AFS Cinema
Future Isn't Pretty
RECEIVED Tue., Aug. 2, 2005
Dear Editor,
I have just come back to Texas from a long and strange diversion in Las Vegas. It is not what you think: Gambling, showgirls, and quicky marriages are just a mirage. It is hyper capitalism. It is dense smog forming from clear blue skies in less than 10 years, homeless people being given bus tickets to other towns so the newbies do not have to see them, one of the most beautiful valleys I have ever seen completely destroyed by an insatiable greed, it is the mountains that surround that valley being topped-off like shrubs so they can fit just one more vacation home. It is "communities" with fences and guards, where no one knows anyone else. No one knows the history, the beauty, the ecosystem. Profit is the only answer. Why am I telling you this. Well, I'm back and I see more people on one street here that care about their community than there are in the entire city I came from. But I also see the developers with their claws in every corner of the city and when they are in the game they have the ball. A lot of letters last week lamented the change in attitude here recently. Let me tell you as someone who is back with fresh eyes, the changes have just begun and it is going to take a lot more than bumper stickers to keep Austin weird. This is not to be construed as an insult to the activist community, more as a warning to everyone who thinks that it can't happen here. Check the back of this paper, the development is in full swing with very little chance of even slowing.
I have just come back to Texas from a long and strange diversion in Las Vegas. It is not what you think: Gambling, showgirls, and quicky marriages are just a mirage. It is hyper capitalism. It is dense smog forming from clear blue skies in less than 10 years, homeless people being given bus tickets to other towns so the newbies do not have to see them, one of the most beautiful valleys I have ever seen completely destroyed by an insatiable greed, it is the mountains that surround that valley being topped-off like shrubs so they can fit just one more vacation home. It is "communities" with fences and guards, where no one knows anyone else. No one knows the history, the beauty, the ecosystem. Profit is the only answer. Why am I telling you this. Well, I'm back and I see more people on one street here that care about their community than there are in the entire city I came from. But I also see the developers with their claws in every corner of the city and when they are in the game they have the ball. A lot of letters last week lamented the change in attitude here recently. Let me tell you as someone who is back with fresh eyes, the changes have just begun and it is going to take a lot more than bumper stickers to keep Austin weird. This is not to be construed as an insult to the activist community, more as a warning to everyone who thinks that it can't happen here. Check the back of this paper, the development is in full swing with very little chance of even slowing.
Britton Jorgensen
