‘ Keep Austin Weird’

‘ Keep Austin Weird’

Former Austin mayor Will Wyatt urges West Memphis to promote itself at Governor’s Tourism Conference

news@theeveningtimes.com

When Will Wyatt took office as mayor in Austin, Texas in 2003, the dot.com boom had gone bust, and the city’s high tech companies like Motorola, Samsung, and Dell were laying off thousands of workers.

Austin found itself facing a $70 million budget deficit. Its downtown was a ghost town. The Chamber of Commerce wasn’t talking to the City Council.

And suddenly, Austin, which had been a destination for job seekers and companies looking to relocate, found itself having to go the traditional route of economic development and out go out and hunt for jobs and try to attract more young adults.

“For 15 years, Austin was growing with no invitation from the body politic,” Wyatt said.

In an effort to turn things around, Austin’s leadership adopted a novel new approach to economic development, the “3 T’s” — Technology. Talent. and Tolerance.

A new campaign called “Keep Austin Weird” sought to capitalize on Austin’s reputation as the “live music capital of the world. Two new music festivals — South by Southwest and Austin City Limits — were organized and began attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors. Downtown experienced a residential boom.

And a tolerant civic culture which turned a blind eye to recreational marijuana use helped Austin grow to become the 11th largest city in the country and become the top destination for highly educated 25 to 43 year-olds.

“More 25 to 34 year-olds move to Austin than any city in America,” Wyatt said.

Wyatt was the keynote speaker at the Governor’s Conference on Tourism which was held this week at Southland Gaming and Racing, and told the attendees about Austin’s successful “Keep Austin Weird” campaign and tips about how Arkansas can better brand itself and attract more tourists and new young talent to the state.

Wyatt said Austin did three things to spur the turnaround. They took the traditional Chamber of Commerce approach to economic development and tried to recruit companies to the city. Secondly, they focused on growing their convention and tourism business. The third leg of the stool concentrated on the cultural arts, which is where “Keep Austin Weird” came about.

They organized the Southwest music festival and Austin City Limits festival. They waived fees for movies to film in Austin.

They took out a $100 million bond to expand the convention center.

Meanwhile, he was also flying to Seoul, South Korea to try and get Samsung

to expand its plant in

Austin.

“We were still doing the traditional stuff other cities were doing,” Wyatt said.

“But we focused on other things like “Keep Austin Weird.”

Wyatt said he was inspired by a book called “The Rise of the Creative Class” by Richard Florida. Florida predicted that the successful cities of the future were going to be the ones that attracted 25 to 34 year-olds or the new “creative class” and singled out Austin.

Florida argued that the old 20th century economic development model of cities building large infrastructure projects to lure industrial companies and then having the jobs follow would be outdated by the 21st century. Houston and Dallas grew mostly by attracting the oil industry.

Instead, Flora predicted it was going to flip-flop. Jobs would follow the people.

So cities, therefore, needed to attract the people.

“It just so happened that we went bust when that was a bestseller,” Wyatt said. “So I read it. And I believed it.”

Austin became the anti-Houston and Dallas. They had no intention of trying to attract big companies that typically polluted. As a result, people looking for the opposite of Houston and Dallas began flocking to Austin with its pristine outdoors in the Texas Hill Country.

“Our underlying premise was that we were not going to build infrastructure and were certainly not interested in polluting,” Wyatt said. “And low and behold, the jobs followed the people. Those 25 to 34 yearolds are the Holy Grail of economic development. If you attract 25 to 34 yearolds, you are doing lots of things right. That means that they are going to have a college degree or two and we have them. And somebody else paid for them.”

Wyatt said what attracts those 25 to 34 year-olds are outdoor recreation — Austin is adding urban bike lanes like crazy live music, and things like leaving marijuana alone.

“Live music, good weather, bike lanes, and policies that just feel tolerant — you don’t have to be some crazy liberal town.

Just public policies that treat people fairly, that kind of stuff,” Wyatt said. “The kids figure it out. The jobs follow the people. And the answer always ends up being places like Austin.”

Wyatt said the impact of the live music industry on Austin can not be understated from a marketing standpoint. The city is home to 8,000 working musicians, has 250 live music venues — most in the downtown — and employs 22,000 people.

“You can’t swing a dead calf without hitting a musician in Austin,” Wyatt said.

“They are an industry cluster all to themselves. And it showed almost immediately the results.

Wyatt said Austin is the largest city in the United States that doesn’t have a professional baseball, basketball, hockey, or football team — and that’s fine with them.

“Live music is our major league sports,” Wyatt said.

“Instead of dropping $500 to take your family to an NBA game in a stadium you probably own as a taxpayer that some billionaire owns, why not instead drop $10 twice a month and pay a cover charge to see some live music and support a couple of musicians and local businesses? Live music should remain our major league sports franchise.”

Wyatt said the best thing Austin ever did while he was mayor was to pass a controversial smoking ban in the downtown. He admits that he wasn’t for the ban at first because he worried it would lead to the collapse of the live music scene, but it turned out to have the exact opposite effect.

Overnight, residents who avoided the downtown music venues because of the smoke, suddenly started coming downtown.

“The number of live music venues has probably doubled since the smoking ban has been in place,” Wyatt said. “It was the best damn thing we ever did. There isn’t a week that goes by where there isn’t something going on.”

Austin’s once empty downtown now has the four tallest buildings in Texas.

Facebook has an office in downtown Austin. Google just opened a 200,000 square foot office in the downtown. Apple quietly has 3,000 employees in Austin. Amazon has 1,000 employees and residents are scared to death that the on-line retail giant will pick Austin for its second headquarters.

Wyatt said Austin has also become a victim of its own success. Traffic is bad and they can’t keep up with the housing demand which is causing some to be priced out of the market. And every 25 year-old wants to move there, and is, job or no job.

“It’s a double-edged sword of how to maintain the things that attracted you to your home to begin with and has kept you in your home all these years, while at the same time having big opportunities with branding,” Wyatt said.

But the overall strategy has worked. The jobs have followed the people. To Austin.

“Now Austin’s job formulation is that it still does this other stuff that is traditional looking in economic development, but they’re not calling up any of these technology companies.

Those companies are coming to Austin because they are following the kids. And the kids are already there.”

Wyatt joked that if those 25-to-34 year-olds knew how beautiful Arkansas is, then they might start picking Arkansas over Austin.

“I tell people all the time, if Austin looked as good as Arkansas naturally speaking as the majority of Arkansas does, we would have a problem on our hands with Arkansas,” Wyatt said.

He said Arkansas tourism should capitalize on the outdoor activities and natural scenery to market the state’s distinct geographic regions which appeal to young adults who are in to outdoor leisure.

“Arkansas has gorgeous scenery. You still have free running clear rivers. You have good air quality,” Wyatt said. “If they saw some of the sights you all have, they might not move to Austin.”

By Mark Randall