The "Keep Austin Weird" Moment That Totally Backfired...

I love Austin, and I love my neighborhood. I have lived here for six and half years (double the length I’ve lived anywhere else) and I have absolutely no desire to move anywhere else. I love living central where I can walk to the original Whole Foods, Book People (the greatest bookstore ever), and the Town Lake (excuse me, Lady Bird Lake) Hike and Bike Trail. All the downtown bars and restaurants are only a four dollar cab ride away, and three of the best breakfast places to cure a hangover are two blocks west of me. I love seeing local businesses, like Tacos and Tequila (yeah, you read that right TACOS and TEQUILA… on tap), succeed and giant corporations, like Walmart, kept out of our neighborhood.

I take a lot of grief from my family for not only moving to Austin, but staying in Austin. I’m pretty sure I disappointed my dad, by deciding to go to school here and not in College Station where his Alma Mater stands. (Okay, disappointed might me the wrong word. I don’t think I disappointed my dad by going to college, I just think he would have been ecstatic if I had become an Aggie instead of a Longhorn.) Every time Austin is brought up by or around my parents, it is followed by a snide remark about how weird this town is. Every time I do something they think is odd, it’s because I live in (or have lived too long) in Austin.

I don’t care. I love Austin.

But!

(Yes, there is always a “but”…)

Something has happened in my neighborhood that makes me think every negative thing my father or mother or anyone has ever said about the capital of Texas might be true.

Now, I know to a lot of people, this might not be a very big deal. In fact, I’m sure many of you will think I’m crazy for even taking the time to write a blog post and draw a picture to explain my hatred of this. But, look into yourself. We all have “things” that get under our skin. We all have pet peeves that we think are very important. I don’t like restaurant that offer you Tabasco, but no salsa. (We live in Texas IHop!!!) I don’t like it when Boyfriend leaves his work gloves all over the house. (Why did his boss buy him 10 pairs of gloves???)

And!

And, I don’t like, neigh I HATE the parking spaces on 6th street you have to back into!!!

So, I’ve used this map before, but here it is again. I live in the small community called Clarksville, which is located just west of downtown. The southern edge of Clarksville is W. 6th street. This isn’t crazy, rowdy, Girls Gone Wild 6th street. Nor, is it “I’m a pretentious douche bag who only downs Vodka Redbulls at Molotav” 6th street. (Please note, That I’m just trying to distinguish between the two very different areas of 6th street bars and not making fun, because –face it- we’ve all been there… multiple times, and who and I to judge…) This area of 6th street is full of specialty art and design shops, restaurants like the original Z-Tejas, and other small businesses like Yoga Studios and drug stores. The street was all hunky dory fine until the City came in and redid the parking spaces.

Like this…Yeah… Let’s talk this one through… 6th Street is one way. This means that anyone who wants to park in these parking spots has to drive past the spot, stop, make sure no one is behind them, and then reverse back into on coming traffic to park in the space. Why make traffic stop when someone is trying to park? Instead why not make the parking spots “slant” the other way, so you can just drive right into one, and then when you are ready to leave, you back out of the space when no one is coming. Really Austin? Why? This just doesn’t seem to make sense, and I promise it is not just my inability to back into parking spaces that makes these parking spaces so frustrating and ridiculous to me. I truly believe this to be a “Keep Austin Weird” moment that has totally backfired.