Has anyone moved to Austin and regretted it? If so, why? (Houston: sales, neighborhoods)

[scm53]

Originally Posted by yyyyy

It is a very male dominated culture that demeans women by their actions and opinions. The women here act as if nothing is wrong, basically they do not know any better. The younger people in town are less conservative overall. But when it comes to the over 30 crowd beware.

The rumble you feel is the collective effect of three EXTREMELY strong willed women in my family rolling in their graves. You can start with my grandmother, who ruled with an iron will for the 107 years she was here. Open the dictionary and under "tough old bird", you find her picture. Then move on to my mother who was one of two women graduates of UT's business school in 1950. Then, my aunt who was the only female CLU in South Texas when she earned it in 1968. Then, go screw with my sister, two female cousins, my daughter and my niece - all of whom did not fall far from those trees. None of them will permit you to demean them.

If my grandmother were here, she'd tell yyyy, "Bless your heart.". It isn't a blessing.

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

I'm sorry, I'm having a very difficult time posting a response because I'm laughing so hard.

I'm sure Liz Carpenter, Lady Bird Johnson, Ann Richards, and a myriad of others dating back to Ma Ferguson and beyond are laughing wherever they ended up, as well. ...

Add Barbara Jordan to that list. And yes, many others.

I didn't take that post seriously, my wife being the 5th generation of women in her family to earn a college degree. Her grandmother started and ran a bakery in Austin. Her great grandmother build most of the homes near 34th/West Ave on the family farm after her husband died, putting 8 kids through college.

There are countless other stories in Austin's history of strong, independent Women and women-owned businesses. A minor amount of research reveals this.

If a woman wants to feel mistreated and surrounded by misogynist men, Austin would be a poor choice of cities to find those men.

Steve

[migol84]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

Add Barbara Jordan to that list. And yes, many others.

I didn't take that post seriously, my wife being the 5th generation of women in her family to earn a college degree. Her grandmother started and ran a bakery in Austin. Her great grandmother build most of the homes near 34th/West Ave on the family farm after her husband died, putting 8 kids through college.

There are countless other stories in Austin's history of strong, independent Women and women-owned businesses. A minor amount of research reveals this.

If a woman wants to feel mistreated and surrounded by misogynist men, Austin would be a poor choice of cities to find those men.

Steve

There's also the most obvious one, Angelina Eberly Statue who is considered the Savior of Austin. How anyone can consider Austin as being a town where women are degraded is beyond me.


http://www.noonesthebitch.com/wp-con...erlyStatue.jpg

[atxcio]

And how about one tough grandma -

Carole Keeton Strayhorn - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[squidget]

I have lived in Austin for just over 2 years and I do have some regrets. Background first: I moved here from Omaha, NE though I was a transplant there too. My "home" is Northern Virgina (just outside DC).

Traffic. The DC metro area is known for their terrible, terrible traffic and I hated it but I also understood it (to a degree anyway). There are 13 mil commuting in/out everyday. The traffic situation in Austin makes no sense to me. There's only just over a million people here, why is it so congested? Why is major interstate cutting thru the middle of a city? Why does it split (at UT) for no reason just to merge back together again? It almost seems like the planning of some of the hiways and biways were made with the intent to make traffic jams.

Music scene. I hate to say but the music that I listen to, I had more options in Omaha and way more in DC. (bands I like Tool, Chevelle, Breaking Benjamin, etc.) There is a lot of singer/songwriter folk music that is just not my bag.

Hot weather. The long hot summer months are brutal. I just can't handle being outside for more than 5 minutes. I'm told I will get use to it but it's been 2 summers and it's still intolerable.

Cultural diversity. At first, Austin was the bees knees in this area (I was moving from Omaha afterall) and I work for a Silicon Valley based tech company so in the hallways at work, there is quite a bit of it. However, as I started to adjust and spend more time outside of work - I noticed that its pretty weak sauce. As a black female over 30 I'm definitely struggling to find my place in the city.

[catharsis]

Originally Posted by yyyyy

The basic info about this city widely available on the web makes it look like a modern city. Not so. The attitude of the people of Austin is something out of the 1950s in regards to women. It is a very male dominated culture that demeans women by their actions and opinions. The women here act as if nothing is wrong, basically they do not know any better. If you ask people if they have lived anywhere else the majority have only been in Texas.

The younger people in town are less conservative overall. But when it comes to the over 30 crowd beware.

I have to agree with the attitudes in regards to women. I work in a large IT corporation. It's something that never ceased to surprise at first. The trophy wives, step-ford wives, country bumpkins abound in the corporate office. Women seem perfectly happy to be treated as inferior and it shocks me. If a woman wants to be taken seriously and move up in the IT world, this is not the culture to do it in. This is just my opinion based on my short 12 month experience here.

[catharsis]

Originally Posted by Zembonez

What planet are you living on? Austin is predominantly made up of people who have come here from other states. It's one of the things that destroyed the Austin feel we all used to love.

It appears that you would have this attitude about how women are treated no matter where you lived.

Poor you.

no, I think she's correct. I've experienced the same. It is very prevelant in the corporate world here. Maybe if TX gets more progressives, they can resolve that issue. One can hope, anyway.

[MattV]

Originally Posted by catharsis

I have to agree with the attitudes in regards to women. I work in a large IT corporation. It's something that never ceased to surprise at first. The trophy wives, step-ford wives, country bumpkins abound in the corporate office. Women seem perfectly happy to be treated as inferior and it shocks me. If a woman wants to be taken seriously and move up in the IT world, this is not the culture to do it in. This is just my opinion based on my short 12 month experience here.

Are you kidding me. I'm in the I.T. field and I'd give my left one to be a trophy wife .....and I'm a guy. You thiink playing around with Java is a cool job or something?

Most gals I know in Austin have their husband/boyfriends locked down. Ask your favorite buddy if they can go out for the night and 8 out of 10 they can't cause little miss says they have a kitten watching party they have to attend, Men don't wear the pants in Austin...... no way....

[eepstein]

I completely understand your predicament and agree with everything that you say. One thing you must realize, that the city of Austin isn't concerned with anyone except the high middle class and well to do citizens. Nearly ALL of the money spent in this town over the past 10 years has been to improve the life of rich people. Numerous high rise condos downtown, constant street improvements downtown, the creation of the 2nd street district, the Domain (in north Austin), improvements at the Palmer events center (downtown), rising home values in the center city, etc.

Meanwhile, ZERO has been done for the lower and middle income in this city. Most of this people continue to FLEE to the suburbs where faceless suburbia awaits them along with their 45-50 min commutes to work on "freeways" that still remain in their 1960's-1970's configuations (despite 1 million more people living here since then)

KEEP AUSTIN WIERD!!!!

Originally Posted by squidget

I have lived in Austin for just over 2 years and I do have some regrets. Background first: I moved here from Omaha, NE though I was a transplant there too. My "home" is Northern Virgina (just outside DC).

Traffic. The DC metro area is known for their terrible, terrible traffic and I hated it but I also understood it (to a degree anyway). There are 13 mil commuting in/out everyday. The traffic situation in Austin makes no sense to me. There's only just over a million people here, why is it so congested? Why is major interstate cutting thru the middle of a city? Why does it split (at UT) for no reason just to merge back together again? It almost seems like the planning of some of the hiways and biways were made with the intent to make traffic jams.

Music scene. I hate to say but the music that I listen to, I had more options in Omaha and way more in DC. (bands I like Tool, Chevelle, Breaking Benjamin, etc.) There is a lot of singer/songwriter folk music that is just not my bag.

Hot weather. The long hot summer months are brutal. I just can't handle being outside for more than 5 minutes. I'm told I will get use to it but it's been 2 summers and it's still intolerable.

Cultural diversity. At first, Austin was the bees knees in this area (I was moving from Omaha afterall) and I work for a Silicon Valley based tech company so in the hallways at work, there is quite a bit of it. However, as I started to adjust and spend more time outside of work - I noticed that its pretty weak sauce. As a black female over 30 I'm definitely struggling to find my place in the city.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by eepstein

...on "freeways" that still remain in their 1960's-1970's configurations (despite 1 million more people living here since then)

I'm willing to bet you weren't here in the seventies, because you wouldn't have made that statement had you.

Here's a list of the freeways we all drive on that didn't exist before the eighties:

Mopac N of 2222 or south of Bee Caves Road
Ben White Freeway (then a four to six lane boulevard with intersections)
183 Freeway (also a four to six lane boulevard with intersections)
Loop 360
SH 45 freeway (then a four lane RR 620)

All of that post-seventies capacity makes a huge contribution to mobility in the area. If you want to blame any group for the inadequate road network, look to the rabid environmentalist groups, with a myopic central Austin focus. Their goal to constrain growth by constraining transportation has made road building difficult, but not impossible.