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

[austin_momma]

Coming from the NW area here are my reasons...

Critters: Rattlesnakes, poisonous centipedes, black widow spiders, scorpions

Hurricanes

High property taxes

Bad drivers, speeders, people don't give way, they cut, too many that beat the red light...all cause our car insurance rates to go up high! There are alot of young drivers that are obnoxious!

Traffic! Congestion!

Main streets don't have any lighting

Sushi is unaffordable

Propane gas for heating is expensive

Services are high: house cleaning, yard maintenance, manicure/pedicure, salons

People don't RSVP

Contractors or service providers don't return calls

[Jazzedforhim]

Originally Posted by austin_momma

Coming from the NW area here are my reasons...

Critters: Rattlesnakes, poisonous centipedes, black widow spiders, scorpions

Hurricanes

High property taxes

Bad drivers, speeders, people don't give way, they cut, too many that beat the red light...all cause our car insurance rates to go up high! There are alot of young drivers that are obnoxious!

Traffic! Congestion!

Main streets don't have any lighting

Sushi is unaffordable

Propane gas for heating is expensive

Services are high: house cleaning, yard maintenance, manicure/pedicure, salons

People don't RSVP

Contractors or service providers don't return calls

People don't RSVP?

[love roses]

Austin doesn't get hurricanes.

[Trainwreck20]

Austin doesn't get hurricanes.

Well, we can get fairly impacted by hurricanes, but nothing like the coast. We have had some serious tornadic activity and strong winds, with lots of rain. Back in the late 70s and early 80s we had quite a bit of damge from a couple of hurricanes.

People don't RSVP?

They did for my wedding and for our baby shower (which are the only times we have requested an RSVP). I don't know if that is an Austin issue or just a general one, haven't experienced it myself....

[AustinHomeSearcher]

We just moved ourselves and LOVE it here. We had only planned to give it 2-3 years, but already decided that we're here to stay for a minimum of 10 yrs.

I'd probably say:

Scorpians (We have found two which freaked us out a bit...our neighbors just laughed at us!)

No Giant Eagles w/free daycare while you grocery shop

Galveston Beach left a little to be desired... There may be other beaches around that are better, but this was our first real outting & the only one we've seen so far.

I would definitely say to make the move. The atmosphere is fantastic, the prices are good and those nasty scorpians are pretty easy to catch.

[TheHarvester]

Originally Posted by austin_momma

Hurricanes

Are you really in Austin? We do get severe wind events, but so does Seattle. Like, this past winter! I think it's about the same, but we get violent thunderstorms and occasional tornadoes. It's a tradeoff. Someday Seattle will be flattened by a magnitude 8+ quake, or Rainier's next eruption, or a tsunami, or all the above. Austin's just freaking HOT and you're right about the critters. You can lie down on a lawn or in a forest in the NW without being swarmed by fire ants, bit or stung by any of a number of things, or ending up with 3 weeks of heinous itching from chiggers. And cockroaches here are big enough to give rides to children. I'm thinking about going into the "roach-riding" business.

Originally Posted by austin_momma

Bad drivers, speeders, people don't give way, they cut, too many that beat the red light...

Sounds more like Houston! I find that drivers in Austin are VERY friendly, except for the Californians who move here. HA, just stereotyping. I'm an ex-CA guy myself but I go out of my way to be "Texas Friendly." Austin's bad in the more aggressive parts of town (where people are more worried about making lots of money and being in a rush...)

Originally Posted by austin_momma

Main streets don't have any lighting

Yup. In general the quality of roads, sidewalks, signs, safety, design of intersections, everything about streets and highways is worse here.

Originally Posted by austin_momma

Contractors or service providers don't return calls

This is the one I really wanted to get to. WE NEED MORE GOOD, HONEST CONTRACTORS! This is a boom market and booms always attract scammers and shoddy workers. I've had zero luck getting any quality work done on my country property, it seems like the only people who are available are people who make things worse because they don't know what they're doing. The best contractors don't reply because they're booked for the next decade.

[Trainwreck20]

Just in the last year, I have noticed the lack of services, or their lack of availability. We tried forever to get someone to take care of our lawn (we have done it ourselves forever, but just had a baby), and we went through two that were incompetent and tried forever to get a third, but they were too busy or behind (of course, a lot of that is due to the rain). We finally got one that seems like it is going to work. Funny thing, they all charged basically the same... We never had a problem with contractors in the past, but we have neighbors who are having the 'no show blues' where you schedule and they JUST DON'T COME.

I think a lot of this is due to the large influx of people who are expecting to use these services. Historically, Austin was much 'quieter' and a very do-it-yourself type place. I think things are changing, but I would expect the contractors to catch up, eventually.....

[houstoner]

Originally Posted by austinnewcomer

The school systems are rated 3rd to last in the country. Yes, we are below Lousiana and Alabama on the list. But..... Texas has great homeschooling laws. There are also many Montessori schools and a Waldorf school. Alternative education is strong. Public schools, rated some of the worst.

Where are you getting this information? I've heard this before, but I've never seen any proof. All the lists I've seen indicate Texas is somewhere in the middle, with the northeastern states (MA, VT, CT, NJ, etc.) taking up the first few spots.

I'd love to pick apart the rest of your post, but it's so long and I've got such a short attention span, I won't bother.

[TheHarvester]

Originally Posted by houstoner

All the lists I've seen indicate Texas is somewhere in the middle, with the northeastern states (MA, VT, CT, NJ, etc.) taking up the first few spots.

I've seen the same information that you haven't seen. And I'm too lazy to look up the sources.

The reasons behind the statistics are incredibly obvious. But if you say anything about them then you'll be imprisoned by the PC cops. So I won't say anything other than these simple clues:
1. SW border states
2. former slave states

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why these factors create ginormous differences between the education stats for North Dakota vs. Texas. And yes, Texas is really bad if you look at the state as a whole, because it's heavily skewed by certain counties. Look up the info and see where those counties are. It's all about demographics, not government programs.

If you create the same government problem-solving system for two completely different places, one will do better than the other. Duh. The world is a lot more complex than most people have patience or intelligence to analyze, so we invent simplistic slogans for explaining why those problems exist.

It's exasperating to listen to the "left" vs. the "right" as each side fancies itself as being in possession of Truth. Both sides are stuck in old paradigms that think inside of their respective boxes, while the real issues lie far outside of mainstream thinking. I wish that Systems Theory would be taught starting in the 6th grade. If people understood systems, they'd realize that their linear left-right thinking is completely useless. The world is multidimensional and nobody can solve problems with a government program. The best we can do is forecast how the system of rewards and punishments will perform given the conditions in which they are applied. And now everyone has fallen asleep, so SWEET DREAMS!

[mimimomx3]

I've seen the same information that you haven't seen. And I'm too lazy to look up the sources.
The reasons behind the statistics are incredibly obvious. But if you say anything about them then you'll be imprisoned by the PC cops. So I won't say anything other than these simple clues:
1. SW border states
2. former slave states

Well, I did poke around the statistics, I went to National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Home Page, a part of the U.S. Department of Education (national center for educational statistics from the Dept. of Education). There are lots of theories about why the Texas school system doesn't perform as well as other states... I think it has to do with the amount of money a state spends on education. This is what I found.

The following states spend the most on education, per student, 2000-2001: New Jersey ($13,229), Connecticut ($11,639), DC ($12,470), Alaska ($10,390), Massachusetts ($11,010) and New York ($12,591).

The lowest are Alabama ($6,631), Arizona ($6,613), Arkansas ($6,823),Mississippi ($6,097),Nevada ($6,413), Oklahoma ($6,412) and Utah ($5,092!). Texas falls in the low middle... $7,512.

I don't know if spending more money on schools would fix all problems, but i think there is some relationship between how much you spend and what kind of success you have. Personally, I think the voucher system would be wonderful.