Please give me 10 reasons why NOT to move to the Austin area. (Houston: best cities, violent crime)

[twange]

Originally Posted by achtungpv

Isn't every flight a direct flight to somewhere? It may not be to your chosen end destination but you'd be dang happy if you flew to Houston, Dallas, El Paso, etc. on a regular basis.

Bummer for me, Continental is canning their two direct flights to/from Cleveland this September. They were the only airline that had this. San Antonio does not have one either...Apparently it was more on Cleveland's side. What, nobody wants to go to Cleveland? Pierogis? Rock Hall of Fame? Beautiful Great Lake? Nice people (albeit, a bit on the "woe is me" negative side)? LeBron? Good Italian food? Urban Blight? No jobs? High Crime? Months of not seeing the sun?

[iceshots]

That's wierd considering that Cleveland is a major Continental hub. That was one of my standard Tornoto - Austin routes that had minimal layover time.

Its probably not so much as no one wants to go to Cleveland. Its more that Continental does not want to service Austin out of that hub. Guess they figure connections through Houston or Chicago are enough.

[twange]

Originally Posted by iceshots

That's wierd considering that Cleveland is a major Continental hub. That was one of my standard Tornoto - Austin routes that had minimal layover time.

Its probably not so much as no one wants to go to Cleveland. Its more that Continental does not want to service Austin out of that hub. Guess they figure connections through Houston or Chicago are enough.

Yea, I can understand maybe cutting down to one flight per day, but both? Hopefully someone else will pick that flight up at some point. My wife and I both have older folks in Cleveland, so direct flights are sort of important to us if we're going to live far away

[stan4]

First, I have to say that Austin was a really cool place to go to college. I can honestly say I had the time of my life. I have many great things to say about attending UT Austin.

If you're not in college, stay away because:

1. Obnoxious, bad-drivin' college kids crowding up everything, thinking they own the town.
2. Traffic. No, that should be the #1 reason. The traffic there was awful when I lived there and it just keep getting so much worse. Is there a part of the city that doesn't have ridiculous traffic?
3. I was annoyed at never being able to get a parking space anywhere.
4. There is not one single _great_ restaurant in the entire city (whereas Houston and Dallas have many).
5. Granted, I have a conservative bent, but that city is too damn liberal. Imagine creating laws in order to _keep_ street beggers knocking on your car windows at traffic lights. There are street people everywhere.
6. You can't have anything nice. No one there seems to appreciate nice things or keeping things nice. Which is weird, because the real estate prices are kind of high.
7. No sports teams. Unless you are a Longhorn fan (which I am), you are SOL on good sports. Tickets to UT football games are more expensive than a lot of professional teams...ha ha ha.
8. If you attempt to go out to eat on a Saturday night, go with the knowledge that a 2 or 3 hour wait at just about any restaurant is the norm.
9. Airport can get you nowhere.
10. Lots and lots of illegal aliens.

I really think Austin has a lot going for it, but you asked for reasons not to move. Coming from the west coast, you may be used to some of these things, anyway...

Best wishes!

[iluvswaustin]

Okay, I agree, I don't think Austin is as great as it's portrayed. If you have to live in Texas then I think Austin is great! I also like the area from Austin to San Antonio & the hill country. I hate Houston & Dallas so that's my point of reference.

I'd rather live in a nicer climate & more scenic setting.

[rickca]

Originally Posted by Austin97

Employees care too much about work life balance. It's hard to get people to work a lot compared to the bay area where everyone works 55+ hours

Come on, are you serious? I am from near the Bay Area in California and looking at Austin and this is one of the reasons, the Bay Area is a workaholic overpriced hellhole to some extent because of this, working more than 40 hours a week is not a necessity and chances are your business is doing something wrong or hiring the wrong people if this isn't enough.. have you heard of outsourcing? While this gets a lot of negativity is what a lot of companies do to get extra work done rather than working their in person employees to death.

[springbean]

Need I say more?

The really doesn't bother me, in fact I like it

[MyCitySearchName]

Originally Posted by iguanas4

1. Not just hot, but humid. We knew about this of course, and I really can't tolerate cold or even cool weather... but it's getting to me already. Also, it's not sunny often enough for me. Clouds come and go and it seems there's rarely a day with all-day sun. Though that might not be an issue for someone from the PNW. And maybe that's good since it's so dreadfully hot already.

2. Terrible drivers. No one knows what the fast lane is for... they can clog you for miles when you want to pass. I thought the drivers in Los Angeles were bad, but they have nothing on the people here.

3. The soil is dreadful for growing anything, and you dig down 1-2 feet (or less!) and hit solid rock. Where we live, anyway. I was looking forward to having a nice garden with our huge property, but it's too miserable to be outside now and the soil is so awful I don't think anything would grow without too much back-breaking work.

4. The road system. The one-way access or frontage roads or whatever they're called are the most illogical system I've ever seen. Plus, the roads seem to have artibrary names that change and start and stop. We still have problems finding our way around.

5. Property taxes. Much too high, if you ask me, even when you factor in not paying state income tax.

6. No good mountains or ocean in close proximity.

I lived in Austin for 28 years and I TOTALLY AGREE with this. Austin actually was a GREAT place to live before the huge influx of Californians (sorry but it's true) in the early 90's. Our comfy city literally doubled in size. Austin was built to be a small city - not wanting to end up like Houston or Dallas. It should have stayed that way. Can you believe the city motto used to be "Drive friendly the Austin way"?
On the plus side you can always find a job there. It might not be in your desired field, but there is always a job.

[AK123]

Originally Posted by stan4

First, I have to say that Austin was a really cool place to go to college. I can honestly say I had the time of my life. I have many great things to say about attending UT Austin.

If you're not in college, stay away because:

1. Obnoxious, bad-drivin' college kids crowding up everything, thinking they own the town.
2. Traffic. No, that should be the #1 reason. The traffic there was awful when I lived there and it just keep getting so much worse. Is there a part of the city that doesn't have ridiculous traffic?
3. I was annoyed at never being able to get a parking space anywhere.
4. There is not one single _great_ restaurant in the entire city (whereas Houston and Dallas have many).
5. Granted, I have a conservative bent, but that city is too damn liberal. Imagine creating laws in order to _keep_ street beggers knocking on your car windows at traffic lights. There are street people everywhere.
6. You can't have anything nice. No one there seems to appreciate nice things or keeping things nice. Which is weird, because the real estate prices are kind of high.
7. No sports teams. Unless you are a Longhorn fan (which I am), you are SOL on good sports. Tickets to UT football games are more expensive than a lot of professional teams...ha ha ha.
8. If you attempt to go out to eat on a Saturday night, go with the knowledge that a 2 or 3 hour wait at just about any restaurant is the norm.
9. Airport can get you nowhere.
10. Lots and lots of illegal aliens.

I really think Austin has a lot going for it, but you asked for reasons not to move. Coming from the west coast, you may be used to some of these things, anyway...

Best wishes!

I think you're pretty spot-on. I had the same experience. Though I never really thought of it as too liberal.

[TerryDactyls]

Stan4 thinks Austin is too liberal. I am a liberal and I think Austin is the least right-wing of any city in Texas, but it's still conservative. So if you happen to be a real liberal, don't move here.