Please give me 10 reasons why NOT to move to the Austin area. (Houston: condos, to live)

[TheHarvester]

Originally Posted by austinese

...Some people now swoon nostalgically about the old Austin that they miss so much. Maybe I came here too late ('83), and therefore missed the "magic" of the old Austin, but whatever this magic was I really think that it was probably only magical for people who were in a certain place in life at the time.

These are very insightful comments because they apply to the general issue of "the good old days" --- we all have fond memories of something that has changed, maybe it's a city or a nation or a park or a person. Most of us get caught up in nostalgia about many aspects of life.

As for places and how they change, people still think San Francisco is a wonderful city and yet I've seen it transform at least 3 times and it doesn't resemble the place I remember from my childhood. When I was very young, it was a classy town where people dressed up, the men wore hats, everyone was polite and it was like the west coast answer to New York. The Beatnik and Hippie scenes helped to transform it into a temporary fairy-land for the young and wild-at-heart, and I loved that version of SF too, but I was still very young and couldn't participate in it. Since then it has gone through phases of depression (the wake of the hippie scene was pretty bad, with all the drug and crime problems), and now it's in an extended renaissance that some people love and others hate.

Austin will go through various changes and some people will love it, others won't, and at times it might get depressed and experience growing pains. Currently I think it's an exciting, vibrant place but it's a bit like an adolescent who is maturing past that phase of life, a time of great possibilities and tremendous upheaval, a very confusing phase in which the city is at war with its own identity as it transitions to whatever it will become next. I'd place my money on the positive side, I think it will be a great city even if it's no longer one I would personally choose to live in.

[austin-steve]

[SIZE=2]Some people now swoon nostalgically about the old Austin that they miss so much.[/SIZE]

Exactly. And in the year 2027 twenty years from now, someone on this very forum will exclaim that when they got here "back in 2007", Austin was such a wonderful, smaller and friendlier place, and now it's changed for the worse.

Guess what, a friend of mine who sold his Austin business some years ago then went travelling the US in his RV ran into an older couple at an RV park while camping in another state.

Turns out that couple had left Austin too, they said because it had become too "big city" for them. He asked when they had left, and they told him ..... 1971.

It's all perspective now isn't it?

[jrdnjstn]

I don't know if you would call this guy snotty or just an ass.

Me and my friend were car hunting on Saturday. We go to the Roger Beasley Mazda on Burnet Rd. The salesguy were got stuck with was just oooozing of "I'm all that" syndrome. So he tells use of a couple cars that just came in and they are still at the detail shop. Would we like to go and check them out. We said ok. He then says lets get into "my car", which it wasn't his car, I think it was a demo. Anyways the car we get into stinks to high heaven like cigarettes. So I mention that it stinks like smoke. The salesguy proceeds to roll his eyes and then says "well that doesn't reduce the price of the car"! I wanted to tell him, no s*** but instead I just said no but I bet it sits here longer then normal. So we get to the detail shop. My friend wants a vehicle around the 10,000 area. Telling this guy that he then acts like that it is earthly impossible to get that. He rushes us because he doesn't want to deal with us anymore. He takes us back to Roger Beasley and he goes in to get the list to see what he has for 10,000. I watched him as he went into the office and watched him sit down and talk to another guy. I told her lets go because he just sat down and is sitting there talking, we are not waiting for this idiot. So we left before he could come back and grace us with his "all that" attitude.

[Trainwreck20]

Buying a car is fun if you have the time to make fun of the salesmen's attitude while you are shopping. It is SOOO shallow . On the other hand, if you need a car on a schedule, it is very annoying.

Personally, we have shopped a lot of places, and although we don't always get a car there, Howdy Honda has some of the best, most laid back salesmen. Not that they are perfect or anything, but relatively speaking, worlds ahead of other places.

Speaking of snotty, the salesman some years ago (5 or 6 now) at the Acura dealership was not at all interested in dealing with me when he discovered that my price range was the low end of the prices. He literally went awol. He had spent the rest of the time before that telling me how great he was at selling cars in NY...I guess if he sold a lot of cars elsewhere, I should buy an Acura from him?

[TheHarvester]

Originally Posted by jrdnjstn

I don't know if you would call this guy snotty or just an ass.

I vote for the second choice. That salesman shouldn't have a job working with the public. I have a friend who works in management at Mazda South (same owner), I'll tell him about this incident but don't worry, I won't mention the source. I just think they need to know that they have some lousy customer service.

[austinese]

Austin will go through various changes and some people will love it, others won't, and at times it might get depressed and experience growing pains. Currently I think it's an exciting, vibrant place but it's a bit like an adolescent who is maturing past that phase of life, a time of great possibilities and tremendous upheaval, a very confusing phase in which the city is at war with its own identity as it transitions to whatever it will become next. I'd place my money on the positive side, I think it will be a great city even if it's no longer one I would personally choose to live in.

Good point. Austin doesn't seem to be at war with developers like it used to, so it's as if, all of a sudden, a good deal of pent-up growth is being released. I think the message to the developers now is: "OK, go ahead and do it but do it well, you know something that doesn't make us ill to look at it." And the developers are responding: "OK we understand, nothing crappy like what we used to build all over the place." It seems to me that in the near future Austin will be denser, more urban, and more aesthetically pleasing in an urban sort of way. But, to the extent, that the downtown and nearby areas are transformed into really nice areas, they'll become even more expensive. I think the best hope for a more Bohemian type of urbanization is east of I-35 and maybe south of Ben White around Congress and S. First.

[jrdnjstn]

Originally Posted by TheHarvester

I vote for the second choice. That salesman shouldn't have a job working with the public. I have a friend who works in management at Mazda South (same owner), I'll tell him about this incident but don't worry, I won't mention the source. I just think they need to know that they have some lousy customer service.

It's ok you can tell them the source. That would be great. I told my friend that I was going to call up there and complain. I have gone up to that Roger Beasley for service on my car a few times last month. The service guys know me by face and the Hertz rental guy does too.

I don't remember his name but he was young or trying to look young. He was tanned, blonde hair and his teeth were as yellow as his hair and very crooked, he was kind of built and my friend said he had a weird walk, maybe a limp. I can't imagine that he brings Roger Beasley much money. If I did recommend Roger Beasley to someone I'd tell them to stay away from him.

[jread]

Originally Posted by austinese

I think the message to the developers now is: "OK, go ahead and do it but do it well, you know something that doesn't make us ill to look at it." And the developers are responding: "OK we understand, nothing crappy like what we used to build all over the place."

Well, I wouldn't go that far... Austin still has a very substantial cancerous growth of cookie-cutter, suburban crap growing around it at an alarming rate. The good news is that the new urbanist projects are becoming wildly successful (Mueller) and the downtown condos are selling like hotcakes, so maybe this will push the market in the right direction.

It seems to me that in the near future Austin will be denser, more urban, and more aesthetically pleasing in an urban sort of way.

I really, really hope so. I absolutely love all the highrise projects happening downtown... it's extremely exciting. It's also good that they're starting to develop South Lamar. I never understood why such a prime location was mainly a strip of fast food and car repair shops.

But, to the extent, that the downtown and nearby areas are transformed into really nice areas, they'll become even more expensive. I think the best hope for a more Bohemian type of urbanization is east of I-35 and maybe south of Ben White around Congress and S. First.

I'm hoping with you on this one. I'd say that the only thing I don't like about the new areas to live is that I can't afford any of them

[love roses]

Hence, why a lot of people live in the outlying suburbs. Downtown is tooo expensive for the average joe.

[Sunnyface]

I'm not sure why anyone shouldn't move here, but here are some reasons my family will be moving out of state next year.

-Not enough economic diversity/employment opportunities. Little opportunity for advancement unless you work in state govt., technology, or the University.

-Tired of living in a mid-sized city without access to SO many things. Takes days to get out of TX driving, and is getting very expensive to fly out of here, and it takes ALL day, no matter where you're going.

-No ocean or decent water (i.e. Great Lakes). Very landlocked feel.

-Boredom with two cultures--the NPR, KLRU lovin' liberal in town, and the untraveled, Bible thumpers just outside of town. They're both kinda boring, and don't want to hear your opinion. Texas is great. Austin is the best. End of story.

-Not much culture. If you're past 30, the "live music" scene just isn't gonna do it. Also, because of geographic location, a trip anywhere else in the US is very time consuming, and expensive. No real museums, etc.

-Lack of ethnic culture, and the food that comes with them. No good bakeries, pizza, Greek, Italian, Middle Eastern, Cuban here. Texans will disagree, but if they've always lived here they don't know the difference.
Man cannot live on BBQ & Tex Mex alone. Texas does have THE best iced tea, however.

Other reasons we're tired of Austin, not enough to move, but irritants, none the less.

-Service businesses are either snotty kids who think they're doing you a favor by taking your order, or someone who doesn't speak English.

-While the roads are in good condition, there aren't enough of them. No real infrastructure if you're outside of Austin proper. People are expected to use the interstate to say, go to Target. Nothing is convienient.

-Left lane passing thing is annoying, but people here don't know how to merge properly either.

-Drinking water is awful.

-Library system is poor.

-Hardly anyone recycles, a lot of litter.

-Roads are flat out UGLY. Billboards, ads for the 100th XXX theater, and lots of homeless folks.

-Older (though getting better all the time) malls. But my friends in other areas have stores we don't have (i.e. H & M, and Marshall's HomeGoods) and we have to wait forever to get anything new.

-If someone is coming to town (i.e. The Police or Dora the Explorer) they NEVER come to Austin. Entertainment here is Sixth street or Longhorn this or that.

Austin is great for college kids, post college kids, and young families with their extended families in TX. It was great for us then. Now that we have kids, it's very difficult to get out and see anything else. I know a woman who moved here with her siblings & their families from CA. Think that's a great idea. If you're moving here from a major metro, and have parents, etc. there, you might like it at first, but might get frustrated quickly. Can you tell I'm ready to go?