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Originally Posted by Jdawgboy
I can see your point and agree in part, however I don't know if I'd go as far as it's not going to happen period.
I think in another 15 or 20 years we will see much more density in the urban core and the push to expand DT beyond its current boundaries. Times will be different, the city will have matured more and with more people opinions will continue to change. I mean just look at how much has changed since 2000. I think few people here on this forum or the average Austinite would have imagined we would see the kind skyline we have today or the amount of density we have begun to build up. Unless my 20 year old self was sent 15 years into the future I would have never thought that Lamar would one day be lined with massive VMU low and mid rises or Riverside or anywhere else for that matter. Even though I've always wanted to see Austin built up, you wouldn't have been able to convince me in 2000 that anything like what we have seen would happen considering the general opinion of the NAs and city council at that time. It was simply just an urban fantasy.
Things have changed and they will continue to do so. As the city continues to grow and mature so will the perception of the population. In time the need will come where DT will have to expand west and east. Eventually the South Shore Central District will become an extension of DT. In some aspects it already is now and people are beginning to accept that.
So I agree that there is still a negative stigma that is being perpetuated by the ANC and anti-density crowd right now but let's face it, that crowd is shrinking and more people are realizing that Austin is still Austin despite the changes we have seen over the last 15 years. We are simply larger and more mature than before. We still have a ways to go but we will get there.
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Agreed. You have to let folks get used to the idea that urban growth isn't evil or dangerous. Once they do (and once they reap some of the benefits of it), they'll probably be some of the greatest proponents of it....okay, maybe the last part is a stretch, but the bottom line is things will normalize in some ways. In other ways, it'll always be a battle, I'm sure, but some things will get easier.