Potential move to Austin - how progressive IS it?

[eepstein]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

Ahh...another piece of eepstein fiction.

Very high central city housing costs? Compared to what/where? Wanna live near "downtown" in any popular city and you will need money. Got $500K? You can live very nicely in Austin. That won't buy you much in the Bay Area.

Austin is the most expensive city in Texas, and among the most expensive cities not on either coast. Come on sir...where do 90% of the new Austin transplants end up. THE SUBURBS. Most people cannot afford to live in central Austin.

UT sports is big. But somehow you repeatedly ignore the monumental music business in this city. You really need to get out of Avery Ranch more. Your favorite city Sacramento is losing its NBA team isn't it? How is that Austin will have one of only a dozen or so Formula 1 circuits in the world?

The UT obcession and like nothing i've ever seen before. No other city even obcesses about their PROFESSIONAL football teams like Austin obcessed over UT football. (pretend). I suspect it has a lot to do with overcompensation for not having (and never having) any professional sports teams. Pretty embarassing for a city of this size.

All of Texas has high property tax rates. But Texas residents still rank lower in actual property tax payments than California residents and our schools are better. Try living in New Jersey.

Incorrect. California property taxes are FAR less than Texas. Of course, CA does have income tax which makes up some of the difference. Yes New Jersey is higher than Texas, but I believe that is the only state that can make that claim.

Please call out specifically the corruption in the Austin city government. I don't like a lot of what they do, but that doesn't mean they are corrupt. The city has outstanding financial ratings (which you have ignored repeatedly).

The city is nearly 20 million dollars in debt. How is that a strong financial rating?? Nearly every decision the COA has made, is usually completely devoid of any though (especially within the transportation dept)

Yup no HOV lanes. And some of the main roads are a mess. But there are message boards. I see one every day on my drive home - at 183 and Braker.

Message boards that show times to certain locations based on computerized data? Um no sir. Perhaps you are referring to the few signs that only show when some child has been abducted.

Growth control....what exactly do you want? Austin has plenty of zoning, construction, and other restrictions. Developers complain constantly about the resistance they face on growth. Access to water is another issue.

Restrictions?? Really? Thats why the COA has permitted the western hills within the city to be littered with mansions and other monstrocities like strip malls. Really huh?? The western part of the city is ACTUALLY somewhat attractive, but has pretty much be ruined by the cities careless actions. To maintain the natural look, there shouldn't be ANY home in this area, and certainly no worthless strip malls.

Segregation....once again you ignore recent data (2010 census) that show increasing movement of blacks into suburban areas. The gentrification of East Austin is real. Asians are all over town.

There are always exceptions to the rule, but the VAST majority of minorities live east of Interstate 35.

Want to be like Dallas/Houston? That's funny.

Funny? Really. Well the people of Austin are in completely denial with regards to that. But I have touched on this many times before. There are basically 3 cities of significance in the state. Dallas and Houston for business, and San Antonio for tourism. What does Austin have? Pretty much nothing but drunk college kids everywhere along with two music festivals that attract college kids and people that think like college kids.

[Aquitaine]

No other city even obcesses about their PROFESSIONAL football teams like Austin obcessed over UT football.

You've clearly never been to Philadelphia.

Incorrect. California property taxes are FAR less than Texas. Of course, CA does have income tax which makes up some of the difference.

Cost of housing and living in most any part of CA is higher than most any part of TX, Austin included. CA's tax situation is only preferable if you are in a sole-earner household, renting, and have income of around $50k, and even then it's only beneficial if your Austin house is, say, more than $200k. This doesn't even get into the other costs of California -- state fees (auto, anyone?) and the business climate.

Just do the math: If you make over $48k, your income tax rate is 9.3% - not 9.3% on the whole $48k since it's graduated for each bracket you pass, but there's also a 'baseline' amount for each bracket so it comes out not too far off $4,460 (9.3% * 48k).

If you earn more than that or else are married and your spouse works too, you'd have to have a pretty expensive house in Austin to make CA the better bet.

I did all this math when we were figuring out where to move. My in-laws already lived in Southern CA and that would've been top of the list for a number of other reasons in which it is legitimately superior to Austin (climate being #1!). It's true that only NJ has higher property tax rates than TX, but the total cost of living, including your tax burden, came out a great deal ahead of anywhere in California. I don't consider the relatively few sacrifices or complaints that come with living in Austin to be worth anywhere near the difference.

[EzPeterson]

Originally Posted by eepstein

Funny? Really. Well the people of Austin are in completely denial with regards to that. But I have touched on this many times before. There are basically 3 cities of significance in the state. Dallas and Houston for business, and San Antonio for tourism. What does Austin have? Pretty much nothing but drunk college kids everywhere along with two music festivals that attract college kids and people that think like college kids.

You are 100% INcorrect about CA property taxes. They run anywhere from 1.25% to as high as 1.9%. Factor in that you're paying far more for the home and your total tax bill is generally about the same as it is here. I don't know how else to put this but it's basic math that you just can't seem to understand.

The rest of your points are totally subjective. Have fun with your opinion, looks like the rest of 1.7 million of us will just enjoy what we have. Too bad you won't get over yourself long enough to do the same.

Hilarious how you refuse to accept the relevance of the capital of the state.

Oh, and you've obviously never been to Columbus, OH anywhere in Alabama, Tallahassee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Pittsburgh.... Hell that list could keep going, but you still wouldn't get the point.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by eepstein

Funny? Really. Well the people of Austin are in completely denial with regards to that. But I have touched on this many times before. There are basically 3 cities of significance in the state. Dallas and Houston for business, and San Antonio for tourism. What does Austin have? Pretty much nothing but drunk college kids everywhere along with two music festivals that attract college kids and people that think like college kids.

SXSW is now the 2nd largest music industry event on earth. SXSW Interactive is the modern media event in the industry now. No such event in Silicon Valley.

Regarding property taxes.....the post above is correct. California ranks 13th highest in property tax burden per capita in the US, just ahead of Texas at 14th. The math is simple. Our 2.5% x (Texas house price) is about the same as 1.4% x (Texas house price) x (1.75).

Do you understand the difference between debt and deficit? I think Austin has much more than $20M in debt but it is normal in any case. All cities of reasonable size and age will have debt. They issue bonds to finance capital projects. Sacramento has $857M in debt. The city has to repay that debt by taxing its residents. Austin's 2012 budget is balanced.

S&P rates City of Austin bonds as AAA (highest rating) because of Austin's financial strength.

City of Austin debt/bonds rated 'AAA' - Austin Business Journal

http://www.cityofsacramento.org/trea...dys_Report.pdf

San Francisco has a huge unfunded pension burden, much like other California cities. San Francisco has a circle of ongoing corruption between its city leaders and the public unions, which openly practice pension spiking. Austin has no such problems. A quote from one of the articles below:

"As former Mayor Willie Brown recently explained, "We politicians, pushed by our friends in labor, gradually expanded pay and benefits ... while keeping the job protections and layering on incredibly generous retirement packages."

Read more:

San Francisco must confront its pension debt

San Francisco Supervisor Questions City

[Poncho_NM]

Originally Posted by RaphRod

Hi - I am looking to relocate and Austin is in my top three list of cities to move.


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Please don't respond if you have nasty or sarcastic or empty responses. Thanks again.

Did you get your answer? You got over 100 replies... I love Austin (except for the humidity...)

This thread is closed.


Rich