Stop the Spread

 

If you saw flyers posted around your neighborhood that read, “Stop the Spread!” what would you guess they’d be about? COVID? Monkey Pox? 

In Austin, Texas the goal is to stop the spread of something quite different: Space Barns.

They aren’t actually barns. They are not from outer space. But the poster of the message thinks they look like barns from outer space and they don’t like them. They must be stopped.

No, this isn’t a local story but it very well could be. How often do we come upon discussions about housing, new construction, and neighborhoods where the underlying message is, in one way or another, “stop the spread”? It seems to be human nature. And sometimes our concerns may be valid and sometimes they are just plain silly.

I don’t know if stopping the spread of Space Barns is the hill I’d want to die on. But then, I don’t live in Austin. Click on the photo of flyer to read the text and see what you think. It’s difficult for me to tell if this is sincere or a spoof.

Here are some comments from Twitter which is, of course, where I found this lovely photograph.

I flagged this when I moved back to Austin in 2016! 

I call it “barnyard chic” and in 2 or 3 decades, everyone is gonna roll through these and immediately date the polished cement and barn framing, and not in a good way.

Terrible space barns have overtaken my neighborhood - they must be stopped!

How dare space barns attempt to replace our rich heritage of popcorn ceiling-stuffed rectangles of spongy siding.

Controversial Opinion…I kind of like Space Barns

Flyer needed desperately -- space barns have infiltrated our neighborhood.  My eyes will never unsee them but maybe a warning will deter more.

I don't necessarily disagree; however, I predict in 50 years Austin will have a movement to "save our precious, historical space barns".

This nut job is just making those bland mediocre buildings sound really f-ing cool by naming them "space barns" NGL.

I think the reason I liked this so much was the thought that maybe these sorts of conversations were going on in Howard County when Columbia was going up. There are some amazingly retro-looking houses in Long Reach which might very well have looked like something from outer space in their day. (Of course there was no hope of “stopping the spread” of Columbia since Rouse had bought all the land up in advance.)

What do you think? Would you oppose the proliferation of Space Barns in your neighborhood? I’ve often wondered how people felt in areas of the county where older homes were torn down and replaced by McMansions. Perhaps that’s how these people in Austin feel. I don’t know. I do know that when something new happens there will almost always be someone who thinks it’s the worst thing ever. 

Hmm…I’m beginning to get the itch to bring Space Barns to Columbia/HoCo. Who knows? It could be fun.