What are..possible liberal towns around Austin? (San Antonio, Fort Worth: fit in, real estate)

[flavorite97403]

I am not a typical Texan...a bit more liberal than most, I guess, and would like to find a community with some like-minded folks.
A community that is a small town (not alot of traffic and rushing); has artists that have settled there (I am an artist); maybe historic so that it will have a town-square rather than just “malls”; have a farmer’s market or organic food stores, cultural events,good music and art galleries, good book stores, art supply stores, maybe even a bead shop...kind of an “art-community.” If Austin weren’t so highly populated, expensive, and now a pretty big city, I’d be looking there.
I’m 66 yrs old and have Multiple Sclerosis and Arthritis so would like to have availablity to Neurologists, physical therapy, good doctors that are aware of up-to-date info about MS, a MS Society perhaps, volunteer programs of home health assistance, and also where alternative medicine and things like Tai Chi, Yoga, Pilatis (sp), and/or Acupunture might be available.
I am leaving Eugene, Oregon more for health reasons... for Eugene is definitely suitable to all those things I’ve listed above...it simply has too many days of grey-cold-drizzle weather (not good for my arthritis and I become home-bound); so, I’ve decided to re-locate while I still physically can . I’ve given myself about 6 to 9 months to get my house ready to sell and research possibile re-location places, look at possible homes available, etc. ANY ADVICE WOULD BE APPRECIATED.

[bumpy_1954]

New Braunfels, tho about 45 miles sw austin, may actually be closer to San Antinio, but that is a very artsy, beautiful place with the Guadelupe (sp) river running through it. Gruene, nearby, is known for artsy craftsy 'stuff' and folks come from all over on weekends to peruse the arts & crafts, antiques, etc. Lotsa 'bed & breakfast' type places. There are also some towns west of San Marcos that looked so nice and peaceful, but we ended up settling in Briarcliff by Lake Travis. I saw so many women my age (over 50) with tatoos, I almost felt like getting one just to fit in - bet they were WAY wilder than I was in the 60/70's! To me, so far, vibes are 'live & let live' in the beautiful Texas Hill Country.

[Spookmeister]

San Antonio bedroom communities would be your best bet because of the medical care. There are many great hospitals down there. I'd also recommend the Corpus Christi area suburbs, like Portland and Robstown because of their proximity to the VA hospitals which are also pretty good down there. Christus Spohn is also a pretty good hospital system in S.Texas.

[artsyguy]

I love Corpus and Harlingen. A lot of old and retired people live there.

[deeptrance]

flavorite, I've got your physical ailments and political leanings and moved to Austin from Sebastopol (a smaller version of Eugene in Sonoma County, CA) in 1990. Austin is a wonderful city and you might be surprised by how much you can feel like you're in a "village" if you pick the right central neighborhoods, HOWEVER, those are the most expensive places for the very reason that you've got the best of all worlds there.

For smaller towns, I don't think you'd be politically happy about anything near San Antonio. This is Texas, not that you needed reminding, but I want to stress to you just how wildly different Austin is from the rest of the state.

The most progressive little towns around Austin that I know of would include:
Blanco (too far from medical facilities, perhaps, but very nice area)
Bastrop
San Marcos (college town, kinda weird in its layout, I don't recommend it)
Wimberly

And here's another thought for you to consider.... Leander is a suburb that you would think is a nightmare right now but they have a very progressive "new urbanism" plan for a downtown built around rail transit. It would be cheap to buy there now and would go up in value as the city builds out this new village, however you might absolutely HATE the surrounding suburban nightmare of Williamson County, which is generally very right wing.

Georgetown, at the north end of Williamson Co., isn't quite so bad, has a good balance between college students (Southwest University) and retirement (there's a Sun City not far out of town), and it's got a nice traditional central town square that gives it a solid community feel. It's relatively cheap too. Basically, everything outside of central Austin is much less expensive. The problem you're going to run into is the same problem I have, which is that I want a Eugene type of culture so I have to pay the price to live in central Austin because that's the only place you're going to find that sort of lifestyle. Only it's BETTER than Eugene because it's not as militaristic about politics here. I find Austinites to generally be very open-minded with lots of non-partisan thoughtful discussions possible and less of the jingoistic political correctness that has come to dominate the coastal areas of the Northwest. After a while it gets tiring to hear people comparing Bush to Hitler, you want a little more intellectual stimulation than that and you'll definitely find it in Austin with its extreme diversity of views and its libertarian attitudes toward life in general.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

[flavorite97403]

Thanks to all of you for your responses. Very good advice. I will be burning up the "Goggle Search" buttons to have a look at all the places suggested. It's hard to find the "kind-of community of like-minded folks" through Chamber of Commerce stuff, so opinions from "those who know because they live nearby" is my only way of trying to find...where I belong. Again, thanks.

[BoulderJD]

Just wondering if you have moved from Oregon to Texas, and if so, where you settled. I really identified with your initial post, and enjoyed reading the responses. We live in a small community near Fort Worth, Texas, and are retiring this year. We plan to look for a suitable area, much as you described, in the Texas Hill Country. We like Wimberley, and real estate in Dripping Springs isn't bad. Just wondering how your search came out.

Best of luck in your new home! John

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by flavorite97403

Thanks to all of you for your responses. Very good advice. I will be burning up the "Goggle Search" buttons to have a look at all the places suggested. It's hard to find the "kind-of community of like-minded folks" through Chamber of Commerce stuff, so opinions from "those who know because they live nearby" is my only way of trying to find...where I belong. Again, thanks.

Fredricksburg may not be close enough or boerne which is close to san antonio.

I dont know what living in either of those places is like, but most of tx is pretty conservative.

[AmberPNichols]

Wimberly is nice, it's near Dripping Springs. Lots o' liberals and earthy and artsy folks out there.

[jread]

Wimberly is by far the best small town for artsy, liberal folks outside of Austin.