Why Austin still works for most people (IMO). (San Antonio, West: mortgage, house)

[Roadking2003]

Originally Posted by Eastcoasting

In Manhattan we were middle of the pack but in Austin we are wealthier, smarter and better looking than everyone else..

Now that's really funny. Questionable, but funny.

[hound 109]

Originally Posted by Novacek

I'll say again, Huh?

Ritz Theatre
320 E 6th

Saturday shows including: Black Spring, the WayOuts, etc.

How is that not on the schedule?

I missed the Saturday shows. You win. (but why did you type "huh?" in the first response without clarifying WHY you said "huh?" Not only is it a rude response, it forces the reader to have to read your mind as to why you typed "huh?")

And your implications that Sx was created for National acts to perform in Austin.....or possibly for International Acts to come to Austin to perform.... or that 5,000 acts was ever the preferable number of acts for SxSW (or for that matter, that the Ritz is better as a high priced movie theatre than as a low priced music venue) are all inaccurate implications (& observations).

[dbsteel]

Originally Posted by hornraider

Moving to Austin during the tech boom, I would have to say that I found the best of everything and really would not have lived anywhere else. I was defininately spoiled with the semiconductor industry companies I worked for. My wife and I could go downtown on the weekend and still have our daughter in a good school. We could enjoy Barton Springs and the hill country in the same day. Unfortunately, Austin is not an industrial/manufacturing city (not since the high tech collapse about 10 years ago. Ive done what I could for work in the area, but ultimately had to cross over to the 'dark-side' and move to DFW area, where my salary has nearly doubled.

I guess my complaint/question is: Why doesnt Austin do more to attract the Manufacturing or heavy industry sector? And I'm not talking about software companies, but factories and plants that bring lots of decent jobs. Almost everyone I worked with, at those microchip plants, have relocated. Austin worked for us for over 15 years, and I just hate that we have to uproot and move; or stay and settle for less...

On the up-side...With our higher salaries and lower cost of living in DFW, we are able to rent an apt. AND keep our house in the Kyle/Buda area (possibly to rent out). So hopefully it wasn't a bad decision.

I tend to agree with you. And I think it's all relative about Austin. If you are comparing it to LA, DC, SF, etc..... sure you can live a lot better in Austin. But there are a lot of other cities outside of the big boys where the cost of living and lifestyle is comparable. I've worked in the East and in Austin, and my stress wasn't any higher in one place or the other.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by hound 109

I missed the Saturday shows. You win. (but why did you type "huh?" in the first response without clarifying WHY you said "huh?" Not only is it a rude response, it forces the reader to have to read your mind as to why you typed "huh?")

And your implications that Sx was created for National acts to perform in Austin.....or possibly for International Acts to come to Austin to perform.... or that 5,000 acts was ever the preferable number of acts for SxSW (or for that matter, that the Ritz is better as a high priced movie theatre than as a low priced music venue) are all the opinions of an inaccurate urbanite, aka an anti-austinite.

Well, don't know if I'd go that far, but the idea that SXSW was started for any reason other than to provide a showcase for local bands is, indeed, inaccurate. It was highly touted as that at the time - I was raising a teenager (and a lot of his friends) then and read the Chronicle religiously (and Louis Black was involved in starting SXSW), so I could hardly miss it.

For the original SXSW, there were 172 acts and they expected 150 attendees but had 700. It was planned as a regional event. Obviously that changed.

[centralaustinite]

guess my complaint/question is: Why doesnt Austin do more to attract the Manufacturing or heavy industry sector? And I'm not talking about software companies, but factories and plants that bring lots of decent jobs. Almost everyone I worked with, at those microchip plants, have relocated. Austin worked for us for over 15 years, and I just hate that we have to uproot and move; or stay and settle for less...

Dude, haven't you noticed that Austin has the only Samsung manufacturing facility outside of South Korea? Twice expanded too.

The microchip industry has changed a lot over the past 15 years. Almost all of it is done by foundries in Taiwan and China now. Those fabs from 15 years ago are completely outdated, they would need to be completely refitted . . . of course, semiconductor equipment is still made in Austin.

For a variety of reasons, heavy manufacturing has never been part of Austin's economic base. Light manufacturing has been important and it continues to be.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by hound 109

I missed the Saturday shows. You win. (but why did you type "huh?" in the first response without clarifying WHY you said "huh?" Not only is it a rude response, it forces the reader to have to read your mind as to why you typed "huh?")

I clarified by quoting the _exact text_ in the program that indicated shows were going on at the Ritz.

Originally Posted by hound 109

are all the opinions of an inaccurate urbanite, aka an anti-austinite.

Are you seriously going to try and claim that the Ritz was better as the venue it was before, than the theater it is now (packed with events every night of the week, bringing people and vitality into downtown)?

[Trainwreck20]

heavy manufacturing has never been part of Austin's economic base.

- Too many better alternatives with better access (air, port, and rail) and closer to energy (natural gas);
- Heavy industry tends to stick together due to common infrastructure and support needs;
- State capitals are rarely heavy industry centered;
- Nowadays, who wants the pollution anyway?

[scm53]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

For a variety of reasons, heavy manufacturing has never been part of Austin's economic base. Light manufacturing has been important and it continues to be.

In '79, Michelin wanted to build a tire plant here. You'd have thought they wanted to fill Barton Springs with the carcasses of golden cheeked warblers and black capped vireos.

IBM's typewriter plant (which was the first thing they opened here) is about as "heavy" as Austin's self image would ever allow.

[hornraider]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

guess my complaint/question is: Why doesnt Austin do more to attract the Manufacturing or heavy industry sector? And I'm not talking about software companies, but factories and plants that bring lots of decent jobs. Almost everyone I worked with, at those microchip plants, have relocated. Austin worked for us for over 15 years, and I just hate that we have to uproot and move; or stay and settle for less...

Dude, haven't you noticed that Austin has the only Samsung manufacturing facility outside of South Korea? Twice expanded too.

The microchip industry has changed a lot over the past 15 years. Almost all of it is done by foundries in Taiwan and China now. Those fabs from 15 years ago are completely outdated, they would need to be completely refitted . . . of course, semiconductor equipment is still made in Austin.

For a variety of reasons, heavy manufacturing has never been part of Austin's economic base. Light manufacturing has been important and it continues to be.

yes, I worked at Samsung as a contractor from 99 to 02, and again on the construction of Fab 2. You are right, Samsung is here to stay, especially with some of the support companies like Applied Materials still around. My job as a contractor would have me in China right now, and that is sadly the nature of the industry in the US. Samsung is a very 'state of the art' facility but I don't care much for the LIVE to WORK atmosphere; as opposed to a WORK to LIVE attitude at Motorola(Freescale) and AMD. Also, drive from south of Austin to SAS is horrible (and $70/week in tolls isnt feesible).

Although you are right about Austin never being a heavy manufacturing city, the city counsel doesnt do much to try to diversify and boost the blue-collar workforce either. Labor unions are virtually non-existent here, which is surprising with so many California and east-coast natives.

Does anyone remember when Austin was dubbed the 'Silicon Hills'?
......Man those were the good 'ol days...

[sthrnbell97]

Wanted to chime in on the OPs original point -- as a native Austinite currently living in DC for more than a decade, with some years in Boston, too, I can say the lifestyle is simply, unarguably, better in Austin than in the East Coast/Mid Atlantic cities in many ways. Hard to articulate what it is, exactly, but a combination of work-life balance, rhythm, weather, the parks, the pools, good food, friendly attitudes, space, and critically (though this sounds way too basic), the time saved and the ease of getting things done like grocery shopping, car repairs and running errands. Maybe it is more "supply" of everything above in the supply/demand scenario; I don't know exactly.

Here, and in NY, SF, NJ, etc. myself, my spouse, our friends and colleagues have high-stress, demanding jobs with 10-12+ hour plus days, late nights and work most weekends, with conference calls or emergency meetings or projects that pop up all the time. (Though granted in DC is is more about overachieving nerds accumulating power, less about accumulating money, like it is in the other large cities.) It is expected, and considered totally normal, to answer urgent emails and calls, or respond to breaking news, at any hour of the day or night. Then, you must pay out the nose for childcare to accommodate those hours, and waitlists, starting with early infant care, are easily 1-2 years long, so most people have to ad-hoc engineering a nanny share or in-home daycare setup to the tune of $1800-2500K/month, min. Forget public schools less than 45 mins from the city, unless you can shell out $1 or $2 million for a tiny house in NW DC or McLean where the few good schools are. We can't even get into simple rec center music classes for my 3 year old because the county wait list where we live in VA is a year long; not kidding. There are two year waiting lists for the public pools in the summer!! Sure, there's Wegman's and Harris Teeter, which are always cleaned out of everything if you can fight the lines to the back of the stores. Service sector and retail employees are rude and curt; incompetence abounds. It takes hours just to get a few things from Target or Home Depot and get home, and you'll pay $15 to wait in line for 20 minutes to get a spot in their tiny lot. I sit in traffic in Austin every time I visit and I can promise you it is nothing like the traffic around DC, NY or SF, even with the aid of the subway systems. Most folks we know live in either DC, MD, or VA within only a 4-6 mile radius to downtown DC, but commuting still takes 45 mins on a good day, and 60-90 mins on a bad day when there is a protest, summit or random major street closures for no reason (which happens at least 1-2x/week.) It's fun and thrilling when you are young and starting out, but you get "priced out" of the city once you have kids because 2 bedroom condos start in the mid-$600Ks and single family homes start at $800K, anywhere decent in the metro area if you want to be close to urban life and attractions. (A flyer under our door tonight pitched a "fantastic" deal on a 3 bd/2 ba townhouse down the street with no parking and no yard for $910K.) But you can't dial back hours or work output to slow down a bit because there's always another eager, highly qualified beaver ready to take your place and you can't afford to take the pay cut. That's why we want to move to Austin next year, even knowing full well how expensive housing has become and how the city has changed in the past 10 years. It still offers plenty of advantages in the quality of life department. There are jobs and professional opportunities in the "big cities" like DC and NY that you can't find anywhere else, but you pay a very high premium for it, and at some point the diminishing returns are no longer worth it the stress, inconvenience and wasted hours.