Young family relocating - question about SW Austin (Circle C/Legend Oaks) (Round Rock: to rent, house)

[pfelds]

My husband, toddler and I will be moving to Austin in a few weeks for my job which is located on Southwest Parkway. We are originally from NY but arriving to Austin via South Florida where we have lived for the past five years. We are looking to rent a home in either Legend Oaks and Circle C because of its proximity to my job, from what I hear commuting on the Mopac is a bit of a nightmare. We are looking to live in a place that still retains some of that "Austin vibe" and is diverse and liberal and has a healthy amount of young families. Do either of these places fit the bill? Will we feel out of place in either location being liberal Jews? We are also thinking about Hyde Park, but are finding rents to be pretty crazy and obviously we won't be getting as much for our money.

Any insight would be very much appreciated!

[llkltk]

SW Austin is hardly liberal.

[Austinite101]

Circle C is one of the more conservative areas of Austin. Generally speaking, and i believe this is true in most cities, the further away from the core you go, the less liberal it will be. This is similar to what happens with the Austin vibe. The vibe is strongest centrally, and tapers of as you get away from the core.

[DittoDitto]

Hi, I am originally from NY, then moved to Austin from FL where I had lived for decades. If I was going to be working on Southwest Parkway, I would be looking at the Travis Country, Travis Country West, or Lantana subdivisions. Circle C and Legend Oaks will have a lot of traffic during commutation times.

I'm not sure that there is a lot of "Austin vibe" in any of these subdivisions, certainly no less than in Circle C or Legend Oaks. These are all subdivisions like you would find anywhere in FL or NY with nothing particularly "Texan" about them.

As for being liberal Jews, I think more of the Jewish people are in North Austin or Round Rock and I think that is where most of the Temples are located too (but that is just a guess on my part and I may be wrong) as I am unaffiliated. There isn't a lot of Jewish culture or food here like there is in NY or FL. I did find a good bagel store called Wholy Bagel in SW Austin.

You will not be made to feel out of place in any location. Austin is very tolerant and accepting.

[AMJ27]

We live in Circle C and I don't think that Circle C is overly conservative or overly liberal. I actually find it to be more liberal than the conservative Chicago suburb we lived in previous to our move to Austin. I would say that I've been seeing far more Obama stickers than Romney stickers on cars around the neighborhood.

Personally, my husband and I consider ourselves to be quite liberal and we don't feel out of place at all. Quite the opposite really. Out of the 5 families that we reguarly hang out around, 3 are definitely as liberal as we are, 1 is more Libertarian, and 1 identifies themselves as independent with more conservative leanings. Maybe we just lucked out with where we bought our house in Circle C, but I don't get the impression after living here for 2 years that this is a hotbed of conservativism.

As far as "Austin vibe"...well I think that is probably where you are going to have more of a problem. Have you thought about living in 78704? I wouldn't think that the commute wouldn't be super horrible and the Zilker area seems very family friendly to me. You won't get as much house for your money, but you'll definitely have more of the vibe. I would choose this area over the Hyde Park area.

[AMJ27]

I forgot to comment on the diversity. We live in the Clayton Elementary side of Circle C and I've been very impressed with the cultural diversity at the school. Both last year and this year, my daughter has had a very diverse class where 40-50% of the class was not of European ancestry.

[llkltk]

Originally Posted by AMJ27

We live in Circle C and I don't think that Circle C is overly conservative or overly liberal. I actually find it to be more liberal than the conservative Chicago suburb we lived in previous to our move to Austin. I would say that I've been seeing far more Obama stickers than Romney stickers on cars around the neighborhood.

Personally, my husband and I consider ourselves to be quite liberal and we don't feel out of place at all. Quite the opposite really. Out of the 5 families that we reguarly hang out around, 3 are definitely as liberal as we are, 1 is more Libertarian, and 1 identifies themselves as independent with more conservative leanings. Maybe we just lucked out with where we bought our house in Circle C, but I don't get the impression after living here for 2 years that this is a hotbed of conservativism.

As far as "Austin vibe"...well I think that is probably where you are going to have more of a problem. Have you thought about living in 78704? I wouldn't think that the commute wouldn't be super horrible and the Zilker area seems very family friendly to me. You won't get as much house for your money, but you'll definitely have more of the vibe. I would choose this area over the Hyde Park area.

Growing up in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, conservative and Chicago suburbs does not compute. That part of Illinois is so liberal. Circle C is far more conservative than you believe.

[llkltk]

Originally Posted by AMJ27

I forgot to comment on the diversity. We live in the Clayton Elementary side of Circle C and I've been very impressed with the cultural diversity at the school. Both last year and this year, my daughter has had a very diverse class where 40-50% of the class was not of European ancestry.

It's diverse because of the transfer system that Austin ISD has in place.

[AMJ27]

Originally Posted by llkltk

Growing up in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, conservative and Chicago suburbs does not compute. That part of Illinois is so liberal. Circle C is far more conservative than you believe.

The collar counties of Chicago were very conservative when I was growing up in the 80's. The very conservative Henry Hyde represented much of Dupage County (Naperville, Wheaton, Glen Ellyn, etc.) for many years. I lived in Dennis Hastert's district. The former speaker of the house was the poster boy for conservative causes, so I think you might be uninformed about the area. In the last 10 years or so it began to moderate somewhat, but Republicans still hold the vast majority of local offices and have always won the majority of votes in presidential elections.

From what I have been told (and I admit that I haven't bothered to look it up...go ahead if you are interested), Circle C is pretty evenly split in the major elections. Personally, I have been pleasantly surprised with how many like minded families we have met...and these are just are immediate neighbors, not people we have sought out. Like I said before, maybe we just lucked out, but the majority of our neighbors are Democrats and I definitely see more Obama stickers in the Clayton pickup line than Romney.

[AMJ27]

Originally Posted by llkltk

It's diverse because of the transfer system that Austin ISD has in place.

Clayton takes very few, if any, transfers. These are kids who live in Circle C. I know their families and my daughter has playdates at their homes in Circle C. I recall that you live in Meridian. I know that Baldwin accepts transfers, so perhaps that is why you are questioning what I said.