The story of an attempt to revive a 24-room hotel/motel along Congress Avenue in Austin highlights the challenges of turning old and historic urban buildings into successful ventures. The plan was to redo the hotel room by room and make it an attractive place close to downtown, but the marketing nightmare and low-income customers made the plan fall apart.
Hear how Silicon Valley was built upon a culture of revolutionary ideas, and how that culture continues to influence the area today through companies like Tesla and SpaceX, and an overall attitude of kindness and creativity.
The speaker talks about valuing the neighborhood feel and cohesion in Austin and how he got to know the city through annually attending South by Southwest. He enjoys exploring all the various nooks and crannies of the city and getting involved.
The speaker moved to Austin in May 2020 during the pandemic with his girlfriend and three cats, due to wanting to be around like-minded people. He has since found the experience to be positive, meeting new people such as Tim Ferriss.
The speaker talks about how they fell in love with Austin, but ended up getting a job in the Bay Area. However, after nearly 20 years, they found themselves getting caught up in platitudes and decided to move to Long Island for a change of pace.
The idea of startup cities being built from the ground up is being followed and it is believed that individuals who form their own cities under the principle of subsidiarity should be given freedom to construct a city as per their desire. Atherton is an example of a weird place where a new apartment complex is unlikely to be constructed.