Different Part of Austin or a Different City? (Houston, Dallas: crime rates, coop)

[UTBabyGirl]

I've been a bit aggravated lately by the state of my restlessness. If I list my likes and dislikes concerning Austin or my ideal city, would someone be able to give me a suggestion of where to live in the future? For this exercise, please assume that jobs and cost of living will not be an issue.

Likes:
-be able to walk to grocery stores/markets
-lots of farmers markets/tons of access to organic foods
-warm-ish summery climates
-intelligent residents
-art museums/art culture
-Austin-like laid-back but yet still city-ish feel

Dislikes:
-liberal use of marijuana/smoking/other drugs
-high quantities of homeless people
-unmotivated attitudes
-high poor (not high unemployed, necessarily) populations
-high crime rates
-bad school systems
-pretentious personalities (including some Dallas personalities, if you know what I'm implying here)

So, where would I be happiest? Another region of Austin? Round Rock? California? Help, please and thank you.

[mark311]

Originally Posted by UTBabyGirl

For this exercise, please assume that jobs and cost of living will not be an issue.

I can give you an idea of the areas in CA that would fit your desires. Coastal San Diego (North County) fits your description very well. Areas like Carlsbad, Del Mar, and Encinitas all fit your likes and dislikes fairly well. Poway, Carmel Valley, and even Eastlake in San Diego would probably be a good fit. Some areas of coastal Orange County like San Clemente, Laguna Beach, and Newport Beach would work. Northern CA has some areas that would fit your requirements as well in the South Bay. These areas all have a high cost of housing. I left out some areas with poor public school systems that otherwise would have made my list since that was on your dislikes list. However, you would probably come across pretentious personalities that you disklike in the Bay Area, Newport Beach, and maybe Del Mar. Of course, that is fairly subjective.

[Aquitaine]

Upper East Side of Manhattan if COL and jobs really aren't issues.

Or else one of the nicer parts of Long Island.

[Pocket_Aces]

I would repeat the suggestions of the previous 2 responses i.e. Manhattan or San Diego.

If crowded places and aggressive attitude of locals doesn't bother you, then Manhattan is the place to be. Although, there will be plenty of pretentious people there as well.

San Diego is a great city overall, but a bit more laid back.

[Louise222]

Well, if climate wasn't an issue, I would suggest Burlington, Vermont. We have a lot of the same issues with Austin and I moved from Burlington... I realized pretty quickly that I prefer Burlington. It is a wonderful city, you can walk literally ANYWHERE, an awesome farmer's market on Saturday, great coop market right smack dab in the middle of town (probably walked there every day that I lived in Burlington), fun night life without being too over the top, and it is right on Lake Champlain (absolutely beautiful) so there is also great swimming/boating outdoorsy things to do. Also, the people were the greatest that I have met in my entire life. I am not into the stoner/drug scene either. In fact, it is a HUGE turn off for me, but I had a very large circle of friends in BTV that were not involved with any sort of drugs...where as here, finding friends that aren't into drugs has been next to impossible (at least imo). I truly do miss it there. I'll probably be heading back to Vermont sometime next year. If you don't mind a heavy winter and a BEAUTIFUL 4 seasons, I would def check it out!

[Adamson865]

If climate wasn't an issue, I would suggest Portland OR. I grew up there and it has what you're looking for ("Portlandia" is all true!). If you'd be able to scale back your expectations and think 70F qualified as "warm-ish" (with one week over 90 where they all fall apart because it's so-oooo hot), Portland might just be the place. Austin keeps wanting to be Portland for some strange reason, so why not just go to the original.

[centralaustinite]

Museum district area of Houston! Montrose, Rice Village, etc.

[mark311]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

Museum district area of Houston! Montrose, Rice Village, etc.

I was going to suggest this area as I have friends that live on the edge of Montrose who love it there. When they do have to drive somewhere, it's normally just a quick 5 minute drive. I think it fits all the Op's likes, but unfortunately, it also fits a lot of the dislikes from what I've seen there (crime, schools, poor, homeless). I still think it would definitely be an area to visit and to consider.

[FueledByBlueBell]

Originally Posted by UTBabyGirl

I've been a bit aggravated lately by the state of my restlessness. If I list my likes and dislikes concerning Austin or my ideal city, would someone be able to give me a suggestion of where to live in the future? For this exercise, please assume that jobs and cost of living will not be an issue.

Likes:
-be able to walk to grocery stores/markets
-lots of farmers markets/tons of access to organic foods
-warm-ish summery climates
-intelligent residents
-art museums/art culture
-Austin-like laid-back but yet still city-ish feel

Dislikes:
-liberal use of marijuana/smoking/other drugs
-high quantities of homeless people
-unmotivated attitudes
-high poor (not high unemployed, necessarily) populations
-high crime rates
-bad school systems
-pretentious personalities (including some Dallas personalities, if you know what I'm implying here)

So, where would I be happiest? Another region of Austin? Round Rock? California? Help, please and thank you.

Is drug use really that much of a problem here? I see it occasionally but it certainly isn't everywhere all the time, and it certainly hasn't impacted my life in any way. This isn't a sarcastic question, but I'm just curious to hear more from your perspective. I am also surprise by your point on unmotivated attitudes. From the high cost of living (relatively) and high amount of wealth in this town I wouldn't call Austin unmotivated, laid back, but certainly not unmotivated. I also think there are pretty good schools (Eanes, Westwood and feeder schools, Lake Travis, Anderson and feeder schools, etc.). I won't live in Dallas b/c of those personalities and don't seem to find them here for the most part. I live in Bee Cave and work for a local corporation, but do spend quite a bit of time downtown, central and south Austin.

[sxrckr]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

Museum district area of Houston! Montrose, Rice Village, etc.

Originally Posted by mark311

I was going to suggest this area as I have friends that live on the edge of Montrose who love it there. When they do have to drive somewhere, it's normally just a quick 5 minute drive. I think it fits all the Op's likes, but unfortunately, it also fits a lot of the dislikes from what I've seen there (crime, schools, poor, homeless). I still think it would definitely be an area to visit and to consider.

I also have friends in that Museum/Montrose/Rice area of Houston who love it. I always have a great time visiting too. Intelligent peeps (Rice Univ, Texas Med Cntr), pretty laid-back, tons of culture, artsy.
Crime seems low in that immediate area, but don't venture to the Gulfton or Fondren areas I'm told. Not sure about the schools, homeless, etc. though.