Why choose San Antonio over Austin? (Houston, Beaumont: quality of life, live in, restaurants)

[Robert123]

I didn't know UTSA was a world-class university. That's great. I'll share that with my colleagues as they clearly haven't heard this.

[oldmanshirt]

You'll find that the people of SA in general are neither unintelligent nor unsophisticated. We just choose not to make as big a deal about it as every one else. Is that so awful?

If sleepy, "unvibrant" SA is not for you, you have two options: Move to the dozens of US cities that are intellectually and culturally "elite" or wait 15 years for SA to become that way. Either way, stop passing your indictments off as "opinion" because natives of any city will quickly tire of such veiled snipes at their lifestyle being described as harmless "points of view". You people know what you're doing, so either stop or go do it somewhere else.

[mimimomx3]

I didn't know UTSA was a world-class university. That's great. I'll share that with my colleagues as they clearly haven't heard this.

UTSA is part of the UT system, which *many* people feel is a world class university system, at least in the sense that many people from all over the world come to go to school there. UTSA is a 'feeder' school for UT Austin, isn't it? Of course, if you're a Harvard graduate, I'm sure you see things differently and no state school is a 'world class' university.

[crazedchef]

Originally Posted by oldmanshirt

You'll find that the people of SA in general are neither unintelligent nor unsophisticated. We just choose not to make as big a deal about it as every one else. Is that so awful?

If sleepy, "unvibrant" SA is not for you, you have two options: Move to the dozens of US cities that are intellectually and culturally "elite" or wait 15 years for SA to become that way. Either way, stop passing your indictments off as "opinion" because natives of any city will quickly tire of such veiled snipes at their lifestyle being described as harmless "points of view". You people know what you're doing, so either stop or go do it somewhere else.

Well Said.

crazedchef

[irnag]

Here's the Breakdown:

Traffic:

SA +5
Austin -5

Less Bumpkins per square mile:

SA -5
Austin +5

Less Snobs per square mile:

SA +5
Austin -10

Best sight to see:

SA (Alamo/Tower) +5
Austin (Bats flying out of a cave) -5

Best place to party:

SA (St. Mary's) -5
Austin (6th) +10

Best place to take your clothes off:

SA (What?!?) -5
Austin (Hippy Hollow) +5

I think it's a tie.

[lvknight]

Originally Posted by Shasta523

Taraaa;
We lived in Austin and made the mistake of moving to SA because we thought if would be more affordable and nicer. Boy were we wrong. Austin is a much nicer place to live. SA has tooo many aggresive drivers and to many uneducated people living here. Wages here are low as a result of the under educated people.
In regards to 210's reply:

Low cost of living....Low quality of housing & other living aspects as well.
Friendly people...People here are not friendly, SA has one of the highest statistics of domestic violence, road rage, & various other crimes.
Fantastic shopping...Only La Canterra or North Star Mall are the Fantastic Shopping areas.
Great downtown...The Riverwalk is great but the rest of Downtown is slummy
Beautiful hill country...Austin's Hill country is much more beautiful.
Good schools...In a statisticall report Austin beats SA hands down.
Cheap housing...Cheap housing is only in the slummy areas and if you are able to get a cheap house anywhere else in SA then chances are it was built by a shotty builder that uses low grade products.
Weather in the fall, winter, and spring....Weather in SA is the same or compairable to Austin.

This post shows your ignorance of building and housing prices. Apparently all the houses in Las Vegas are better built since they cost more. There are many factors that go into house prices, supply and demand, cost of materials, cost of labor, and one of the biggest: the cost of land. Houses here don't cost more because of better materials or craftsmanship. They cost more because land goes for around $800k/acre. Now, lets take KB homes as an example. Do you really think KB buys shoddy and cheaper materials to sell cheaper houses in SA? Of course they don't. KB buys it materials by the train load for all big markets. The cost of materials for KB is the same for SA and Austin. The differance is a liitle more for the labor costs, and more for the land costs. Workmanship is the same, but the costs they incur to buy the land is more.

Now what makes for a better quality of life? Clubs? Restaraunts? Shopping? If you want to compare those things, Las Vegas makes Austin look like a pig in a prom dress. LV has some of the hippest, trendiest clubs in the world. You can see A-list celeb at the clubs pretty much every weekend of the year. We have world class chefs such as Bobby Flay, Emeril, Bradly Ogden, and Wolfgang Puck here. You can shop for Versace, Dolce and Gabana (sp?), Armani to name a few. Want to talk events? Try the PBR, NFR, awards shows, and most major bands and musical artists. Hey Austin, your a bunch of hicks, you don't have half that stuff.

I'm not trying to trash Austin. Honest. Most of that was done tongue in cheeck. But look at what some people from Austin are saying. Just because a town doesn't have hot nightspots and expensive housing means its backwards? Come on. Quality of life is subjective. Sure there are common threads like low crime, but what my wife and I being in our early 30's with 2 kids are looking for, and what someone single, early 20's with no kids are looking for is totally different usually. We want family friendly, good crime stats, good education stats, lower cost of living (even accounting for the lower wages), and a little slower pace of life. I grew up in a 24/7 go, go, go, I want it now, now, now town. I need to get away from that. I wan't more rain. I want some trees. My wife wants some humidity. And neither one of us want to be somewhere where it gets truly cold 4 month out of the year. San Antonio fit the bill for us in all aspects. Hey if Austin is your cup of tea, great. I'm sure that its a great city with lots of wonderfull people. There are probably a lot of family freindly areas too. Wonderful! You move there though. Not everyone thinks like you do. Thats what makes the world a great place.

[AustinTraveler]

But look at what some people from Austin are saying. Just because a town doesn't have hot nightspots and expensive housing means its backwards?

I'd be interested in knowing what people from Austin said this. From what I can tell on this thread, most of the people commenting are either from San Antonio or elsewhere.

I honestly don't get these "versus" threads. Unless you have lived in both places, how is it possible to have such over-generalized opinions? I have never lived in San Antonio, but I've visited often. Of course I have my opinions of the city, but I would never comment on the quality of life, etc. because I've never lived there. I leave that to the locals.

[lvknight]

I also meant to mention that I get really tired of the attitude that just because you didn't go to college means your uneducated. Well, the next time your air conditioner takes a dump, or you need someone to install your new water heater, tell the serviceman that. Also let the guy know working on you car you're so much better and smarter than him. Apparenly, because they decided to take a different direction in life they are "dumb" and "slow". And all those tradesman building those big buildings are uneducated even though they went through 4 and five year apprenticeships. Whatever. Remember it takes all types to make the world go 'round in todays society. We need the garbageman, the guy washing dishes at the restaraunt, the cashier at the grocery store, the tradesman, the wharehouseman, the laborers, and all the others that make society run the way it does. Just because you have a B.A. or a B.S. or a masters or a P.h.D doesn't make you better than the person next to you.

[lvknight]

Austin Traveler,
In doing research on this board I've seen things like this pop up. Plus that was a general impression (on the housing) I got from Shasta523. I was also trying to get the point accross that I don't get the whole versus threads either. I'm sure they are both great cities, but people should realize that one is not better than the other. It's subjective.

To be honest I don't really have an oppinion on Austin. Or Dallas. Or Houston. Other than the fact that they're not for me. It's perfectly ok to think that traffic is better or worse, the nightlife is better or worse, things like that. I just don't like to see an entire group of people catagorized as , uneducated, backwards, slow, or anything else negative because someone is applying what they think makes a city great. I'm not just talking about Austin vs SA. I think that goes for any two cities: Chicago v New York, LV vs LA, Houston vs Dallas, and the list goes on. Hey I'm glad you think the city you live is the best. Its ok to think the city I live in is the worst. The operative word being city not people. Hopefully I've made my self clearer. There was no anamosity in my post, and I apologize if it sounded that way. I guess don't always convey in words well, they way I could if I was speaking to someone.

[AustinTraveler]

Originally Posted by lvknight

Austin Traveler,
In doing research on this board I've seen things like this pop up. Plus that was a general impression (on the housing) I got from Shasta523. I was also trying to get the point accross that I don't get the whole versus threads either. I'm sure they are both great cities, but people should realize that one is not better than the other. It's subjective.

I'm not sure we'll ever convince anyone that one city is better than the other. To me, it's just a matter of preference, not better or worse. I believe everyone has a place where they feel comfortable and that is what's really important. But, if everyone felt like that I guess there wouldn't be much discussion on these boards!!