Metz and East Austin

In their own words...

Below are excerpts from two interviews with community members related to Metz which describe their experience working or living in East Austin. They have been edited for clarity.  

The families were so down to earth, they'd cook you dinner, I mean, they'd cook me a taco.  If I was there until after five, they would knock on the door and say, here's a taco or something...You know, we did home visits then because we felt very comfortable. It wasn't what people made  east Austin. It wasn't dangerous. It wasn't what east Austin was made to look like. So, that's one thing I learned is that it was a very homey place.

- Lupe Ramos, Former Metz Teacher

I felt safe…Our neighbors would look out for our house when we would go out of town…and I know when I was growing up my brothers would play football in the streets and just hang out.

- Carolyn Robledo-Estrada, Metz 2nd grade teacher and East Austin resident

Metz's location played a critical role in the school's formation, evolution, and eventually its closure. Located on Robert T. Martinez Jr. St. in East Austin, Metz's population size, demographic makeup, and neighborhood investment were influenced through changes created by gentrification. 

Gentrification is a fundamental change in the economic and cultural nature of a neighborhood that results in the displacement or disruption of historic communities, businesses, and cultural institutions. East Austin has experienced significant gentrification since the 1990s. The neighborhood has experienced the financial process of gentrification through rising property taxes, new construction, and home sales, renovations, and demolitions¹. Between 2000 and 2016, the Median Family Income (MFI) has risen from approximately $29,000 to $69,500³. The economic changes brought on by gentrification result in the displacement of established residents, especially families with young children that have low to moderate incomes¹.

At one point I think flipping houses was the thing to do so they were doing that a lot in our neighborhood, but then now they pretty much knock the houses down and build new ones, so if you drive around you’ll see a lot of new houses.

- Carolyn Robledo-Estrada

In East Austin, these economic shifts have changed the racial demographics of the neighborhood. Once an area comprised of historically black neighborhoods that experienced an influx of Mexican-American residents in the twentieth century, certain parts of East Austin have quadrupled their number of higher-income white residents since 2000¹. 

The loss of established residents has created a sense of fragmented or lost community for many long-standing residents who remain in East Austin.

I miss the feeling of a community where people looked after each other, you knew the families…The neighbors I have now I know them but not all of them, some of them I don’t know if I could recognize.

- Carolyn Robledo-Estrada

These new residents are often younger individuals without children. A sustained decrease in the number of children within a neighborhood is a key marker of gentrification³. Multiple neighborhoods in East Austin have undergone significant declines in the percentage of the population younger than 17 years old¹.  The area between East Seventh and East 11th Street experienced a decline of 14% in the number of child residents between 2000 and 2016³. Other areas have experienced child population declines as high as 50%¹. 

The significant loss of child residents in East Austin has translated to declining enrollment numbers for surrounding AISD schools. As Austin becomes increasingly unaffordable, residents have often relocated to surrounding areas such as Round Rock and Pflugerville. AISD has suffered from a steady decrease in enrollment numbers beginning around the 2015-2016 school year². Metz grappled with the impacts of a steadily decreasing student population. Enrollment was cited as one of the reasons for the closure of the school⁶.

¹Tang, Eric, and Wideleine Desir. The University of Texas at Austin, 2018, pp. 1–14, Those Who Stayed: The Impact of Gentrification on Longstanding Residents of East Austin.

²Taboada, Melissa B. “Austin School District Enrollment Tumbles by 1,600 Students, as Adjacent Districts Grow.” Statesman, Austin American-Statesman, 18 Nov. 2018, www.statesman.com/news/20181116/austin-school-district-enrollment-tumbles-by-1600-students-as-adjacent-districts-grow.

³Quilantan, Bianca. “UT Researchers Unveil Findings in East Austin Gentrification Study.” Statesman, Austin American-Statesman, 26 Sept. 2018, www.statesman.com/NEWS/20180531/UT-researchers-unveil-findings-in-East-Austin-gentrification-study.

⁴Texas Education Agency. “2011-2012 Student Enrollment.” Metz Elementary, 2011.

⁵“Metz Elementary School.” austinisd.org, Austin Independent School District, 2019, www.austinisd.org/schools/metz. 

⁶Sanders, Austin. “AISD Board Votes to Close Four Austin Elementary Schools.” The Austin Chronicle, The Austin Chronicle, 19 Nov. 2019, www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2019-11-19/aisd-board-votes-to-close-four-austin-elementary-schools/.