is Austin pretty? (Houston, Dallas, McKinney: crime, find a job, middle school)

[blkgiraffe]

Originally Posted by atxcio

I'd say it's the prettiest large city in Texas, but sxrckr is right about the powerlines and strip malls. They are here like in any other Texas city. But we have the nice river through downtown, several lakes, trees, hills, greenbelts inside the city, etc.

When people say Austin isn't well planned, that's only partially true. Traffic is bad, but it's not from an ignorance of how to plan a city -- it's from decades of anti-road and anti-growth sentiment by city planners. In some ways they were successful, and kept the areas "in town" highly desirable. As the traffic increased, desirability of the neighborhoods only increased. They preserved a lot of green space inside the central city, which is good. They also wanted to encourage biking and pedestrian activity, and in that sense they have also succeeded -- but only by Texas standards. They were really thinking ahead when they attempted to attract non-manufacturing jobs (high tech), and were successful in that. In recent years, they encouraged more housing in downtown (sustainable living) and the result was that several parking lots became residential towers.

By not jumping to build hundreds of miles of highways (the path San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas took) we saved ourselves from some of the sameness and sprawl that plagues those other cities. And you know what? Places like Houston STILL have horrible traffic, and for much longer stretches than in Austin.

So overall, I don't think the planning was that bad here, with one exception: Public transportation. But Capitol Metro shares much of that blame with the city.

Austin is only in the early stages of sprawl; eventually it will mirror Houston and Dallas of Today.

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by sxrckr

I don't know, the last list I saw had I-35 in Austin as the worst traffic in the state, and Houston's overall ranking for bad traffic had improved by a few spots even though they've added many more new residents than Austin has.

If you live in the city, you don't ever have to use I-35... and many folks here don't. But yeah, it's bad. Thank goodness we only have the one interstate

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by jluke65780

Austin is only in the early stages of sprawl; eventually it will mirror Houston and Dallas of Today.

The suburbs will, no doubt. But they are beyond the control of the city and even the county. So yeah, they'll mirror the rest of Texas -- and in fact, they already do. Except maybe the western burbs, where geography and wealthy homeowners will stand in the way of any large freeways/highways with access roads. It's still sprawl, but you can only get to a certain magnitude when you only have nothing but twisty roads with stoplights and no access lanes.

But I don't forsee city leaders ever adding new highways to the central parts of Austin. Ever. Cities like Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio have already had their central areas sliced apart by highways. And that can't be undone.

[love roses]

If anyone on here knows TexasReb from the general Texas forum you might like to go over there and leave a condolence for him. His fiance posted a message saying his little grandson passed away today.

[Jennibc]

I took these photos at McKinney Falls State Park in late January. The park is about 15 miles from downtown Austin. I find there is a tranquil beauty here.

[brubaker]

I love the Texas Hill Country. There are some real treasures hidden in those hills.
(usually on someone's private land.)

I like those knarly and twisted oak tree limbs ..esp when they lose their leaves and contrast with the sky at sunset.

Parts of Austin are very nice...other parts are pretty bland.
Sadly, it seems like the bland parts are expanding.

[CptnRn]

More photos here

http://www.city-data.com/album/album-Austin-Texas.html

Austin Skyline Pics

Hamilton's Pool Photo Gallery by cptinrn at pbase.com

Large panorama http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._of_Austin.jpg

[brattpowered]

Originally Posted by steph410

one more question about Austin: is it pretty?

Compared to the rest of Texas, yes. Compared to the rest of the country, no way.

[MattV]

I moved here about 6 months ago. Up until recently, I would have considered Austin a very ugly city. It is starting to look better now as things blossum. But I wouldn't say that anyone that visits would be all that impressed.

The city downtown area is an eyesore, it looks like a wasteland, it's quite ugly. The best part is around 8th and Guadalupe where there are some older houses, I think 19th century. That area is nice and interesting to walk around.

The backdrop of the downtown when crossing over the river when the sun is falling and the tall buildings catch the reflection of the sun is very very pretty.

If you get out of immediate downtown, Austin is littered with malls and fast food places. Kind of a nightmare actually.

[shankaupas]

Originally Posted by sxrckr

I don't know, the last list I saw had I-35 in Austin as the worst traffic in the state, and Houston's overall ranking for bad traffic had improved by a few spots even though they've added many more new residents than Austin has.

Have you ever driven around Houston during rush hour? I commuted from Clear Lake to the Galleria area for 4 years and Houston's traffic is much worse than Austin. But there are also more options in Houston including the HOV lanes which are extremely convenient if you kind find a friend to commute with you.