Cultivate & Retain
Bridging Culture and Political Representation
As a native of Austin, Texas, I have witnessed the city's remarkable transformation firsthand. Growing up in the 80s and 90s, Austin was a sleepy college town best known for its live music scene and annual South by Southwest (SXSW) festival.
However, Austin has experienced rapid growth, gentrification, and significant demographic changes in the last decade. The city has become one of the fastest-growing in the country, attracting young professionals, tech entrepreneurs, and investors from across the globe. While this growth has brought about new opportunities, it has also caused significant challenges, including skyrocketing housing prices, increased traffic congestion, and a dwindling African-American population.
Today, the neighborhood has undergone significant gentrification, with many longtime residents forced out due to rising rents and property taxes. The exodus of the black population has led to a loss of cultural identity and has raised concerns about the erasure of the city's African-American history.
In addition to affordability issues, Austin's growth has led to increased traffic congestion, which has become a significant problem for residents. With more people commuting to work and school, rush-hour traffic has become difficult to bear, leading to longer commutes and more frustration. The city's infrastructure needs help to keep up with the demand, and despite efforts to expand public transportation, Austin remains heavily reliant on cars.
Despite these challenges, Austin's growth has also brought about some positive changes. The city has attracted new businesses, restaurants, and bars. However, as the city continues to grow, ensuring this growth is sustainable and equitable is essential. City officials, developers, and community leaders must work together to address the challenges of affordability, traffic congestion, and gentrification and find ways to promote economic and social diversity while preserving the city's unique character.
Ali Francois (Financial Analyst)
Where are you from, originally?
AF: I was born in Brooklyn, New York. Moved to Massachusetts for a while. But, I’ve been in Texas since I was nine. I grew up in the Leander area, for the most part, and slowly integrated into Austin.
What’s your occupation?
AF: I’m a financial analyst. I also oversee the Economic Empowerment Division of the Austin Area Urban League Young Professionals.
What brought you to Austin?
AF: Family. I was born in Brooklyn, and it wasn’t the best area at the time. Massachusetts also wasn’t the best area; it was cold and snowing. We moved to Florida and experienced two hurricanes. My dad said that he predicted the housing crash coming, so we moved at the perfect time because Austin would be pretty recession-proof. Austin was also a great place to raise a family.
What keeps you here?
AF: To be honest, growing up in Austin, where there wasn’t much, I never planned on staying here into my old age. But when you look at tech cities like Silicon Valley, they are places I’ve always admired, but there’s very little Black representation. You don’t see a Black Mark Zuckerberg in Silicon Valley. You don’t see a Black Elon Musk in Silicon Valley. Especially if you grow up in Austin, a lot of Black people who are raised here, have identity issues because of the lack of cultural exposure. If you grew up in East Austin, you may have been surrounded by culture, but if you grew up in the surrounding cities…not so much. So, seeing Austin turn into another Silicon Valley, I wanted to make sure that we all have a piece of the tech “pie.” Black people are being gentrified like crazy. East Austin doesn’t look like East Austin, and the places we’re getting pushed out to are becoming unaffordable.
How do you mitigate the lack of inclusiveness or representation?
AF: You know, it’s funny you ask that because you would think [Austin] being such a liberal city, it would be super inclusive, but Austin is like a liberal white city. It’s hard to explain, but it isn’t as inclusive as you would think. For example, I didn’t know any better until I went to Atlanta. You go into Atlanta stores, and they have products readily available. Finding a place for Black products, Black food, or whatever you’re looking for was a lot easier in Atlanta. It almost felt…I can’t really explain it. I imagine it’s what white people feel like in Austin.
The Black meeting places that were here back in the day have disappeared, but I think they’re starting to come back. I think Cajun Eats is an example. I can tell anyone who comes to Austin, “Hey, go to Cajun Eats on a Sunday, and you’ll see where Black people are.” We’re not Houston or Atlanta, so we must do better at marketing ourselves and telling people where to find us when they come to the city. I’m not looking to Austin to provide that culture. I’m looking at ourselves to provide culture, cultivate it, and retain it. I think it’s the biggest challenge we face here in Austin.
What are your thoughts on the housing market?
AF: I hosted an event called “Building Wealth through Real Estate”. But before I hosted the event, I wanted to go through the process myself. I haven’t purchased a home yet, and I’m still looking at the market. I had no idea what I was about to encounter. It’s hard. What I thought would be opportunity areas…turned out not to be opportunity areas.
For example, looking at the cities and towns on the outskirts of Austin like Pflugerville, Round Rock, Cedar Park, Georgetown, or Buda, none were affordable. Looking at Manor, houses were priced as low as 295k to 350k, which isn’t terrible given the times that we’re in. Manor, Texas is seemingly the most affordable city, at first glance. But Manor has high city tax rates—3.8-3.9%. Even with the increased rates to fight inflation, these home prices aren’t dipping the way people would hope.
We’re looking at California levels of unaffordability. And the 32 million dollars dedicated to housing affordability is inadequate. The animal rights budget was almost as much as the affordability budget. I don’t understand why Austin isn’t prioritizing affordability, but it’s a big problem that’s seemingly being ignored.
Sandy Gordon
What brought you to Austin?
SG: I wanted a better quality of life. I didn’t want to stay in New Jersey. It was expensive and a dead end, aside from the proximity to Manhattan. The weather wasn’t appealing to me because I’m an island girl. I was thinking about Phoenix or Dallas, and Austin came on my radar. I visited Austin for a few days and signed a lease before I left.
What keeps you here?
SG: That’s a good question. I think about this all the time. Like, do I want to stay? I really like Austin, there is tons to do, see, experience and explore. The weather is great. I’m a foodie, and it’ll probably take me a few years to comb through all the restaurants here. The opportunity for growth and wealth is here if you play your cards right.
The answer, it’s very suitable for the stage that I’m in. My daughter is in school here, and stability is important. Another thing that appealed to me was coming to a new city and potentially finding a partner. But I quickly realized that the dating scene is abysmal. I feel like Austin is ideal for someone who is white, young, and already coupled. I still don’t feel connected to the city. I feel like I’m a tourist on an extended stay.
How do you mitigate the lack of inclusiveness or representation?
SG: I just show up. I show up in spaces, and I don’t limit myself. I definitely make sure that I live the full experience of what Austin has to offer. I include myself.
As a homeowner, what are your thoughts on the housing market?
SG: It changes. It changes all the time. If you’d asked me what I thought when I first moved in, I was anxious, and I thought I was buying too late. Then as a homeowner, I was excited to see the property values increase and the equity increase. I was proud to be a homeowner. And now, with the market shifting again, I sometimes wish I would’ve sold at the height of it all. If I had decided to sell, I would have to leave Austin in order to make the numbers make sense and for my investment to serve as a stepping stone.
Jasmine Willis
What led to your decision to leave Austin?
JW: I was born and raised in Austin. I have to admit, I made some mistakes in my 20s, and it cost me a lot. My family ended up living in a hotel. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t get back on our feet. We couldn’t find resources that would allow us to work, take care of our kids, and move toward self-sufficiency together. Resources were only available if I were a single mom, and I thought, “How the heck does that work? My husband is a part of this family.”
And then, boom, the pandemic hit and everything shut down. We’d been in the hotel for three years at this point, paying weekly to stay. If we had any extra money, we’d pay our hotel fees in advance. Paying in advance would give us some reprieve, but soon we were back to barely getting by. As someone who was also dealing with a criminal felony charge at the time, I had to report to adult probation. My husband was working at a local grocer for, essentially, minimum wage. We had a small lump sum of money that we used to get a rental van, pack up our stuff, and leave the city. This was at the height of the pandemic. Austin was giving out rental assistance, but it was literally only for renters. Not families in our living situation.
I love the city, but it didn’t provide enough support for us to reach self-sufficiency. I see the leadership, the elected officials, but it’s all a lot of talk and not a lot of action. I knew it was a move we needed to make, and less than 6 months after arriving in north Texas, we could sign a lease for an apartment. Think about the math behind that. I lived in Austin my whole life, but when I really needed the support, it wasn’t there. We move out here, and we find a place within 6 months. It’s sad to have found my place in this world outside of my home. It’s tough when you really want to raise your kids in your hometown, but you can’t.
It wasn’t until I left that I had a chance to contribute to my city. I was chosen to participate on a committee for Austin’s largest transit development project. Cities like Dallas and Houston are prepared, capable, and willing to embrace and work with their Black populations. Austin is not! They say, “Austin is for liberals.” No, Austin is for white liberals. That’s what they really mean. They treat us like we don’t belong here.
You speak about Austin not being willing to embrace and work with Black populations. Do you believe that Austin is adequately preparing its Black youth for success?
JW: I would believe they were if they weren't so busy trying to pedal numbers. Let me rewind that. I would believe that if they stopped gentrifying the Eastside. I would believe that if they stopped changing the names of our schools or allowed kids from the hood to attend the better schools in the city. I would believe that the TEA or AISD cared about our children if some of the programs that you and I had when we were in school were still in place. Where we are now, my daughter isn’t treated like a statistic or a number on a piece of paper.
I have seen the city change significantly over the years. The growth has brought about many challenges that must be addressed. Affordability issues, the exodus of the black population, and traffic congestion are just a few of the problems that must be tackled to ensure that Austin remains a vibrant, inclusive, and livable city.
As someone who loves this city, I hope that Austin can find a way to balance its growth and development with its residents' needs and preserve our unique culture and history. Only by working together can we ensure that Austin remains a place where people of all backgrounds can thrive and where the city's identity and character are preserved for generations to come.
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