Is Austin Still A Desirable Place To Live (Jefferson: prices, moving)

[love roses]

I'm one of the few who don't find your posts trollish. Everyone has their own personality on here, and I've just learned to try and understand that.

[WorkingCaregiver]

I moved here 5 years ago to help with mom and dad. I love it here, moved from CA back to TX. I have no regrets - although in August I complain a bit about the weather.

If you are planning to move... let me know, I am selling my house.

[scongress1234]

great replies....how about another angle.....life itself isn't what it used to be. Sure Austin was smaller and more parochial, and prob more livable back when, but just about every other mid-sized city was as well. Houston was more livable in the 70's, as well as Dallas. Chicago was more neighborhood-orientated and tighter in the the 50's-60's. LA was a special place from 1940-1975 or so as well, when you could still see the Santa Ana Mountains in the background. Seattle was special in the 60's-80's, pre-hype and microsoft. EVERY city was more livable way back when. Back when, families only had 1-2 cars, kids borrowed the P's car, and roads weren't the 24/7 madness they are now everywhere. The TIMES have changed, not Austin. Austin just changed ALONG with the times is all. Shangri-la, if it ever existed at all, is long gone everywhere......all you can do is enjoy what we have now, and try to keep what is worth keeping best we can while we have it left. All is mostly still well....

[scongress1234]

Originally Posted by twange

Yea, I mean boring means different things to everybody. What's the point of having that conversation? All of us have different tastes and interests. I'm a pretty active and eclectic person and I can't imagine being bored in Austin.

So to answer the OP, yes I think Austin is still a great place to live. Will you like it? Gawd, who knows...everyone has different expectations.

And for the record, my wife took a voluntary job transfer so we could come to Austin because we liked it's perceived uniqueness, progressive reputation and vibrancy. We are the "creative" types so yes, those kinds of people are still moving here for those reasons but the city is much bigger now, so that's not the only prominent culture anymore. It's still here but now it's one flavor among many - some bitter and some sweet Every city has detractors: there's no Emerald City. I could pick on Austin for a variety of shortcomings but I would rather spend my time focusing on the many excellent attributes and temper my criticisms with positive ideas and solutions.



Well, if that's what you're after, I can heartily recommend my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio...it's not making any lists except for the bad ones But you'll find a lot of great affordable housing and the people are nice

Lincoln said it best, when he said "folks seem to be about as happy as they are inclined to be". In other words, we make our own happiness, life, bed. When we start depending on top ten lists, or the other 999,999 folks in our metro area to make us happy, we are damned from the start.

[lydiavale]

I have lived here for 5 years now, and I'm moving away this May, to Tennessee. I cannot tolerate the traffic any longer. I don't want my life to consist of driving up and down Mopac for my work commute. Mopac during the 3 hours in the morning and the 3 hours in the evening is terrible - a parking lot. This city jsut grew way too fast to accomodate the number of cars on the road. Toll roads are taking over and they charge you 75 cents each booth! That's insane. Even on most Dallas toll roads the charge is about 40-50 cents. It's too expensive to live downtown - ridiculously priced may be the better word.

The live music is great, and the food is great. The weather, traffic and outrageous congestion is not so great.

[julrey]

Originally Posted by scongress1234

great replies....how about another angle.....life itself isn't what it used to be. Sure Austin was smaller and more parochial, and prob more livable back when, but just about every other mid-sized city was as well. Houston was more livable in the 70's, as well as Dallas. Chicago was more neighborhood-orientated and tighter in the the 50's-60's. LA was a special place from 1940-1975 or so as well, when you could still see the Santa Ana Mountains in the background. Seattle was special in the 60's-80's, pre-hype and microsoft. EVERY city was more livable way back when. Back when, families only had 1-2 cars, kids borrowed the P's car, and roads weren't the 24/7 madness they are now everywhere. The TIMES have changed, not Austin. Austin just changed ALONG with the times is all. Shangri-la, if it ever existed at all, is long gone everywhere......all you can do is enjoy what we have now, and try to keep what is worth keeping best we can while we have it left. All is mostly still well....

This is exactly the point I keep trying to make. There's an implication that if Austin isn't what it used to be, Seattle's not what it used to be, SF etc. than someplace else will naturally step up and take it's place, but if that's the case where is this new mid-sized hipster town that will be looked upon with nostalgic reverence 20 years from now? My belief is that times have changed and the level of communication and interaction nowadays somewhat precludes the probability of a "sleeper" town staying unknown for long.

[love roses]

I think if you look at some of the even smaller towns and how popular they are becoming you're right on Target. I'm thinking lots of towns outside of Corpus Christi and Houston and Austin and even places like McAllan, Amarillo, and El Paso. Say, for example, Waco, Sugarland, Katy, Tyler, Conroe, Lake Jackson, Texarkana, etc...There's a post somewhere on the Texas forum that brought this up. Victoria, Sinton, Rockport would be some others I can think of.

[scongress1234]

Originally Posted by julrey

This is exactly the point I keep trying to make. There's an implication that if Austin isn't what it used to be, Seattle's not what it used to be, SF etc. than someplace else will naturally step up and take it's place, but if that's the case where is this new mid-sized hipster town that will be looked upon with nostalgic reverence 20 years from now? My belief is that times have changed and the level of communication and interaction nowadays somewhat precludes the probability of a "sleeper" town staying unknown for long.

And I resecond Julrey's comment. When we pine for "lost Austin", we are really pining for a time long gone by, pre VCR, cable and PC, let alone internet. Again, not everyone and their dog drove a car back when, so the roads were nothing like they are now in every mid and large city, and most small ones as well at this point. People move far more now as well. Places were more sleepy and parochial in the 70's for that very reason. Pre 1980 people rarely moved. Only a handful of large cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, NYC, and Detroit saw much cross-country movement. When people did move, it was rarely cross-country. Now, add all these factors together, and you can see why there will NEVER be anyplace off the radar anymore, even small places. Just like the world itself, every nook and cranny is very much discovered and on the radar. The last factor would be the cheap mortgages that had so many people fleeing high cost states. Just a perfect storm, that all adds up to the Austin you see today. That being said, Austin is still a damn fine mid-sized metro. Let's hope it continues to be....

postscript.......way back when, pre-'80, there were no top 10 city lists......people would simply migrate per word of mouth per job opportunities. The rustbelt migration to Houston in the early 80's might have been the last major migration before the top 10 lists and such came into vogue, and the last migration that wasn't largely tech based. When my ancestors came to Chicago from Poland and Italy in the 1890's, it was simply from word of mouth and letters sent back with good news per jobs. I'm sure that if the web existed there would have been best of lists back when as well!

[DeadInSuburbia]

Originally Posted by julrey

Good luck!

So it depends on why people are moving in in the first place. Some come here to contribute and participate in the local love of counter culture, some for other reasons. Currently I think there are a lot more people moving to Austin for jobs and the cost of living than the unique culture, and yes, in that scenario Austin does lose a little bit of it's weirdness and old school funk. Take a look at the north side, where most of the newcomers are settling. Chain restaurants and strip malls everywhere. That's fine with me. I'd rather people who prefer to shop at Target and eat at Chili's have their own little area anyway. The better to preserve the rest of the city.

I'm moving over there from Atlanta next year--and by god, I'm trying to escape this overgrown strip mall to go someplace with character. I'll be participating in the love for counterculture!

[S6Sputnik]

Originally Posted by lydiavale

I have lived here for 5 years now, and I'm moving away this May, to Tennessee. I cannot tolerate the traffic any longer. I don't want my life to consist of driving up and down Mopac for my work commute. Mopac during the 3 hours in the morning and the 3 hours in the evening is terrible - a parking lot. This city jsut grew way too fast to accomodate the number of cars on the road. Toll roads are taking over and they charge you 75 cents each booth! That's insane. Even on most Dallas toll roads the charge is about 40-50 cents. It's too expensive to live downtown - ridiculously priced may be the better word.

The live music is great, and the food is great. The weather, traffic and outrageous congestion is not so great.

Smallest place I have ever lived...what congestion! give me a break have you ever been to a big city? Surely Memphis would have similar issues
People+ Cars+ normal working hours= congestion everywhere! In Austin it is from 7:30 to 9:00 am I think you would find that to be similar to EVERYWHERE ELSE!
Tornado's would keep me from moving to Tennessee