Austin’s Better Than [Your City]
Barton Springs where we canoe and kayak- gorgeous!
photo credit: Austin photographer OneFiveDoor
If you haven’t met a Texan before, you might not know that a great portion of our identity is wrapped up in state and city pride- we can all tell you the state bird, flower, and tree and probably have a tattoo of the Texas flag somewhere on our bodies (I kid you not). When we are noticed for the greatness that is Austin (or Texas), we are sore winners- you’ve watched UT play football, you know what I’m talking about!
Yesterday, Forbes.com named Austin the Fastest Growing City in America. Back that truck up- did they say we’re number 1? Oh yeah they did. Austin’s population growth is projected to expand by 15% by 2012 (for the math challenged readers, that’s only FOUR years!). The GMP (Gross Metropolitan Product) is projected to skyrocket by 32% which is extraordinarily special, considering the Second Largest Growing City (Cape Coral) trails by ten freakin’ percent!
So why is Austin so much better than [your city]? We’re the live music capital of the world, we’re home to the University of Texas, St. Edward’s University, Concordia University, Southwestern University, Antone’s, Emo’s, Mohawk, Lake Austin, Lake Travis, Lady Bird Lake, Zilker Park, 37th Street, 4th through 6th Street, an aggressively expanding skyline, Austin Museum of Art, Fiesta Gardens, Zilker Gardens, Uncle Billy’s, Hula Hut, Spider House, Rudy’s and Ruby’s BBQ, Salt Lick, and me.
But since you didn’t read any of that, I’ll sum up by saying Austin is prime for relocation and investments because of the extremely diverse lifestyles it attracts, the variety of supporting industries (diverse enough that if one completely fails, 20 are still in tact backing it up), amazing real estate values (median home price in the MSA is $186k but growing), natural beauty of the hill country and easy accessibility to Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.
February 1st, 2008 at 6:28 pm
As you and more importantly my clients are well aware, I’m very bullish on Austin, and have been since Josh and I first visited.
I do think however, that any city sporting thousands of bumper stickers and coffee mugs saying, Keep Austin Weird, might not be the prototypical Texas city.
Anyone who doesn’t fall in love with Austin just ain’t payin’ attention.
February 1st, 2008 at 6:52 pm
If it’s so darn great in Texas, why do you all keep moving to Colorado?
February 1st, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Todd, those aren’t Austinites, they’re running away from Houston (yes, Eric, Houston) and Dallas (sorry Corbett). I have never met a Colorado transplant from Austin, but I CAN name over 30 people from Colorado that I know in Austin…… wanna arm wrestle? My tattoo is bigger than yours….
February 1st, 2008 at 10:03 pm
I live in Colorado, and don’t know 30 people FROM here. BTW, I went to school with a few kids from Austin. They called themselves Austoners.
February 2nd, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Todd, I’ve never heard that one but dang it sure is hilarious! Slackers was filmed here after all!
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:32 pm
As was Dazed And Confused.
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Is it me or as anyone else worried about how we are going to deal with all of this growth? TexDOT says it has no more money and Governor Pretty Hair thinks SH 45 will save the world.
Ah, what the heck. I’ll live here another 20 years, enjoy the music, the food and the people. When I get really old and cranky I may move to Abilene or Lubbock.
February 3rd, 2008 at 5:03 pm
JT- omg, I totally forgot. We sure had a crazy rash of stoner movies filmed here, didn’t we?
February 3rd, 2008 at 5:06 pm
@Scott- I think you’ve hit on something important… 5 years ago had the population been what it is today, Austin wouldn’t have been able to handle the traffic, but living out near the Tollways, I can tell you that it has certainly alleviated a LOT of traffic (esp. since so many still don’t use the tollways!). I think that TxDOT had a lot of scrambling to do, but the good news is that they are finally opening their meetings to the public and they’re *actually* listening (proof- MoPac through downtown isn’t a Tollway as proposed).
But I’m with you- even if a billion people move here tomorrow, I’m just going to hope a bunch of them are musicians and restaurant entrepreneurs! When it gets too crowded, let’s all just go buy ranches out in Liberty Hill or Killeen