Likes and dislikes on our first 30 days in Austin (Round Rock: houses, schools)

[karnival96]

Austin's garbage pickup program actually encourages recycling by charging more for larger garbage carts. Most people have a 60 gallon cart and pay about $15 for garbage pickup, but converting to a 30 gallon cart saves you about $3 a month. Anything not in your container will cost you an additional $4 per container (or $2 if you pre purchase special stickers for the bags).

City of Austin - Garbage Rates

[GANKS]

Also, back to the whole calling the area Austin or Round Rock thing. I actually work in Austin and have spent more time in Austin the last 30 days than RR. So even if people may live in a burb outside a bigger city, they may have more interaction with the big city than the suburb they live in. I think that is another reason people call the area they live by the largest city. They may not live in the actual boundaries but they may work, play, eat, associate with the sports teams, etc from the big city.

[jwb123]

It's pretty common in ANY metropolitian area to generally label where you live as the larger city.

I have lived in "DC" (really Northern VA suburbs) and I have lived in Seattle. I actually have lived in Seattle, but mostly, in it's suburbs. I have friends who live in New Jersey, and still say they live in NY, because parts of Jersey, and NYC are interchangable, I guess... In my career life, one job I had was holding career fairs in Chicago. Well, not actually Chicago - but the suburbs - but it was billed as Chicago and people got what we meant...

When we told people in Seattle (meaning, Seattle itself, but also the subrubs of Seattle, in which we lived) we were moving - we said "Austin" because 99% of them wouldn't know what or where "Round Rock" was.

Living a mear 12 miles away from Austin addresses - I don't really see the big deal.

People generally get what you are saying, and until this thread - never heard anyone complain about it.

Now, when down at the beach last weekend, we spoke to somene we met in gas station - he introduced himself as "Mike, from Austin" I answered back, "Jen, Round Rock" and he said, "Well, actually Dripping Springs, but I have lived in Austin most of my life so that's what I am used to saying."

Honestly, I don't think it matters much, and I honestly think that those who are bothered by it, or rather HATE it, need to take stock of life's bigger issues.

[TheHarvester]

Originally Posted by Jenbar

Living a mear 12 miles away from Austin addresses - I don't really see the big deal.

People generally get what you are saying, and until this thread - never heard anyone complain about it.

Ditto. In fact, only one person brought it up and now we've got a couple pages of response.

There's a difference between a "satellite" city (for example, San Marcos residents don't say they are from Austin and if you were from Bellingham you'd probably say so rather than saying "Seattle"), vs. a contiguous suburb like Round Rock, which could easily be a district IN Austin if it hadn't previously incorporated as a separate entity.

And then there's the regional label. I moved to Austin from "The Bay Area." Most people know that encompasses a lot more turf than saying "San Francisco" which would generally include only those outlying cities that are intimately connected to SF by commuters, transit systems, proximity, etc. Since I was an hour north and separated by a lot of open land, I would never say "I lived in San Francisco" because Sonoma County has an identity very different from that of the major city in the region.

[jread]

Originally Posted by Jenbar

It's pretty common in ANY metropolitian area to generally label where you live as the larger city.

I have lived in "DC" (really Northern VA suburbs) and I have lived in Seattle. I actually have lived in Seattle, but mostly, in it's suburbs. I have friends who live in New Jersey, and still say they live in NY, because parts of Jersey, and NYC are interchangable, I guess... In my career life, one job I had was holding career fairs in Chicago. Well, not actually Chicago - but the suburbs - but it was billed as Chicago and people got what we meant...

When we told people in Seattle (meaning, Seattle itself, but also the subrubs of Seattle, in which we lived) we were moving - we said "Austin" because 99% of them wouldn't know what or where "Round Rock" was.

Living a mear 12 miles away from Austin addresses - I don't really see the big deal.

People generally get what you are saying, and until this thread - never heard anyone complain about it.

Now, when down at the beach last weekend, we spoke to somene we met in gas station - he introduced himself as "Mike, from Austin" I answered back, "Jen, Round Rock" and he said, "Well, actually Dripping Springs, but I have lived in Austin most of my life so that's what I am used to saying."

Honestly, I don't think it matters much, and I honestly think that those who are bothered by it, or rather HATE it, need to take stock of life's bigger issues.

It's different when using it as a general reference to location. What I'm specifically talking about is when addressing people who live in that area and do know the difference between the various cities. The relevance of where you fall in which city's corporate limits becomes even more important when discussing specifics such as city services, taxes, etc. At that level, Round Rock, Austin, West Lake, etc. might as well all be 100 miles from one another.

Call me "Captain Literal" (my wife does), but it's a pet peeve of mine.

[twange]

Originally Posted by jread

Call me "Captain Literal" (my wife does), but it's a pet peeve of mine.

Hilarious! Why didn't you use that as you screen name?

There's definitely a distinction. When I'm travelling, I always say I'm from Cleveland even though I live about 1 minute from the city line. When I'm home, I say Lakewood, cuz people know what I'm talking about.

When I was young overly sensitive about banal things, I used to get upset when I saw a concert t-shirt labeled with the town "Richfield" instead of Cleveland (that's where the big arena used to be) Now, the arenas are all in the downtown area, so are properly represented

Except now, I don't give a s**t

[jrdnjstn]

Well I do live in Austin and I don't have curbside recycling. I live on the very edge of Austin and Pflugerville. I have an Austin address but all my utilities are Pflugerville. There are a couple recycling bins at my kids school which accept paper products. There is a recycling place on Cameron road by Rundberg.

I also thought at one time motor cycle drivers and passengers had to wear helmets here? I would prefer not to have my brains squished all over the road or splattered on someones car.

[jhwest]

I think it's kind of presumtuous of a person to assume that I know where a certain town in their metropolitain area is. This seems really bad with Californians. Like I'll ask someone I meet from California where they're from, and they'll say, simply, Irvine, Walnut Creek, wherever. Do they think all of America is so enamored with California that we sit around memorizing their geography? All I want to know is LA, SanFrancisco (to me everything between Santa Barbara and Sacramento counts as SAn Francisco) or someplace else.
So I assume that when someone asks where I'm from, they don't want the details. Just a basic idea.

[TheHarvester]

Originally Posted by jrdnjstn

Well I do live in Austin and I don't have curbside recycling. I live on the very edge of Austin and Pflugerville. I have an Austin address but all my utilities are Pflugerville.

That's an interesting area, also the border near Round Rock, where there are jurisdictional disputes and cities refusing to provide proper services, each side saying that the other is responsible.

Texas charters for county and city governments, along with the laws providing for ambiguous authority such as "extra-territorial jurisdictions" --- they're rather a mess. It leaves many people wondering if they will get a response to their 911 call, or if their water is safe to drink, or whether their garbage will be picked up at all (let alone getting recycling service.)

There's something very odd about Texas.

[jwb123]

Other states do this too. Not just TX. In WA, it's called an "Unincorporated" area of a county.