Canada, I'd wager.

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

#90

Post by brundolf »

techsupporter wrote: post #83
brundolf wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been here for seven years. It definitely feels like we're on the track toward what people describe SF as. Several cultural institutions have gone out of business in my time here, everything's getting more shiny and less weird, the homeless camps are growing enormous due to rising rents/displacement, etc. We're not SF yet, but we will be before long if nothing changes. I held out a small hope that covid and the r…

> I held out a small hope that covid and the remote-work wave would stem things a little bit, but it's hard to say whether that's happened. If anything, the influx could have increased due to the exodus from SF. This is exactly what we're seeing in the Seattle area. A lot of people in the various circles I'm in thought, as we entered the early stages of this pandemic really settling in for the long-haul, "well, phew,…

Similar feelings here. I simply don't know where else to go; it seems like every nice-to-live-in medium-sized city that isn't SF is going through this same song and dance. Money comes in like a flock of locusts, consumes the city, and SF is one of the first examples we're seeing of the husk that gets left behind. Then they move on to the next one.

Where's a person supposed to lay down roots, without retreating deep into a suburb? I don't need or want a job at FAANG or the next "unicorn"; I'm happy with my normal tech job/income and the life it affords. Why couldn't those things stay confined somewhere else and leave the rest of us in peace?

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