Is Austin Weird Like the Adam's Family of Cities (Houston: houses, living in)

[tindo80]

Austin is weird in Texas standards because its trendy, opening minded, and fairly liberal. Most of the largest cities in texas are at least 2 of these things, but Austin gets a lot of attention because its all three. Also, it is a capitol which does not at all reflect a states 'stereotype' (angry hateful rednecks with guns...not believing just saying).

[Frodo2008]

Originally Posted by inthecut

They prob will.....Austin's local unemployment rate just topped over 7%...
I really prefer not to touch on that, but indeed it is the case...

Austin unemployment hits 7.1% - Austin Business Journal:

You can blame the large in(not im-)igration numbers almost 100% for that.....job growth essentially flatlined to just above zero the last year, while population growth from outside(not natural increase) jumped another 2.5-3%.....and all those people fleeing(and I can't blame them) poor regional job markets all over the US, and running to Austin, are most assuredly being felt in the unemployment rolls.....

Per where Texas will be if it keeps up another 10 years(3-5% annual pop growth, per natural AND in-migration).....at least as bad as California is now, if not worse......

Simple law of life...people tend to create the same problems/scenarios at the places they run away to as well, in a micro AND marco sense...

Well, let's hope for the best...

Yeah that's right. If people don't learn from their mistakes when they go somewhere else they will just make the same mistakes there. If you're lucky they will learn their lesson before arriving and the place will remain in good condition. If they fail to see the problem then the new place is going to get scr**ed. Let's hope people are quick learners.

[inthecut]

Originally Posted by Frodo2008

Yeah that's right. If people don't learn from their mistakes when they go somewhere else they will just make the same mistakes there. If you're lucky they will learn their lesson before arriving and the place will remain in good condition. If they fail to see the problem then the new place is going to get scr**ed. Let's hope people are quick learners.

Prob is, people think enmasse like seagulls, and that doesn't work unless you're scavenging garbage....

Think about that one a few times!

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by Frodo2008

Yeah that's right. If people don't learn from their mistakes when they go somewhere else they will just make the same mistakes there. If you're lucky they will learn their lesson before arriving and the place will remain in good condition. If they fail to see the problem then the new place is going to get scr**ed. Let's hope people are quick learners.

And this right here is why people object to people from California (and other places, mind) coming here and proceeding to complain about everything from the kind of fast food we have to the kind of government we have and talking about how much better it was where they escaped from and how we should make it just like there.

There's a REASON you came here, folks, either because you liked it here (in which case why change it to be like where you came from?) or because you HAD to come here because where you came from is crashing and burning (in which case why change it to be like where you came from?).

If you came here because you like it, enjoy it for what it is.

If you came here because where you came from is crashing and burning, you really need to think about that and about why where you came from is crashing and burning instead of trying to do the same thing and expecting a different outcome (the classic definition of insanity).

The lack of the ability to see that just boggles the mind sometimes.

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

Yes, let's turn this thread into another "blame the migration" game.

[TexasHorseLady]

I don't blame the migration. There's a specific subset of the migration that has the attitude that I describe. As I've said many times before, if you come here because you love it, or you come here AND love it, or you come here with an open mind to the fact that here's not there and that's a good thing, welcome, welcome, welcome!

If, on the other hand, you come here wanting to make the same mistakes you made where you came from but expecting a different result, and in the process destroying what we have, we're not going to be too crazy about that idea.

Fair enough?

[inthecut]

I said earlier that Austin was like a giant backyard party where too many people got in the yard..........and they had to shut down the beer taps..

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by inthecut

I said earlier that Austin was like a giant backyard party where too many people got in the yard..........and they had to shut down the beer taps..

How do you know this? You only moved here a few years ago after all the growth hit.

[inthecut]

Originally Posted by Jennibc

How do you know this? You only moved here a few years ago after all the growth hit.

comeon! that was supposed to be funny!......or silly, if not funny.....

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by Jennibc

How do you know this? You only moved here a few years ago after all the growth hit.

Austin's growth didn't just happen a few years ago.

When I moved here in 1977 I began hearing the locals complaining about growth, as if it was something that began happening recently. That is far from the truth.

I found a table of census data on the Wiki showing the population of Austin, TX every 10 years since 1850. It has grown from 26.7% to 148.7% every ten years for its entire history. If anything the rate of growth has slowed from 1960 to present (35-40%) compared to the previous 30 years when it was 50-65%.

So it seems that complaining about growth is an old long standing tradition in Austin, TX.



The big question in my mind is how long can we sustain this growth? Not much longer I think as we are running out of water and energy.

Actually, I think a graph of the percentage of population growth per 10 year period is more telling then the total population count.



I wonder what happened in the 1920's that caused growth to be so slow. The previous decade saw the end of WW1 and the dust bowl didn't happen until 1930-36.