Austin vs. Houston, 45N defunding, Houston’s ‘tough love’ homelessness model, traffic rankings, and more
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A couple of little articles to kick off this week, followed by in-depth excerpts from Evan Mintz’s excellent Texas Monthly article on Austin vs. Houston.
Finally, some of my favorite excerpts from Evan Mintz’s latest Texas Monthly Essay (highlights mine):
Dear Austinites, you have permission to move to an affordable, strange city: Houston
If you are trying to buy a home, you are probably an adult. You deserve a grown-up city – the city of Houston.
“Austin is without a doubt a fun place. Texans from all over the state love to get in the car and spend a long weekend paddle boarding on Lady Bird Lake, swimming in Barton Springs, partying on Sixth Street, and reliving college memories on Kerbey Lane – as if the city were your personal playground. But playgrounds are for children. If you are trying to buy a home, you are probably an adult. You deserve a grown-up city – the city of Houston.
Do not get me wrong; Austin has some great qualities. The Capitol is a beautiful and historic building. Houston should aim for a campus the size of the University of Texas. And Austin summers are more of a dry heat. But that great Austin convenience that people swear they could never do without – the live music! Outside! The progressive attitude! – exists in every other big city in one form or another. And I would argue that Houston’s offerings are better and more sophisticated than Austin’s.
… the fact that the city tour does not find a way to make living space affordable should be an indictment against everything that has to do with self-proclaimed progressiveness. Politics is about power, and if Austin politicians cannot use their power to improve the basic living conditions of not only the weakest but also a reasonably privileged middle class, then they should simply admit that the city has become a getaway for people Celebrities become and a techno-oligarchy and argue over plastic straws. Say what you want about Houston’s relationship with the oil and gas industry; at least the pollution has subsided here. Austin still hasn’t figured out how to mitigate the collateral effects of tech richness and Hollywood tourism.
…
No doubt Houston is not as affordable as it used to be, especially for tenants who are already struggling. But somehow it remains tenable for the aspiring geriatric millennials taking their first steps into their own homes. In the past few months alone, I’ve seen four friends buy their first spots: a new townhouse in Oak Forest, a classic eighties townhouse in Montrose, a bungalow north of downtown, and a cottage in Second Ward. These houses are not in distant suburbs; You’re in the heart of Houston, within walking distance of breweries, restaurants, art events, and other hallmarks of a livable, enjoyable city. Some of these are dense buildings that are allowed under Houston’s lax land use rules. Others are older homes that are still standing – and reasonably priced – as new builds soak up capital like a sponge and save older neighborhoods from the tide of wealth that made Austin so unaffordable. I also know people who moved to the Woodlands.
…
In contrast, Houston, a place with no pretension or zoning, will happily tear down its past if that makes the present more appealing – all to give you the freedom to grow. You won’t let outdated ideas of what the city should be like. They are strengthened by the hope of what the city can be. We are improving our parks, adding more bike paths and expanding the local transport system. And we don’t listen to NIMBYs who want to block affordable housing. Forty years of the Houston Area Survey shows that we are a city that is constantly, even irrationally, optimistic about our future. Houston believes there are better days while Austin fears it has passed its prime.
The choice is clear: You can rage against the dying of light in Austin and spend 50 percent of your income on housing, or you can be reborn in Houston as a sweaty, home-owner-like phoenix. “
Hear hear!
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