We’reTexas

Chantereves, imo.

At this point there’s no pretense, people straight up buy fentanyl.

The value is it’s cheap and valuable. Take a walk down the skid row of any major city and you’ll see the repeat customers.

Favorite po boy in town, imo.

I think Odd Duck would for sure get a star. One star is kind of the realm of cool kid chefs not into the austerity of the tasting menu. Two star plus is a different world and those places sort of only exist where Michelin reviews to validate the absurd economics of their existences.

Well, the climate is warmer, but it’s mostly a generational thing from the Robert Parker era. All the cool kids are much lower these days.

Sanford and Benedict, imo.

Pliny the Younger szn, imo.

Cool? I, too, lived in other major American cities before living off west 6th in the early 2010s and had a blast all things considered, though it was a far cry from DC and NYC. My argument was that Austin’s downtown development was, and IMO still is, a good example of the downtown revitalization to diversify from commercial use that occurred in many cities beginning in the 2000s. Some cities failed to do this; San Francisco in particular, and I see the contrast every time I come back to Austin.

I guess I still don’t understand what your argument is, besides some generalized aversion to condos. Downtown Austin has been a pretty impressive case of 2000’s mixed-use residential development, along the lines of River North in Chicago, Financial District in NYC, Little Italy in San Diego, etc, that relies on a demographic that seeks to be close to work, entertainment and public amenities such as parks and has a lesser reliance on cars: affluent singles/DINKs and downsizing empty nesters. Pied-à-terres can be annoying, I suppose, but they come with the territory. All of these neighborhood relied on luxury condos for residential development. You can of course argue Austin lags behind peer cities in some respects but it’s a little hyperbolic to suggest it’s a grocery and retail dead zone.

What US downtown meets your vision of “livable”, out of curiosity?

Duplessis, imo.

This article came out today about where to eat and drink in Monterey and Carmel. It’s an interactive article so wasn’t able to paste the contents.

…did you actually read her bio? You can obviously think what you want about a writer’s bias but I find it quite strange in this instance to stop at “Russian” despite the broader context. Surely you follow Simon Ostrovsky?

Bleak reading from the New Yorker.

Well, Housing First is a pretty good example of the moral hang up in our politics. It’s not a radical concept - W.’s administration adopted it as HUD’s housing policy, for chrissakes. It has shown success, but its successful implementations have shown that it requires substantial and sustained federal and state alignment and investment. But for some reason, conservatives have for years opposed it on some fundamental discomfort with what they perceive to be a handout to enable drug use. Progressives, on the other hand, have pushed initiatives in localities totally unequipped to handle the enormity of the task on the grounds that, despite its practical unfeasibility, it’s the right thing to do (see: basically every major West Coast city). There’s not really a pragmatic conversation going on.

Anyways, back to decriminalization - I found this piece from the latest New Yorker insightful on the Oregon situation. In San Francisco, I’m frequently irritated at our tiny city’s effort to take on economic inequality and drug addiction for the rest of the Northern California, if not the country, so I was interested when Oregon adopted a comprehensive harm reduction approach as an entire state instead of relying on Portland. The article suggests that while there may have been mistakes with Measure 110’s rollback on carceral measures, a huge problem was that the pandemic delayed the rollout of most of its funding until late 2022. Did Measure 110 even have a chance? “A Drug De-Criminalization Fight Erupts in Oregon”

Pretty good article in NYT today comparing San Francisco’s approach to that of Portugal, the model for many progressives of a harm reduction approach.

When we talk about the drug addiction crisis, in my view we are talking about two interrelated but distinct issues: there’s drug addiction as a public health issue and there is drug addiction as a crime and safety issue. The former takes a structural view, while the latter focuses more on agency. For along time the US addressed the problem as a crime and safety issue, and we good urban liberals now wholeheartedly reject the War on Drugs and embrace a structural view of the problem. However, drug addiction does raise crime and safety issues, and efforts to treat them as such cause bitter fights in places like Portland about “returning to the war on drugs.” Meanwhile, states and municipalities lack the resources to adopt harm reduction policies at scale, and federal law prohibits one of the most important measure - safe injection sites. So what I see in Oregon and other coastal cities/states are half-assed approaches that lack clear direction and need federal alignment and funding.

1) Yes 2) No, proponents argue for both.

Not a big fan of Monterrey proper, but there’s the whole Aquarium/ Cannery Row thing for kids. Pacific Grove is great - I believe @Hefeweizenwould be your local guide, but I like Passionfish a lot for their wine list. We’ve stayed at the Gosby and liked it. We stay in Carmel, no favorite place in particular but we seem to end up at Vagabond and La Paya frequently. You’ve got Ocean Avenue and the beach for kids, but Carmel is quite literally an old money enclave. Lots of tasting rooms, boutiques and art galleries. We like Stationaery for brunch, Casanova for dinner (epic wine cellar) and Vesuvio for late night drinks (Barmel for late late night drinks). La Playa bar has a great sunset view. Chez Noir is the hot new spot with the James Beard nomination; have not been but have heard good things If you want to hit up a winery, Folktale is a great all-around experience just 15 or so minutes down Carmel Valley Road. Obviously, there’s tons of outdoors stuff. Point Lobos is just a few minutes south and, of course, there’s Big Sur. That can be a whole trip or a 1/2 day from Carmel if you just want to head down for some views and lunch.

Labet, imo.

You forgot the “whatever they stick to us” tax.

Oh wow, totally forgot about that one. That spot on St Charles is a dead zone.

I know they were planning on doing a full renovation and plans weren’t approved until a few months ago. I saw in the paper they were aiming for spring. Also, the family opened an outpost in LA in 2022. No clue what the arrangement is there, but presumably it’s helping keeping them afloat.