Local elections pit Old Austin versus New

This year’s municipal elections in Austin are an apt case study of a generational and ideological conflict that has become central to urban politics in America’s largest and fastest-growing cities. In races across Austin, where the median home price is now north of $600,000, younger candidates calling for changes to the city’s notoriously restrictive zoning code to allow for more housing have faced off against older challengers more reluctant to change the “character” of established single-family neighborhoods. The battle over housing overlaps with a simultaneous battle over environmentalism. On one side there is an older generation of environmentalists who cut their teeth fighting to protect Austin’s natural resources, most notably the city’s iconic Barton Springs, and are instinctively skeptical of new development, making them natural allies of neighborhood associations.

On the other side is a younger generation of activists who see dense development as key to reducing sprawl and car dependence. The latter view tall, mixed-use developments as an unqualified environmental asset that makes it easier for people to get around by foot, bike, or public transit. In the city’s November election, candidates who ran in support of allowing more apartments and other types of low-cost housing finished first in the races for mayor and five council seats. In four races, however, these candidates secured less than 50 percent of the vote, setting up runoffs on December 13. In two of these contests—the mayoral race and a race for a city council district that covers many of the most desirable neighborhoods in Central Austin––the older generation is still fighting to keep change at bay. Kirk Watson, who was already mayor of Austin from 1997 to 2001 and served 14 years as a state senator, is hardly an anti-growther. In fact, his record-smashing fundraising this year reflects the support he enjoys from the city’s real estate and business community. But Watson is also supported by the neighborhood activists and Boomer environmentalists who have fought tooth-and-nail against changes to the city’s land use regulations. How do we explain this apparent contradiction? To Watson, the contradiction is central to his brand as a consensus-builder. He owes his political career to striking a compromise between conservationists and developers. On one hand, Watson pushed policies as mayor to discourage development in a large swath of West and Southwest Austin to protect Barton Springs.