Is Austin Weird Like the Adam's Family of Cities (Howe: big house, buy)

[artsyguy]

The recent growth in Austin looks terrible....like it is slowing on down.

Originally Posted by CptnRn

Austin's growth didn't just happen a few years ago.

When I moved here in 1977 I began hearing the locals complaining about growth, as if it was something that began happening recently. That is far from the truth.

I found a table of census data on the Wiki showing the population of Austin, TX every 10 years since 1850. It has grown from 26.7% to 148.7% every ten years for its entire history. If anything the rate of growth has slowed from 1960 to present (35-40%) compared to the previous 30 years when it was 50-65%.

So it seems that complaining about growth is an old long standing tradition in Austin, TX.



The big question in my mind is how long can we sustain this growth? Not much longer I think as we are running out of water and energy.

Actually, I think a graph of the percentage of population growth per 10 year period is more telling then the total population count.



I wonder what happened in the 1920's that caused growth to be so slow. The previous decade saw the end of WW1 and the dust bowl didn't happen until 1930-36.

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

I wonder what happened in the 1920's that caused growth to be so slow. The previous decade saw the end of WW1 and the dust bowl didn't happen until 1930-36.

Those are only statistics for Austin, right? I can think of one possible reason. In the 1900s and 1910s, the most populous city in Texas was San Antonio. Before that, I believe it was Galveston. Anyway, in the 20-30s, Dallas and Houston boomed incredibly (I'm not completely sure why), and became the largest cities in the state -- and they haven't looked back.

Perhaps during the mass migration to Dallas and Houston, other cities in the state saw almost no growth.

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by atxcio

Anyway, in the 20-30s, Dallas and Houston boomed incredibly (I'm not completely sure why), and became the largest cities in the state -- and they haven't looked back.
.

Could it have been oil? That's just a guess but wasn't that about the same time automobiles became more commonplace?

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

Austin's growth didn't just happen a few years ago.

Right, if you reread my post, I didn't say the growth just happened a few years ago, I was questioning the poster's assessment as he just moved here a few years ago after Austin started its growth spurt. We were here in the late nineties and at the point, I remember people ranting about how Austin had doubled in numbers in a fairly short time period. So even our coming in the late 90s we missed the "romantisized" version of this place.

[Frodo2008]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

Austin's growth didn't just happen a few years ago.

When I moved here in 1977 I began hearing the locals complaining about growth, as if it was something that began happening recently. That is far from the truth.

I found a table of census data on the Wiki showing the population of Austin, TX every 10 years since 1850. It has grown from 26.7% to 148.7% every ten years for its entire history. If anything the rate of growth has slowed from 1960 to present (35-40%) compared to the previous 30 years when it was 50-65%.

So it seems that complaining about growth is an old long standing tradition in Austin, TX.



The big question in my mind is how long can we sustain this growth? Not much longer I think as we are running out of water and energy.

Actually, I think a graph of the percentage of population growth per 10 year period is more telling then the total population count.



I wonder what happened in the 1920's that caused growth to be so slow. The previous decade saw the end of WW1 and the dust bowl didn't happen until 1930-36.

Yeah it's the same story every where. I've heard people from towns and cities all over America complain about the growth. Complaining about the growth is a long standing tradition just like you said. During the civil war America had 29 million people. Now it has over 300 million. That's a lot of growth in 144 years. As long as America allows people to immigrate to the U.S. that number is going to grow. 30 years from now people are going to be like "Yeah I remember in 2009 when Austin only had 800,000 people. Man those were the good old days!"

[Frodo2008]

Originally Posted by atxcio

Those are only statistics for Austin, right? I can think of one possible reason. In the 1900s and 1910s, the most populous city in Texas was San Antonio. Before that, I believe it was Galveston. Anyway, in the 20-30s, Dallas and Houston boomed incredibly (I'm not completely sure why), and became the largest cities in the state -- and they haven't looked back.

Perhaps during the mass migration to Dallas and Houston, other cities in the state saw almost no growth.

I don't know about Dallas but Houston boomed because of the port. Houston has the 2nd largest port in America behind LA. Here in Houston a lot of ships sail from the Gulf of Mexico up Galveston Bay and then into the Houston Ship Channel. Prior to 1913 Galveston Bay was very shallow and big ships would get stuck. So not many big ships could come to the port which limited traffic and Houston growth. In 1913 they dredged Galveston Bay and the Houston ship Channel which made the waterway considerably deeper. After that large ships could easily sail through. Because of this after 1913 the port became very popular and Houston boomed.

[inthecut]

Originally Posted by Frodo2008

Yeah it's the same story every where. I've heard people from towns and cities all over America complain about the growth. Complaining about the growth is a long standing tradition just like you said. During the civil war America had 29 million people. Now it has over 300 million. That's a lot of growth in 144 years. As long as America allows people to immigrate to the U.S. that number is going to grow. 30 years from now people are going to be like "Yeah I remember in 2009 when Austin only had 800,000 people. Man those were the good old days!"

More to it as well.....we have a far higher % of people living in urban areas now, and the majority in suburban areas of major metros, ironically...something like 60% of the US pop lives in suburban outgrowths of cities.....and people seem to prefer that livestyle, otherwise they would create another migratory pattern...evidentally the sprawl is hated but acceptable........per Austin, you can expect the majority to live in a suburban mode if growth continues, with almost all the growth in the suburbs as well.......

[Frodo2008]

Originally Posted by inthecut

More to it as well.....we have a far higher % of people living in urban areas now, and the majority in suburban areas of major metros, ironically...something like 60% of the US pop lives in suburban outgrowths of cities.....and people seem to prefer that livestyle, otherwise they would create another migratory pattern...evidentally the sprawl is hated but acceptable........per Austin, you can expect the majority to live in a suburban mode if growth continues, with almost all the growth in the suburbs as well.......

Yeah back in the 16 and 1700s in the U.S. only 5% of the population lived in cities. In the 2000 census 75% of the population lives in cities. So most people have moved from the country to the city which makes sense. In the old days most people were farmers and ranchers. People owned a plot of land and farmed it and raised animals on it. People made their own soap, shoes, etc.

Now everything is bought in a store. Nobody makes squat these days. Very few people farm and ranch now. Most people now work in an office. Most of the good jobs are in big cities but people want the cheaper, newer houses so they live in the suburbs. So you have to drive into the city to have that good paying job but you want the cheaper house in the suburbs.

So yes people always complain about the traffic and the commute but they're not willing to give up that good job in the city. So they always complain about this but nobody is willing to do anything about it.

[FloGrownGrl]

Originally Posted by inthecut

Will I fit in? Is in as liberal as they say? Really eclectic? Has growth soured the old atmosphere? Too many people? Why so many californians?

And you can get as regressive as you like just with City Data....Why do they trust strangers with personal moves, some of them major life decisions, when they don't know most of the neighbors on their block they're living on now? Is this the cracker barrel of the new age? How come on one posts their real name or pictures like Facebook? Are they afraid?

I want to favorite this post. That's the funniest junk I've read on City Data all year

[inthecut]

Originally Posted by PrettyMissAshley

I want to favorite this post. That's the funniest junk I've read on City Data all year

Actually it is funny, isnt it?