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I live (and work) in North Austin (so far North, that we are in the Round Rock school district, although I do jury duty in Austin).
I also do not drive, so I depend on mass transit. I am in a financial position to afford to hire a taxi if I really needed to get somewhere faster than mass transit provides. But I am more comfortable using mass transit.
I go into town maybe 1x per month.
IF the train ran on the weekends, I would go more.
The train does run on weekends for some special events, which I will attend if interested.
I will also take advantage of the train service this weekend, to do some shopping (avoiding the center area of town).
IF I worked in Central Austin instead of North Austin, I would likely pay the premium to live there. I like the Central and some of the South Austin areas much better than North Austin.
Austin is not designed with pedestrians in mind, except in the center (and possibly a few other select neighborhoods). If you are used to living in a city that does consider Pedestrians when building, you will likely get frustrated trying to walk places, unless you live in the downtown area (or one of the other few neighborhoods designed with pedestrians in mind).
Bus stops, cross walks, even sidewalks are after thoughts, and often do not exist where I believe they should.
A bus may go right by an apartment complex, but not have a stop within 6 blocks of it. If the cross walk is not at a main intersection, the wait can be almost 5 minutes. (I need to time the light at Airport Blvd and Highland Mall, my estimates might be off, as time goes by slower when I am waiting and missing my bus connection while waiting for a long light).
During our time in Austin, we have lived in the burbs (Round Rock and southwest) and finally, central. We saw the writing on the wall before our last move ten years ago when the development near Oak Hill where we were living started to escalate. Sitting in traffic every day to get to work was not something we were willing to do so that we could have a larger house with big yard and pool (which we had). Moving back into town was the best thing we ever did as far as improving our quality of life. Our house is only 1600 sf but well-designed and on a large lot so we have plenty of space around us. We rarely even get on Mopac or I-35 since everything we could ever need or want is close by. Much less stress than when we lived in the burbs. Kids are grown but all this talk about good schools mystifies me. Ours went to AISD schools (including magnet) and turned out just fine. In fact, I always felt like the large minority population at the magnet school they attended exposed them to the real world and not the homogenous experience that many seem to think makes a "good" school. My only gripe living central is of course, the property tax, but everything is a trade-off.
I live right off 620 and work in NW Austin. Living centrally would only increase my current commuting time extensively and force me onto major highways that I currently can avoid. I head into the Central Austin area maybe once a month...usually to go to Alamo Drafthouse Village or to shop at Central Market and other nearby places. Lately, it seems I'm bypassing Central Austin entirely in favor of Bee Caves.
My neighborhood is very walkable despite what the "Live Central" proponents may believe and it's not a fancy masterplanned community...just an aging Milburn subdivision on the outskirts of Cedar Park. All of the stores and services popped up around the neighborhood over time and currently we're experiencing an explosion of growth as local businesses are clearly targeting the area for expansion.
I can walk to all levels of schools, city park with year round pool, grocery stores, pharmacies, multiple restaurants ranging from locally owned franchises to mom & pop restaurants to national chains, churches (Christian and Unitarian), urgent care center, dentist, car repair shop, gas stations, ACC campus, and much more. If I hop in my car and drive in any direction for five minutes, I can hit a mall, many major box stores, one Alamo Drafthouse (soon to be two!), and City Hall. Said mall has a farmer's market on Saturdays. The Cedar Park library and post office require an extensive drive for me, but I don't go to either very often.
I guess what you just don't get, or refuse to look at is that people have different needs and wants. Yes, people love to visit Chicago... Guess what happened to my friends that moved up there? Back in Austin within a year. Why? THEY MISSED HAVING A BACK YARD.
Also, you seem to lump all suburban growth, or really ALL growth, as "sprawl", wildly assuming that all of those people then spend hours on the roads. I've got a newsflash for you here. Nearly ALL of the employers that have moved to Austin recently and are really the ones fueling this growth have all moved in outside your narrow-minded definition of "Austin", thus, THESE PEOPLES COMMUTES WOULD BE LONGER COMING FROM YOUR CORE. Due to this, infrastructure and services are being developed nearby (your shops, cafes, restaurants), to go along with their SHORT COMMUTE. Is it possible for you to comprehend this?
Now, if someone buys in Cedar Park, but works downtown - they better have a flexible work schedule or take the train, otherwise they've just committed to spending too much of their life trapped in a 4 wheeled cage.
Now, let's get to the different wants part of this.
My personal version of hell is your life. Got it? I want a yard, my yard, a real one that has enough room for my 3 large dogs, kids, outdoor living space, smoker and grill. I want my mother in law to be able to live with us comfortably. This requires 5 bedrooms, minimum. I have two pre-teen girls that are 20 months apart - this requires an extra bathroom or earplugs. I went bathroom.
I want all this and be able to enjoy it, and have the money to travel, etc. So I'm not going to sink all my money into a house. I searched for quite some time before landing on Brushy Creek since it fit everything. Going central would have cost me 10 days per year in my car, a few hundred thousand dollars and some space. I also would not have 6 miles of parks that I can walk to without crossing a major street. I would likely have a neighbor behind me (I don't now, and never will).
I also love travel, even local travel. I don't care if it takes me an hour to get to a restaurant downtown - if I have fun getting there (i.e. bike to the train to a pedi-cab, etc.) But guess what, I get to enjoy all those same great spots in Austin that you do, and based on observations thus far, I'm willing to be I have a hell of a lot more fun, since I don't spend my time judging people for where they live, or relying on my location to provide my soul - I bring mine with me, wherever I go.
And, obviously, you've never been to Santa Fe.
1. I go to Santa Fe about 2x a year for the last decade. . .I think I'm pretty familiar with it. Outside of Austin, it's the place I spend the most time. I'm pretty familiar with it.
2. I agree with you - if you want to live in a lifeless soul sucking dead end community, one that requires a car trip for just about everything, that is your business. I want you to have that life. Please stay far away from the city.
My problem is with the NIMBY's who want to throw up a preservation ordinance over the center city to preserve it as some kind of museum piece, like it's reached the pinnacle of existence and never more shall we evolve.
Austin will double in population. It already has some of the worst traffic commutes for a city of any size in the nation. It's a city in serious trouble if it doesn't find a way to make more housing in the center city.
The point I make it that Austin needs more options for those who want to avoid the horrendous lifestyle of sprawl. Infill and multi-mixed use solve a lot of problems at once and BTW - the more the inner city develops, the less pressure will be put on those commutes to the suburbs. As a committed suburbanite, you would be wise to side with me on this.
With regards to you point about some people having short commutes in the suburbs. I can assure you this is very very very much the exception and not the rule. If you look at average commutes times for someone who lives in Hyde Park and average commute times for someone who lives in Cedar Park you would understand this. And it's not just commute to work, it's commute to school, to gym, to grocery store, to museums and restaurants. . all that adds up.
More housing in the core doesn't solve any traffic problems if the jobs aren't in the core. I hope the answer isn't more government jobs. And as I've said on other threads, families have to live where they can afford to with good schools. The answer is definitely not $500K+ condos closer to the clouds.
More housing in the core doesn't solve any traffic problems if the jobs aren't in the core. I hope the answer isn't more government jobs. And as I've said on other threads, families have to live where they can afford to with good schools. The answer is definitely not $500K+ condos closer to the clouds.
This assertion that the jobs aren't in the core is nonsense. How do you explain the traffic jams on North Mopac and 183, headed central? South IH35 and Mopac doing the same. . .every single day.
The jobs are there - the people are not located near the jobs.
I've never once promoted any sort of government jobs program - where do you people come up with this crap?
And the problem with development being expensive in the center city is because it is too expensive too cumbersome and too restrictive. If the central areas were more amenable to infill, multi-mixed use with less restrictive zoning you would see significant relief in housing prices in the central area. But the only way to do this is to densify.
More housing in the core doesn't solve any traffic problems if the jobs aren't in the core. I hope the answer isn't more government jobs. And as I've said on other threads, families have to live where they can afford to with good schools. The answer is definitely not $500K+ condos closer to the clouds.
Does anyone know if there has been an update on the 2008 survey done of downtown condo buyers that showed 70% of them work outside of downtown?
I only know (personally) two people that live in the new downtown condos (the ones on 3rd and something). One is a co-worker that commutes out of downtown to get to our offices; however, she is getting ready to retire and they just bought the place and moved in there - sort of a pre-retirement move. The other works at Freescale in Oakhill, but I guess they wanted to rent downtown to be near the downtown stuff; however, they do commute (albeit, reverse commute) to Oakhill daily.
1. I go to Santa Fe about 2x a year for the last decade. . .I think I'm pretty familiar with it. Outside of Austin, it's the place I spend the most time. I'm pretty familiar with it.
2. I agree with you - if you want to live in a lifeless soul sucking dead end community, one that requires a car trip for just about everything, that is your business. I want you to have that life. Please stay far away from the city.
My problem is with the NIMBY's who want to throw up a preservation ordinance over the center city to preserve it as some kind of museum piece, like it's reached the pinnacle of existence and never more shall we evolve.
Austin will double in population. It already has some of the worst traffic commutes for a city of any size in the nation. It's a city in serious trouble if it doesn't find a way to make more housing in the center city.
The point I make it that Austin needs more options for those who want to avoid the horrendous lifestyle of sprawl. Infill and multi-mixed use solve a lot of problems at once and BTW - the more the inner city develops, the less pressure will be put on those commutes to the suburbs. As a committed suburbanite, you would be wise to side with me on this.
With regards to you point about some people having short commutes in the suburbs. I can assure you this is very very very much the exception and not the rule. If you look at average commutes times for someone who lives in Hyde Park and average commute times for someone who lives in Cedar Park you would understand this. And it's not just commute to work, it's commute to school, to gym, to grocery store, to museums and restaurants. . all that adds up.
Komeht, the thing is, it's NOT the kind of community you're describing in many cases, and the fact that you can only see it as that says a heck of a lot more about your own limitations than it does about the wide variety of communities in Austin that are not in your unique little carefully proscribed circle of what's acceptable.
There are MANY areas outside of downtown, in Austin and surrounding it, that are vibrant, healthy communities that just don't match what you want for yourself. That doesn't make them lifeless or soul sucking - it just means that they are different from what you want for yourself.
I'm going to trust the word of someone who actually lives in a particular area about how far they have to travel to work, school, shopping, parks, etc., far more than I am going to believe you with your particular let's all live in skyscrapers agenda.
Many people would say the very same thing about what you want for Austin, by the way. Lifeless, soul sucking skyscrapers - they're even famous for being so!
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