On the February issue of Texas Monthly this year, it was published an article titled "What nobody says about Austin".

 Who hasn’t heard the “Keep Austin weird" phrase? We are quick to say we live in a very progressive, liberal place that differs from all the other Texas cities; but do we really?  Austin is certainly a unique case in Texas and its prominent educational institutions make us all proud to call Austin the city we live in. However, there is a darker side to the story. If one does some research on the political representation of minorities in the Austin City Council, one could be very surprised. During the last 40 years, ”half the city council members and fifteen of seventeen mayors have been from four zip codes west of I-35, an area that is home to just a 10 % of the city’s population.” To date, Gus Garcia has been the only Hispanic mayor Austin has known throughout history. This physical division occurs along the Interstate-35. This highway divides the West area as home to a more exclusive, accommodated white class; and the East area as home to a more diverse class, with a majority of Blacks and Hispanics.  This phenomenon has its origins back in the early 1900’s, when a city plan proposed concentrating all services for black residents—parks, libraries, schools—on the East side of the city. It may be too strong of a statement to consider Austin as a segregated city. Maybe this day and age it is more socioeconomic reasons than race. Low income families typically means minority, doesn’t always, but reality generally is that way. Nevertheless, it would be a little ignorant to forget that urban areas where the City Council is elected on an at-large basis are pretty good examples of cities that don’t want minorities to have representation. Frankly, I believe that Austin falls short to celebrate multiculturalism. It sounds more like a group of white people sitting around talking about diversity.