Are "Ordinary Austinites" a Dying Breed?
"... I left Austin, Tx some time ago realizing the job market does not match the quality of life Austin has. If your wealthy Austin is a wonderful place to live, but isn’t anywhere? Not exactly. Excellent place to raise children; however, if you not a outdoor person it has some drawbacks. Overall, I’m a Native Austinite and I love Austin. "
Is Austin basically a place for wealthy people who like the outdoor life? I've overheard various comments from "ordinary Austinites" questioning the direction that Austin seems to be heading. They wonder exactly who can afford those downtown condos. The myriad of marathons held each year are more a traffic nuisance than anything else. Some express frustration not only at the general job market but also the general feeling that the needs of the middle class and below who can't afford to live in the cool or trendy parts of town and don't spend their spare time jogging around Lady Bird Lake or shopping at The Domain are being ignored in favor of the wealthy newcomers. The "weirdness" that to many meant "laid back, friendly, liberal, and accepting of all that is wonderfully different" is fast being replaced by something more boring, more generic, and more big city. Is that the feeling you get?
Are you one of the ordinary Austinites? Do you feel ignored or pushed aside in any way? What is it about living in Austin today that you find most frustrating or dissatisfying? And what do you like? Talk about it.
Comments
I am a native Austinite who now lives in Warsaw, Indiana. The Austin I loved is gone. Jobs are gone unless you are part of the “service sector”. I didn’t vote on the snarl of toll roads! I wanted a train, a good job, and to be surrounded by native Texans.
I’m a native Austinite. I haven’t had any trouble getting jobs, though I’m a professional computer geek. While I’m not a huge fan of rapid growth, I understand why ex-mayor Watson pushed for the condo boom. The people are going to come, regardless. The only question is do you want to pay to commute them every day from future suburb Lockhart (scary!) or try to grow downtown. Growing downtown kills the small town feel, but it’s probably less noisome than the alternative — sprawl-city.
I’m not a native, I moved here 12 years ago. I did not bring any cultural baggage here with me, and fell in love with all thing Austin, TX. Weather, Food, Music, Open minded people.
What I see, is people trying to turn Austin into a little New York and something California. That’s depressing, but the economic downturn seems to have put a halt to that, and encouraged the grass-roots types to come out of the woodwork.
There’s more live music this year too, than in the past few years. I see positive changes, but it takes a recession to make it so ? I’ll take it however it comes.
Judging by the quote, the new Austin is decidedly more literate. That said, what does it mean to be an Austinite anyway? You lived here your whole life? So, what? You don’t like change at all–or only change that suits you? What people are reacting to (and apparently rejecting) is the opportunity to make Austin whatever we all want it to be; not ’something California’ (as if that’s bad) or a little New York (as if that’s bad), but a prosperous, active place with something that appeals to a broad, diverse population. Right–when you put it that way, it does sound awful.
I’ve been a 30-year Austinite, and Austin is not the wonderful place I fell in love with all those years ago. It used to be inexpensive, liberal, and filled with down-to-earth good people.
Now it is expensive, polluted, overcrowded, and filled with so many plastics (as in personality and implants) that it really is turning into another California. All these Californians have come because they ruined their state and can no longer afford to live in it, so now they are taking over here, buying up property from the middle and lower class, raising rents so poor people can’t afford a roof over their heads, and basically trashing the place and making it into another California hell hole. As long as they have their big bucks, their motto is “squash the little guy, and do what we want until it falls apart.” Other cities beware. As soon as they’ve finished ruining this place, they will move on to yours.
Newcomers; if you don’t like Austin the way it is; do everyone a favor and move someplace you do like just as it is.
It is not fair to move to Austin then try to change Austin into something it is not. We were here first and we like Austin the way it was.
Well said, Charlotte. I’ve only got 21 years of life to draw my conclusions from, but every one of those years was spent here in Austin. I consider myself fortunate for having grown up in a city as beautiful, open-minded, laid-back, small, and especially as culturally-diverse as Austin, but for the same reasons, I’ve got my sights set on moving in the very near future, since my hometown no longer embodies those characteristics to the degree it once did. Instead I leave my city to the people who can outspend me on rent and still afford to drive their SUV.
I agree. The Austin I grew up in is long gone. It seems we are more concerned with expensive boutiques, “luxury condos” and valet than maintaining a solid middle class. If you are from California or the East Coast and live here now, all I can say is thanks but no thanks for runing a wonderful place to live. At least I have fond childhood memories. I think the City Council is getting kick backs from big developers.
All the “cool” is being pushed out of Austin by growth. This growth is driven by population growth.
The losses of Liberty Lunch and the trailer parks on Barton Springs, the loss of clean air, of affordable housing, of a lack of traffic congestion, of green hills devoid of McMansions are all caused by growth.
Austin was so much better in the 70s and 80s.
The collective Austin knowledge of common places is gone. Can you tell someone you are going to the Co-Op and have them understand you mean on the drag?
Maybe the Californians can go home and take the Domain mess with them when they leave.
I moved here from SoCal for a better life for my family, I know how dare I. I had heard of that Austin was friendly, cool, laid-back, accepting. What I found out (and its obvious from your post) that it’s small minded, not at liberal (you hate anyone who isn’t you, thats called facist), unfriendly to outsiders, and stuck up (at least in socal we are friendly to outsiders and try to make them feel at home). So much for southern hospitality! I am disappionted , but still its a nice city to live in though the mexican food sucks. obvious most of you posting about Cali have never left central texas, then again the people who are posting are all small minded and rednecks and scared to death of change. Also Austin is liberal for Texas thats not Liberal for the rest of the world.
Austin has not lost its character, if you stay in the central part of town. You can find affordable housing if you are willing to give up square footage. I consider myself middle class, and find my paycheck doesn’t go as far as it did a year ago. But that may be the economy, not Austin growth.
I don’t patronize the domain, or the new downtown ‘mixed use’ glop. None of the shops there are local businesses. There are literally hundreds of local businesses trying to stay alive in Austin. If you want Austin to keep it’s character, then support these local businesses. Trust me, there are still plenty of characters in this town, but they are all in the core of the city.
The way to survive in Austin is to have a second source of income. This could be selling on ebay, or a second job, or self employment using your skills or hobbies. Think outside of the cubicle!
Hi, I am not a native austintonian, or austinite, or whatever.
I am actually from the dreaded California.
The reason I came to this site was to find out what Austin is really like, because I was very interested in maybe moving to Austin.
I am not some big city slicker who wants to come to Austin and shake things up.
No, I am just a girl looking for a nice place to live that feels like home.
I am sick of California my self, and I have no desire to go some place that is just as bad.
I thought Austin might be the place for me because I have heard a lot about Austin and it sounded like a really nice place to live.
But reading all this negativity is really a downer.
Is it really all that bad?
Can any one answer my real questions about Austin?
1: Is illegal immigration as big of a problem in Austin as it is here in CA?
2: Things are getting expensive everywhere, is it really that much more there in Austin?
3: I am pretty laid back, but I do have conservative values on some things, because I am a Christian, what is the vibe there really?
4: I am kind old, 32, not a college kid (obviously) anyway, so I am wondering if it is old lady friendly?
I mean, are there things for people my age to do that don’t involve drinking, night clubs and bar hoppin’ and going to see funky rock bands that nobody cares about?
I have many more questions, but this is way too long already.
But I would appreciate any helpful comments.
Thank you.
Hi again, I just wanted to add one more question
Do the young people in Austin play their car stereos really loud, with booming bass, so loud that it rattles the windows on your home or car?
Because that is what I have to put up with here in Riverside CA.
The authorities don’t do anything about it, and I know there must be some law against that sort of thing. But no one gets fined or anything. It is very frustrating, and almost torture sometimes when it just goes on and on for long periods.
Any way, I am just wondering if that is happening in Austin?
Thank you.
Regina asks a bunch of good questions. Here’s a new blog post addressing the immigration issue. Does Austin Have a Problem With Illegal Immigrants? Would love to read everyone’s comments on this.
This is a relevant topic for me considering that I’m a native Austinite who’s been living in Colorado for the past 20 years. In fact I just moved back to Austin yesterday. I, too, was concerned about how I would fit into the new Austin culture. But, I’ve realized that the Austin image has little to do with daily life. After living in a small town with limited resources and high housing costs, I chose to return to Austin so I could design the kind of life I want to live based on the variety of resources. Consider this: My father, who has Alzheimers, spent the morning at one of many quality eldercare support groups throughout the city. My mother keeps busy with an ebay business selling items that she finds at local estate/garage sales. My son is an actor and musician who is plugged into the local entertainment scene. I’m just starting my job search, but after working for a daily newspaper that was struggling to survive, I see Austin’s business climate much more favorably. I’ve found numerous resources for expanding my skills, as well as writers workshops and groups. So, despite Austin’s Hollywood image, what defines Austin today is the same thing that defined it when I was growing up - intelligence. This is a town that gets its energy from creative, innovative thinkers.
I’m not a native, but have lived here about 5 years now. I’ve lived all across the country, from east to west coast and in between, and I can say without a doubt that Austin is one of the best places I have lived. It’s a diverse and unique place — probably more diverse as far as the arts, religion, and lifestyle than it is culturally — and there is something for just about anyone, of any age. There’s a little big city here, in the sense that there is a lot to see and do, but it’s far, far more laid back and friendly than any big city I’ve ever lived in or visited.
I’ll tell you though, wherever I have lived (with the exception of NYC), locals are always complaining about people moving from other places and “taking over” or changing the town from what it used to be. When I lived in Denver, it was common to hear complaints about all those Texans moving in! Guess where they were coming from? Austin, among other places. Places change, and as a nation we tend to move around — we always have — and these days it is just a lot easier to do. Places change, times change, and most cities in this country are interested in growing their tax base and revenues, and this means growing business and convincing people to move there. This is a symptom of capitalism and perhaps just … progress.
Jobs: personally, I have had no issues finding work, although I do work in the tech sector, which is booming here. People: Texans and Austinites are super, super friendly folk in my experience, and very hospitable. I was impressed by that from the day I moved here. I’ve met some great people here.
To answer Regina’s questions - illegal immigration: not a big problem for us, certainly not on the scale of CA. Wherever you go in this region of the US there will be immigration from Mexico, and this is a fact that we have to face. It’s not common to deal with kids and their booming stereos either, it’s definitely nothing close to Riverside in an part of town that I have ever been to! What some people call “the bario” is far, far from what you would find in LA or New York or New Jersey. Values & religion: it’s very diverse here, and you’ll find ultra conservative Christians and ultra liberal atheists alive. Pick your place of worship, as there is something for every religious group, including Jews and Muslims. Cost of living: prices go up, cost of living goes up every year everywhere in the country, and things like fuel prices rising don’t help. Austin is still far less expensive than many other cities, and the pay is generally quite good.
Whatever you do, don’t take the negative comments made here by all the native Austinites too seriously. This is a great place to live, and most people are happy to have you here. Things change, and will continue to change, but the Austin will always be a unique and special place because of the people that made it what it is AND because of the people who come here and make it even better. Austin has a way of luring passionate, caring, intelligent, diverse people, and that is a GOOD thing.
As a native Austinite in her 50’s I’ve seen Austin at it’s best and, recently, at it’s…well, “not-best”.
Though Austin still has some good points, the Austin that I grew up knowing and loving is dying. The “keep Austin weird”-Austin exists only in small and ever-shrinking pockets of eclecticism. The friendly, laid-back city that drew people from the cold northern states and the hustle-and-bustle of NYC and California is gone - never to return.
Some Austinites - mostly those who have moved to Austin from somewhere else - seem to love the changes. The new skyline seems more like what they’re used to - they don’t know enough about Austin and her history to miss being able to easily see and identify the Capital and the UT Tower. The absence of the many small and beloved Austin businesses that have given way to the national chains are not missed by them - after all, there’s always Starbucks, right? They don’t understand that driving out to the lake used to be quite a drive - through beautiful, green, rolling hills; not a quick trip down one of the multi-lane highways bordered on either side by subdivision after subdivision of cookie-cutter homes that, for the most part, only the new-comers can afford to live in.
Though I’m sure that for the new high-tech executives and their ilk the new Austin is a great place to live; for the old-time middle-class Austinite who just want to enjoy the Austin they grew up loving, the new Austin is not that place. With the high-tech boom came rising property values and rising taxes. People who had lived in their homes for 50 years or more were forced to sell them because they could no longer pay the taxes on them. Businesses that were long-standing landmarks and neighborhood icons were forced to close their doors when their long-term lease agreements expired and they couldn’t meet the owners’ demanded lease increase. Not everyone benefited from the high-tech expansion and many “old” Austinites didn’t see anything “booming” about it, except for the increase in costs, taxes and traffic.
I did not have a problem with people moving here and assimilating into the Austin population. What I deplored were the many people who moved here and b*tch*d about anything and everything - “but we did it this way in wherever…” If it was that much better in wherever, maybe they should have stayed there and left Austin to those of us who loved it as it was. But no - now we have an Austin that is neither Austin, nor the wherever all of these people came from, but instead something that includes the worst of both.
Though Bob feels that all of the people posting against change are rednecks and have never been out of the central Texas area; I am NOT a redneck (sorry Bob, I don’t drink beer out of the bottle - or any other way for that matter, watch Nascar, drive a pickup or knock sh*t off of my boots on the front porch.) Though I have lived most of my life in Austin, I’ve also lived up north (you want unfriendly, try that for awhile) and traveled not only all over the U.S. (including California), but to Europe and Canada.
As for people not being friendly; because I grew up in the laid-back and friendly atmosphere of Austin I’ve been called pushy (for saying smiling and saying hi to someone walking down the sidewalk in front of my home) and been accused of being a flirt, among other things (again - for smiling and saying hi to someone that I hadn’t been introduced to). If Bob has found people in Austin to be unfriendly, perhaps it’s because he’s one of those “outsiders” that find fault with everything that makes Austin dear to those of us who have lived here awhile and does his best to change things to be more like his previous home in SoCal.
The Austin that I knew and loved is dying and I doubt that I will see her again. Austin, I’m sorry to have lost you…
I came in with the tail end of the California exodus (well they’re still leaving CA for many reasons, but maybe Austin will get a little reprieve now that the economy is not so favorable). Why? Did I come here to ruin Austin, the way “I” ruined California?
Not really. I came here for the reason many others did. There is still a lot of opportunity here, a lot of diverse culture, much of the “laid back, keep Austin weird” (compared to other homogeneous populations at least), lots to do (nowhere near the “outdoors” place California is, but that’s one of the reasons it’s so expensive now), but most importantly for me and many others who have moved here (from where ever), it’s a great place to raise a family–and those were my primary concerns. Good schools (public or private, because to live in a “good” public school district in CA, you’ve got to drop a few million on a house first) and safe neighborhoods are too important to ignore. The people (whether native or not) are for the most part friendly and welcoming (this post has brought out some of the exceptions, more than I’ve encountered myself).
I knew when I moved here there would be some of this mind set, because we saw the same thing when Californians moved in droves to Oregon and Washington state in the 80s and 90s. Those states resorted to “STAY IN CA” bumper stickers and the people were truly resentful on a large scale to the point where people were actually afraid to move up there. However, it’s a free country (don’t forget, you’re still a state, though I think Texas is the only state that reservers the legal right to secede from the US), so I chose Austin over many other places, partly because of the tech market, partly because it is semi-liberal (esp compared to the rest of this state), but mostly because I have always found it a vibrant, friendly city with so much to do, and above all, it’s a great place to raise children. (So sorry, shoot me and ship my body back to Palo Alto).
Keeping what is left of the unique Austin is not a defense left to native Austinites, It’s up to all of us. I saw how overpopulation (only partly due to illegal immigration, a grossly exaggerated reason) damaged California, drove up housing prices and destroyed much of the beauty of the state. I agree, we don’t want that to happen here. But people are moving in and moving out all the time, so point your fingers in the right places.
To make things better (or keep them as much of the “same” as possible) you have to do something about it. Personally, I keep busy on the side fighting the out-of-control growth in Austin. I am shocked at how little resistance there is here to the steam-rolling development. In just two years, I’ve seen the 620 corridor (or whatever you call it) through Lakeway and up into Bee Cave completely made over. Sickening, but it’s not just Californians. It’s your local politicians–the same ones that determine your outrageous taxes (BTW, if you’ve been outed from your own home due to rising taxes, that’s a political problem, not a “migrant” problem). I can’t believe the taxes here, but not surprising because the same people that let that continue, are the same ones that benefit from the explosive growth.
Regina, I wouldn’t let the negativity brought out here stop you from coming to Austin to find out for yourself. it’s very diverse, with something for everyone. Though a completely irrelevant deciding factor, thumping cars are not nearly as rampant here, though the music is everywhere if you want it (and it’s good). Just like most of the people. The main thing out of control here is the government. And people do not participate as much as they could (maybe that comes with life in Bush territory?). But if you consider yourself old at 32, you may be in for a big surprise, because this whole city is young at heart. We just need to keep it that way.