If you're planning to move to Austin (especially from a bigger city)... (Houston: real estate, public schools)

[Frodo2008]

Originally Posted by cabolissa

Every place has its own charm. I've lived all over, and have loved every place for what it had to offer. I love Austin, CA, Mexico, Europe... But each place is unique.

Yeah I agree every place has its good points. I lived in MI for 3 years and I like MI too. The people there are friendly like the people in Texas are and the scenery is good if you like huge lakes and a lot of trees.

[Frodo2008]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

It is ironic to me that the OP's username is spreadingtruth. Really - much of what he rants about is that Austin just isn't like the LA he loves. Oh well, bad for him.

I don't know who the OP speaks of when he says the inhabitants of Austin are lying. Most of my friends here were not born here and moved here from somewhere else. I don't think they ever claim our restaurants rival LA, or NYC. They DO claim to enjoy life here.

I just want to comment on one issue I know a fair amount about: public schools. They vary a lot in most cities in Texas. That's the way it is - because of the ISD (Independent School District) way schools are aligned and funded. But they aren't consistently crappy like they are in many states. National ratings of schools show California to be significantly below Texas. Drop out rate is hardly the end all way to judge school quality. Blaming drop outs solely on the schools is simply unfair and ignores the other issues that cause drop outs. I'm rather happy with the schools in Lake Travis ISD - where my three kids started their public schooling many years ago.

Yes football is too big. But we fund arts, science, agriculture, other sports, and other specialties nicely too.

As for things to do - since eating at hip and cool places, going to world class museums, or pro sports aren't at the top of my list - Austin has plenty for me. I'm actually glad we don't have pro sports. Then we won't get hit to fund a stadium or two for a sport with tickets too expensive to actually see. I don't care about "celebs" in the least - jeez what a shallow thing to value. I'm happy to see a celeb on a music stage or in a great venue like the Backyard or One World Theatre.

I have no idea how the OP can say Austin is expensive - at least not on a national scale. I like my two acres a lot and am quite sure I couldn't live on a lake like Lake Travis in California unless I was an early investor in Google.

The good school/bad school thing is very overrated. It's mainly up to the individual how successful or unsuccessful he is. The school doesn't make a lot of difference. If you're highly motivated you will end up being highly successful. If you're a lazy *** then you won't amount to anything. So it's about hard work not what school you went to. I went to school in a small town in the Austin area. The schools in this town have always had low ratings yet I'm more successful than most people. So if the school really mattered I would be doing pretty bad right now but that's not the case. I work hard at work and I'm pretty good at what I do so I'm pretty successful at it.

[eepstein]

The Texas State govt. is based in Austin! How could they be at complete odds with each other? Austin truly represents the state it resides in. It is foolish for people to try to say that Austin is it's own island. Maybe in some respects, but the fact remains that Austin IS the capital of this state. Decisions are made here that effect the entire state. I don't know much about the UP of Michigan, but the Detroit to Grand Rapids part is pretty damn ugly.

Originally Posted by Frodo2008

Wow I can't believe it. You've been to the UP? I lived in the UP for 3 years. Yeah the scenery in the UP is pretty good. The Great Lakes are cool.

[eepstein]

That is true. Because the quality of life is slowly declining here, the growth of Austin will eventually stop. People will begin moving out once the city council has done enough damage to the cities nationwide reputation. (which they will do, just a matter of time). There are simply too many other nice cities in this country that have a confident city govt/council that actually gives a damn about their citizens and want the best for them.

Originally Posted by inthecut

Same reason they won't build city-wide bike trails or bike lanes......they would rather ignore the growth, and just let people steam bumper to bumper......

As I said, if enough word DID get out that Austin is really an extremely congested city with few public amenities, city OR burbs, growth WOULD eventually stop....you get what you pay for.....the metro wants to spend nil to nothing on road infrastructure, city services, parks, libraries, and most other things that are considered just basic, let alone extra special quality-of-life issues in a "special" metro......

Somehow it seems like they expect all the cool outdoor bars and restaurants to make up for the lack of all those things.......those are all extras.......the missing elements are the basic part of the structure...all the rest is just window dressing/icing.......

The more congested the metro gets, the more what I mentioned will be brought to the forefront, and have an impact on future growth eventually.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by eepstein

The Texas State govt. is based in Austin! How could they be at complete odds with each other? Austin truly represents the state it resides in. It is foolish for people to try to say that Austin is it's own island. Maybe in some respects, but the fact remains that Austin IS the capital of this state. Decisions are made here that effect the entire state. I don't know much about the UP of Michigan, but the Detroit to Grand Rapids part is pretty damn ugly.

First, the legislators who come here every so often aren't from Austin, for the most part. It's quite easy for them to be at complete odds with Austin, and they frequently are. Anyone who's lived here for a while, and pays any attention at all, knows this.

I agree that Austin is not its own island. People who want to reinforce their negative stereotypes of Texas frequently say that, flailing to pretend that Austin ISN'T Texas somehow and that everywhere else in Texas is the complete opposite of Austin so that they can cling to their "Texas bad" bigotry, but it just isn't true. Austin is a city in Texas, made up of Texans and a lot of non-Texans, just like lots of other places in the state, with its own flavor. But it's not entirely different from everywhere else in the state.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by Frodo2008

The good school/bad school thing is very overrated. It's mainly up to the individual how successful or unsuccessful he is. The school doesn't make a lot of difference. If you're highly motivated you will end up being highly successful. If you're a lazy *** then you won't amount to anything. So it's about hard work not what school you went to. I went to school in a small town in the Austin area. The schools in this town have always had low ratings yet I'm more successful than most people. So if the school really mattered I would be doing pretty bad right now but that's not the case. I work hard at work and I'm pretty good at what I do so I'm pretty successful at it.

I agree with you about the good school/bad school thing. Schools can only do so much to keep a kid from dropping out. If the parents can't keep their children interested in school enough to stay in and graduate....

[Frodo2008]

Originally Posted by eepstein

The Texas State govt. is based in Austin! How could they be at complete odds with each other? Austin truly represents the state it resides in. It is foolish for people to try to say that Austin is it's own island. Maybe in some respects, but the fact remains that Austin IS the capital of this state. Decisions are made here that effect the entire state. I don't know much about the UP of Michigan, but the Detroit to Grand Rapids part is pretty damn ugly.

Why do you say it's ugly? Is it too wooded for you? I don't know about southern MI I never went that far south but the UP's scenery is pretty good. It's good if you like a lot of woods. If you like open spaces then the UP sucks big time. So it depends on what you call good scenery. Here's a few pictures:

http://www.wunderground.com/data/wxi...w/d/dj89/6.jpg
http://www.superiortrails.com/upcolor/2006-1062m.jpg

I don't know about you but I think the scenery in these pictures is da** good.

[Frodo2008]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

I agree with you about the good school/bad school thing. Schools can only do so much to keep a kid from dropping out. If the parents can't keep their children interested in school enough to stay in and graduate....

I mean it's good if you can go to a good school but if you end up at a not so good school that will be fine. Just work hard and keep at it and you'll be successful. That's all I'm saying.

[carolinajack]

texas has cowboy culture, the Alamo, Mexican food, Austins music scene, Dallas Cowboys, chicken fried steak.

ive lived in texas and nyc been to LA(i dont think Texas has to envy any of those other places) its fine just the way it is.

plus we have stevie ray, bob wills, los lonely boys, George Strait, 3 presidents, great rodeo, Leann Womack, and the best lookin women in all the 50 states

[Destiny1]

Wow, lots of different opinions. We - two adults - just moved here to South Congress on April 1 2009 from Manhattan. We chose to get a furnished rental to start with, a bit of a shock seeing our place first time as we had no idea how it will look. It was a nice suprise though since we work at home.

We like it so far...and as for food. Suprisingly enough we thought Wholefoods prepared foods are NOT as good as in NYC which was a huge disappointment.

As far as for restaurants we have found some really great ones here in SoCo like Vespaio (Italian)...the Enoteca version is cheaper and excellent. To share a pizza and a salad was a good deal pricewise and the pizza in excellent.

We used to love some places like Gabriela's (Mexican), Kefi (Greek), Cafe B (Belgium), Celeste (Italian), Saigon Grill (Vietnamese), Hummus Place (Israeli), Seven's Grill (Turkish), Five Napkin Burger in NYC.

The reality is that you can not expect as much diversity here. We would LOVE to find some great Vietnamese restaurant, better MEXICAN (not Tex Mex) and some Mediterranean (Greek, Turkish, Moroccan) and Inidan places. We are major foodies but many restaurants are good, not necessarily great in NYC as well.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. And if anyone knows how to hook up with the INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY (especially Europeans), let us know. One of us is European originally.

Also, one of us is really into tennis...what would you recommend?? Where, costs etc Remember we are in SoCo but we just leased a car so can get around easily.

You are welcome to send us notes also at garysalerts(at)gmail.com

And allergies...yes, one of us is noticing the symptoms coming up...