Decible Debate

I listened for a bit to the mayoral candidate debate last night, and one thing I heard (OK, more than one thing...) seemed so backward. On the subject of Austin as "The Live Music Capital of the World" (a contentious point, anyway), the candidates were asked if the development downtown would cause Austin to stop being the mecca for live music (sic). All but one said that we must preserve Austin's music scene and relax noise ordinances downtown to give the clubs freedom to operate so that everyone will come downtown to have a good time.

So wrong.

Why create a centralized zone in the city for entertainment? The idea is to create urban nuclei throughout the city so that everyone isn't driving from A to B to C, especially while intoxicated, but rather have A, B and C in their own neighborhoods. Austin's downtown development will bring with it the amount of services it needs. In fact, I would argue from first hand knowledge that making downtown Austin inhospitable to residents via the removal of noise ordinances will cause people to stay away from it, thereby wrecking any real community to support the clubs on more than just the weekends.

Make a special exception for SXSW weeks, sure. But don't provide incentive for bars to only open downtown or Austin will end up one giant suburban sprawl.