Moving to Austin in June or July (Cedar Park, Burnet: high crime, how much)

[phillytoaustin]

Hi, I am hoping to check out Austin soon because it looks like a great place to move to. I am just starting my career as a nurse and my boyfriend is in graphic design. Could you give me an idea of just how urban it is? I have lived in Philadelphia my whole life and while I want to get away from the high crime and murder rate here, I am also still looking to move to an urban setting, a fun happening city. Also could you just let me know in general what it is like there and what a good hospital to work at is or a good design firm for my boyfriend. ANy suggestions or advice would be so helpful! Thanks!!!

[bvn99]

Originally Posted by phillytoaustin

Hi, I am hoping to check out Austin soon because it looks like a great place to move to. I am just starting my career as a nurse and my boyfriend is in graphic design. Could you give me an idea of just how urban it is? I have lived in Philadelphia my whole life and while I want to get away from the high crime and murder rate here, I am also still looking to move to an urban setting, a fun happening city. Also could you just let me know in general what it is like there and what a good hospital to work at is or a good design firm for my boyfriend. ANy suggestions or advice would be so helpful! Thanks!!!

My family just moved to Austin from California this March. We love Austin.

[chickenfry]

seton hospital on lamar/35th has a mentor program for graduate nurses that is kick.....

[phillytoaustin]

thanks chickenfry! that helps

[ROSIE S]

Seton is a strong healthcare system here in Austin, fiscally. They have several hospitals inside the city and in several suburbs, and are still expanding. They have good benefits, and great pay. They are always recruiting good nurses, and offer bonuses to new hire nurses.

[TexasGirl@Heart]

Originally Posted by ROSIE S

Seton is a strong healthcare system here in Austin, fiscally. They have several hospitals inside the city and in several suburbs, and are still expanding. They have good benefits, and great pay. They are always recruiting good nurses, and offer bonuses to new hire nurses.

Rosie, are you a nurse? Do you happen to know how much $$ in bonuses they are offering newly hired nurses? Also, do you know what the range of pay is for an experienced ICU nurse (<15 years experience)? I was planning on doing a travel RN assignment but if the pay and bonuses are worthwhile then I would consider hiring on full time with Seton.

[scongress1234]

Originally Posted by phillytoaustin

Hi, I am hoping to check out Austin soon because it looks like a great place to move to. I am just starting my career as a nurse and my boyfriend is in graphic design. Could you give me an idea of just how urban it is? I have lived in Philadelphia my whole life and while I want to get away from the high crime and murder rate here, I am also still looking to move to an urban setting, a fun happening city. Also could you just let me know in general what it is like there and what a good hospital to work at is or a good design firm for my boyfriend. ANy suggestions or advice would be so helpful! Thanks!!!

I would come to Austin for a visit before reading too much commentary about how Austin is. It will be far different than you picture it in many ways. We have a tendency to picture these "utopian" cities like those jehovah witness pictures, with everyone having beautific smiles, radiant, and sunshine everywhere. In most ways it is just a city like any other. It has a fair share of crime, a very large number of street beggers DT and on the interstate underpasses and intersections, and the neighborhoods are very transient, and therefore lacking in community feeling, per the ever changing coming and going. In Philly, people might live in neighborhoods for 3-4 generations, whereas people in Austin will get antsy and move around, in, or out of areas in a few years, creating a lack of continuity in many, if not most, neighborhoods. The city itself sprawls more like a suburb with little density typical of older cities. Much of the sprawl is composed of the same cookie-cutter subdivisions and Strip/Big Box stores you see everywhere. Now, I say this just to show that Austin is not the image people have before they come here. A central core comes close to that image, but it is a very small area, not much larger than DT and a little bit south. Even that area gets overwhelmed by college and tourist/conventioneer drunks on week-ends. Austin does have some very strong points. It has some incredible live music possibly best in the usa. It is laid-back somewhat, though not quite what they make it out to be. Road rage is very much a presense in Austin, and certainly takes away much of whatever laid-back vibe is left from the old days. People will cut you off often on X-pressways, and are mean on sidestreets as well. And it takes just as much time to really get to know someone here as anywhere else. They do seem a little more at ease and superficially friendly, but superficial isn't such a bad thing. i mean, how far d we really get to know most people except for salutory greetings, smiles, and small chit-chat anyway? Thats pretty much good enough. So, come here before you inflate your ideas about Austin too much. We tend to build up this fantasia, then get the bubble popped when we actually see it, just like someone you chat with on the web, after you actually see them.
Best of luck if you make that move.

[TexasHorseLady]

Wow, scongress1234, where ARE you driving? I grant you that Austin has lost a lot of the "drive friendly" that used to be so common here - that happened long ago. But I've not seen one incident of "road rage" in literally years.

Also, I've got lots of now-visible friends who used to be Invisible Friends (chatted with on the internet before meeting F2F). If anything, we were able to get to know each other more quickly because we already had a "history" together online - we'd seen each other interact in the "community" we shared whether or not we actually spoke to one another. Just like in offline life!

True, some people do build cities (and people) up in their minds before meeting them, but most of the folks I've seen here seem to be the kind that research before they jump.

[scongress1234]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Wow, scongress1234, where ARE you driving? I grant you that Austin has lost a lot of the "drive friendly" that used to be so common here - that happened long ago. But I've not seen one incident of "road rage" in literally years.

Also, I've got lots of now-visible friends who used to be Invisible Friends (chatted with on the internet before meeting F2F). If anything, we were able to get to know each other more quickly because we already had a "history" together online - we'd seen each other interact in the "community" we shared whether or not we actually spoke to one another. Just like in offline life!

True, some people do build cities (and people) up in their minds before meeting them, but most of the folks I've seen here seem to be the kind that research before they jump.

Hey THL.......well, I don't see sympathy moves, like waving one in making a turn, or shifting lanes. Very little of that. I do see lots of tailgating, and if you are slow or looking for a street, they will ride you hard until you pull over. Per pedestrians, I see many cars just barrel through the light, not looking or caring to see if anyone is on the crosswalk. Same jogging. They will drive right through you on intersections, with little sympathy braking. This isn't an awful thing. Actually, its typical of most growing cities with overcrowded road infrastructure, and the frayed nerves that lead from the same. I do think it a general consensus on here that driving isn't that pleasant in Austin, nor for pedestrians as well. Its again the lack of a proper infrastructure that would lead to a better flow, and less frayed nerves. Lots of young people are in a hurry too, and that explains half of it right there. Not an awful thing, but you would not glean friendliness from the traffic in Austin at all, and would have to meet people face-to-face to discover that. It is temporary, and when the roads are built out, that will dissipate.

[TexasHorseLady]

I see what you call "sympathy moves" frequently (though not as a matter of course as in the old days). But, then, I drive a pickup, and it's frequently (but not always by any means) other pickup drivers (who know I can't "scoot" in like smaller vehicles) who do so. My daughter simply catches the eye of the driver she'd like to let her in and "asks" and is rarely denied.

I do wish dearly for the old days when "drive friendly" was matter of fact, but I've actually been looking for the terrible driving I hear described and finding, while the traffic is annoying and there are a few who could be described with a name that I won't use on a public website, they are for the most part in the minority.

That's why I asked where you drive, because we could very easily be driving in different areas. (While I range all over Austin in my business, for the most part I'm in north Austin from the Burnet/Anderson/183 area north to Cedar Park and over, in South Austin ranging around the Ben White/Lamar area, and in the area of 620 from IH35 to the lake, with occasional forays to the Northland/2222/Mopac neighborhoods. How about you?)