Lubbock Compact: Why ‘Old Lubbock’ Is Worth Fighting For

After a less than stellar Lubbock Disparity Report, citizens have come together to form Lubbock Compact, a group of individuals dedicated to the investment of 'Old Lubbock" which is basically anything inside The Loop.

Confession time: I live outside The Loop, but just barely. I'm a mile away from our southwest Lubbock studios, although "my" southwest Lubbock is very northeast to most new development. However, the most cursory Zillow search will show that a comparable house in my neighborhood costs at least 20 percent more than one in central Lubbock. And that's a problem.

The only thing 'wrong' with Old Lubbock is that it's being sucked dry by new development. And that's fundamentally unfair. No matter where you live, you pay sales tax, a portion of which goes into the city budget. If you own a house, you pay property taxes as well. The investment in your neighborhood should at the very least commiserate with what your paying, but I'd argue that any surplus should go to helping neighborhoods in need. Not infrastructure and beautification projects for outside developers building yet another pilates studio on 1000th Street. (Note: I having nothing against pilates; it's a wonderful exercise.)

Anyways, who cares about a dumb DJ's opinion anyway? How about the opinions of Lubbock citizens instead:

We already live here, not some Dallas carpetbagger trying to make us pay for them to live in fake Highland Park! -- Nicholas

 As a long time resident of East Lubbock, I have lived through the effects of Lubbock's current trajectory in so-called development. It devastates whole families for generations and leaves entire neighborhoods to decompose in terms of infrastructure and business opportunities. We as the citizens of Lubbock as well as city council at this moment have the power to make sure that when people from all over hear about this city (and they do: See Texas Tech's involvement in the Sciences, Lubbock Lake Landmark, etc), that what they see when they arrive is a beautiful, inclusive place and not a hollow hole with some glitter off to one corner. --- Adam

Great cities have core areas full of culture of all sorts where *all* people in the city feel welcome, and that attract people from other cities, where people go to walk around for the afternoon, and so on. Despite its medium size and great sprawl, Lubbock has a good start on that, and needs to cultivate that, rather than letting it fall apart. -- Tom

One simple quote sums it up for me. "Old Lubbock is worth saving because humans live there". No heavy lifting involved. This is a place that is linked to thousands of people's lives and to uproot those people or let it die is detrimental to their emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical being. That's not up for debate. -- Robert

Because old Lubbock is our history. We’re so he’ll bent on saving other aspect of history - why wouldn’t we preserve living history of old Lubbock? --Carly

[Because] “Old Lubbock” because the people that have grown up there, built memories there, and still live there to this day, understand the beauty and importance of those neighborhoods. True neighborhoods. Not new developments and rentals where people come and go. These are places that get passed down through generations, where people still know and take care of their neighbors. Saving Old Lubbock is saving culture and experiences that we should be embracing, not shunning or running away from; not trying to raze and destroy. -- Nick

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Old Lubbock is worth saving because it's where the heart and history of the city are. When you ask people in Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston what makes their city unique, they don't talk about suburbs and chain restaurants; They talk about the old parts of the city where the historic neighborhoods and culture are. Even Amarillo has a more resurgent, vibrant city center than us, and it's because they pressured their city council to enact policies and spend public money to revitalize it. -- Jakob

How you treat your older neighborhoods is more noticeable when you are asking people to move to, invest in, and grow the city as a whole. When you leave very large parts of your city and it’s citizens to decay, your city is no longer an investment, it’s a hazard that people from the outside maneuver to exploit or avoid. --Robert

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Affordable homes of all sizes, great locations, culture and diversity, with easy access to our best attractions and resources is old Lubbock. Unfortunately it's crumbling due to bad policies, greed, and a lack of effort and imagination. We must save our city! --Jennifer

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If we can’t love and care for the neighbors and neighborhoods we already have...why are we building new neighborhoods for unknown neighbors in the future in Southwest Lubbock.>Love your neighbor Lubbock. Your black neighbors, your brown neighbors, your poor neighbors, your Old Lubbock neighbors. -- Jim

When we talk about investing in Old Lubbock, it should not mean necessarily that one should make Old Lubbock look more modern, there are ways to invest and preserve the architecture, history and culture of the city, but at the same time, make it look more attractive. By investing in Old Lubbock, it will also help to improve the wealth of everyone more equally as the real state value of the properties (also of those who live in Old Lubbock) will be able to increase. Therefore, social inequality will decrease, and Lubbock will also have the potential to attract more tourism and economic investment. In the end, it will be a win win for everyone! --Nadia