KCRag Forum

Was doing Uber eats in Austin yesterday (as I’m stationed in Ft. Hood now, so only an hour drive and pays far better) and since I’ve gotten here even 4 months ago, the homeless problem here is spiraling out of control. I had two separate interactions where I was on 6th street, and not only did pan handlers come directly up to my window, they tried my door handle. Two separate people, on two separate parts of 6th street did this. This is supposed to be THE place to be in Austin, so I can’t imagine this is the publicity and experience that city officials want tourists to experience. People always talked this city up to be this “out of this world” experience, but so far, I’ve been underwhelmed with this city.

I generally liked Austin 20+ years ago when my sister lived there and younger brother when to UT, fun college town. Has simply been growing too fast last 15+ years and has grown past a big college town but feels fabricated now. She ended up moving to KC for the 4 seasons and more mature arts scene. Cities that grow too fast tend to lose more in depth than they gain on the surface.

66 floor, 800+ foot tower in Austin. JE Dunn is constructing. Massive garage podium

normalthings wrote: ↑Wed Jul 28, 2021 9:02 pm 66 floor, 800+ foot tower in Austin. JE Dunn is constructing. Massive garage podium

Everything they’ve put up down here is a Parking podium, and it looks terrible, sure they have height, but what’s height with standstill traffic and 8 floors of parking?

Height isn't everything. I'd rather have a functioning street-level city. Give me three 22-story towers instead of a 66-story one, or six 11-story towers. Ones that are integrated into the street grid and street level of the existing fabric of the city.

Look at Renaissance Center in Detroit. Sure it's an impressive tall structure, but it doesn't function well in the greater downtown Detroit. It would have helped the city more to have added the same square footage but in more, smaller buildings spread around on vacant lots in the existing downtown grid.

Portland is a good example of high functioning at street level without a lot of taller buildings.

Downtown Austin getting stupid big. And it's deep too. They are developing some impressive urban canyons.

GRID wrote: ↑Thu Apr 14, 2022 1:31 am Downtown Austin getting stupid big. And it's deep too. They are developing some impressive urban canyons.

Of all the buildings in their skyline, I have a problem with that wannabe triangle.

GRID wrote: ↑Thu Apr 14, 2022 1:31 am Downtown Austin getting stupid big. And it's deep too. They are developing some impressive urban canyons.

It’s not nearly as great in person, the depth really only exists as a facade, a linear E-W layout is where most of the height is, 3 blocks north of all that is surface parking out the ass

Got some great trails along the river though.

Love visiting Austin

freedog wrote: ↑Thu Apr 14, 2022 11:20 pm Got some great trails along the river though.

Love visiting Austin

Big facts. Their trail system along with their waterfront activation is fantastic. Helps to have a lake Vs. a river for sure in that aspect.

Anthony_Hugo98 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 14, 2022 10:50 pm

GRID wrote: ↑Thu Apr 14, 2022 1:31 am Downtown Austin getting stupid big. And it's deep too. They are developing some impressive urban canyons.

It’s not nearly as great in person, the depth really only exists as a facade, a linear E-W layout is where most of the height is, 3 blocks north of all that is surface parking out the ass

I would have agreed with you ten years ago. Not so much now. Austin is a very lively and vibrant place. KC has way way way more parking lots and just massive areas that are void of real urban activity and bustle. Austin feels like a big city now on the ground, much more so than KC. Just 10-15 years ago it was more comparable to Omaha.

KC still has better legacy architecture and cultural assets and attractions but Austin is much more urban in general now.

And no, the skyline is not a facade. It's now very dense no matter what angle you view it from. 30-60 story buildings are now hidden. The amount of building that has happened is mind boggling.

Austin is a weird city *no pun intended* it's quickly become very dense, but besides a bunch of 5 over 1's and small office developments, its neighborhoods feel like there in the middle of nowhere. It's pretty overrated and I think if KC had that kind of job growth its infrastructure could support it better and its old legacy city vibes would just make it even more of an interesting place to live.

daGOAT wrote: ↑Fri Apr 15, 2022 3:29 pm Austin is a weird city *no pun intended* it's quickly become very dense, but besides a bunch of 5 over 1's and small office developments, its neighborhoods feel like there in the middle of nowhere. It's pretty overrated and I think if KC had that kind of job growth its infrastructure could support it better and its old legacy city vibes would just make it even more of an interesting place to live.

Austin is still not my cup of tea, mainly because it's still in Texas. Austin still has just a bit too much Texas culture in it, despite it being very different than any other large city in Texas.

Its urban core on both sides of the river (lake) and into the university area now dwarfs KCMO. There may be tons of low rise stick apartments, but there are just as many high rise buildings now and the office developments are far from small. And they are getting tons of huge hotels. You are in denial haha.

Again, not my thing, I just don't like Texas, but Austin is a pretty legit city now and it's cities like this that KC really needs to watch out for when KC thinks they can vote down stadium taxes etc. KC is growing, but in another ten years there will be several much larger cities that will build stadiums.

It's changing but there is not a single tower East of the 35 or West of Lamar Blvd in Ausin. Even by the time you hit the state capital, in its current 2022 state, its only midrise buildings. But, yeah, Austin will likely build dense past those borders and can totally take assets from other cities, as California can currently attest to lol.

Sure, KC doesn’t compare to Austin. Neither does Denver. Or Seattle. Literally no city is growing anywhere *close* to as fast as Austin. So no it doesn’t mean much that KC isn’t keeping up with the fasted growing city in the United States.

Fort Worth and Phoenix are.

daGOAT wrote: ↑Fri Apr 15, 2022 5:43 pm Fort Worth and Phoenix are.

Not metro-wise

I don't know how Phoenix is going to be able to sustain many more people. Some climate scientists are saying it could be almost unliveable for most of the year in 50 years because of intense heat. Water levels at Lake Powell and Lake Mead are already dropping quickly and droughts appear to be a permanent fixture.

https://www.abc15.com/weather/impact-e ... ate-change

https://abcnews.go.com/US/lake-mead-hit ... d=78197478

https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion ... 310121001/

https://thecounter.org/arizonas-future-water-shock/

Texas is not going to fare much better.

https://projects.propublica.org/climate-migration/

Climate scientists are screaming that the world is not going to be meeting the climate goals that many say we need to slow it down.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/with ... rgy-agency

FangKC wrote: ↑Sat Apr 16, 2022 11:43 am I don't know how Phoenix is going to be able to sustain many more people. Some climate scientists are saying it could be almost unliveable for most of the year in 50 years because of intense heat. Water levels at Lake Powell and Lake Mead are already dropping quickly and droughts appear to be a permanent fixture.

https://www.abc15.com/weather/impact-e ... ate-change

https://abcnews.go.com/US/lake-mead-hit ... d=78197478

https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion ... 310121001/

https://thecounter.org/arizonas-future-water-shock/

Texas is not going to fare much better.

https://projects.propublica.org/climate-migration/

Climate scientists are screaming that the world is not going to be meeting the climate goals that many say we need to slow it down.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/with ... rgy-agency

Could it lead to a reverse migration from the Southwest into the Midwest and Northeast?