I agree with you. Totally. Especially with the "no museums" thing here. What is up with that? A major university and the capital of the effing state, and not a SINGLE decent museum? I was gobsmacked at that fact. And the diversity is shocking too. My kids go to a school that is almost all white. I can't believe that in this day and age. We wanted to live downtown, but the schools are awful there, although there is more diversity. I.e. Latino kids. There is only white folk, latino folk, and occasionally overeducated Indian transplants. No true diversity at all. Nada.
We moved here because my wife got a PhD job teaching, and I didn't feel okay about making her turn it down. I really wanted to stay in our major west coast city. But after 25 years there, I was certainly up for a change. Now two years later, I cannot wait to go back. I'm even considering divorce. The only thing I do like about Austin is that you get a lot of bang for the buck with housing. The other upside is the food and restaurants are great. World class sushi, italian, greek, nouvelle cuisine, etc. Great beer. But if you add the monotonous country music and monotonous derivative rock you hear constantly, who cares? That does not a city make. There is nowhere to walk, even if you live downtown. Once you're in the burbs, the traffic is so horrible everywhere, it makes you want to stay home. If you want a coffee or a loaf of bread, boom, 20+ minutes in your car each way. Not for me.
The other joke I tell is, that this place Austin is so green, do environmentally friendly and high-thinking, right? WRONG. How can you justify living in a place where you have to strap an AC to you 70% of the time, blasting full bore? That's not green. That's a bad place to live. Our electric/cooling bills are $400 per month. The gasoline is $350 per month.
And how about the archaic laws in Texas? You have to constantly remind yourselves that you do not live a cool hip progressive Austin, you actually live in Texas. There are no domestic partnership laws to protect your family. Where we lived before, I and the kids could be on my wife's insurance policy. Not here in Texas, no sir. We found that out after we moved. I have to pay an additional $1,100 per month for myself and our children's health insurance, because the University of Texas at Austin is one of the only universities in the US, not to mention Western World, that does not provide any benefits for same-sex couples. Stunning.
Add it up. For that extra $1850 per month in insurance and utilities, we could well afford to move back to civilization.
So to be fair, there must be some reason to move here. I can't think of it, unless your extended family already lives here and you want to be near them. Otherwise, please, do some research. There are so many other better places to live. Not Austin.
Robin |
Austin, TX |
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