Where's the very last place in the Austin Metroplex you'd live? (Round Rock: appointed, apartment complex)

[EzPeterson]

Actually, condos don't change it much, and if you include all the apartment communities along 620 from 2222 to 35, things get pretty even in an anecdotal sense. I hear what you're saying though about commutes, but that points back to the need for better mass transit, which is a common issue west of the eastern seaboard.

Also, many "new" employers have been coming in on the north side. While they may not be "Austin", they're in the Austin MSA! It'll be interesting to see what Apple does with their 3,600 incoming employees.

Also, edited the earlier post to clarify that the "better style" comment was directed towards other exburbs, in other areas. I personally love the tree lined streets in central Austin, with the larger lot/smaller home, but adding a commute just wouldn't make sense.

[Aquitaine]

From the National Multi-Housing Council:

Austin, TX: Population 795,518 (so not counting most of 'The Sprawl')
Total occupied housing units: 323,282
Total occupied rental units: 177,562
% occupied by renters: 54.9%

Separately:

# of UT Austin undergraduates: 38,463
# of UT Austin graduate students: 12,682

So about 60k students, though some of them are obviously in dorms. Also no way to tell how many rental units are condos or apartments versus houses, but any way you look at it, the only way you're at all more efficient is if you don't have a long commute. Central Austin is hardly a model for an efficiently-packed population.

All of this self-congratulating about living in the city imagines that all anyone who doesn't live downtown does is go to and from downtown. We could always build commercial areas outside of Austin, but that would mean taking away some more of your green space. Reduce commute times and traffic by getting more jobs in the outlying areas, or is that development 'needless' as well?

[love roses]

Mcmansions are a problem surrounding downtown/central Austin as well. I know that when I lived in Rice Village (Houston) people were coming in and tearing down the smaller bungalow homes or whatever style smaller homes and cramming as much square footage onto the existing lot as they could and of course 2 stories as well (in the case of condos...3 or 4 stories). These people would build so much house on the lots that there was absolutely no yard and you couldn't stick an arm between the new house and the houses on either side of it. I'm sure that this is happening in quite a few near central neighborhoods as well and is why there is a McMansion ordinance now.

[supernaut112]

Originally Posted by Aquitaine

All of this self-congratulating about living in the city imagines that all anyone who doesn't live downtown does is go to and from downtown. We could always build commercial areas outside of Austin, but that would mean taking away some more of your green space. Reduce commute times and traffic by getting more jobs in the outlying areas, or is that development 'needless' as well?

This gets back to my "build it and they will live" theory. Build a healthy commerce area first, and then build up a residential area. Make it worthwhile to live in a particular vicinity. Here, we do it back-asswards.

I do know several people who live and work in RR, Lakeway, Cedar Park, etc. They come into Austin proper very infrequently, maybe a couple of times a month. But what I cannot understand for the life of me are people who live in places like Oak Hill and work in Round Rock. That's pure excessive.

[EzPeterson]

Originally Posted by supernaut112

Here, we do it back-asswards.

Everywhere they do it backwards. People come for the jobs, then find the housing. A good mass transit system would solve it, but that is the pie in the sky dream.

[senormatt]

Originally Posted by love roses

Mcmansions are a problem surrounding downtown/central Austin as well... These people would build so much house on the lots that there was absolutely no yard and you couldn't stick an arm between the new house and the houses on either side of it. I'm sure that this is happening in quite a few near central neighborhoods as well and is why there is a McMansion ordinance now.

Yep - one result I've seen in a lot of the new constructions in central neighborhoods from the McMansion ordinance is homes with only a 1-car garage. I'd say at least 90% of new construction houses/condos in the central area under $450k have 1-car garages. I guess they figure people would rather have the extra living space.

[supernaut112]

Originally Posted by EzPeterson

Everywhere they do it backwards. People come for the jobs, then find the housing. A good mass transit system would solve it, but that is the pie in the sky dream.

Oh, don't get me started.

I was so looking forward to Metro Rail. As in, for years. I thought it would be so different than what it turned out to be. As it stands, I'd have to drive further to catch one of the stops than I would if I just parked somewhere downtown. Which is ridiculous.

I'm just not sure how committed people are to a good mass transit system, to be honest. And not to sound like some love-Mother-Earth hippie chick, but a lot of people I've talked to seem to look down on any kind of public transportation. Simply whisper the words "Cap Metro," and they visibly pale. The bus is for poor people, doncha know. They'd rather drive a big, comfy car, even if they're stuck behind the wheel burning fuel two hours a day.

[Pulzar]

This is how it's done in Markham, a town north of Toronto, swallowed by the sprawl. I'm an hour from downtown Toronto, yet we're so tightly packed here that I have to keep my blinds closed all the time because the neighbors are two feet away from me.

Austin's suburbs look like a lightly populated national park by comparison. It's got a long way to go before it becomes truly bad .

[supernaut112]

Originally Posted by Pulzar

This is how it's done in Markham, a town north of Toronto, swallowed by the sprawl. I'm an hour from downtown Toronto, yet we're so tightly packed here that I have to keep my blinds closed all the time because the neighbors are two feet away from me.

Austin's suburbs look like a lightly populated national park by comparison. It's got a long way to go before it becomes truly bad .

At first I thought you'd posted an aerial view of Round Rock, then I noticed that the houses were different colors.

[Aquitaine]

I don't know anyone who would rather drive a big, comfy car than take a convenient train, but the problem is convenient. You have to be able to walk to a train stop and then walk from the train stop to work, or maybe have one bus trip in there if you don't have to wait around for it.

The biggest reason people oppose rail is cost. It has to be a pretty expansive system before people will ditch their cars, not because they prefer their 'big, comfy cars' (please!) but because the trip has to take the same time or less and cost about as much or less. Look how much they've spent on Austin's rail system for a handful of riders. It's a start, and certainly you have to start somewhere ... but just like kvetching about McMansions, anybody can complain about the lack of mass transit. Go out and look at what the red line cost for the number of riders it has. It's pretty depressing, and they consider it to have met its target.

The mother-Earth hippie chicks I know in Austin all have cars. They have to. Some of them do take the bus, but the bus doesn't go everywhere they do.