Blame Game

SXSW 2019 controversy continues after UT counters festival's blame game

Sixth Street downtown Austin SXSW police security safety barriers March 2016

SXSW 2019 dates will not line up with AISD or UT spring breaks.

Photo by Nicole Raney

Traditionally, the dates for SXSW have nicely aligned with the spring breaks of both the Austin Independent School District and the University of Texas, ensuring that many students and families will be gone, traffic will ease up, and the city can effectively turn into one big party. However, that won't be the case in 2019.

Following the conclusion of the 2018 festival, SXSW announced next year's dates on the marquee of the Paramount Theatre, as per tradition. In a break from years past, SXSW declared the 2019 festival will run March 8-17, a week before the AISD and UT spring breaks, which are scheduled for March 18-22. (Cue the chaos.)

In a statement to K VUE, SXSW put the blame on the schools, saying the 2019 dates originally lined up, but AISD and UT deviated from the plan. Festival organizers also claimed they approached the university in late 2017 to inform them of the misalignment.

And while UT didn't confirm or deny that SXSW reached out last year, the university did punch back in a March 27 statement:

"The university publishes its official academic calendar about a year before the start of an academic year to give the thousands of stakeholders who use it ample time to plan. The dates for Spring Break 2019 were set and published online in the fall of 2017, about 18 months in advance of the vacation. There were no changes to the calendar after it was published. It was set following a standard formula the university has followed for many years based on the common calendar of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the educational needs of our students."

Not so, said the festival. "SXSW’s 2019 dates and contracts were originally in sync with Spring Break based on decades-long precedent set by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board," SXSW said in the statement.

As for AISD, the school district also went on the defensive, noting trustees approved the 2018-19 school calendar back in January.

In the end, UT did point out the long history between the university and Austin's homegrown festival, saying, "UT Austin deeply values its relationship with SXSW. Our students and faculty love participating in all aspects of the conference. We regret that SXSW chose to schedule their 2019 conference at a different time than UT Austin's Spring Break."

In this he said, she said, they said world, it's hard to know where to lay blame, but come March 2019 when traffic is a beast, we'll surely find someone.

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share the road

Texas races to the bottom in new list of best states for cyclists

Photo by Justin Wallace on Unsplash

If you've ridden your bicycle in Austin, you already know how true this is.

In what will come as no surprise to cyclists around Austin, the state of Texas is not a good place for bicycle riding. According to a new report of the "Most Cycling-Friendly States in the U.S.," Texas comes in at No. 47 — meaning that only three other states are worse.

The report, from Philadelphia personal injury law firm KaplunMarx, examines all 50 states based on six metrics: Air quality index, the number of cyclist deaths per one million residents, bike routes per square mile, local government actions supporting cycling, federal funding for cycling projects, and bicycle laws.

Texas musters a mere 31 points out of 100 for its "cycling friendly score."

The most cycling-friendly state in the U.S.: Minnesota, which earned 84 points to claim the title.

According to the report's findings, there have been 15 local government actions per capita in Texas that integrate pedestrians and cyclists in transportation projects. Texas' has a 41 air quality index value, and there are approximately 1.2 bike routes per 1,000 square miles in the state.

On cyclist deaths, Texas does a little better, with three cyclist deaths per one million residents in Texas — about nine percent lower than the national average.

According to KaplunMarx founding partner Ted Kaplun, there is an average of 857 cyclist fatalities in the U.S. every year. He adds that every measure or community effort to improve cyclist-friendliness is beneficial for all Americans.

"It's crucial for all states to continually assess and enhance their cycling provisions, learning from both high-ranking peers and their own experiences," he says.

Top-ranking Minnesota has only one cyclist death per one million state residents. It also has about 27.2 bike routes per 1,000 square miles.

After Minnesota, the remaining top five best states for cyclists are Massachusetts (No. 2), Rhode Island (No. 3), Washington (No. 4), and Iowa (No. 5).

At the bottom of the list are Nevada (No. 48), Arizona (No. 49), and Utah (No. 50) — all of which performed far worse than Texas to be declared the three least cycling-friendly states.

The entire country still has areas for improvement when it comes to creating a safer environment for cyclists, regardless of where each state landed on the list, according to Kaplun.

"With over 53 million Americans riding bicycles regularly, the importance of cycling-friendly infrastructure and safety measures cannot be overstated," said Kaplun in the report. "This isn't just about rankings – it's about enhancing the quality of life, promoting sustainable transportation, and most crucially, saving lives."

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