Matthew Yglesias: Austin Can't Stay Weird: "One could go ...

Matthew Yglesias: Austin Can't Stay Weird: "One could go on and on about this stuff���bus lanes, a modest Inclusionary Zoning requirement, etc.���but the details aren���t especially different from what I���d say about anything else. The key point is that the mentality would have to be, 'Hey, Austin is really great, and so a lot of people want to live here or locate businesses here. We should build lots of houses and office buildings and transportation infrastructure and schools to accommodate them...'

...You wouldn���t be able to preserve weirdness���there���d be lots of new buildings and probably a lot of the architecture would be unimaginative. But you could preserve one of the biggest strengths of the Texas economic model: the availability of both middle-class jobs and cheap houses. Otherwise, if you turn against new construction, you���ll end up with the ���coastal��� paradigm (which also happens in Denver, and, frankly, a lot of college towns) where you have a great place to live but a lot of people can���t actually live there...

#shouldread #NIMBYism