Austin dam had been constructed with the aim of holding back floodwaters of Colorado River, providing power and promote industrial growth in Austin. On April 7, 1900, the dam’s walls broke as the dam could no longer hold the force of water flowing into it causing loss of millions of properties and lives as well. Austin city was left on debt as the city had invested around 1.4 billion dollars on the project (Auyero, 2015). The event explains why Austin remained underdeveloped for decades, but on the other hand, the event shaped the city into what it is today, a thriving high-tech center dubbed as “Silicon Valley.” The failing of Austin Dam helps us understand America’s Urbanism and Industrial growth in a broader way.
Austin became an exceptional place with tolerant people, thriving economy, natural landscape, and creative energy drawing more people to settle in Austin metropolitan area. By around 2012 the population was approximately 1.8 million people in the area. Another success was the expansion of wealth and the growth of economic possibilities. The income earned by median citizens in 2010 was 2.2 percent higher than that the state’s average and 3.5 percent lower compared to the nation’s average (Auyero, 2015). Austin’s per capita income was 17.4 percent and 32.1 percent greater than Texas’ and national’s standard respectively. The measure of wealth made Austin to not hover along the average cities anymore.
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The cost of living in Austin has become expensive over the last decades displacing the average working-class residents and families who could not afford the exorbitant cost of living leaving the high-income earner to settle down there. The new Austin is different from the old Austin as it was the home of slackers, musicians, and creatives (Auyero, 2015). Austin is a city known for its weirdness and tolerant people from the phrase “Keep Austin Weird” and is characterized by its cultural diversity and nonconforming quirkiness.
Austin is among the cities that support the creative classes which include development and research, music, art, technology-based industries, and culture. Besides these, there are knowledge-based careers like law and finance. According to Florida creative class leads to the growth of the state's economy thus developing the place. In 2010, Austin creative industries earned 4 billion dollars in the economic sector in (Auyero, 2015). Even though original classes boost the economy, it had its drawbacks. Poorly paid people like musicians and artist in the categories did not benefit directly from the programs as they did not make enough money to support themselves. The plan though did favor the high-class group of people in Austin.
Residential segregation and affordable housing explain the disparities that shape Austin as a residential center today. The construction of new apartments barely meets the demand and the cost of housing increases due to the few house vacancies available. In 1979, affordable apartment complexes were built to rent to the low incomes but as the economy developed the complexes were replaced mixed-use development making affordable housing scarce for the low earners (Auyero, 2015). Due to few available workers, Austin developers focused on building Austin a residential mecca as an economic development strategy other than an industrial city. To make Austin a pleasant place to settle, the was the introduction of racial segregation in the neighborhood and the jobs as well for example Hyde Park was the first whites-only community in Austin. Another strategy used was beautification of sidewalks and the streets to make the place more appealing. The Blacks’ population has been declining in Austin since 1800. today only 8 percent of the population is made of the blacks. Austin is one the cities that have experienced high population growth as the Blacks’ population continues declining (Auyero, 2015). Even though bodies like Austin Fair Housing Ordinance were created to stop segregation, the body was later on overturned.
Even though Austin did not develop as an industrial center, there was labor exploitation in the various fields of domestic labor, construction and the technology industries. Slaves provided labor in Austin and hiring of slaves became one of the ways that the Austinites made money. Another instance of slavery was during the building of the city capital. The prisoner from Rusk Penitentially constructed the capital built from red granite (Auyero, 2015). The contractors also hired stonecutters to cut granite and were paid meager wages. The capitol was then opened officially on May 16, 1888. In April 2013 a story on exploitation the construction workers in Texas were unveiled. The prominent concern was on wage theft where workers complained of partial or no payment. The construction companies gave the labor to undocumented laborers who were paid in cash as independent contractors (Auyero, 2015). The companies avoid paying income tax by doing this, and the companies were not liable for any accidents the worker incurred during the construction.
In conclusion, the failure of Austin dam construction has developed Austin city into a high-tech center. Cases of segregation, inequality of social status and the support creative classes have developed the city. After the civil war, Austin became a city of its own been one of the few cities in Texas that had a railway line Austin became a trading center. Austin became the capital city of Texas 1870 and became one of Texas’ political towns. The town also developed as an educational center with the first colleges Normal Institute and Tillotson Collegiate. There was no racism even though the university was considered a Blacks university hence explaining how Austin came to be.
References
Auyero, J. (2015). Invisible in Austin Life and Labor in an American City: Austin: University of Texas Press.
