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Location: The land of sugar... previously Houston and Austin
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Reputation: 3672
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Quote:
Originally Posted by burgerflipper
That's an awful large "college town".
That's perhaps the main problem with Austin; it's grown in population so rapidly (thus traffic, expensive housing and other big-city headaches) but is still mostly a "college town" on the cultural and amenities level (culture centers around the university, no pro sports, restaurants aren't very good, etc.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by BDubLR
Inner-loop Houston and Dallas are both just as liberal if not more liberal than Austin.
This is probably true.
And once outside of the city proper, Austin has just as much sprawl and cookie-cutter neighborhoods as the next Sunbelt city.
The main difference between Austin and Houston or Dallas? Austin's done a better job marketing itself.
Location: The land of sugar... previously Houston and Austin
5,429 posts, read 14,837,799 times
Reputation: 3672
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spade
Austin in 1969 was a college town.
Austin in 2009 is no longer a college town.
Sure it is.
College town - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "A college town or university town is a community (often literally a town, but possibly a small or medium sized city, or in some cases a neighborhood or a district of a city) which is dominated by its university population. The university may be large, or there may be several smaller institutions such as liberal arts colleges clustered, or the residential population may be small, but college towns in all cases are so dubbed because the presence of the educational institution(s) pervades economic and social life. Many local residents may be employed by the university - which may be the largest employer in the community, many businesses cater primarily to the university"
Sounds like Austin to me. That's exactly how it felt when I was living there (in the city; I never lived in the 'burbs, which are probably much less college-centric.)
What makes a city overrated. And are people confusing the city for being over hyped instead of overrated. Because my answer is that no city is overrated. But many cities are over hyped.
I think Spade is onto something here with the distinction between overrated and overhyped. The suggestion that Chicago, NYC, and Boston are overrated is an example. In my opinion these are three of our best cities, but then I do have a strong preference for old-style, densely built cities with history, classic architecture, and lots of activity packed into the central city area, rather than having the city attractions spread all around. However, living in the Boston area, I'm familiar with prevalent local attitudes, and I've known many New Yorkers as well. I do have to agree that too many people in Boston and NYC go beyond a healthy pride in the many attractions their cities do in fact offer, and project the attitude that no other place on Earth is worth bothering with. I'm less familiar with Chicago, but have the impression from what I have seen of Chicago that too many people there may have the same kind of attitude. That attitude does involve overhyping, but these cities have too much to offer for any of them to be overrated.
Which leads me to also agree with Internat about the reality that no place is right for everyone, and that it's better to find the place that appeals to you than knock other places. There have been a couple of posts criticizing the "old" and "ugly" architecture in the three old-style cities already mentioned. It is probably true that such cities have enough older housing that they will have more neighborhoods where the buildings are kind of faded than you might find in a city like Phoenix, which has become a big city in a relatively short time, so that most of its buildings are new and in good condition. However, again it's a matter of personal preference. To me, scenes like those below are much more than an even trade-off for some faded old residential neighborhoods:
The idea that it is something "different" in Texas, more liberal, more artsy, etc... I don't agree with, or disagree with. I think as a percentage of residents residing in the area it's true, but it has an overall lower number of liberals, and smaller liberal scenery than the likes of Houston for sure. Plus these factors do not make a city more desireable for me personally, but rather less desirable.
The music scene is deffinately nice, but certain ordinances are currently in the works to do away with noise in areas bordering residential zones and in Austin that's alot of the music scene. Also there are many "local" music scenes, a couple yearly festivals, but outside of that the "big" stars aren't drawn to Austin any more than the other major cities because of the lack of large venues.
Traffic is bad. It has improved with the new toll roads, and some expansions, and there are many more in the works, but as of now it's still to dense where as other Texas cities are much more spread out. Some see this as good, but not me.
Austin boasts all the time about the beautiful homes, and the Hill Country on the west and south sides. I agree that the terrain is much nicer than that of Houston, or Dallas, but I moved from Austin to San Antonio because San Antonio's far north side, and NW sides of the metro have the same if not nicer hills in many cases for about 1/2 the price of those 3/4 million dollar homes in Lakeway, etc....
I never met anyone from Austin that I really didn't like, but as a whole everyone has that big city busy attitude which made it harder to socialize than the "hey there neighbor" attitudes of some of the other cities. I will say that Austin has a great nightlife scene (Not better than DFW, or Houston) if you are into meeting friends in the bars etc, but the people in those locals seem to either be all about the Jones' attitude, or extreme liberals to the point of anoying.
I don't know why people would vote for NY being over hyped. It's hyped up for a reason and usually people aren't disappointed when they come here.
Only three people did. I can think of a lot of things I do not like about NYC, but I still like it. If those things are a deal breaker then I could see why someone would feel it is overrated.
I don't know why people would vote for NY being over hyped. It's hyped up for a reason and usually people aren't disappointed when they come here.
I don't disagree with you. I have visited NYC many times, and always have a blast! I would never live there becuase I don't like dense areas, and am a "country boy", but it's a nice tourist destination, especially around the Hollidays. I think the reason some may see it as overly hyped doesn't have anything to do with if it is deserving or not, but rather the fact that people do not like when residents "boast" about their city in an im bigger and better than you way. There is nothing appealing about that, and hence the vote for overrated, or overhyped. NYC is not the only city I believe that does this in this forum setting, I constantly see it with Chicago to the point that the people vouching for Chicago sound as if they are trying to convice you of it, I am from Houston, and I see them doing it alot too. Austin is also guilty with all of the "Austin best city" etc...threads. When I see that mess I immediately think negatively about there city rather than positively. Seems like humility, and modesty has no place for some.
I don't know why people would vote for NY being over hyped. It's hyped up for a reason and usually people aren't disappointed when they come here.
B/c not everyone has the same interests and finds NYC appealing. And considering the large percentage of people that constantly act like its the center of the universe and greatest city in the world, which is all PERSONAL OPINION btw, its bound to be considered overrated by some b/c of that. I think some people in hyped up and popular places like NYC and CA just don't undersatnd not everyone thinks they are the greatest and the best.
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