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Old 04-23-2020, 09:26 PM
 
Location: 78745
4,482 posts, read 4,540,431 times
Reputation: 7974

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Austin has been in a constant state of boom long before I ever got here, and I got here in the 70's. Boston has been a major American city since the Colonial days. Boston is more than 200 years older than Austin. Austin is still brand new to the "Big City" game. Compared to the Northeast, DC, South Florida, the West Coast and Hawaii, housing in Austin is a real bargain. Compared to most cities between the Appalachain and Rocky Mountains, Austin would be considered an expensive city by most people. Between those two mountain ranges, Austin would rank in the top 4 most expensive cities, along with Denver, Minneapolis, and Chicago.

I never met anybody from Boston until soon after I moved to Houston and I met a girl at work who was from Boston. She had a very thick Boston accent. I had a hard time understanding what she was sayin. I remember one particular time at lunch our conversation went something like this:

she said to me, "soon as I get home, I'm gonna have some "behs"".
I said, "behs"? What's that"?
She says, "you know - behs"
I said "I don't know what you're talking about. I never heard of behs"
I could tell by the tone of her voice, she was starting to get irritated with me when she snapped and said "you mean to say you never heard of "behs".
I said "no".
That's when one of the guys at our table kinda chuckled and translated to me, "she's saying she's gonna drink some "beer" when she gets home tonight. It's her Boston accent".
I said "Oh. Ok. I see".
Then she explained to me she was "from Boston and that's the way people talk there. We don't say our "r's". We say, I pawked my caw in the fwnt yawd - that's how we talk". That was my first experience with somebody from Boston.

Last edited by Ivory Lee Spurlock; 04-23-2020 at 09:34 PM..
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Old 04-23-2020, 09:54 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX via San Antonio, TX
9,843 posts, read 13,585,668 times
Reputation: 5701
Quote:
Originally Posted by Boston Shudra View Post
This was a point briefly raised in the MA forum, but it really isn’t true. There’s a lot of undeveloped land very close to Boston. The metro as a whole is chalk full of rural areas that could easily become suburban, but won’t.
Texas is the second largest state in the country? What’s Massachusetts? Drive two hours in the northeast and you’ve crossed three states. Drive two hours in Texas and you haven’t crossed a single metro. Let’s talk space now.
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Old 04-23-2020, 10:17 PM
 
11,669 posts, read 7,819,726 times
Reputation: 9780
Quote:
Originally Posted by ashbeeigh View Post
Texas is the second largest state in the country? What’s Massachusetts? Drive two hours in the northeast and you’ve crossed three states. Drive two hours in Texas and you haven’t crossed a single metro. Let’s talk space now.
The size of Texas is mind boggling. On my return trips from Atlanta I've only reached halfway home when I'm in Monroe Lousiana which is aprox 2 hours from the state line of TX. Getting to the state line you get a relief 'woo I'm back in Texas...' ...then realize you still have 5 more hours to drive.

I came pretty close to clearing the entire state of Texas without stopping for rest once on a drive from San Francisco > Los Angeles > Atlanta ... coming down I-10 leaving Los Angeles I made it past El-Paso, San Antonio, Houston and just past Beaumont where I just couldnt go any further and ended up stopping at the last Pilot travel center like 5 miles before you leave the state into Lousiana.
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Old 04-24-2020, 12:39 AM
 
Location: 78745
4,482 posts, read 4,540,431 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Need4Camaro View Post
The size of Texas is mind boggling.

Distances in Texas never cease to amaze me.

Texarkana is closer to Chicago than El Paso:
Texarkana to Chicago - 681 miles by air. 792 miles land.
Texarkana to El Paso - 730 miles by air. 813 miles by land.

El Paso is closer to San Diego than Houston:
El Paso to San Diego - 629 miles by air. 723 miles by land.
El Paso to Houston - 671 miles by air. 741miles by land.

Orange, Texas is closer to Jacksonville, Fla and the Atlantic Ocean than El Paso:
Orange, Texas - Jacksonville, Fla 721 miles by air. 762 miles by land.
Orange, Texas - Anthony Texas - 772 miles by air. 878 miles by land.
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Old 04-24-2020, 09:01 AM
 
743 posts, read 1,360,850 times
Reputation: 651
Do they actually feel more modern and offer a better quality of life?


I think it depends on what you mean by this? If newish outdoor strip-mall developments with Target, Home Depot, Chipotle and Bed, Bath & Beyond stores define "modern,", then I guess the Austin 'burbs offer what you are talking about. It's true that all of those conveniences are there, but some folks like the character of the older suburbs surrounding Boston. You're right that some of them suffer from lack of investment and development, though.
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Old 04-24-2020, 09:09 AM
 
7,991 posts, read 10,332,852 times
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You can't compare Austin and Boston. The land area of Austin is over three times that of Boston. And that's just Austin / Boston proper - not even the metro area. Austin has a lot of space to build. Boston doesn't. We can build subdivisions and still have more open space than Boston.

I am from the Phily 'burbs. My hometown has done a lot of building lately, and honestly, it makes me sick when I go back home. There were woods across the street from the house I grew up in. Aside from being absolutely beautiful and full of huge trees that were hundreds of years old, it was also part of the underground railroad. About 10 years ago, they raized it all to build million dollar houses. I literally cried. That's a lot different than when Austin rips out a few non-native cedar "trees" and a 7-11 so they can build an office.

I will say that when my hometown does build stuff, they are incredibly strict about the architecture. Any new building must keep with the aesthetic of the town, built in colonial times. So even the things they do build are quite beautiful. They just built a new convenience store in the heart of my hometown. It's gorgeous. It looks like it was built 200 years ago. You'd never even know it was a Wawa. And they tore down a gas station to build it, so not like they destroyed a truly historic building or anything.
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Old 04-24-2020, 10:56 AM
 
Location: Medfid
6,782 posts, read 5,925,677 times
Reputation: 5217
Quote:
Originally Posted by ashbeeigh View Post
Texas is the second largest state in the country? What’s Massachusetts? Drive two hours in the northeast and you’ve crossed three states.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CarnivalGal View Post
Austin has a lot of space to build. Boston doesn't. We can build subdivisions and still have more open space than Boston.
Texas may have more open space than MA, but the Austin urban area is actually more densely populated than the Boston urban area. (Source). I think people really overestimate how built-up this area is. The cities are quite dense but everything else really isn’t.

Quote:
it was also part of the underground railroad.
Certainly I don’t think that MA should pave over Walden Pond, but not every inch of the Boston metro area is historic.

Last edited by Boston Shudra; 04-24-2020 at 11:06 AM..
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Old 04-24-2020, 11:59 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX via San Antonio, TX
9,843 posts, read 13,585,668 times
Reputation: 5701
Quote:
Originally Posted by Boston Shudra View Post
Texas may have more open space than MA, but the Austin urban area is actually more densely populated than the Boston urban area. (Source). I think people really overestimate how built-up this area is. The cities are quite dense but everything else really isn’t.
I'm really not sure what you're getting at here. You're comparing apples to oranges. Austin has areas to grow, north, south, east and west (even if the land west, south and north are more valuable). Massachusetts does not have the literal space to add more things.
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Old 04-24-2020, 12:17 PM
 
11,669 posts, read 7,819,726 times
Reputation: 9780
Boston actually does have plenty of open land in the suburbs. They just restrict development it seems. Here in Austin's suburbs you'll notice that housing is pretty tightly packed together (this actually seems more of a Texas thing). In Boston homes and development are a bit more open space and sprawled apart, more undeveloped acres in between or more acres per yard but there is still tons of land out there that can be developed on, they just choose not to. This is in the suburbs not the city.

Boston's CSA is about 3 times larger than Austin's metro area in terms of land. Austin isn't yet a CSA though. In MSA they would probably be closer though.
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Old 04-24-2020, 01:19 PM
 
Location: Round Rock, Texas
13,437 posts, read 15,352,192 times
Reputation: 18959
Quote:
Originally Posted by blakely View Post
Do they actually feel more modern and offer a better quality of life?


I think it depends on what you mean by this? If newish outdoor strip-mall developments with Target, Home Depot, Chipotle and Bed, Bath & Beyond stores define "modern,", then I guess the Austin 'burbs offer what you are talking about. It's true that all of those conveniences are there, but some folks like the character of the older suburbs surrounding Boston. You're right that some of them suffer from lack of investment and development, though.
It's not all about strip malls. I wish this would just die already. You see strip malls along 35 and 183 and that's the totality of the "Austin Suburbs"?? Both Round Rock and Georgetown have really developed their "downtowns" to resemble quaint small-town squares. Leander has some awesome hill country views. The character of New England is distinctive and can't be replicated down here, so that's comparing apples to oranges. These places have their own character.

And as someone who spent 28 years up north, character is nice and all but I also didn't like the fact that I didn't have the conveniences of big stores. I didn't have a Target nearby and that sure would have been great. We take these things for granted because they've become ubiquitous.
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