3 ms·

It's going to be funny in 5-10 years when the major Texas cities become the next SF because none of them are planning for any sort of large population growth.

It's going to be funny in 5-10 years when the major Texas cities become the next SF because none of them are planning for any sort of large population growth. Austin already suffers from horrific traffic and poor infrastructure. City planning here is a joke.

kyleblarson 7y ago
Even that seems better than dealing with SF's bullshit for the next 5-10 years.
xenospn 7y ago
Austin really is a small town, tho. You can see all of downtown from your hotel room, and the rest is just suburbs.
- JBReefer 7y ago
  Austin is significantly larger than SF lol
rory096 7y ago
Austin has been attempting to create a plan for an extensive zoning rewrite for the last several years. It recently restarted after the previous attempt was abandoned in August 2018 (after spending $8.5 million on consultants) because "it became a political lightning rod for preservationists and neighborhood groups who warned the effort would upend longtime neighborhoods." https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2019/10/04/the-next-codenext-is-here-austin-releases-first.html https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2019/10/04/the-next-...
- bretthoerner 7y ago
  Correct, but this time we brought in a new City Manager to handle the code. He just came from Minneapolis, see what they've done: https://slate.com/business/2018/12/minneapolis-single-family-zoning-housing-racism.html https://slate.com/business/2018/12/minneapolis-single-family... We also voted in a city council that is majority pro-density/urbanist, and the new code timeline claims it should be voted in early next year: https://www.austintexas.gov/department/land-development-code-draft-map https://www.austintexas.gov/department/land-development-code... We still have very loud neighborhood NIMBY groups. But the votes are what matters. I'm hopeful. As for the grandparent, this doesn't mean suburban traffic will improve. I doubt it ever will, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_demand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_demand -- I recommend relocating to walkable/bikeable/busable parts of town, which are expanding (albeit slowly, because of pushback from drivers).
cmdshiftf4 7y ago
>City planning here is a joke. Virtually all city planning is a joke, and even if one can conjure up an example of a currently "well planned" city it may well be a short lived title based on a number of economic and industrial changes in the coming years and decades. SF is unique in that it is an industrial incubator for the modern tech industry, much as Detroit once was for the auto industry. There's nothing to say that SF couldn't become the next Detroit, save for its significant tourist appeal. In which case it would become more like Venice. It's not entirely surprising though, and I can say that on intuition alone I've been guilty of just laying the blame at the politicians doorsteps and shaking my fist at the sky while proclaiming "such incompetence!". The fact is that it's an incredibly difficult thing to get right, is extremely expensive and carries huge risk if one is hoping to get such planning done right in a pro-active manner, than in the reactive manner which we're accustomed to. The potential downsides to getting such an effort wrong are catastrophic.

kyleblarson 7y ago

Even that seems better than dealing with SF's bullshit for the next 5-10 years.

xenospn 7y ago

Austin really is a small town, tho. You can see all of downtown from your hotel room, and the rest is just suburbs.

JBReefer 7y ago
Austin is significantly larger than SF lol

rory096 7y ago

Austin has been attempting to create a plan for an extensive zoning rewrite for the last several years. It recently restarted after the previous attempt was abandoned in August 2018 (after spending $8.5 million on consultants) because "it became a political lightning rod for preservationists and neighborhood groups who warned the effort would upend longtime neighborhoods." https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2019/10/04/the-next-codenext-is-here-austin-releases-first.html https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2019/10/04/the-next-...

bretthoerner 7y ago
Correct, but this time we brought in a new City Manager to handle the code. He just came from Minneapolis, see what they've done: https://slate.com/business/2018/12/minneapolis-single-family-zoning-housing-racism.html https://slate.com/business/2018/12/minneapolis-single-family... We also voted in a city council that is majority pro-density/urbanist, and the new code timeline claims it should be voted in early next year: https://www.austintexas.gov/department/land-development-code-draft-map https://www.austintexas.gov/department/land-development-code... We still have very loud neighborhood NIMBY groups. But the votes are what matters. I'm hopeful. As for the grandparent, this doesn't mean suburban traffic will improve. I doubt it ever will, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_demand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_demand -- I recommend relocating to walkable/bikeable/busable parts of town, which are expanding (albeit slowly, because of pushback from drivers).

cmdshiftf4 7y ago

>City planning here is a joke. Virtually all city planning is a joke, and even if one can conjure up an example of a currently "well planned" city it may well be a short lived title based on a number of economic and industrial changes in the coming years and decades. SF is unique in that it is an industrial incubator for the modern tech industry, much as Detroit once was for the auto industry. There's nothing to say that SF couldn't become the next Detroit, save for its significant tourist appeal. In which case it would become more like Venice. It's not entirely surprising though, and I can say that on intuition alone I've been guilty of just laying the blame at the politicians doorsteps and shaking my fist at the sky while proclaiming "such incompetence!". The fact is that it's an incredibly difficult thing to get right, is extremely expensive and carries huge risk if one is hoping to get such planning done right in a pro-active manner, than in the reactive manner which we're accustomed to. The potential downsides to getting such an effort wrong are catastrophic.