First Mexico, then L.A. and now Austin.... (San Antonio, West: sales, hotels)

[ARTUROJB]

We only have 4 years in L.A. and I think that's enough for us. My wife and I are from Mexico City and we are planning to relocate to Austin within a year or less.

Now that we have a 1 1/2 girl, we are looking to buy a home (something that is not going to happen in L.A.) and establish ourselves in a young and nice neighborhood to raise our family.

Now I ask for your help:

- The classic question: Good but affordable neighborhoods? We are on our 30's so we are looking to have people of the same age around us (diversity, but a decent and an upper level diversity please!)

- How hard is to meet people? Are they open minded? In L.A. the "circles" are very closed, and believe me, it is NO easy to make friends.

- Racism: Even I'm blonde/white Mexican and my wife is brunette we have experienced a little bit of racism here in L.A. I’ve been told that Texas is even worse. Is it true or depends on the areas?

- Jobs: I noticed there's not a big chance to get a job if you're not in the Tech or Health industry...My wife is in the Media industry and I'm in the Hospitality/Marketing area....any chances for us on these areas?

- First relocation for us (in the US obviously): any tips, websites to look at, guides, etc? I know it is not easy and theres a lot of things to do before moving out...

- Any other tips, I'm I missing something?

Thank you in advance and happy 2008!

[neddy]

Welcome to the board. I don't think you would have any problem in Austin but I was going to suggest San Antonio also because I used to live there and love it so! My husband is a brown hair blue eye type of mexican and sil in red hair blue eye both grew up in San Antonio and have never had any racism towards them what so ever. I have only been in Austin for 6 months so I can't really draw to many conculsions yet but I do know in SA you will find a large amount of hispancis there in every social/eco class there. Lots of folks from Mexico that have second homes in SA or that send their kids to school there. No problem speaking spanish and getting along just fine with narry a stare. So far in Austin I have not seen the same mix that I lived with in SA. I have been pleased with the city athough it lacks certain things that my kiddos enjoyed that SA had and my guys are not really outdoor kids ( one is taking allergy shots cause he is allergic to almost everything outdoors) but SA is only 1.5 hours away anyway. You would have no problem finding something in your field in SA but not sure about your wife, don't know the local market that well but Sa has lots more hotels.

[love roses]

I pretty much second Neddy. Austin has well off hispanics, but not like San Antonio. There's a socio economic dividing line in Austin and that is I35. East Austin is heavily hispanic, but blue collar mostly. Mostly I'm confused by your comment looking for decent and upper level diversity? Do you mean people who send their kids to private school and drive BMW's? Or just folks that maybe work at Dell or Samsung who are basic middle class and send their kids to public and maybe private school? This is just my opinion on the rascism in Austin towards hispanics question, but it's geared more toward the ILLEGAL population. This area has a deep relationship with many things spanish/Mexican (especially San Antonio) so as far as that goes, not much rascism there. It's very easy to meet people here. People are very friendly. Part of our Southern Charm. However, it helps if you are as well. This city isn't like L.A where the poorer minorities behave rudely. So don't exclude people based on that. When you're at a resturaunt or the grocery store, the servers and checkers actually hold conversations with you. Please don't be impatient with them. That is just part of the lifestyle here. Small towns in Texas are known to be speed traps, so never go over the speed limit if you drive through them. You should be able to find jobs in media and hospitality around here. Lots of hotels and resorts around here. Media...don't know which kind, but lots of movies are made here, there are several news stations, and magazines would be more regional/local types. Newspapers...there are several around.

[mimimomx3]

I think you would be just fine in Austin. There are lots of upper/middle class professional Latin people here from Mexico and South America. They are involved with the University and with the medical field. Most poorer people live East of 35, and those would be of all nationalities/cultures/ethnicities. San Antonio has more affluent Mexican Americans as well as Latins from other countries, but of course it's a bigger city.

[wehotex]

Originally Posted by ARTUROJB

We only have 4 years in L.A. and I think that's enough for us. My wife and I are from Mexico City and we are planning to relocate to Austin within a year or less.

Now that we have a 1 1/2 girl, we are looking to buy a home (something that is not going to happen in L.A.) and establish ourselves in a young and nice neighborhood to raise our family.

Now I ask for your help:

- The classic question: Good but affordable neighborhoods? We are on our 30's so we are looking to have people of the same age around us (diversity, but a decent and an upper level diversity please!)

- How hard is to meet people? Are they open minded? In L.A. the "circles" are very closed, and believe me, it is NO easy to make friends.

- Racism: Even I'm blonde/white Mexican and my wife is brunette we have experienced a little bit of racism here in L.A. I’ve been told that Texas is even worse. Is it true or depends on the areas?

- Jobs: I noticed there's not a big chance to get a job if you're not in the Tech or Health industry...My wife is in the Media industry and I'm in the Hospitality/Marketing area....any chances for us on these areas?

- First relocation for us (in the US obviously): any tips, websites to look at, guides, etc? I know it is not easy and theres a lot of things to do before moving out...

- Any other tips, I'm I missing something?

Thank you in advance and happy 2008!

out of curiosity, what type of racism did you experience in LA? I am mex american, born and raised in tx, lived in so cal for 15 years, but moved to san antonio 2 years ago. i think that most of the LA indifference was b/c of the enormous amounts of illegals that invaded LA and the problems that it caused. as a byproduct, we mex americans tend to get swept up in it. many of the folk that live in LA/ hlwd are from other parts of the country, not necessarily from calif, so it's not always a true californian that might be dissing you. i think that some texans might be a little more open about their racism here in texas. at least they used to be, espec when you get to the smaller towns. the only real racist moment that i experienced was from an older anglo lady who i went out to see on a sales appt. after i asked her questions about her current coverage to see if my product was better or worse for her, we decided that she should find out more about what she had already through her co before she jumped into my offering. a few weeks later, i was surprised to hear that another sales rep from my office had gone back to that woman's house to sign her up. the other sales rep (an older anglo lady) told me that she did not want "a mexican" in her house. the rep dissed her out and told her that her thinking was outdated, espec living in san antonio, where you'd have to be under a rock not to deal with mexican americans. the old witch felt bad about it, said the other rep. but these known experiences don't happen every day. but i'm sure that they do happen. but to be fair, a simila experience happened to me with a monrovia, calif couple too when they said that they did not want a "brown eyed" man over at their house, eupehism for mexican.

[sanmiguelena]

To Wehotex - Maybe you can give me some insight into what my daughter and I may encounter in Austin. I'm anglo and my 12 year old daughter is Mexican (adopted, obviously!). We live in a very multi cultural area of Maryland. She has friends of every color, nationality, etc. We're considering a move to Austin. I'm hoping to get her into McCallum High School which I understand is relatively diverse. But generally, in Austin, what kind of racism may she encounter? When she's a teenager, what about dating issues, etc.? Thanks for any insights you have.

[love roses]

I'm not wehotex, obviously, but as someone with hispanics in my family, I'll tell you what I know. And that is, they seem to get along fine. I have 2 nieces and 2 nephews on my husbands side that are 1/2 Puerto Rican, and although their mom is white, they look like their dad, except for one of her sons, who looks more caucasian. On my side, I have 2 little cousins (my 1st cousins kids) who are half Mexican. I also have, through another cousin, others who are 100%. It's no big deal. Dating, obviously, is no issue with the 2 girls, who always seem to have too many boyfriends to count, and one of them currently is dating a black guy. The two younger ones are too young to date, so don't have anything to say there. But they do fine. They aren't harassed or anything. I think it's a perception of people up North or far West that there are massive gangs of KKK and backwoods rednecks running willy nilly through all of our unpaved roads on horseback with tumbleweeds rolling across still harassing anyone who is not white. And that is pretty far off the mark. Texas has a deep relationship with Mexico and there are quite a few towns here with major Mexican influence, especially going towards south Texas. You will see this in everything including the architecture. Of course there are some rascist people. But aren't they everywhere across the U.S? And in many different forms, I might add. You will find lots of people angry over Illegal immigration and the problems it brings, but much of that is also directed at the system as well. Not toward every hispanic individual. Your daughter, in my opinion, will be just fine. In Austin, there is some diversity West of 35, but the higher concentrations of racial diversity, IMO, are East of 35 (and not just East of downtown). Many hispanics and blacks (AA's), and Whites. While people are touting diversity of race in Austin in one breath, most(not all) tell people to stay West, which I think increases the white population West of 35 instead of creating more diversity west. This is just an observation on my part, and in no way based on actual fact. But I hope it makes some sense. I think being hispanic in Central Texas is nearly a non issue.

[sanmiguelena]

Thanks. I wasn't really overly concerned about it but thought I'd better cover all my bases, just in case I was being naive.

[rstrstx]

I'd have to agree with some of the other people, I think San Antonio would be a better fit for you and your wife. There are lots of Mexican nationals in San Antonio in virtually every part of town. It should also be better for the hospitality industry. Not that there's anything wrong with Austin, it's a great town, but SA might be worth checking out if you visit - it's just down the road.

[Phisch]

I've only visited SA once, but guessing that RSTRSTX is right about SA being a bigger market as far as hospitality market. You could look up the visitor & convention bureau web sites for each city to get a decent comparison as far as number of potential employers.