AUSTIN, Texas — Can you honestly say Austin has “kept it weird?”
Many now complain the city is unaffordable with terrible traffic and a skyline that keeps ascending.
Former Austin resident and journalist Alex Hannaford first discovered Austin in 1999, before moving there in 2003. The city is where Hannaford met his wife, a University of Texas graduate, and where their daughter was born.
So, he says he owes Austin everything. Still…
“I think that it's important to be kind of critical about things, otherwise they don't change,” he told us on Y’all-itics.
So, after Hannaford left Austin in 2019, he decided to author a book documenting what went wrong in the city. While he points to a number of negatives working against Austin, one stands out above the rest, the same problem that has been highlighted by residents, lawmakers and academics.
“The big sort of elephant in the room, here, is affordability,” argued Hannaford. “And that kind of really comes into everything I talk about. You know, we can talk about “Keep Austin Weird,” but I think all that comes down to affordability as well.”
Hannaford agrees with the idea that Austin has seen booms and busts before, but he says this time is different because it will be much more difficult for the city to bounce back if people can’t even afford to live there. Because that cost of housing and living has led to many people fleeing the city, Hannaford and others argue they’re not “keeping it weird” much in Austin anymore either.
Beyond that, the author says even the look and feel of the city has changed. Take the skyline, for instance. Hannaford argues that it is now indistinguishable from any other city.
“You certainly can't see the Capitol from all around the city anymore. Or the UT Tower. These are dwarfed. And so, that's the first kind of anecdote which I found shocking,” he said.
Ultimately, Hannaford pins the blame for the city’s lost charm and lack of affordability on poor planning, past and present.
“I just think it's a lack of planning and thought,” he said. “I mean the sort of skeptic in me will say that, you know, maybe it's down to politicians who are just interested in the election cycle and being elected next time and not sort of thinking what's this, what are these policies gonna do for 20 year’s time?”
Hannaford also details how these problems, affordability in particular, also threaten other cities across Texas and the nation. Listen to the entire episode to learn more. Cheers!