North vs. South

[centralaustinite]

The north developed first and was always more establishment (gov't/UT, doctor and lawyer types). The south was more working class, developed later, and more slowly.

NW Austin was built up and out starting in the 1960s, SW Austin didn't appear until the late 1980s. Most folks in the south regularly cross the river, many people who live north will tell you that they "never cross the river"

South Austin won every cross-town tug-of-war!! (Literal tug-of-war, back in the AquaFest days).

[Raskolnikov]

They aren't mirror images-- I think we've already talked about how they are different. Basically the south is less developed right now. You can probably afford to live a little bit closer to central Austin if you move south because it hasn't been built out as much.

[jobert]

Makes sense.. downtown is just north of the river, and everyone has to go there at some point. The area south of town seems to be nice. I understand it isn't built out as much, and the house prices are comparable. I thought there was something 'big' I was missing such as a landfill, penetentiary, dangerous animals, etc. that would make it less desirable for any reason.

[where_to_move]

I like S Austin, as someone mentioned the excellent Elementary schools, Kiker, Clayton, & Mills...there is a big problem with them currently. OVERCROWDED!! There are too many students at Clayton Kinder & 5th grade & to this day, they don't know what to do with them next year. Meridian subdivision was approved for a new elementary school, but there is ONE member of the board for the school dist (who happens to live in Meridian) who doesn't want this built & is pushing all kinds of political issues to make it not happen.

So yes, there are great schools, but it is growing too big for it's britches with no where to put the students!!

[Kobebear]

I've always enjoyed the convenience to downtown when I lived in South West Austin. There are so many beautiful areas close by. North Austin just feels like any other city in the U.S. to me. When I think of Austin & the vibe that I love about the city, I never think of North Austin at all.

[eichlerfan]

It's interesting to read this thread as we will be moving to Austin soon and are looking at southwest Austin. We will be renting for a couple of months before buying a house to make sure we truly want to be in that area. When we visited Austin last month we knew we wanted to live west of I35, but not sure if that would mean south, west or north. We fell in love with southwest Austin and the landscape. The next day we headed north to check out other areas, and to be perfectly honest it was urban sprawl at it's worst. The further north we went the more we knew it wasn't for us. Now I totally understand that eventually southwest Austin will eventually get that way too, but for now we have decided to enjoy southwest Austin before it gives way to urban sprawl too.