For those of you who don't know, Austin had a new retail development go up called The Domian.  It currently has a Neiman Marcus, Nordstroms, an Apple Store, a Starbucks and few other major retail names.  It's like a little outside mall and, so far, it looks likes it is a powerful draw for consumers.

What has triggered the media is that there is a movement within Austin to "Keep Austin Weird."  This phrase encaptures Austin's cultural identity of being locally owned and generally supporting all things local.  The success and increase in national retail chains undermines the city's personality, they say.

In a sense, they are right.

With this, they have put forth legislation that would cut tax breaks for all of these national retail chains.  You see, in order to attract them in first place, the city offered generous tax incentives which eventually won them over.  This new legislation would override these incentives.

Now, Austin has been highly resilient to the mortgage and financial crisis seen throughout the country.  One of the primary reasons (if not THE primary reason) for this is because we have steady job growth.  This is because big companies continue to come here a set up shop.

The way I see it is if the city renegs on its tax incentives, three things will occur.  There will be a temporary boost in tax revenues, these national chains will get angry, and Austin will lose its credibility in the marketplace and have a much harder time winning over future retail and corporate giants.  Now, to the local Austinite who wants to keep all things weird, none of these three things is negative.

However, practicality must be factored in and, as Austin continues to attract people as a great place to live, the city must take measures to make sure the environment is rich for businesses to flourish.  It's not reasonable for the city to shut it's doors and say to companies, "If you're not weird, you're not welcome."  The overall health of Austin's economy would have been severly negatively impacted if these retail giants weren't here providing current and future jobs.

Also worthy of consideration is one's principles.  If the city makes a promise to these companies that they will give them tax breaks, it is simply wrong to reneg on this promise.

If your goal is to prevent future retail giants from coming in, it would more right to put forth legislation that affected them, not the ones whom the city has already made promises.

This whole situation does reveal a catch-22.  As Austin's unique personality is attracting many people to move here, the increase in population along with the increase in general commercialism undermines Austin's unique personality.

The city does have a responsibility in nurturing and growing Austin's cultural identity, but must do so while maintaining their integrity and keeping Austin's economic position viable.  Does The Domain and the similar project in Mueller seriously jeopardize Austin's "Keep it weird" cultural identity, I don't know.

In sharing my opinion however, I would say it is important for the city to maintain it's integrity and keep the tax incentives and then allow more scrutiny in the future on whether or not it wants to repeat this decision.

-beasley

Business