Hampton Branch Library
Relax Them Restrictions
RECEIVED Fri., Aug. 4, 2023
Dear Editor,
If you're having trouble affording to live in Austin, last week's letter writer ("The New Benedict Arnold," August 4) has made it very clear that it's not his concern: He's got his, so you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps.
City Council should be commended for relaxing the rigid restrictions that have led our housing market to a full-on affordability crisis, and making a more diverse set of housing situations possible for Austinites. These change will legalize more "missing middle" housing; allow more unrelated people to live together as they start their careers in an unaffordable city; and, by abolishing the parking minimums that have strangled home construction, also decrease permeable cover since developers no longer need to pave more spots than we need. If these changes benefit developers, great: they'll also benefit ordinary people.
If Leslie Pool has opened her eyes to the kind of action we need to address this crisis, perhaps uncompromising preservationists like Mr. Klempner should take it as a sign that putting their neighborhoods under glass and banning change is a losing strategy.
If you're having trouble affording to live in Austin, last week's letter writer ("The New Benedict Arnold," August 4) has made it very clear that it's not his concern: He's got his, so you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps.
City Council should be commended for relaxing the rigid restrictions that have led our housing market to a full-on affordability crisis, and making a more diverse set of housing situations possible for Austinites. These change will legalize more "missing middle" housing; allow more unrelated people to live together as they start their careers in an unaffordable city; and, by abolishing the parking minimums that have strangled home construction, also decrease permeable cover since developers no longer need to pave more spots than we need. If these changes benefit developers, great: they'll also benefit ordinary people.
If Leslie Pool has opened her eyes to the kind of action we need to address this crisis, perhaps uncompromising preservationists like Mr. Klempner should take it as a sign that putting their neighborhoods under glass and banning change is a losing strategy.
Tim McCarthy