At his last meeting as a member of City Council, Raul Alvarez is taking one more shot at getting approval for his proposal to "save" East Austin from gentrification. With his plan, essentially, families of four earning under $21,350 a year and who have lived in the same East Austin for home the last 15 years would get $5,000 to fix it up and a 10-year freeze on city property taxes.

Although "gentrification" is an overused battle-cry a hotly debated issue and some methods of fighting it (e.g. rent control and homemade signs) cause more problems than they solve, this seems like a reasonable plan. Give the people who went through some dry years on the east side a break, help them fix up their homes, and do something to make sure taxes don't drive them out. Naturally, plenty of people will still sell once they realize they can get upwards of fifteen times their annual income for their houses. It doesn't really stop gentrification: property values will continue going up and wealthier residents will continue moving in, but it does ease some of the more immediate and egregious harms that gentrification causes.

The council meeting will be held at 10:00am on Thursday, June 8, 2006, in Austin City Hall, 301 W. 2nd St. Austin, TX 78701. This is item number 80 on the agenda, so if you go, maybe bring something to read.

*Image from Austin City Council Website*