My fellow classmate Carolina, wrote a great post on her blog Politics & Tejas about gentrification issues in Austin. Those who have lived here in Austin for quite some time, and others like me who are still new to Austin know that gentrification is such a big issue. It is wrong to raise the living cost in areas such as East Austin just to increase business. As Carolina mentioned, 40,000 people move to Austin each year and with that rapid increase in population, we need to have affordable housing areas at least in some parts of town. In addition to that, I was unaware that Austin was the fastest gentrifying city in the ENTIRE country. That honestly took me by surprise and it just opens my eyes that much more about this issue.
I'm glad that someone like Mayor Steve Adler cares about this issue and wants to make sure that there will be a place where Austin residents can stay. My classmate quoted from the author that "Mayor Steve Adler created a Task Force with local leaders to create city policy that can guarantee that all residents would be treated fair. This task force was created to combat gentrification in Austin." Along with Carolina, I hope that the City Council will approve these recommendations that Mayor Alder has suggested to ensure residents are provided with a living area that is affordable.
Not only will this reduce the expansion of gentrification, but it will return Austin to the way it should be. We can stop being known for the fastest gentrifying city in the U.S. and instead return to being known for our great food and music. However, in order to ensure this, we must all come together to stop gentrification once and for all.
