

With Porches and Parks, a Texas Community Aims for Urban Utopia - rbanffy
http://www.npr.org/2015/02/12/385474414/with-porches-and-parks-a-texas-community-aims-for-urban-utopia

======
HarryHirsch
That's nice. But does it have supermarkets, cafes, physicians and schools
within walking distance? The article omits to say.

This is important. When Lisbon expanded in the 1960s the newly built-up areas
were designed so that primary schools and churches were always within walking
distance, as these were the centers of community. And apartment blocks had
shops on the ground floor.

~~~
tylerhobbs
> And apartment blocks had shops on the ground floor.

This is one of my favorite features of the Mueller area: the apartments do
have shops on the ground floor. I actually live in a live-work unit in one of
the apartments. My wife and I live upstairs, and she runs a hair salon on the
ground floor below our unit. The other shops nearby include a small
convenience/grocery store, a chiropractor, a shared-work space, restaurants, a
small gym, etc.

The shops on the ground floor really improve the quality of the area, so I'm
glad that Austin is finally pushing for more of this.

------
vmarsy
the second part link:

[http://www.npr.org/2015/02/13/385495327/a-community-takes-
on...](http://www.npr.org/2015/02/13/385495327/a-community-takes-on-racial-
tensions-once-hidden-under-the-surface)

~~~
throwitaway77
While I think that there may in fact be racial issues still going on, I feel
like the "smoking gun" stat they gave of a shrinking African-American
population isn't quite that simple.

[http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/austin-city-limits-
popul...](http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/austin-city-limits-population-
growth/)

------
6stringmerc
Wait, East of Highway 35? Really?

So where are they planning to have the gun shop? After a couple years of
living down there I knew which parts of town weren't ideal after dark.
That's...kind of not where I'd pick to live. There's a reason demand is more
out West of the City rather than East.

Mixed income housing reads nice on paper. I wish I was kidding, but I get the
feeling that crime in that area might be an issue.

~~~
blakeja
It is a serious issue there, I would need to dig it up, but at one time one of
the most crime infested blocks in all of Austin is just right around the
corner from that place (north of 183, between Lamar and 35). Drive around some
the surrounding neighborhoods, quickly becomes evident what state that part of
town is in.

~~~
techpeace
Yeah, calling Rundberg "right around the corner" from Mueller is a bit of a
stretch. Most of central Austin would fall under that generous definition.

------
giarc
I live in a similar neighbourhood (garages in the back with alley ways, and
front porches) and there are a lot more kids playing then some neighbourhoods,
but I feel like that has more to do with the people than the built
environment.

As well, that mock up look likes incredibly dense, which I know they said is
intentional. However I would rather see a move to larger yards than smaller.
And I'm sure firefighters would agree with me.

~~~
brudgers
Fire Departments tailor each station's equipment to the area it serves. They
train their staff based on the situations they are likely to encounter.

In a former life I worked alongside several of the people instrumental in
developing NFPA 13R. Part of that development was that department's
development of a fire hose nozzle "with a spear at the tip". It could be
jambed through the roof of a wood framed structure from the exterior and spray
water into the attic space without causing flashover.

In recent years, many fire departments have focused their political efforts on
requiring domestic fire sprinklers in new one and two family dwellings and the
major US model code - _International Residential Code_ \- has required this in
the last several editions. Multi-family dwellings have required sprinkler
systems for at least a generation.

Incidentally, the approximately 3000 fire deaths in dwellings pales in
comparison to fatalities from falls (or for that matter self-inflicted
gunshots or automobile collissions). Falling asleep while smoking is the most
prevalent cause of a fatal fire in a dwelling.

~~~
rogerbinns
The number of fires has been going down over time, although the number of
firefighters haven't. They do have to be close enough to fires, so can't
decline as much. The overall declines are however good from a quality of human
life perspective.

US Fire administration stats showing ~20% declines in the last decade:
[http://www.usfa.fema.gov/data/statistics/](http://www.usfa.fema.gov/data/statistics/)

Firefighters don't fight fires "Over the past 35 years, the number of fires in
the United States has fallen by more than 40% while the number of career
firefighters has increased by more than 40%". Shows false alarms, medical
calls etc.
[http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/07/fir...](http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/07/firefighters-
dont-fight-fires.html)

British analysis - Explaining the steep decline in the frequency of fires
[http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/explaining-the-steep-
de...](http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/explaining-the-steep-decline-in-
the-frequency-of-fires.aspx)

------
cphuntington97
I encourage anyone interested in this subject to read Jan Gehl's Life Between
Buildings: Using Public Space [http://amzn.to/1Cpbe3u](http://amzn.to/1Cpbe3u)

------
angersock
And they're all made out of ticky tacky

And they all look just the same.

~~~
techpeace
Actually, the area hired a number of leading architects to design the homes.
Different subdivisions have similar feels, but I find the houses themselves to
have a quite a bit of variety. I dig 'em.

Of course, you could also just be complaining about the idea of new
development, generally, but all the new folks we keep producing are going to
have to live someplace. I'm a fan of the choices they've made in Mueller so
far.

~~~
angersock
Eh, I'm partial to the sort of haphazard mashup you see in my home city of
Houston, especially inside 610 :)

As for my comment, the second image that you are greeted with by the link is a
nice little diorama of the suggested plan, and sure enough there are neat
little row of unique-but-not-really houses. Here, see for yourself:
[http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2015/02/12/mueller-26_wide-e...](http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2015/02/12/mueller-26_wide-
ee642a9b1c1604ee17d69c94534e28917305e8d9-s800-c85.jpg)

It's very Austin. It's cute, it's quirky, it's artificial, it's done to
attract people looking to move into a "hip" and "liberal" city, all without
that troubling bit about socioeconomic or cultural dynamic range.

It'll make a lot of money for the developers, a lot of homes for happy white
upper-middle-class folks, and probably be bulldozed in thirty years. Let's
just not kid ourselves that it's anything more.

~~~
jefflinwood
Actually, this is one new neighborhood in Austin with a strong affordable
housing component, integrated directly into the neighborhood.

Certain homes in Mueller are income-limited (according to varying levels of
affordability), while others are market rate. You can't necessarily tell from
the outside which are which, so it's actually a little better than another
programs for affordability.

You'd have a stronger argument with most other master-planned communities in
Austin, but Mueller's property was owned by the city of Austin (the former
airport), and the city council at the time set very stringent standards on the
master developer.

That's not to argue that this form of interventionist urban planning is good
or bad, but Mueller simply isn't a market-rate, upper middle class
development.

