How is Austin becoming like California? (Houston, Dallas: rental, income, living in)

[L3XVS]

First of all, I must disagree with the assertion that a materialism, alone, is a staple of so-called California life. Outside of LA, and parts of San Francisco, I would argue that California is largely bohemian, individualistic, and free-spiritied -- labels not typically associated with conspicuous capitalistism.

I think Austin is, by and large, the most liberal and progressive city in the state of Texas. The city government, its residents, and the general ethos of the city seem to be decidely forward-thinking; staunchly rejecting the status quo and refusing stalwart conservatism that seems to be a prevalent mindset in other Texas cities, large and small.

Austin has become like California (specifically, Berkeley/Silicon Valley/a small SF) in its culture (largely liberal), its industry (high-tech and emerging biotech/pharmaceutical), and in its refusal to become over-commercialized, losing its unique identity to become another Anyplace, USA.

Of course, with the influx of transplants from the east and west coasts, the development of a burgeoning high-tech industry, and the large number of UT students who by and large stay in Austin after graduation, it's no wonder why Austin has continued to attract more and diversified high-end/luxury dining, retail, residential and business establishments.

That's not necessarily a bad thing -- it just means that Austin is growing up, and unlike many medium-sized cities like it, actually benefitting from a strong economic base. Unfortunately, with this transition, comes the pretense and superficiality often associated with California, particularly LA.

The beautiful part about Austin is that there's a mixture of high-brow, mid-brow, and of course, low-brow. Unlike Dallas, which largely demonstrates a high-brow bias, and San Antonio, which largely demonstrates a low-brow bias, Austin occupies that sweet spot of middle ground. I think when a city has this balance, it makes for a much more diverse, interesting, and cosmopolitan experience.

You've got hedge fund managers driving Range Rovers, hippy-minded tree huggers throwing mass demonstations, a very large college population, and a surprisingly large homeless population all living in one city, contributing to it their own unique influence. That said, I don't see how all these groups cannot coexist peacefully amongst one another.

After all, the true definition of cosmopolitanism is about the encorporation of various cultures, classes, ethnicities, and viewpoints in a single area. This creates diversity, which in turn fosters the development of progress and advancement, which often results in that intangible feeling that a city is cosmopolitan, cultured, and/or sophisticated.

Of course, Austin hasn't quite reached that tipping point of urbanity yet -- it's still largely white, largely middle class, and still too insular (has not attracted enough people from outside of Texas, other parts of the US, or the world) to be truly seen as a metropolitan hub. However, it's well on its way.

As an Austin resident, I look forward to seeing and being a part of this phenomenon.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by riaelise

I agree with Bentbow, and I'm a transplant. Seeing certain materialistic scenesters = progress? Opening up yet another round of overpriced shops = progress? Austin wants to pride itself as the down to earth cousin of Houston and Dallas. The "city alternative". This down to earth feeling is part of Austin's appeal to me.

Right now you can dress casually to any restaurant in austin. When we start getting a lot of restaurants with dress codes you know we are dallasified.

Dont patronize restaurants with dress codes

[mark311]

Originally Posted by L3XVS

Austin has become like California (specifically, Berkeley/Silicon Valley/a small SF) in its culture (largely liberal), its industry (high-tech and emerging biotech/pharmaceutical), and in its refusal to become over-commercialized, losing its unique identity to become another Anyplace, USA.

This is just not true. Austin isn't even close to the liberal culture of the areas that you mentioned above. I've lived in the Bay area for a couple years and now in the Austin area. Anyone that moves to Austin thinking that they will see the same type of liberalism that they saw in Berkeley is in for a big surprise.

[sliverbox]

Its interesting. Even though I live in SF, most of my friends live 2-3 hours out in the sticks. Rural California is about as rural as it comes. There's lots of communities that have people living there going back for generations. One of my buddies has lived on the same property all his life, and before that it was his dad's and his dad's dad. They're the nicest people you'll ever meet. They're also highly conservative, love their guns and pickup trucks. Even though I don't some of their views, its ok.

So to me this is probably more of a general topic of a trend in a lot of US metros, which is the re-gentrification of the US city. Its not just Austin or Raleigh. Its a lot of cities. Even my own home town, Knoxville TN is getting all gentrified: lots of fine cuisine, hipster areas with pubs and art galleries, and chunks of the city now fully restored and safe to walk in whereas you'd be nuts to do so 10 years ago. I think there's also a generation of Americans who are less interested in staying near their families. If they live in say- Milwaukee or Detroit, they move because they are willing to leave their families to escape the cold or the local economy. I did the same. All my family is still back in TN. They have lived there since the 1750's. I am the first to leave.

So what you have is this systematic re-population of cities and over time, they eventually either become overcrowded or they become too expensive. The easy access to trends online means the media can suddenly report that such-and-such city is now the hot place to go. Knoxville was ranked the 5th best place to live 2 years ago. You better believe people began pouring in. Last year a report claimed it was similar to Austin ( cough cough) and the last time I went, the supply of hipsters seemed a lot higher... perhaps as a result. Everyone is looking to get away from wherever they currently live, and they've heard that there's this ity or state that's better, cooler, younger, or hipper. Its like cities have become like new rock stars where in any given year they can be cast into the light of being this great city. I think Pittsburgh has recently been touted as this great place to live. I wonder which city will pop up next? Louisville, KY?

[L3XVS]

Originally Posted by mark311

This is just not true. Austin isn't even close to the liberal culture of the areas that you mentioned above. I've lived in the Bay area for a couple years and now in the Austin area. Anyone that moves to Austin thinking that they will see the same type of liberalism that they saw in Berkeley is in for a big surprise.

Everything is relative, and in relation to other cities in Texas, Austin is largely liberal; not as liberal as California, obviously, but the symbiotic relationship between the aforementioned areas and their more conservative counterparts (Orange County, Sacramento) is the same as Austin is to Dallas and Houston.

[TexasHorseLady]

Austin, like much of Texas, is more libertarian than Liberal. Sometimes people confuse that with being Liberal, and sometimes people who come here from out of state or who haven't lived anywhere else in Texas for an extended period of time think that it's dramatically different from the rest of the state when it's really not. I grew up in East Texas, which has the reputation for being the most conservative area of the state, and that's where I learned the libertarian attitude - of course, everybody around me in the small towns I lived in was a Democrat, but that was before the Democratic Party lost Texas as a "Yellow Dog Democrat" state by changing out from under them. (By the way, I HATE the "Blue Dog Democrat" term because it completely ignores the meaning of the original phrase, "He'd vote for a yellow dog if it was a Democrat".)

One of the truly delightful things about Austin has been that people of politically different stripes can live next door to each other and be best friends and neighbors, because politics isn't the be all end all of life, there are many much more important things. That's something that that I hope Austin never loses no matter how many people from more Liberal states live here. (And I think that the term liberal has lost its original meaning: Not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas; free from bigotry. At least, I see as much orthodoxy and bigotry against anyone who doesn't think the same way they do among "Liberals" as I do among "Conservatives" - six of one, half dozen of the other.)

[mark311]

Originally Posted by L3XVS

Everything is relative, and in relation to other cities in Texas, Austin is largely liberal; not as liberal as California, obviously, but the symbiotic relationship between the aforementioned areas and their more conservative counterparts (Orange County, Sacramento) is the same as Austin is to Dallas and Houston.

OK. That still doesn't change the fact that making the statement that Austin is like Berkeley or San Francisco in any context is misleading. I believe that it's a good thing that Austin isn't like Berkeley and San Francisco. I wouldn't have moved into the Austin area if it was.

[sliverbox]

I lived in Berkeley for 3 years. No way Austin is anywhere near it. I remember on my street there was a guy who would ride a bicycle that had a huge plastic frog mounted to a frame welded to the bike. That and he blasted disco music. He rode by at 3:00 AM about every few days. That was normal in Berkeley. The weirdness level and the extreme liberalism is turned up probably 9-10 notches over Austin

[skyao]

After living in Austin and California, I never really understood why people claimed it was like California and specifically the Bay Area.

Austiin has its own vibe, but is also distinctly Texas. If I had to compare Austin to a city in California, I would say Sacramento.

Both are capital cities, both can get very hot, and seem to have the same inner city ring/suburbs structure. Austin is way cooler than Sacramento but Sacramento gets a bad rap in California.

If Sacramento had a university the size/scope of UT (no disrespect to UC Davis), it could capture some of the "vibe" and energy that Austin seems to have.

[AK123]

Originally Posted by L3XVS

...but the symbiotic relationship between the aforementioned areas and their more conservative counterparts (Orange County, Sacramento) is the same as Austin is to Dallas and Houston.

No it's not.

Dallas and Houston are not very conservative (the cities.) They have their own conservative suburbs, just like L.A. has Orange County, Austin has Williamson County, Houston has Montgomery County, Dallas has Collin County, etc.