This time of year I get to thinking about Austin's notoriety. Back in 1986, a little thing called SXSW started here. There were 170 bands and about 700 people attended. I was so wrapped up in finishing school, I don't even remember if I knew about it or not. At the same time, Austin proper was about 350,000 people and the economy was just starting to tank. But it was better here than a lot of other places, so...we got an influx of people looking for work. Austin grew. By 1990, we were just under 465K in Austin proper. If you just did the math, that's 115,000 in four years.
In the wake of the most recent economic tankage, the media put it out that Austin had jobs and the economy was still clicking. Well, until all the out-of-workers from California, Michigan, and all points across the US got here. The 2010 census numbers of just under 800K I'm betting are now tens of thousands higher. And of course, we got a huge lump of new citizens after Katrina in 2005. Traffic is phenomenally worse and it wasn't that hot to begin with, due to Austin's tendency to stick its collective heads in the sand when it comes to expansion: everyone wants new business, but no one wants the infrastructure in their neighborhood (can't say as I blame them there). And, like some sort of growth gauge, SXSW featured 2400 performers and drew about 36,000...and that doesn't count all the "unofficial" bands and people who didn't actually buy tickets to the SXSW venues. There were hipsters stopping traffic on major streets, gawking, as if Austin were some kind of bizarre museum exhibit. The metrorail, usually slightly anemic in ridership, was packed to the gunwales with riders and bikes.Even though Austinites are rather laid back and easy-going, we still have jobs and kids to get to school. In a way, it reminds me of living in New Orleans. The rest of the world just thinks we party all the time. Uh...no.
I think it's cool that people think Austin is cool. It rocks that we are still labeled "the live music capital of the world" (as much a misnomer as that might be), but sometimes I wish people wouldn't enjoy Austin quite so much. In addition to everyone flocking here to take our jobs, there are about 50 kabillion festivals, sometimes two or three on any given weekend. Oh...in addition to SXSW, the rodeo was on, too. Hipsters and c'boys. I keep picturing this huge pile-up with skinny jeans, pink sunglasses, cowboy boots and manure all piled up and everyone looking rather confused.
The icing on the cake was realizing that some departing SXSWer, sometime Saturday Sunday night decided to take a souvenir. The lanyard for the Texas flag pole on the WWI memorial here in front of the UT stadium was cut and the Texas flag stolen. You read that right, from the WWI memorial. Really, people? Some folks just have no shame.
If you come to our home to party, please behave yourself, and don't steal from your hosts.
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