In 1928, the Master Plan, a land development code, pushed Black American and Mexican American communities to East Austin. When activists began kicking polluting industries out of East Austin in the late ’90s and early 2000s, the tides turned. Those residents, however, are whiter and wealthier than surrounding neighborhoods, and among the East Austin community, Mueller is known as just another example of a gentrifying project. A 2023 study published in Sociology of Race and Ethnicity documents a rise in racist experiences in East Austin as a result of the Mueller project. These false solutions aren’t unique to Austin; other cities across the U.S. are also pushing for similar policies.