So we’ve spent the past few days in Austin searching for a place to live. There is a part of me that would love to live in the quirky, educated, central part of the city – the parts that inspire the “Keep Austin Weird” bumper stickers. You know the ones connected to public transportation and near co-op’s and farmer’s markets. But homes in those areas are just a few hundred thousand outside our price range. Frustrating that living within our means and within our ideals are hard to do concurrently.
But as we’ve looked in the pockets of town we can afford – generally the low-income, ethnically diverse areas (a plus in many ways) – I’ve noticed a pattern. Surrounding these neighborhoods are convenience stores and fast food places. No real grocery store, no access to healthy food choices. In fact the closest access to any groceries whatsoever is a Wal-Mart some miles away. It’s a pattern I saw in Chicago as well. The poorer a neighborhood, the harder it was to find healthy food options. If one doesn’t have a car and gas money the choices stocking the aisles at the local 7-eleven are what’s for dinner. And people wonder about the links between poverty, nutrition, and school/work performance…
I just find it frustrating and am pissed off at the latent injustices in our socioeconomic system. And stressed at how much more difficult house hunting is when not just economics and aesthetics but personal values are involved. Knowing that where we live reflect who we are and what we value – and that many of those values will have to be compromised – makes it all that more complicated.
Decisions, decisions…