Many of you fail to see the obvious. Yes there are kids acting stupid on any given night down on 6th street. Yes the bars don't normally close early during large events (SXSW, ACL, Halloween, Mardi Gras, etc...). But what happens if an incident occurs on any given night and a large group of random people have to be "detained" by the Austin police. Lets say someone even gets hurt. You might read about it the next day in the Statesman. Now flip that and say that it happens on a night after the Texas Relays when the crowds on 6th are predominately black. Say a big fight breaks out and they have to be controlled by the police and someone gets hurt. This becomes an instant **** storm with every single minority rights group in the state of Texas and the United States. You read about it on CNN, FOXnews, MSNBC, and every single newspaper still in publication. I don't blame a single establishment for making the decision to close early.
Come on now we all know Put alot of teenagers in an area = troubles Put a bunch of black teenagers in an area ... well shiet! you better get da F OUT! why do blacks keep on complaining? everybody knows why they get these treatments geez.....
I don't see what the big deal is. But then again, I did go to law school in the 3rd Ward. Being surrounded by black people no longer really freaks me out.
My only problem with the weekend was the traffic. I probably sat in more traffic this weekend than in my entire 10 years in Austin. We had a benefit to go to on Sat. night at Speakeasy's. It took us over an hour to get there from Round Rock.
Actually, I think this might be the best response (the bolded part). Cops have said there is no more crime than when other big events are in town, but during those times some people don't look out and see what they deem to be "thug culture" (rims, grills, loud music, etc). Take the videos someone posted from the mall for example....it looked bad but it really wasn't that bad (just going off what the video showed). But I'm sure some here saw those clips and were like "no way would I go around those folks", etc. So yes, I can see a mall losing money because their regular shoppers won't come then....but that doesn't make it right. But as you say, you are no longer freaked out by being around a lot of black people. Again, I'm basing all of this on there being no crime increase during that time, in comparison to other big events.
The issue is not crime - its crowd control. Why have a business open if people can't drive there because the roads are packed, and if they happen to get there, can't enter or exit because the place is blocked by loiterers? The parts you didn't bold: Chris Noble, commander of the Police Department's North Bureau, which includes downtown Austin and Highland Mall, said the biggest problems during Texas Relays weekend are the size of the crowd and vehicle traffic. "Our biggest issue was traffic," he said. "Thousands of cars descend on the area and want to drive around in circles." ... The Texas Relays, SXSW and Mardi Gras all draw fairly similar-sized crowds downtown, Noble said, though music festival revelers tend to be inside bars and clubs while Relays visitors tend to be out in the streets. Mardi Gras has a mix of both, Noble said.
What does that have to do with the mall closing? I can see a bar on 6th street maybe, but not a mall. Actually, I can't even see the bar on 6th closing....because I can't see how they wouldn't normally have more business on that weekend. I have gone to tons or relays and while there are lots of kids, there are still plenty of adults who like to drink. Additionally, the mall closed citing safety reasons....when that has proven to be bogus.
I agree on the mall - I'm not sure what happened there, though they claimed their added security wasn't available. If they normally have the same crime despite much higher security, then having normal security would portend potentially higher crime. And the video from last year shows many individual stores in the mall closing for security reasons. But as far as 6th Street goes, look at my earlier post about the Alamo. I was there - the bars were empty. No one could get inside. No one that normally goes to 6th Street was there because it was nightmare both to get there and be there. It was nothing like ACL or SXSW. You just had thousands of people - mostly kids - wandering the streets aimlessly. I have a business about 8 blocks from 6th Street. If we were on 6th, I would have closed.
I see what you are saying about the bars. But as far as the mall (the bolded part), I watched the same videos...and I didn't see any security issues. I saw a bunch of kids who looked "thuggish" (i.e. dressed in todays typical urban style) walking around in stores, or some clowning in stores. I didn't recall anyone trying to steal anything. I may be wrong though. I will go watch them again.
Austin is a racist town. The people may be educated, bike riding, vegetarians but they are also happen to be very scared of Black people. At least that's how it appeared to me. It's one of the reasons I moved back to Houston.
In a similar fashion, I could watch a video of a pack of hungry coyotes roaming around peacefully in the desert and conclude that the situation does not present a danger. Of course I'd be wrong about that. Obviously I'm not comparing AA's to coyotes, but you get the point.
I don't think it's racist at all. I think it's an issue of teenagers and broke people. It's not that they are black, it's that they aren't your upper middle class buyers. I doubt the mall would want to close if Jay-Z and his entourage came to town, they'd be all for it. It's about the $. They're probably still going about this the wrong way though. How easy would it be for these clubs to have hip hop week or teenage night during the relays? There's money to be made, they just haven't figured it out. Now, i have seen some borderline racist comments in this thread and i don't doubt some of the business owners in Austin are racist. But, don't think a racist won't take your money, because they will, in a heartbeat.
lol @ austin being a racist town. who is more racist to you the whites? the hispanics? the asians? also...i do like how you call the people in austin racist and follow it up with a nice stereotype of your own...lol. maybe you shouldn't view all white people as bike riding soy eating punk loving racists.
i remember one time we were playing ball over at gregory gym and this one japanese guy threatened to go back to his car to get his gun and shoot us after he got fouled hard....rofl.
Sorry - should have clarified. I saw the video in some article not on this site. The commentary there had said that stores closed last year due to security issues, but that's not necessarily in the video. It was a sort of blog article somewhere, so I can't confirm how accurate that is.
I would agree with this point if more arrests were occuring because of all those people, but since there were less arrests then ya would see at other big events, then I would say the danger card is pure bs. Real danger...pure bs....customers feeling threatened because they see a bunch of urban kids around....well that's a different story.
Sorry for not bolding all relevant information, I was just trying to point out that Relays was markedly less violent than it was made out to be by some. I don't know deny that large gatherings of people, no matter what race they are, especially if alcohol is mixed in, are recipes for crime. Emo's closing early is strange, considering they have prime location on a weekend when money is to be made. However, I do find it a little suspect that Highland would close so early. I look at it like others do; more people/foot traffic means a higher chance of increased business. If I had to put up with a few loiterers, so long as no theft occurred, I'd be fine. From a business perspective, you want to be where the people are, not force them out. In regards to traffic, I see where the police department comes from. Driving around Austin was insane this weekend. I just stayed in my neighborhood and really had no desire to drive anywhere. Then again, that's usually my mindset here as things clog up so badly on the main arteries in town.
