Please give me 10 reasons why NOT to move to the Austin area. (Houston: environment)

[Jazzedforhim]

Originally Posted by Driftwood1

I was really looking to find out if there was a source for the statistic...

Yes I do find it a bit sad that these girls end up pregnant and out of school, but I certainly dont blame or look down on them, just wish it werent so, thats all.

My worry about Hays (yes were in Driftwood) comes from the growth. Kyle in particular is the fastest growing town Ive ever lived near, and then the whole 1826 area is developing just as quick ( although ALOT larger lot sizes) , We forsee a traffic issue similar to what 183 coming in from Cedar Park used to be like, too many cars with just one way to get in. We currently commute to congress in 35 min (except for a very rare day) and we beleive SH 45, tolls planned etc will really just slow things down. AND , if they ever widen 1826, the character of the area will be totally lost, imagine pulling off a 4-lane to park at Thr Salt Lick
So again , in 10 years, the area could well be radically different.

Still , may by the they will have finished the ramp from mopac onto 71E (yeah right) .

Oh yeah...four lanes to pull into The Salt Lick would suck!

Not sure anything can be done about it though...aside from telling people you can't move here...or stop building homes to prevent it. Better to have the road if the traffic is already there otherwise you'll have lots of time to look at The Salt Lick while you inch along in traffic.

[love roses]

Not to mention, 2 lanes worth of lost trees.

[TheHarvester]

Originally Posted by Driftwood1

Yes I do find it a bit sad that these girls end up pregnant and out of school, but I certainly dont blame or look down on them, just wish it werent so, thats all.

Ditto. I just like to bring up different perspectives, I wasn't judging you at all.

Originally Posted by Driftwood1

My worry about Hays (yes were in Driftwood) comes from the growth. Kyle in particular is the fastest growing town Ive ever lived near, and then the whole 1826 area is developing just as quick ( although ALOT larger lot sizes) , We forsee a traffic issue similar to what 183 coming in from Cedar Park used to be like, too many cars with just one way to get in.

OK, this makes a lot of sense to me. You're in a beautiful area that is hemmed in by rapidly-growing suburbs and towns, traffic is increasing exponentially, and the infrastructure can't handle it. So, ya know what I'd do if I were you? Well, I don't know because I'm not you, but in theory I would cash out when you think the market has hit its peak, before the quality of life starts to decline. After all, a lot of the growth in the more-expensive parts of central Texas is coming from Californians who cash-out and move here for cheaper real estate and a more laid-back lifestyle.

You can do the same thing with your Driftwood property --- cash out and move to the next Austin. I used to participate in a number of different sub-forums on this site and learned a lot about alternative "paradise" locations. Obviously there is no place without problems, but you can find a lot of what you love in Driftwood for a cheaper price in another location. Just a thought... You can also find ways to make the best of what you have, become an activist for your community, get involved with the home-schooling networks, fight the developers who want to jam thousands of people into areas that don't have adequate roads, water or other amenities --- you have many choices. I wish for you the best possible outcome, especially for your children.

[TheHarvester]

Originally Posted by Jazzedforhim

Oh yeah...four lanes to pull into The Salt Lick would suck!

Not sure anything can be done about it though...aside from telling people you can't move here...or stop building homes to prevent it. Better to have the road if the traffic is already there otherwise you'll have lots of time to look at The Salt Lick while you inch along in traffic.

That road is terrifying to me now. When I moved here in 1990, the drive to the Salt Lick was a lazy country drive with no traffic. Now it's scary how fast people drive on that dangerous road. It's a lock that people will die along that stretch of highway.

What to do? Forget about 4 lanes, I say there should be an 8-lane freeway lined with shopping malls, upscale housing developments, convenience stores, maybe another Outlet Mall, a Galleria, and some new trees to replace the tens of thousands lost to development.

If that sounds goofy, let me tell you about my dad... he was born at a farm in an orange grove in Anaheim, currently known as Disneyland. Manhattan was a rural island only a dozen generations ago. We need to stop breeding.

[twange]

Originally Posted by TheHarvester

We need to stop breeding.

You bet. But say that to most folks and they think you're some kind of crazy M.F. It's like the argument for driving huge, out of scale, gas guzzling vehicles: I can afford it, so what? The question is, can the rest of us afford for you to drive around in a Hummer? Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. But until this country starts teaching responsible family planning to young people, the record will keep spinning...

Another quote by Edward Abbey:

"Growth for growth's sake is the ideology of the cancer cell."

Sorry if this is veering towards the foul line...

[love roses]

Hummers are big, but as for space to carry anything more than a driver and a few passengers, a mini cooper has more room! It makes no sense to me why people drive those things. (and this coming from me, who drives a small/midsize suv)

[TheHarvester]

Originally Posted by twange

Another quote by Edward Abbey:

"Growth for growth's sake is the ideology of the cancer cell."

Sorry if this is veering towards the foul line...

I'm sure it's at least veering towards the fowl line, I hear the clucking already...

That Abbey quote is fantastic. Yet it's what 99% of our politicians and 100% of our Chambers of Commerce believe in. Thus, we're doomed. I don't see any change in attitudes. When I was a kid, in the early 1970s, I was a big fan of Paul Erlich (I knew him personally via my school, he was the author of The Population Bomb.) Everyone I knew was talking about the population explosion. The world has added a couple billion people since then, and the country roads of my youth are now freeways filled with gas-guzzlers.

Post-modern "progressives" are just as much a part of the problem as growth-oriented corporations and religious organizations that shun birth control and promote large families. During the 1970s and 80s there was a trend in Academia toward viewing the population problem in terms of class struggle, sexism and racism. The post-modern view frames ALL debates in this manner. From that perspective, asking people in India, Palestine or Guatemala to have fewer children is an elitist imperialist attitude.

OK. So, call me an elitist and imperialist. There are too many people, the planet cannot sustain the numbers we already have and we're expected to add another 4 billion before we level off. I doubt we'll ever get to 10 billion, though. The environment is already showing signs of collapse and the seeds of war, famine, resource shortages and disease are being sown everywhere.

On that cheerful note, I'd just like to add "Have a nice day!"

[austin-steve]

The environment is already showing signs of collapse and the seeds of war, famine, resource shortages and disease are being sown everywhere.

I'd replace the word "collapse" with "correction", as war, famine, diseases etc. are the earth's way of thinning out excess population. I heard this theory explained once and I can't come anywhere close to articulating it as well as the person I heard, but history provides plenty of examples of Earth's merciless population reduction abilities.

Hummers...

Just playing devil's advocate ... who is a "greener", more environmentally friendly person, someone who commutes 60 miles a day from a suburb, 5 days a week round trip in a Prius, or someone who lives downtown, owns a Hummer and rides a bike or bus to work weekdays?

In other words, does one's vehicle tell us everything we think it does about that person? I don't think it does. It simply acts as the basis upon which to judge others with no other data or information about that person's actual level of oil and energy consumption, i.e. - their "carbon footprint".

No I don't drive a Hummer, I'm just suggesting that, as people, we blindly use iconic symbols to jump to conclusions about others based on appearances.

Steve

[adtobias]

the people

[Austinman]

I am moving as soon as possible. I have been here 20 years and I have seen conditions deteriorate. Just another crowded chain-store laden bog with the worst drivers in the country.
And it used to be such a nice place...
The song lyrics "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.." best describe Austin.