Kyle City Limits
by BRENDA STEWART
Well, it was nice to see that Kyle made the cover of the Austin American Statesman Sunday morning. Two pages detailing how fast we’re growing and why it’s so much better to live and do business here than in Austin and San Antonio. Nice info on Spencer’s and Julie’s pie company and our celebrated economic development director, Diana Blank, and on our newest addition, Seton Hays.
It was a bit disheartening, though, that they ran two massive photographs of the HEB complex to represent our city; the cover shot showcasing a mile of asphalt leading to the hospital and another with the Kyle Parkway bridge as its focus but with the historic cattle brands, which makes it uniquely Kyle, cropped from view. Oh, and there was that one shot of hundreds upon hundreds of cookie-cutter rooftops. How easy would it have been to shoot some of those well-touted front porches in Plum Creek or the greenbelt in Steeplechase? That photo could have been Cedar Park or Minnesota, for chrisakes. No water tower? City Hall? Cherry pie slice? Did these guys even venture into the actual town of Kyle?
To add insult to injury, there was only one sentence, kind of backhandedly mentioning Old Town in regard to that HEB junction having created “a sort of second town center away from the city’s still-sleepy downtown.” Really. We’ve been fighting an uphill battle for years now trying to get some recognition and a sense of legitimacy and this just seems like a kick in the teeth. Then again, how would they even know that Old Town Kyle was just over the hill? There is not a single sign alluding to the fact that it exists.
Believe me when I tell you that the folks that have been knocking their brains out fighting for Old Town are getting weary (and for the most part, dropping like flies). Last year we fought to the death to keep our downtown library in downtown and now there are rumblings about actually spending the money to get it built, although the council appropriated the funds unanimously. And with the county losing its office space downtown and threatening to move outside the city center, we are going to be losing not only the foot traffic produced by county employees, but the draw of the citizens coming downtown to do government business. We can’t seem to catch a break.
And, if we’re not careful, our historic city center is going to take on the glower of that ratty cavernous ghetto on the corner across from City Hall which greets everyone who enters Center Street from every direction but west. You can thank the absent property owner for that. And although numerous folks have attempted to negotiate a business proposal with her, she is not amenable to rational development plans. She’s holding out for the big money. Obviously, she doesn’t have to look at it when she comes home. She’s holding it for ransom. With lovely downtown Kyle as her prisoner.
