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Hello longhorn fans

littleton tiger

Well-Known Member
Dec 31, 2012
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Springdale Arkansas
My wife and I are moving to the Austin area in the not too distant future and I would appreciate any info that can be provided by the board. Primarily interested in knowing where or where not to live (we are considering Georgetown, Taylor, Bee Cave and Austin) Also would like any insights into employment opportunities, cost of living, and any other useful info anyone would like to provide. TIA
 
Austin is only accepting 4 & 5 *'s into the city at this point.

Georgetown is nice. Taylor kind of "out there", but close to RR Express minor league. Bee Cave area real expensive. Austin=traffic. Consider Leander/Cedar Park/Liberty Hill? Good schools if you have children.

For employment? Get on the websites=Beyond/Indeed/etc.
 
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Great.....just what we need. More people in Austin.

Be warned- if you don't have a degree in Native American Pottery, slam poetry, cultural diversity studies, or Marxism-- you're not likely to get a job. I know a girl with a degree in microbiology from Virginia (UVA), one of the best public schools out there, and she's working as a waitress at Opal divide..... for 3 years.
 
Employment opportunities are everywhere as long as you have something to bring to the table. Austin = traffic jam, so having a good idea where you most likely will be working will help you look for housing that gives you the best traffic avoiding routes.
Trust me, you don't want to be required to cross town going to and from work. It'll sour you on day 1. There's good and not so great areas in all directions. The north west tends to be more nice and with that, more expensive. That would be your Bee Cave area.

If you end up on the south side of town, Buda has nice neighborhoods WEST of 35. East of 35 get VERY questionable so definitely be informed in that area.
 
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If you don't already have a job, why are you moving? Do you have relatives that need care, or does someone else have a job? For me, New Braunfels is the best small town in Texas.
 
Let me clear up a few things.
1. My initial post poorly worded as there exist the possibility that we won't move to Austin. Sorry for the confusion
2. I am in the process of getting info about several cities other than Austin
3. If we move it will probably be several months from now.
4. I am, at this point, seeking honest information from real people and not just the chamber of commerce version of Austin

Thanks
 
Let me clear up a few things.
1. My initial post poorly worded as there exist the possibility that we won't move to Austin. Sorry for the confusion
2. I am in the process of getting info about several cities other than Austin
3. If we move it will probably be several months from now.
4. I am, at this point, seeking honest information from real people and not just the chamber of commerce version of Austin

Thanks
Filthy hippies
Trendy (only in their own mind) hipsters
Dudes that wear berets
People with metal piercings in places that probably shouldn't be pierced
Patchouli oil smell everywhere
Mas drogas---- quality stuff (or so I'm told)
Traffic like LA during the 4th of July
Restaurants everywhere and most suck (torchy's tacos doesn't even use home made tortillas)
If you can afford to live in Lake Travis or Westlake school district, be careful-- the really, really, really good drugs are there, so watch your kids.
Let me percolate on some more.....
 
Used to eat Banna-Splits at Woolsworth on Congress and Austin was pretty good, pop a balloon from 1 cent to 99 cents bet they had them fixed at 99..LOL! nothing but a blinkin light from 620 at turnoff to Jonestown till ya hit Liberty Hill..Hot Rodding Daddys...lol!



Hook'em
 
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Negatives - Traffic sucks BAD and Austin is way over crowded, cost of living and taxes are very high, lots of liberals (if that offends you).

Positives - Not far from the hill country, The University of Texas, good restaurants, Texas culture (somewhat still left), several great lakes and rivers close by, great live music.
 
I've said this before, if your 20-30 it's probably the best place on earth to live. I would not live in the City, but me and wife visit probably 5-10 times a year for various reasons. Suburbs are really nice, but they are what they are- Suburbs.
 
To all who have contributed info/opinions thus far I thank you and please keep it coming.

something else I just thought of, recently Austin was rated the #1 US city in overall quality of living taking into consideration several factors.. top of list being job opportunities.

best of luck, at least you're not from California or New York.
 
Negatives - Traffic sucks BAD and Austin is way over crowded, cost of living and taxes are very high, lots of liberals (if that offends you).

Positives - Not far from the hill country, The University of Texas, good restaurants, Texas culture (somewhat still left), several great lakes and rivers close by, great live music.

Negatives - A BUNCH of transplants from Cali. They hate Franklins BBQ smoke! I love Austin and would move there due to the tech jobs but as you say it's over crowded and the infrastructure isn't built for that many people.

All your positives are spot on!
 
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ok Bell....this is largely for you...
When I went to school there, the hippy craze was just gaining steam. All those folks that graduated with liberal arts degrees and govt degrees stayed in Austin and could only get jobs with The City, the County and the State. They tended to have liberal ideas concerning the environment. They would vote/work against anything that was deemed industrial such as ...oh...lets say sewer treatment plants. ....so...no new sewer treatment plants to support the exploding population on Austin. The result?...Austin was cited by the EPA as the worst industrial poluter in Texas( perhaps the country) because they were dumping untreated sewage into the Colorado, because they couldnt handle it( ever get a drink of water in Luling, Seguin, etc during the 70's? That wasnt baby Ruths floating in it)...they tried to correct, but were always working from behind... Then in the late 80's they were building a big loop around the west side,,,desperately needed....but the green crowd turned out in droves, chaing themselves to bulldozers and front end loaders until they got a judge to issue an injunction. Not only was the work stopped, but the State had to reconstitute the land...Over a million bucks of Highway money was covered up.

Of course the project was later redone (loop 360 I think), but the years wasted in trying to correct the incredibletraffic problems could never be made up.

Austin is a wonderful place, but how nice it could have been had they just been able to go about their business will never be known.
 
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Oddly enough, I was meeting with a couple from Austin this morning. The husband is a city bus driver. I asked them how they liked living there. They both said it's ok but their big complaint seemed to be all of the protesting going on. I guess driving a city bus you get to see all that goes on downtown etc. So, for those living in Austin, is the protesting as big of a deal as this couple made it out to be or has it subsided?
 
ok Bell....this is largely for you...
When I went to school there, the hippy craze was just gaining steam. All those folks that graduated with liberal arts degrees and govt degrees stayed in Austin and could only get jobs with The City, the County and the State. They tended to have liberal ideas concerning the environment. They would vote/work against anything that was deemed industrial such as ...oh...lets say sewer treatment plants. ....so...no new sewer treatment plants to support the exploding population on Austin. The result?...Austin was cited by the EPA as the worst industrial poluter in Texas( perhaps the country) because they were dumping untreated sewage

man, evidently we went to school about the same time... me, '76 thru '80. Would've attended earlier but it was during the draft stretch of Viet Nam era.

yep, off topic.
The VA gave us $ 20,000. to purchase 5acres at approx 2.5% over twenty years.
Approx a staggering $78.53 per month.

The idea of purchasing for investment was a joke--- non stop parting without hassle from the cops, chics kinda thought it was cool to spend the night with us in sleeping bags.

After graduating, let the next Vet in school assume the loan.
I mean, why throw away $78.53 per month.
 
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man, evidently we went to school about the same time... me, '76 thru '80. Would've attended earlier but it was during the draft stretch of Viet Nam era.

yep, off topic.
The VA gave us $ 20,000. to purchase 5acres at approx 2.5% over twenty years.
Approx a staggering $78.53 per month.

The idea of purchasing for investment was a joke--- non stop parting without hassle from the cops, chics kinda thought it was cool to spend the night with us in sleeping bags.

After graduating, let the next Vet in school assume the loan.
I mean, why throw away $78.53 per month.
Man it would sure be nice to have accumulated 3 or 4 of those 5 acre tracts in Austin
 
Two things to do when you get to Austin:

Just off I-35, I believe in the north part of Austin, there is an underground cave that was found when I-35 was being developed or worked on. It's really cool, especially if you have kids.

The bats coming out of the Congress Street bridge at night are a must experience. Again, especially if you have kids, take them on the boat that'll get you right up to the bridge on the water, and they fly right above you. That's fun even as an adult.
 
^^^^
Innerspace Caverns? In Georgetown? It is a pretty cool underground cave.

Above ground you've got a shit ton of Longhorns, so there is that.

:)

Job market is wide open if you don't mind having your name on your shirt.

A job with your name on your desk will require some heavy lifting from your resume to showcase what you can do for them, but the jobs are out there. But there will always be at least one other guy just as qualified as you for the same job who applies within 48 hours of you.

Good luck though. Its a good city.
 
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^^^

It disturbs me to no end in approving.. however, I do realize there are very few times a blind squirrel thinking he is a Mockingbird will find a acorn.
 
Filthy hippies
Trendy (only in their own mind) hipsters
Dudes that wear berets
People with metal piercings in places that probably shouldn't be pierced
Patchouli oil smell everywhere
Mas drogas---- quality stuff (or so I'm told)
Traffic like LA during the 4th of July
Restaurants everywhere and most suck (torchy's tacos doesn't even use home made tortillas)
If you can afford to live in Lake Travis or Westlake school district, be careful-- the really, really, really good drugs are there, so watch your kids.
Let me percolate on some more.....
And now folks are getting arrested Hippie Hollow!!

http://www.statesman.com/news/break...ewdness-hippie-hollow/tBzCYQEtjZRGlWYuP0LYpO/
 
Two things to do when you get to Austin:

Just off I-35, I believe in the north part of Austin, there is an underground cave that was found when I-35 was being developed or worked on. It's really cool, especially if you have kids.

The bats coming out of the Congress Street bridge at night are a must experience. Again, especially if you have kids, take them on the boat that'll get you right up to the bridge on the water, and they fly right above you. That's fun even as an adult.
The cave under the interstate is Inner Space. Congress Ave bridge has a few thousand bats, but Bracken has 3-10 million.
 
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Uh...there are 1.5 million bats under the Congress St. bridge. http://www.batcon.org/index.php/our-work/regions/usa-canada/protect-mega-populations/cab-intro

There are thousands in this picture alone.
a67ec4936aef571e2bb22f5cb57b992d.jpg
 
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