Seven years ago the Austin City Council passed a resolution directing the city manager to utilize hotel occupancy tax dollars to acquire the Montopolis Negro School with the intent of repurposing this “historic asset” into a cultural center and museum. This decision did not spring up out of the political ground from nowhere; it was […]
Continue ReadingThe recent Affordability Impact Statement produced by city housing staffers for the proposed “Phase 1” of single family lot use modifications (Case Number C20-2023-024) furnishes useful insight into current thinking inside the city’s housing department. While the document proclaims that the proposed resolution would produce “mixed results” and that “market driven” solutions grounded in dogmatic […]
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I am a conservationist and preservationist, an environmental professional who believes in the rational planning envisioned by the authors and supporters of environmental laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. Over the years I have taken pride in the fact that enactment of these […]
Continue ReadingI live and am raising my family in the Montopolis neighborhood of Austin, Texas. Montopolis, also known as “Poverty Island,” is a low-income community of families whose population is 74% Hispanic and 10% African American and whose per capita income is $18,683. The Coronavirus pandemic has hit us hard. Even worse, we are currently facing […]
Continue ReadingSelena, like Sam Cooke over 30 years before, was murdered in a seedy wrong-side-of-town motel 25 years ago today. In response to those tragic events I wrote the following letter to the editor. To my surprise, the newspaper did publish an edited version of it. It is written from the standpoint of a young naval […]
Continue ReadingI spent the evening of Monday, January 27, 2020 before the Austin Human Rights Commission and the Historic Landmark Commission testifying about the desecration of graves at Austin’s Oakwood Cemetery. I took some of my evening time on Tuesday, January 28th to testify before the city’s Parks and Recreation Board, which actually oversees the city […]
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In a sign of how backwards and behind the times historic preservation is in Austin, the newly installed (permanent) director of Austin’s Parks department issued this memo to the Assistant City Manager about the burials desecration “burgeoning scandal” at Oakwood Cemetery. Sadly and predictably, the memo does not address the concerns and questions I have […]
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It is a burgeoning scandal that is as unfortunate as it was predicted. The City of Austin is facing fresh questions about the handling of renovations to the “Chapel” at Oakwood Cemetery, the city’s oldest official burial ground. Facts have arisen that appear to indicate that the city not only gave the go-ahead to excavate […]
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The Austin Monitor’s recent story about the City of Austin’s Plan to “mitigate” displacement correctly quoted me as not seeing much of the People’s Plan reflected in the city’s anti-displacement strategy. But there is more, of course, to the story. City staffers in the Neighborhood Housing department as well as members of the city’s Equity […]
Continue ReadingHarvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies released its 2019 State of the Nation’s Housing report, and it makes for interesting reading. Once you get past the standard neoliberal fare about how “there isn’t enough housing” or not enough “choice” or “opportunity,” you can unearth some nuggets. Two Austin findings stand out: 1.) Real home prices […]
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