Page Two: Vote Yes on Prop 1

I YAM WHAT I YAM AN' THA'S ALL I YAM – Popeye

I'm proud to be a "Miserable Austin Hippie" (MAH), especially high on my community, and I don't plan to change. Once again in ignorance we have smote progress, out of self-importance voted wrong. And we've been at it a very long time.

Just two-and-a-half decades back, there we were, insisting on strict environmental restrictions in order to protect our community. The scorn was heaped on. We were told that the MAHs were going to destroy the economy and wreck the city. By insisting on these strict standards we would destroy the real estate market. Folks wouldn't move to Austin because we were overprotective and overregulated. By championing Save Our Springs and similar legislation we were destroying the city. Almost consciously.

As some of us kind of predicted, restricted growth led to a lot of the real estate interests opposed to the environmental community in general, and these regulations in particular, getting even richer. The amount of land that could be developed was limited, making each house built, especially in certain places, that much more valuable. The city stayed largely green (though we lost lots of battles) and prospered. In our selfish ignoring of what was best for the real estate community (if you just asked them), we were crafting the kind of community in which it turned out many people desired to live.

Then, of course, it was the fault of us MAHs because these very restrictions limited development and drove the cost of housing up.  Which drove lower- and middle-income people out of the city. Not just anti-business and -real estate but anti- the working poor and affordable housing. To some people we were all things bad.

The argument was sound. Housing became more expensive. Affordable housing more difficult to find. What some of us couldn't figure out was if you had unrestricted growth and the environment was damaged why would anyone want to move here? Regardless of their income.

Then we damn MAHs insisted on keeping Austin weird, loving our culture and supporting local businesses. How myopic: protecting the environment, championing our quality of life, slamming big-box retail.

Again it was widely assumed that those of us who led with our hearts on our sleeve had no brains nor real caring for other people. Certainly we didn't understand business.

Except the economy is not destroyed. Turns out preserving the environment and quality of life serves a city well – perhaps, if anything, encouraging too much growth. Over 100 people a day are moving here. Occupancy rates are at historic highs ... ominous signs given that the execution of Austin by do-gooders is almost into its fourth decade as a take-it-to-the-bank prediction. Especially nefarious is that all indicators argue against this reading. Which slows its advocates down not at all.

Oh Hallelujah, Sturm und Drang, we've really done it this time! There is a cross-cultural attack on us MAHs – anti-labor, anti-innovation, anti-big business, anti-small business, pro-nanny government, all the while lighting joints with rolled up one-hundred-dollar bills. Again we have screwed the pooch. Again there is no turning back. Ohhh doom, ohhh disaster, the end is near, the sky is falling right now, and we must be too stoned to notice it. Again in the name of ideology (integrity, community, the electoral process) the MAHs have denied the deep-pocketed what they wanted. Beware, beware the curse. Silicon Valley is not going to invest in Austin. The high-tech industry is going to die. We've doomed Austin again. Ohhh boogity boogity!

You know after all this time, we really would be so proud of ourselves if we weren't well aware that our vigilance in protecting this city, in loving this city almost beyond reason, is the most fertile soil for those elements to flourish that really may be damaging it.

Uber and Lyft have left. Sure, we said that they probably would, it seemed crucial to their bullying example-making political strategy. But best to just deny that as another way of attacking us, "I'm sorry that you and the Chronicle staff bought into the false narrative that the TNCs were bluffing about leaving. Now you're calling them whiny spoiled brats for doing exactly what they said they were going to do. The only whiny spoiled brats left in this room are the Chronicle staff." For the record we've been whiny spoiled brats – well, according to this writer at least – since long before Uber was a glimmer in an entrepreneur's eye.

Not just locally but nationally the pundits are weighing in. Ignoring the actual circumstances, they seem delighted to have discovered a termite's nest of aggressive leftie Luddites deep in the heart of Texas. There are any number of swell considerations of the recent turmoil all wildly endorsed by those who agree with what is being said.

There is a reasoned one by a high-tech CEO who just voted in the last election for the first time. Ignoring all the concerns, she lays out the argument in favor. Turns out you'd have to be mentally handicapped to vote against Prop 1. Then she offers tweets from those in California who will now turn their back on Austin. Sure they will. And isn't this what at least some of us have been hoping for? An earnest discussion drained of controversy is charmingly lighter than air.

My favorite (no link here, find it on your own) is a piece in the National Review by an author who just can't stand Austin. He writes: "Given a choice between annoying its long-established transit cartels and confirming itself as second-rate, Austin voted for second-rate." He points out that we used to want to be Berkeley but now want to be Brooklyn. Desires that are fantastic acts of his imagination, which oddly isn't really on display in the rest of the piece. In conclusion he goes for the jugular: "People in Austin apparently cannot trust themselves to make those kinds of decisions. They're second-rate, and they know it." WRONG! If, as one assumes, his writing and thought represent first-rate, I argue we are at least 15th- and maybe 20th-rate. A ballerina of a writer, he primes and prances, admiring himself in the mirror, disdaining all others; he even manages to work in a shot at Hillary.

Slammed so viciously. In the National Review. With Silicon Valley against us. Will we ever recover? Actually, how many of us will notice? Good Gosh Penrod, we're not in Kansas anymore. Of course, we never were. We were in Austin, Texas. And we still are.

And oh God with the loss of Uber and Lyft, why, it is going to be worse than transgender bathrooms and voter fraud.

This too shall pass. Probably unfortunately Austin will continue to grow. As much as anything because it so clearly articulates and is so proud of its identity. Those of us who love this city have long fought for it and will not stop, will continue to be derided. We are anti- almost anything good and decent. And a note: There are a lot of people who love this city just as much and fight for it just as hard who share not one opinion with this column. What I'm noting here is that the anti-progressive rant has changed little over the years, ignoring real city consequences.

Okay, when Uber and Lyft are back, which they will be: One, their model doesn't work unless they are everywhere, and two, if nothing else the Legislature will happily beat up on Austin. It is easier than governing. While the high-tech industry grows, as Austin's overall, unprecedented growth continues, they will be as viciously attacking us as ever. After all it is more than a hobby, less than a livelihood. They will be too busy chastising us for being wrong and misguided on some new issue to look back. With all the confidence and assurance they have brought to the table, again and again, damning the socialist, communist, communalist, tree-hugging Miserable Austin Hippies. A chosen clan that I couldn't be prouder to belong to. Long may we continue to get damn near everything wrong. More often than not it's proven to be right in the past.