I can't say I'd want to move to Austin for much of anything other than BBQ. How the hell that tree hugging, jogging, tree bark chewing town and its surrounding area got the best BBQ in the state is beyond me. Outside of UT, I'm not sure the average person outside of the state would know what Austin is known for. I've always thought of it as a "California Lite" but without the great weather. I actually don't dislike Austin, but it just seems like a city where you can't escape the big city, but at the same time, you don't have the advantages of the big city. In case you haven't noticed, I'd pick Houston in a heartbeat... with season tickets to the Rockets. That being said, I need to head down to Austin for a BBQ trip soon.
It's not that they don't have money. It's just that they weren't going to the mall to shop - they can do that at home. They were going to the mall because that's where everyone else was and it was a fun place to hang out. That's no big deal if it doesn't affect regular commerce. But the unfortunate side effect of that is that the regular customers weren't going. As far as the overall spending goes, that link earlier said $8 million in spending. With 50,000 people, that would be $160 per person. That's basically hotel, food and gas, and that's about it. These aren't people coming in town to spend money on vacation, so it would make sense that businesses don't cater to them.
I can't agree with you about Austin - I think each city has things that appeal to different types of people - but don't come here for BBQ! Go to Lexington or Lockhart or Luling or Taylor. Except for Franklin's here in town, all the good BBQ is actually about 30-45 minutes outside of Austin.
So after reading this thread, I'm getting that the white picket fences in Austin are much more desirable (whiter?) than the ones in Houston? Austin felt like San Francisco/Seattle-lite to me, but then again I've only been there in passing.
Austin is a city, houston is a mass of building with no end in sight. I could get from my house in the arboretum to south austin in 25min with no traffic. Austin could probably just fit in southwest houston.
because it's TEXAS relays and the capital represents texas if you have to drive an hour downtown for good food then you're doing it wrong...real wrong. dont be so overdramatic
Then you clearly don't know how to get around this city. Actually, it rained yesterday and we all know Texans cannot drive in the rain. That probably explains your delay. During school, I regularly make the trek from 360/Mopac to Parmer/Metric during rush hour and it typically takes ~30 minutes.
I agree with the traffic assessments of Austin. YES, the road layout is horrendous. NO, traffic is not worse in Austin than it is in Houston. I can get from downtown Austin to far south Slaughter Ln area in 30 min at 5:00 PM. I used to take the metro bus from downtown Houston to northeast Houston (Kingwood) at the same time and it took an hour +. And that was in the HOV lane... People who complain about Austin traffic are dumb.
kingwood is over 30 miles from Houston. Even with no traffic it would take about 30 minutes. Plus, Bus' are usually slower in general. But the north side of 59 usually isnt that bad. It really gets crappy in the middle of town though, which is why i avoid it. But complaining about traffic is stupid in general. You only deal with traffic if you decide to deal with traffic, i.e. by deciding where you live.
haha so true he says austin traffic is much better then houston. and then compares something that is 30 miles away, and something that is 7 miles away. great comparison.
I'll take the 7 mile journey over the 30 mile journey every day of the week. You can have the asphalt jungle.
I don't think I35 is nearly as bad as Mopac, I35 has like 4-5 lanes? Mopac has 3, and near 360 it's pretty bad sometimes.
Was this back when Metro used horse and buggies? I take the P and R from Townsen every morning and it takes 20 minutes tops. 15 is you have a good driver. LOL, yeah let's not include unimportant things like cost of living or job market...
