Please give me 10 reasons why NOT to move to the Austin area. (Burnet: store, plumbing)

[sberdrow]

Originally Posted by Megan1967

Okay.... I gotta say, those of you who complain about the traffic in Austin must be driving in a different city than I was last week.

The traffic was not a problem at all. Drivers were courteous, even during rush hour. I just don't get it what all of the kvetching is about.

Ok I have been quiet for some time, but I must chime in here for this one. I have found Austin to be a nice place with lots of things to do, but the drivers are the absolute rude and obnoxious of any place in my many travels. Word must have got out that you were coming, either that or austin was doing a Welcome to Austin commercial made for TV that day.

[sberdrow]

Originally Posted by Texanwannabe

Here is a typical rush hour on I-35! But...I have dealt with worse in other cities!

Great pic, I have been to that Ihop in the bottem left.

[mark311]

Originally Posted by Megan1967

Okay.... I gotta say, those of you who complain about the traffic in Austin must be driving in a different city than I was last week.

The traffic was not a problem at all. Drivers were courteous, even during rush hour. I just don't get it what all of the kvetching is about.

I agree that traffic isn't as bad as people make it out here in the Austin area, however, last week could be considered light as far as traffic goes. UT was not in session at all (summer classes don't even start until next week). I imagine some other Universities/schools weren't in session either. That's thousands of vehicles that weren't commuting last week and this week. It has easily shaved about 10 to 15 minutes off of my commute the past couple weeks.

[TexasHorseLady]

While I've found the occasional (and predictable, based on time of day and where the bottlenecks are bound to occur, crossing the river at rush hour, for example, when everyone and their dog thinks they have to do so on Mopac) freeway turned into a parking lot, I have to say that I, too, have experienced less of the road rage and rude type driving than one would expect from reading these boards. My daughter has pointed out to me on more than one occasion that if one simply meets the eye of the driver one wishes to merge in front of, 99 times out of a hundred they'll let you in. (Still not as good as when it was a given that if you wanted to turn onto a street from a parking lot into slow and go traffic a driver would inevitably stop and gesture you in, but I do see that fairly regularly, too, these days).

[nomore07]

Originally Posted by MJT

I've been in Austin 25 years now, and it is quickly becoming the snottiest, most aggressive, pretentious city on the planet. I HATE it. The Hill Country is beautiful, but nothing like the Pacific Northwest. The people here are rude beyond comparison, with a Texas-size appetite for entitlement and vulgarity. I'm here by necessity, not by choice, and I'd leave in a heartbeat if I could. Austin is nothing like it used to be, and certainly not what people make it out to be.

I have to agree here. Part of what's fueling this is a huge disproportionate influx of people from Dallas in the past couple of years.

[scongress1234]

Originally Posted by TheHarvester

Excellent post. Your concluding remarks above are spot-on. I write this as one of the incessant defenders of that sophomoric "we're cool" BS. It's just another city. I love it, someone else likes it, another person doesn't like it, and someone else hates it. So what?

You really nailed it. As much as I love Austin, I have to agree with you that there is no city more infatuated with itself in the USA, at least none that I know of. Most "great cities" know they are great and don't need to talk about it all the time. It's as if Austin has a collective inferiority complex and feels the adolescent urge to pump itself up.

Right on the money.....just like a hot chick who has to tell everyone she's hot....does it have to be said? Doesn't she take away from her hotness
by selling herself(and they have a name for that too).

[sberdrow]

the OP of this thread decided that there were at least 10 pretty good reasons not to move to Austin, and now lives in Seattle. Pretty funny I think.

[love roses]

On my little day trip to SA, I noticed that the drivers there were not nearly as aggressive and careless as they are in Austin. I never had anyone tailgating, wasn't cut off, etc... but once I was back towards Austin, right around Kyle, I noticed the drivers speed increasing and a lot more aggressiveness. Especially from the 18 wheeler behind me in the middle lane (I was going 75). He was so close that if I had to stop suddenly for any reason, he could not see my tail lights and would have smashed right into us. This didn't happen from the ones in SA (the big rigs).

[imaterry78259]

Austin must have the biggest ego I have every seen. I guess the city loves to look in the mirror and kiss itself. That said there is a lot of great places and things to see in Austin but no more than any other major city.

[scongress1234]

Originally Posted by imaterry78259

Austin must have the biggest ego I have every seen. I guess the city loves to look in the mirror and kiss itself. That said there is a lot of great places and things to see in Austin but no more than any other major city.

That's my ongoing point on all my posts....yes, Austin has some great, unique areas, but, so does every major city. Austin is possibly the only city that feels that its same percentage of bomemia is more special than every other large city. The vast majority of the Austin metro is as sprawling and bland as any other, with the same franchises, overburdened road structures, and the same cookie C subdivisions. The percentage that is unique, if you can call it that, is no different that any other major metro, yet they give you the impression in Austin that it is a singular situation. Even Houston and DFW have their own special, funky areas, and outside of Texas, the vast majority of cities have quite substantial bohemian districts, from Broad Ripple in Indianapolis, to college park in Orlando, and on and on. The really large metros have huge bohemian districts, from the Village in Manhattan, to Hyde Park and a good swath of the lakefront neighborhoods and inner areas like river north and wicker park in Chicago. San Diego has the Gaslight District, La Jolla, and many other cool little funky areas. San Francisco is essentially one giant bohemian district with a city charter...then you have entire little cities that are one huge bohemian district, like Santa Fe, NM, Key West, Sedona, Az., and so on....In perspective, Austin is not just a typical city, per its bohemian parts, but is in danger of losing those as well as so many new people are moving in, and blanding out what little is left there....In sum, it is quite humorous how Austin seems to think they are unique, in that every city has the same, if not more, bohemian, arty areas..