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| 129 5 The story of east Austin has been a remarkable example of development rhetoric in action. At one point, east Austin was considered a dangerous place. Many years ago, I found myself sitting in an apartment hunter’s office in Austin, Texas. The agent had spread open a large map in order to show me the neighborhoods in Austin where affordable housing could be found. “Of course,” he said, “you don’t want to live east of I-35.” He pointed to the highway on the map, and then to the neighborhoods running east of the thin line representing the freeway. “It’s just not a very nice place to live.” I would later hear the same kind of warning many other times throughout my years in Austin. Even after I rented a house on the East Side, friends would take comfort in knowing that I was not living “too far east.” No signs announce the East Side as a bad place. However, this rhetoric works its way into the ordinary speech of many Austinites, whether they are working for or against such a description. As one longtime resident put it, “East Austin has a connotation that doesn’t have so much to do with directions” (Jackson 70). Long before I stepped foot into that apartment hunter’s office, the East The Good and the Bad GENTRIFICATION AND EQUIVALENCE CLAIMS Where it breaks Austin into two unequal sides, The sun, declining, dazzles on the Interstate. —Wayne Pounds, “I-35 Seen from Manor Road; or, All Austin is divided into two unequal parts” 130 | THE GOOD AND THE BAD Side’s imaginary as “not a very nice place” unfolded in everyday discourse for local citizens and beyond. In 1984, the Guardian Angels conducted a “test patrol” in east Austin. Founder Curtis Sliwa told reporters that he wanted to “determine whether crime problems in east-side neighborhoods are as bad as he has been told.” Journalist Robert Jensen remembers that even the most consciously antiracist Austinites circulate this rhetoric. “When I came here in 1992,” says Jensen, “well-intentioned white liberals, colleagues of mine here at the University of Texas, quickly advised me don’t bother looking for a house on the east side of the interstate. These were people who thought of themselves as anti-racist, thought of themselves as liberal” (“East Austin Gentrification”). Without a doubt, east Austin was different from the rest of the city. According to the 2000 census, median household income for East Side residents was $15,678 versus $48,950 for the rest of Austin. Over 40 percent made less than $20,000 per year, and almost 60 percent made less than $30,000. East Austin’s unemployment rate hovered at 12.5 percent versus 4 percent for the other sections of Austin. The East Side’s ethnic makeup also failed to mirror other parts of the city. Residents were 58.9 percent Hispanic and 30.7 percent African-American. Today, gentrification in east Austin is visible nearly everywhere you look. As more people began moving into Austin, real estate prices soared to almost unaffordable levels. Central Austin and south Austin quickly became hip and desirable. The last remaining space of affordable housing was on the East Side, where houses could be purchased for a mere fraction of what similar houses would cost only a few miles away. In my old neighborhood on the East Side, the median sale price of a house in 2000 was $77,000. In five years, the median home price rose to $195,000. This marked a 250 percent increase in sale prices, which affects the property taxes of all houses in the surrounding area (Gregor). When I visited my old neighborhood after moving away for several years, I was surprised by the cultural transformation of east Austin from a “no-go area” to a haven of hipness. People suddenly proclaimed their love for the area and its culture scene. One national story covered the “extreme makeover ” of east Austin, “from a heritage of taquerias and party shops to upscale condos and bars galore” (Smithson). The upbeat news story features a recent University of Texas graduate, who declared, “I love living over here. Walking down any given street, you run into a thirtysomething hip crowd, although we did have drug dealers living close by at one point. It’s prime real estate . . . and the culture makes the whole experience that much...

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