Austin Skyline

[Coyote]

I agree with Austin, having spent a couple semesters there in the late 1990’s near UT, I can’t believe what it has become since then. I since then do not like the passing of the store Tuesday Mornings the other day, but I agree with all the developments since then the city of Austin has become the happening place.

[Louie]

Yeah, the developer wanted tall and skinny, Austin design standards demanded a larger footprint to height ratio, developer couldn't afford the larger footprint at the original height so lower it went.

A sad twist. Austin is doing a lot right, but is still doing some weird things that will hold it back.

I actually dislike a lot about what Austin has been doing. It's growing too fast to keep the culture that attracted people to it. I know this sounds like an old man yelling at the wind, but I watched it change over the 10 years my brother lived there and it was kind of depressing. A small fraction of the original local spots remain independent.

I grew up there! Austin in the 90's!

Man it's changed. The sad thing is that they are still fighting transit too. It's why it's my often used cautionary tale for Omaha. Omaha feels like Austin in the late 90's / early 00s.

What I like: Austin has actively encourage downtown growth. But not enough to keep housing prices down.

This as an example: Who cares about floor to height ratios. Just split the lot and build something else like a 10 story rental property next to it, or green space. Or a LRT station...

I agree with your assessment..

I too, spent much time visiting Austin in the late 1990’s to early 2000’s and it was such a cool vibe place. 6th street was actually so much more organically cool back then.. Now? The place has grown out of it’s infrastructure so quickly..the city simply doesn’t feel the same..

I have often heard folks who have spent time in both Austin and Omaha say Omaha “feels” like Austin did back in the late 90’s to 2000..

While Omaha will likely never “boom” like Austin has the Past 25 years, I believe it’s robust growth (12% per decade) and keeping up with infrastructure- will be the keys to our growth success without losing the authentic “Omaha feel”…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

Yes, the lower growth rate is a real advantage for keeping the cool things that make Omaha great. If we were seeing 25% growth or more, developers would chomp at the bit to buy swaths of older properties, bulldoze them and put up new character-less buildings.

[Athomsfere]

I'd be OK with a couple more decades over 20%, but well under 30%. Especially in the core.

At 20% we'd be bigger than OKC in my lifetime! At 25% we'd have them beat in like 45 years. (metros).