Keep ____ Weird: if not Austin where else? (Dallas, Spring: transplants, for sale)

[julrey]

There's a lot of (usually justified) concern on these forums about Austin losing it's character as it grows larger and absorbs a greater and greater influx of transplants. This is a legitimate problem, I feel, but my question is how to avoid such a problem, not just in Austin but elsewhere.

Consider this scenario:

Sometime in the early 80s. You've been a lifelong resident of San Francisco, but the old hippie mentality has been largely disseminated through the usual gentrification. So you move to Seattle.

Now it's 10 years later. Seattle has also been taken over by the granola hippies, so reluctantly you move to Austin, which you understand used to be hipper in the 70s but hey, what wasn't?, and these days you're taking what you can get. At least Austin is still small.

Now it's 2007, and Austin is rapidly starting to lose many if not most of the old benefits of living here. Sprawl is increasing, the influx of non-liberal, non-creative types are turning the city into another potential Dallas. What next? Move to Portland? Denver? Santa Fe? Where do you go that you're not almost 100% assured of not running into the same gentrification issues elsewhere? Unless one is willing to live like a nomad for the rest of his/her life, constantly jumping around from one city to the next in search of the next elusive artistic enclave, I'm not sure there's any permanent escape from gentrification.

Comments welcome.

[bungalowbob]

Eureka Springs, Arkansas is next. Problem is, when places like this are discovered as Bohemian outposts, it is over.

[love roses]

I don't know about influx of non liberals. All I read about on here is people asking about the liberal leaning vibe in Austin, or of how they are agnostic/atheist and how would they be treated? I think I've only read of 3 or 4 asking about Churches or conservative views. I think you're right about Arkansas. My husbands family is there and so is my neighbors and they've all talked about it growing quite a bit.

[bungalowbob]

Austin's form of liberalism seems to be proud & righteous. Whatever happened to live & let live. Who cares if there's Walmarts and Christians. C'est la vie.

[julrey]

Originally Posted by love roses

I don't know about influx of non liberals. All I read about on here is people asking about the liberal leaning vibe in Austin, or of how they are agnostic/atheist and how would they be treated? I think I've only read of 3 or 4 asking about Churches or conservative views. I think you're right about Arkansas. My husbands family is there and so is my neighbors and they've all talked about it growing quite a bit.

Well, as far as "gentrification" goes I meant to lean more heavily on the loss of the artistic community rather than focusing on liberalism vs conservatism, religious vs agnostic, etc.

Gentrification doesn't necessarily always have a huge bearing on political or spiritual leanings but pretty much 100% of the time results in a significant dispersal of the artistic community.

[nativeDallasite]

Originally Posted by julrey

There's a lot of (usually justified) concern on these forums about Austin losing it's character as it grows larger and absorbs a greater and greater influx of transplants. This is a legitimate problem, I feel, but my question is how to avoid such a problem, not just in Austin but elsewhere.

Consider this scenario:

Sometime in the early 80s. You've been a lifelong resident of San Francisco, but the old hippie mentality has been largely disseminated through the usual gentrification. So you move to Seattle.

Now it's 10 years later. Seattle has also been taken over by the granola hippies, so reluctantly you move to Austin, which you understand used to be hipper in the 70s but hey, what wasn't?, and these days you're taking what you can get. At least Austin is still small.

Now it's 2007, and Austin is rapidly starting to lose many if not most of the old benefits of living here. Sprawl is increasing, the influx of non-liberal, non-creative types are turning the city into another potential Dallas. What next? Move to Portland? Denver? Santa Fe? Where do you go that you're not almost 100% assured of not running into the same gentrification issues elsewhere? Unless one is willing to live like a nomad for the rest of his/her life, constantly jumping around from one city to the next in search of the next elusive artistic enclave, I'm not sure there's any permanent escape from gentrification.

Comments welcome.

I take issue with the use of the word "gentrification" here. What is happening in Austin (and Dallas) is the opposite of gentrification. It's what we natives call "Californication", and a lot of us don't like it one bit. We wish many/most Californians would stay put and fix their own state instead of messing ours up. When every other Starbucks is full of people in Birks griping about how much they miss Trader Joe's and all the other great super-brilliant-wonderful things about California and how Texas sucks and is a cultureless bible-beating wasteland, we get sort of annoyed. They like our relatively cheap real estate and they love our job market, but they don't like anything else about the place. They should go. I don't know anyone here in Dallas who DOESN'T share my feelings on this. If you're going to move here, embrace it warts and all. If you're not prepared to do that, don't move here. Simple as.

[Jaipur]

I have to tell you that Austin was much weirder before the 90's than it is now. New comers have absolutely no idea how it was back then. I know that this was not your question but this is very true.

[Melissa78703]

Originally Posted by nativeDallasite

I take issue with the use of the word "gentrification" here. What is happening in Austin (and Dallas) is the opposite of gentrification. It's what we natives call "Californication", and a lot of us don't like it one bit. We wish many/most Californians would stay put and fix their own state instead of messing ours up. When every other Starbucks is full of people in Birks griping about how much they miss Trader Joe's and all the other great super-brilliant-wonderful things about California and how Texas sucks and is a cultureless bible-beating wasteland, we get sort of annoyed. They like our relatively cheap real estate and they love our job market, but they don't like anything else about the place. They should go. I don't know anyone here in Dallas who DOESN'T share my feelings on this. If you're going to move here, embrace it warts and all. If you're not prepared to do that, don't move here. Simple as.

Don't hate me, but I like some of the changes I've seen in Austin. I was about to move elsewhere, then the Californians flooded in and golly gee, what happened? The real estate that no one could unload suddenly trippled in value! The little condo I bought in Clarksville for 90K is now worth a cool quarter mill. AND ... the neighborhood feels much safer; there are cafes and coffeshops and little boutiques to shop in. And yet, it still retained the same Clarksville feel.

I liked Austin's "weirdness" but it wasn't doing us a heckuva lot of good, was it? I nearly had to move OUT of Austin because there were no jobs here. I'd rather have a healthy economy, so I can work. My S.O. moved her from California, and IMHO, he's a wonderful addition to our community, as he is a musician and brings people into the city whenever his band plays here.

No, it's not the same old Austin. Yes, Liberty Lunch is gone, the drag has been co-opted, and there's a Starbucks on every corner (I love Starbucks - yum!) Maybe it's better, and we just don't realize that.

Thoughts?

[love roses]

But honestly, how many people besides transplants from Cali or the East coast could afford to live in Clarksville now that that little condo costs a cool quarter mil? It probably is safer and cuter, but only for those that can afford that price. Another reason suburbia exists here like it does. I think it's kinda funny how people can say they don't like Walmart and other big box stores but like starbucks on every corner. Melissa78703, I don't mean that as a shot at you. I like starbucks too and I know you didn't say anything about big box stores. I just used your starbucks comment to make a point about some of the things I read here about Suburban Austin, etc... But then again, if I were a real estate genius/or had smarts in that department, I'd buy in an area that would see great appreciation, and then be just as happy about the increase in its value Hopefully, not in the too far distant future. And I'm about to chew a hole in the carpet to get out of the house and see some live music!!

[Melissa78703]

Originally Posted by love roses

But honestly, how many people besides transplants from Cali or the East coast could afford to live in Clarksville now that that little condo costs a cool quarter mil? It probably is safer and cuter, but only for those that can afford that price. Another reason suburbia exists here like it does. I think it's kinda funny how people can say they don't like Walmart and other big box stores but like starbucks on every corner. Melissa78703, I don't mean that as a shot at you. I like starbucks too and I know you didn't say anything about big box stores. I just used your starbucks comment to make a point about some of the things I read here about Suburban Austin, etc... But then again, if I were a real estate genius/or had smarts in that department, I'd buy in an area that would see great appreciation, and then be just as happy about the increase in its value Hopefully, not in the too far distant future. And I'm about to chew a hole in the carpet to get out of the house and see some live music!!

How many people? Well, before the economy was revitalized, not even Austinites could afford to buy property - any property! I remember driving around Austin seeing a "FOR SALE" sign on what seemed like every other house ... people losing their homes, having the bank foreclose, it was nuts. There were NO jobs, NONE. I remember that quite well ... remember when my then-husband an I were looking for a house for $35,000, and we couldn't *begin* to afford it because he got laid off, and I couldn't find anything other than part-time work ... we lived off our parents for two years before we were able to get back on our feet. Then high tech came in ... my ex got a job, praise God! We knew many friends/couples/families who were saved by California companies that relocated from Silicon Valley. Even if you got a job in sales or admin, that was better than living with your parents.

You have to be savvy to a certain degree, to live in Austin these days. I knew that Clarksville was going to be the first neighborhood to explode, so I bought there. The trick is for Austinites to figure out where to buy before it gets prohibitively expensive. I've been told that 78745 is the next neighborhood to go sky high. If you want to live here, you have to play there game better than they play it.