The Astonishing Transformation of Austin

I understand the nostalgia for a youth and place that is gone, but it’s interesting to point out in one sentence — “Austin was beset by racial divisions” and in the next paragraph discuss the hope that the city would institute strict zoning to keep out newcomers or as the writing says “if we won’t build it, they won’t come”. So much of this piece is dedicated to the problem of housing, but ignored is the problem in its infancy. If you want artists, creatives and musicians you need to build them cheap places to live.

Oh absolutely. I recently had to consider moving to the Bay as well and it was so incredibly underwhelming compared to the cost of living. This was looking at East Bay too. Impossible to get around, less-than-ideal access to entertainment. It is nice being close to nature but that's about it. Tech and nature. Not worth the CoL imo.

I say this as someone who is from Chicago and lived in NYC for a long time, so I'm completely biased.

The vibe from Austin has always been weird to me. "Thanks for visiting, don't move here" or whatever their saying is to that effect. Yet, so few people are from Austin. To me, Austin has always been that poser city trying so hard to be cool and noticed by the other cool cities, but when you try to get to know the city it's just a facade of cool and the rest is just empty and hollow

I can't read the article because it's paywalled but I've lived in NYC and SF for several years each, and have now been in Austin for 2. I'll just say one thing which I like about it a lot.

Being a blue city in a red state, the public's approach to policy seems more reasonable than in a lot of other places where it only goes one way.

For example, a few years ago they had a ballot measure to allow homeless camping on the streets more easy to do and less punishable. In short order, the city became swamped with it. At one point city hall downtown was even entirely surrounded with tents. I mean straight lines down all four sides of the block. It looked like somebody had gone to Walmart and bought 100 of the same 3 tents. The situation wasn't very good.

So 2 years later it was put back up for vote and people voted to undo it, and now the city is much cleaner than it was before. Yes, there are still homeless, and I bet lots of people are gonna have opinions about whether undoing it actually helped homeless people as that's a hot topic today, but having lived in NYC and SF, that was something I'd almost never seen before.

Vote to try something, and then actually vote to undo it when the results are not good? It was incredible to me. In the other cities things only ever go one way, which seemed to be doubling down. I admire Austin for its ability to experiment and undo when things don't work out, it seems rational.

Other than that, well, it's a medium-sized city in Texas. That means it's very hot in the summers and it is not as connected as the continuous coastal sprawls of the east and west coasts. If you don't like heat or simpler cities, come say hi and have fun for a week, but it might not be for you for living. You don't have to throw shade on it though to decide it's not a fit for you for the long term. It's a great place to be.

Moved there in 2017 from Florida. It's grown tremendously even in that amount of time. So many more high rises than there were 5 years ago even. Austin's been able to attract flagships like the Google Wave building downtown, which is a beautiful building on Lady Bird Lake. Far more of the "east side" has also developed in that time. A lot of old ranch houses and old bars and restaurants that I briefly got to see have been razed for the 4-6 story mixed use buildings that now run almost the entire length of east 6th. It's gone from an eclectic, artsy, hipster vibe on that side of town to trendy and modern. Although, there's still plenty of great bars to enjoy over there.

One thing I feel about Austin, is that people are super friendly. A lot of people are transplants, and they're usually more than willing to make new friends. Sometimes you'll meet some Austin veterans or natives there. They'll tell you that the east side used to be very crime-ridden (I'm guessing in the 90s and early 00s). They'll bemoan all the growth, but a lot of them will also say that they haven't grown tired of the city because of the constant change.

I do think the author's anecdote about the people being more "libertarian"-ish is kinda true. A lot of my Democrat friends in ATX tend to be very pro-gun rights, for example. I do think you get a lot of more moderate Democrats and moderate Republicans in Austin and that is a political culture you won't really find in most tech hubs.

I would say my only major complaint about ATX is that it's right smack in the middle of Texas. Nothing wrong with Texas, but it's a very large state and if you want to take a road trip to the mountains or the beach or somewhere different, it's a long haul.