How much has Austin changed for the worst? (live, shop)

[gpurcell]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

Yeah what a response.*sarcasm* All you natives not liking the tremendous growth causing prices to rise astronomically, traffic to pile up and over gentrification be the rule of the day just leave. So these people have no legit grievances? One of Americas most laid back, get away from the world, cities is turning into another coastal rat race city full of A types clogging up the professional workforce? Yet, you think people complaining should just pack up and move?

None of which is going to change. As a practical matter it is what IS going to happen and if you don't want to be part of it you'll be increasingly unhappy here.

[MiaMia411]

Originally Posted by riaelise

I don't really consider it "whining". I don't tell others to leave because I don't really care and it'd be hypocritical since I'm a transplant myself, but I think that people are bringing up valid reasons.

As an aside, there was prolonged discussion the other day in the local media about Austin's income divide. Truth is, Austin salaries for the most part suck and there are many people (in fact, I'd say a good chunk of people in Austin itself) who are struggling to make ends meet to afford the rising rents. The salaries are out of whack with the cost of living. That is a problem. I'm not talking about Central Austin and historically wealthy places. I'm talking about the regular areas that are on the fringes, where the working class and the lower middle could live pretty decently. Austin, as a city, is still middle class and working class, but these people are being squeezed out and forced to move due to people trying to cash in on the new sparkly Austin image. How about the working class and working poor that currently live in 78741. They are being pushed out so that they can build yet another cookie cutter condo/rental building.

This is very true and a good point that many people cant seem to understand. Everyone wants everything but that all comes down to a price ( extremely high rent and taxes ). Its like a big ripple effect, it pushes out the people that have been there for many years that were fine and content with what they had. Now, you have the new crowd that have all the latest and greatest, the pay will be decent but wont be enough to support everything they want. Eventually they will get priced out, start living pay check to pay check, complain, and then move somewhere else to start all over again. I say let them reap what they sow.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by riaelise

I really don't see how Austin is supposedly so much "better" than it was ten years ago. Nope, don't see it at all. Just because some things are more sparkly doesn't mean that things are better. The proliferance of paint-by-the-numbers skyscrapers, coffee shops, and trendy fashions doesn't mean things are better. It was good back then, let's get that straight. Sure, there weren't all of the frou frou restaurants and the like but so what?

Austin is better but not necessarily an order of magnitude better. But the main thing is it isnt worse overall.

It is better for me in the following ways:

1) more consumer oriented high tech startup companies. For years austin was dominated by behemoths (state, dell, IBM, NI etc)

2) much more vibrant downtown with many more going out options aside from just 6th street.

3) much better food (high end food, mid range ethnic food, even burgers)

4) lots of dedicated bike trails that let you go all the way across town (violet crown, brushy creek regional, lake georgetown trail, north and south walnut creek trails). Expansion of the hike and bike trail.

5) increased property values for me. My nest egg is growing.

6) the new airport is way better than the old mueller airport

7) SXSW interactive brings a lot of really interesting tech talks to austin

8) thinkery is a great museum, I hope we can get more like it.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by riaelise

I really don't see how Austin is supposedly so much "better" than it was ten years ago. Nope, don't see it at all. Just because some things are more sparkly doesn't mean that things are better. The proliferance of paint-by-the-numbers skyscrapers, coffee shops, and trendy fashions doesn't mean things are better. It was good back then, let's get that straight. Sure, there weren't all of the frou frou restaurants and the like but so what?

And yet this is what some confuse with being a "world class city" and want more, more, and more of, when in fact it is pretty much the opposite. Now, if Austin could grow and retain the things that made it a great place to live (and move to), THEN it would stand a chance of becoming a world class city. But if it simply copies other places with more and more of the above, it will NEVER become a world class city because it will have sold its birthright for a mess of pottage.

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

And yet this is what some confuse with being a "world class city" and want more, more, and more of, when in fact it is pretty much the opposite. Now, if Austin could grow and retain the things that made it a great place to live (and move to), THEN it would stand a chance of becoming a world class city. But if it simply copies other places with more and more of the above, it will NEVER become a world class city because it will have sold its birthright for a mess of pottage.

It will be a "worldly" city but in most cases worldly cities are places where any average folk would just like to visit but not live in. Austin is just another experiment where yuppies, oops sorry I mean the "creative class" leave their over priced cities to start anew. Then they'll make Austin unbearable and start afresh again with town #124.

Texas cities were in a classification all in their own. Even when growth was modest in the early 2000s, it was fine.

[RoadWarrior12]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

It will be a "worldly" city but in most cases worldly cities are places where any average folk would just like to visit but not live in. Austin is just another experiment where yuppies, oops sorry I mean the "creative class" leave their over priced cities to start anew. Then they'll make Austin unbearable and start afresh again with town #124.

Texas cities were in a classification all in their own. Even when growth was modest in the early 2000s, it was fine.

And this statement is based on what, exactly?

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by RoadWarrior12

And this statement is based on what, exactly?

The transplants leaving major hubs like LA and NYC to settle in Austin.

[RoadWarrior12]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

The transplants leaving major hubs like LA and NYC to settle in Austin.

So, nothing more than wild assumption basically...

The overwhelming majority of people that have left those cities for Austin have either done so for their jobs, or because they disliked the very thing you have wildly assumed they bring to Austin. You seem to have drawn some kind of ill-informed conclusion of what Austin actually is.

Again, visit - you'll see for yourself how wrong you are. Can you find a douchebag here? Sure - you can find them anywhere. Is that the "vibe"? No.

The whole premise of the question you've posed in this thread is wrong anyway.

[brattpowered]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

Yeah what a response.*sarcasm* All you natives not liking the tremendous growth causing prices to rise astronomically, traffic to pile up and over gentrification be the rule of the day just leave. So these people have no legit grievances? One of Americas most laid back, get away from the world, cities is turning into another coastal rat race city full of A types clogging up the professional workforce? Yet, you think people complaining should just pack up and move?

But it's the "laid back" coastal rat race city stop on the yipster migration circuit. So the shorts are ever so perfectly frayed and the scruff is let to grow for 1.35 days.

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by RoadWarrior12

So, nothing more than wild assumption basically...

The overwhelming majority of people that have left those cities for Austin have either done so for their jobs, or because they disliked the very thing you have wildly assumed they bring to Austin. You seem to have drawn some kind of ill-informed conclusion of what Austin actually is.

Again, visit - you'll see for yourself how wrong you are. Can you find a douchebag here? Sure - you can find them anywhere. Is that the "vibe"? No.

The whole premise of the question you've posed in this thread is wrong anyway.

Well it was a question. I was hoping to be wrong because I really love Texas and I really really love Austin. So I'm hoping that its all assumptions. But the stuff I'm hearing led me to pose the question to people who actually live in Austin.