Why I'm leaving Austin: An 8th Generation Austinite's observations (Houston: appointed, apartments)

[dbsteel]

I moved.... the state tax here vs. the higher real estate and local sales trax there is pretty much a wash. At least in PA. There is no perfect place. I could probably make 90% of America work, but I'm wired to adapt. Some aren't. I wasn't miserable there by all means, but from the time I go there in 1997 to the time I left in 2011... it went from samll college city, to something else.

[CptnRn]

"Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be."

Abraham Lincoln

[tallahasseehero1]

Not from Austin, but may move there soon. I think you can have the same criticisms in most cities. Things change. Thats progress. It doesn't mean things will be worse. Austin is a cool place with some good opportunity so people are going to move there. It doesn't mean what made the city great won't be there anymore.

By the way if you seem to have a problem with such a large percentage of people in the city you should look in the mirror. Often times its not them its you.

[tiredofraininwa]

I found this thread to be so interesting because it is almost exactly how I feel about the Seattle area and why we moved.

Traffic - beyond rediculous! As a commuter, I traveled 70 miles round trip and spent an average of 2+ (usually closer to 3) hours on the road. I have a hard time believing that Austin is worse than Seattle for traffic, especially when it fights for #1 in the nation constantly.

Housing costs - see above... I felt I had to live 35 miles from my work so that I could afford a decent quality of life for our family, but even in my 20's when I lived in Seattle proper, I had to commute out to make a decent living else where.

Transplants coming in from every direction make Seattle different than it used to be. There is almost no such thing as a Washingtonian any more and it just makes it a nice place to be from.

As for the "cool" factor... I was in my 20's in Seattle in the 90's. Talk about cool! When the music scene was unreal and Seattle was putting itself on the map with huge names, underground clubs and the dot-com bubble.

But then it all burst... it happens. And what was cool to me in my 20's isn't in my 30's with children. It just makes it time to move on.

Best of luck to you!

[ATXhomeSeeker]

Originally Posted by tiredofraininwa

es it a nice place to be from.

As for the "cool" factor... I was in my 20's in seattle in the 90's. Talk about cool! :d when the music scene was unreal and seattle was putting itself on the map with huge names, underground clubs and the dot-com bubble.

lucky!

[jabbit]

Originally Posted by tallahasseehero1

Not from Austin, but may move there soon. I think you can have the same criticisms in most cities. Things change. Thats progress. It doesn't mean things will be worse. Austin is a cool place with some good opportunity so people are going to move there. It doesn't mean what made the city great won't be there anymore.

things change in cities true. but what of the uniqueness of Austin? the thing that separates it from other cities? that is what is being discussed here. to some what made Austin unique is gone. it is becoming an LA in Texas. to some thats cool. to others thats copy cat syndrome and its not at all what Austin used to be. quite the opposite. change does not all the time mean progress.

case in point. the depression. that was change. was it progress? nope. sometimes cities can grow population wise and regress. that is Austin to a lot of people now. it all goes both ways.

[jabbit]

Originally Posted by Komeht

You never offer any solution other than speaking in platitudes ("ever hear the one about killing to goose...").

Growth IS happening and will happen for the foreseeable future. It's not a question of if. . . It's a matter of how.

you can make a declaration of the state of a situation without giving solutions. what makes you think one has to have the other to make it legitimate?


i can say a car is broken without offering solutions.

by your logic i cant say a car is broken without offering a solution. Shoddy Logic right there.

[jabbit]

Originally Posted by eepstein

Excellent post! Agreed 100%. The COA has been in a downhill spiral for quite some time now. City media campaigns continue to bring people into a city that can't sustain HALF the populaton of what it has now. Zero plans to do anything about it by the city. Traffic is horrible, roads are neglected, housing costs are among the highest in the country (not near the coasts), crime is up, homelessness is up, etc etc. It's a huge mess and since the COA only cares about the rich, things will only continue to get worse for all people who live "outside" the central parts of the city.

Hurry up COA...let's get that JW Marriott and Fairmont built as quickly as we can!!!!

Gotta try to compete with Dallas and Houston for those business conventions!! Knock yourself out!!!!

well said. fact is Austin is not the Austin it used to be and a lot of people are pissed or sad. RIP AUSTIN.

[G Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by jabbit

well said. fact is Austin is not the Austin it used to be and a lot of people are pissed or sad. RIP AUSTIN.

NO city is the city it used to be. The US population is growing very quickly, and the cities will have to be crowded. No choice. City governments want their part of that growing tax base. It is the way it is. People who can't adapt to the change need to move to small towns or into the country where the rate of change will be slower. If people want to actually deal with this, we need to deal with the population explosion generally. So far, I see NO real movement nationally to look at that.

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by G Grasshopper

NO city is the city it used to be. The US population is growing very quickly, and the cities will have to be crowded. No choice. City governments want their part of that growing tax base. It is the way it is. People who can't adapt to the change need to move to small towns or into the country where the rate of change will be slower. If people want to actually deal with this, we need to deal with the population explosion generally. So far, I see NO real movement nationally to look at that.

Well, we're nowhere close to an unhealthy national population. We DO, however, have some overpopulated areas, but that's just the way things go. Towns and cities do well, businesses and services move there, those in turn attract more people, etc etc and frankly the only time that areas DECREASE in population is when there is an economic downturn in the area. I don't know of anyone who wants that to happen ANYWHERE.

I've lived in several small cities which have grown a lot in a relatively short time, and yes - the cities changed. But there's no point in getting angry with it - it's called free enterprise and people will move where the jobs and services are - period. Why shouldn't they?

When I was a child, we lived in a house that had a lot of undeveloped acreage behind it. The people who lived on that street that backed up to that wilderness loved it, and bought those houses BECAUSE "no one would ever build behind them." Privacy, and woods for the kids to play in - an almost rural feel.

UNTIL...

The interstate went in right behind the houses. OMG people were in a panic, up in arms, furious!!!! "Our property values will decrease! NOT FAIR!!!" My parents, and other families, protested, wrote letters to the editor, etc, all in vain. In went the highway and a slew of homes hit the market, ours included. There was NO WAY my parents were going to put up with an interstate highway within sight of the patio! They expected to have to sell the house for a loss.

Guess what - the houses on our street actually INCREASED IN VALUE. There was an exit/entrance to the interstate put in right outside our neighborhood, so suddenly you could be on the interstate in 2 minutes from our house - and that really appealed to many buyers.

WE didn't like it - the very reason we had bought that particular house was because of it's rural setting. But the buyers of our house bought it because of it's proximity to the interstate. Different families, different expectations - but that's just the way it goes.

We were glad to sell, and they were glad to buy. Everyone won, actually.