Every so often some controversy brings the incompetence of UT Student Government into brilliant relief. Twenty years have passed since the idea for a student regent was first proposed, and a far-fetched proposal is all that remains.
Every two years, the eager beavers in the assembly put on their Sunday best, saunter on down to the Capitol and with no votes, no money, nothing of importance to the vast majority of the Legislature, they get a commemorative coffee cup and another notch in the "L" column.
The SG has missed another opportunity in opposing the University Neighborhood Overlay (UNO).
West Campus is a mess. A rat hole owned by a slum lord in the area costs twice as much as a brand new apartment on East Riverside.
West Campus development has been kept to a minimum, the demand for housing to outstrip supply, opening the door for landlords to charge higher prices while providing fewer services. Everyone else has been flung to the outskirts of Austin, adding to Austin's traffic and pollution problems, or into neighborhoods intended for families who really don't appreciate drunken college students. It's a bad situation for students, and it's a bad situation for our neighbors.
The solution, anyone with any experience in city planning will tell you, is to dramatically increase the number of units in West Campus. Supply will surpass demand causing prices to fall.
UNO, which passed unanimously last night, does exactly that. The plan would rezone West Campus to allow for the building of high-rise apartments with retail outlets on the ground floors, a realization of "mixed use development" that characterizes some of our most livable cities such as Manhattan and Vancouver. It would spruce up the streetscapes while bringing back students forced to live in single-family neighborhoods or far from campus.
SG executives and assembly have the wrong priorities in opposing rezoning. They are mired in the mindset of a high school Student Council that decides where the bunting will hang during homecoming. They glance at the plan, jump to some rather unreasonable conclusions and begin hysterically decrying how expensive it will be for students to find good housing.
Their biggest hissy fit seems to be over the relative lack of parking in the design. This is not an oversight - the whole idea behind mixed use development is that people won't need cars. Students can walk, bike or take public transportation wherever they need to go. Most students (including myself) come from the twin wastelands of Dallas or Houston where you have to drive everywhere. SG needs to slap itself out of that mind-set and think Tokyo or Toronto. Traffic will be considerably less, pollution will decrease, and we will create a vibrant, compact community that is characterized by creativity, not by sprawl.
UNO will build hundreds of more units throughout West Campus, driving down the cost of housing and improving the quality of life of students in the area. A diverse array of retail, entertainment and employment opportunities as well as the university will be within walking distance of brand new, affordable apartments.
Yet SG pulled out all the stops to try and stop this plan. For once, it is a good thing that SG is so bad at convincing our elected officials of anything.
We may not be able to get a student regent in any of the last 10 legislatures, but at least we will finally have affordable housing close to campus.
Dobbs is a history junior, former SG student services committee director and member of the University Democrats.
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