Friday, August 3, 2012

Blog Stage 6

To many around the world, Austin is considered to be the "live music capital of the world" and the main event that surrounds our city is ACL, Austin City Limits. In fact, there are people that come from around the country and even outside the US just to join in on the music. There have been recent announcements from the organizers of ACL that the event will take place over two weekends rather than just one (Source). According to Robin's blog, he supports this change because it will be "nothing but benefit for Austin". Personally I think that this will have both positive and negative effects but the positive ones will out weigh the negative ones. In other words, extending ACL to two weekends will not be a 100% good decision.

One of the main positive effects that will come from this is the fact that ACL brings many people from all over the world. This not only increases participation for ACL but helps Austin economically too. As Robin said, the organizers of ACL donate millions of money each year to the city and the increase of tourism helps the city as well. In terms of the city's economy ACL only helps the city. ACL brings more money than it costs to set up. Another thing that Robin mentions is the fact that more people will be allowed to experience ACL. Having two weekends allow people to listen to more bands and let them choose between which two weekends they would like to go. Personally I think that this might affect turnout from fans because they will have to choose between which two weekend. Even if it's possible to buy both weekend passes, the cost might be too much for many. Nonetheless, allowing fans to choose between which weekend they want will increase the amount of fans that will come.

However, one important factor that Robin forgets to mention is the massive clean up that happens after ACL. This video shows the aftermath of ACL a few years ago. As you can see, there was a sea of mud in front of the stages where grass used to be. If ACL were to be extended over two weekends we might see worse damage to Zilker Park. As Robin said, its true that Zilker Park will be unavailable during these two weekends but it's important to note what will happen after ACL. We can see what happens when ACL happens on one weekend but what will happen when this doubles?

Overall despite this possible effect, the fact that ACL helps Austin both economically and culturally, heavily outweighs the negative consequences. This extra ACL weekend will greatly benefit Austin and as Robin said will help our city "prosper well into future generations."

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