What's with people in Austin? (Houston, Dallas: university, standard of living, professionals)

[Nomadic9460678748]

Austin/ites feed the fires with the "We're the best city in Texas", "Austin is the ONLY place worth living in Texas", "At least we don't live in Houston/Dallas/San Antonio" type talk.

It gets old.

I've lived in Austin pretty much my whole life but can understand how a native of any of the larger Texas cities would be befuddled by the lavish affection constantly heaped upon Austin. You have people saying things like this:

""Austin is my favorite place in the United States. It's like God is here. I swear there's something different."
-C. Chaddick

Um, OK. That's awesome that Austin is her favorite place! She's certainly entitled to her opinion and I'm sure she's had many grand experiences which would lead her to believe good things about Austin, but in the almost 25 years that I've lived in Austin I've not even seen so much as Mother Teresa (sp?) in a potato chip to make me believe there's something "different" or "special" about Austin which can't be duplicated in other cities, even cities like Houston or Dallas. Austin's just a place, a place with problems, like any other place. For me, there's no special "aura" or "glow" about Austin which probably doesn't exist in other parts of the country or world. But a lot of Austinites like to make comments in keeping with The Aura and I think it serves to put many off. I don't know, just my theory.

Put more simply, I feel as though Austin is like Marcia Brady (obsessed with herself and pretty oblivious to how she makes others feel) and Houston/Dallas/San Antonio are Jan Brady (jealous of Marcia, but not really sure why, when the truth is Jan's just as pretty and interesting, but somehow Jan never gets the attention she really deserves).

[jobert]

Originally Posted by caphillsea77

Good response as I see Austin doesn't get a lot of love from Dallas or Houston. I think sibling rivalry explains it all. I've been to San Antonio which is close to Austin but an entirely different element. I feel SA doesn't feel the need to compete nor does it care. They have the history and the Alamo which commands respect I guess. Yes Dallas and Fort Worth seem to have their own rivalry going, and El Paso doesn't even cross my mind, does it cross yours?

El Paso doesn't join the fray because it is out there - it's closer to San Diego than it is to Houston. Austin garners as much national attention as Houston or Dallas, and it's a fraction of the size. This pisses off Dallas and Houston to no end. Since I've been a teenager, I've been coming down for weekend trips about a half dozen times a year. That's more times than I had gone to Ft. Worth in my entire life. I suspect a lot of peopel want to live here, but no one has offered them a job or they can't afford to live where they want, so they get ticked off. Hate to say it, but sometimes moving to Austin is a game of "Red Rover", you have to be invited (via job offer). I'm not saying that it's snooty or exclusive, but if everyone who wanted to live here had the means to do so, this town would balloon to 3X it's size. The entertainment is something else you can't find in Dallas of Houston. If you have the time and energy (money is not always required) there is a world of entertainment available. The number one all-time attraction here is floating the Comal or Guadalupe in middle of summer with a cooler of beer in the tube next to you and some good friends, then hitting the Grist Mill with a nice Texas friendly house party afterwards or touring the neighboring hill-country town. You can't find that in Dallas or Houston. Is it "better" entertainment? depends who you ask, but the truth is that what I described can only be found here.

[brubaker]

Originally Posted by caphillsea77

I've been reading several C-D threads and it seems so many other Texans have a vendetta against their own state capital. What gives? Particularly Dallas and Houston residents love to talk smack about Austin as if it were some inferiority/superiority complex.

Admittedly I'm from the north (Mass) and I loved Austin! I thought it was the most attractive city in Texas. I am moving to Texas by the end of the year adn I'm debating Dallas or Austin. So why do people slam Austin and it's people? I thought Austonians were pretty easy to warm up to, but of course I was on vacation and have lived other places so I know living there would be a huge difference. Is it the college kids? A transient population? What gives?

Consider also that some states do not have two MSAs the size of Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston to begin with...then add a little bother (haha I meant o say brother!)that gets way more attention than it deserves and is growing very, very quickly (due to people moving from, say, Mass.)....and you have your answer.

As par for any internet forum anywhere it seems, you have hysteria on both ends defending and assaulting (insert subject here).

One always plays off the other and couldn't exist without 'the other' to battle against.
It's the old saying, "Can't play tug-a-war alone' ... somehow people think what is represented here (for alllll the world to see ) really, really matters so they battle over Austin's Image®. Etc. Some people enjoy stirring up **** also I guess...so you have that.

Anyways:

Rah-Rah Boosterism exists here as well, turning CD into a large, free, advertising forum for Real Estate Personnel trying to garner national attention to their precious real estate...so it all balances out I guess. Or not.

[alexxxbustos]

I don't understand why there are still a lot of people in Texas or out of state that consider think differently from Fort Worth...
Fort Worth loves Austin and thinks way too different than Dallas! Please count these two cities appart from each other.
Also, if you guys think on relocating to North Texas, consider Fort Worth

[brubaker]

Why are you selling some land up there?

Name two people in Austin that think the same. Or two people period for that matter.
Obviously we're generalizing here.

[theSUBlime]

Originally Posted by jobert

The entertainment is something else you can't find in Dallas of Houston. If you have the time and energy (money is not always required) there is a world of entertainment available. The number one all-time attraction here is floating the Comal or Guadalupe in middle of summer with a cooler of beer in the tube next to you and some good friends, then hitting the Grist Mill with a nice Texas friendly house party afterwards or touring the neighboring hill-country town. You can't find that in Dallas or Houston. Is it "better" entertainment? depends who you ask, but the truth is that what I described can only be found here.

This is the problem! Just the same way you can't find certain things you find in Austin in Dallas or Houston, you can't find some things in Houston or Dallas in Austin.

Entertainment is something you can find in ALL of these cities. How much and what kind is debatable. It depends on what an individual wants, and for some reason some people in Austin think that everyone else wants what they have. (This applies to the other cities as well.) Texas is a very prideful state and naturally, the cities are even more so, but as stated before, we will defened each other when attacked by other states. What can I say? It's a history thang.

First off,
a Lake Travis ≠ a Trinity River ≠ a Galveston Beach
and a primarily Indie music scene ≠ Techno music scene ≠ Classical music scene
The list can go on and on...

It brings me to this topic of uniqueness that's constantly brought up here on C-D and in real life. Every city is unique. True, you could say that some are more or less unique, but I'm still waiting for the day someone has found two cities that are exactly alike.

Personally, I live where I choose to live, because I prefer the amenties in my cities to yours. (That includes my job, family, etc.)

Next, people, not necessarily people from Austin, tend to make the point that Austin is the savior of Texas, because of its liberalness and progressiveness and that no other city in Texas can touch such an accomplishment.

I don't want to make this into a demographic thing, but personally I take into account that the population of many of the large cities in this country are predominately White and liberal (as well as the general implications of that) and by that very nature, even though they may have never been to Austin, a person from one of those other large cities will probably identify with Austin more, based only on what they've heard.

Furthermore, people from different backgrounds will find they have different needs and wants. As witnessed on this forum, and in life, we often convince ourselves that that we are more different than alike, but just as we can find many differences, we can also find many similarities. Nevertheless, this mainstream fascination with the unique is one that Austin popularly identifies with.

In any case, it's just a matter of how you look at things.

[TexasHighDef]

Aahhahaaaa!! I grew up on Cape Cod and moved to Austin in 78 and lived in Dallas form 95 to 2000. It was the best two moves of my life moving to Austin. I don't want to slam Dallas but it sure is not a place I would ever want to live again. There are far more people from Dallas that would like to live in Austin than the other way around and the same goes for Houston. It is more about a way of life!!

[theSUBlime]

Originally Posted by TexasHighDef

Aahhahaaaa!! I grew up on Cape Cod and moved to Austin in 78 and lived in Dallas form 95 to 2000. It was the best two moves of my life moving to Austin. I don't want to slam Dallas but it sure is not a place I would ever want to live again. There are far more people from Dallas that would like to live in Austin than the other way around and the same goes for Houston. It is more about a way of life!!

The above post proves my point.
Remember, I said some people, not all people.

[Champ le monstre du lac]

Originally Posted by alexxxbustos

I don't understand why there are still a lot of people in Texas or out of state that consider think differently from Fort Worth...
Fort Worth loves Austin and thinks way too different than Dallas! Please count these two cities appart from each other.
Also, if you guys think on relocating to North Texas, consider Fort Worth

Never made it to Fort Worth. Things I've heard is great downtown, perhaps a little more down to earth than Dallas. I've always though of it as the 2nd city, just like say Seattle-Tacoma, or Minneapolis-St. Paul. What sets Fort Worth apart? What would draw a gay man in his 30's to live there?

[RevMen]

Something about Austin that seems to set it apart in my view is Austinites really take ownership of their city. There's a real sense that anyone can have a voice or contribute.

In any city the most prized establishments are locally owned and un-corporate, Austin's not unique in that way. But here it almost seems like that's the only kind of business that can really succeed, except for the few national chains that appeal to young left-leaning professionals, like REI and Whole Foods. Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio all have Hard Rock Cafes. There isn't one in Austin, and I don't imagine there will be in the foreseeable future.

And the city is still small enough that local politics are still local. The people who run for mayor and city council are from here, and they're not career politicians.

Does that answer the question of why you hear negative things about Austin from Houston and Dallas? No, not really.

Originally I'm from Colorado, and I think Boulder got much the same treatment as Austin. It's where all the hippies are and all those crazy liberal tree-huggers. But it also has an outstanding university, a great night life, a high standard of living, and a lot of public participation. I don't understand why the rest of Colorado gets down on Boulder (not as a rule, just sometimes), but at the same time I kinda do. It's just different. And people are proud to live there, so the people who live there seem proud. But there's really nothing wrong with being proud about where you live, is there?