Round Rock
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3/19/2007
Everyone so far has sung praises about Round Rock but these people have not (were not) here all that long.
I have lived here almost 15 years. I live just south of Tera Vista subdivision.
If you ask me, go to Raleigh and stay away from Round Rock.
I was here before there was a Tera Vista.
Round Rock has been (at least since 1990)the fastest growing small town in the country. The population then was about 25K. It is now about 85k and by the 2010 census I would say it will be over 100k. A 400% population growth in just 20 years. With this comes extreme growing pains. Every major thoroughfare is under construction/destruction at the same time thus taking years to complete. Traffic tie-ups are common (although on a much smaller scale than say Houston-- I was there for 14 years prior to coming to Round Rock).
They are right. There almost no trees, especially large ones. East Texas, especially North-East does have some large trees. So Texas does have them.
There are a lot of cactus here. You have to worry about burn bans and droughts/water restrictions here. It is remarkably flat. The "hill country" is about 1 hour away-- very rural. Lakes in Texas are man-made mostly dammed up rivers.
Our mayor is a new/used car salesman. So he has two strikes against him. Used car salesman and politician. He is so proud of IKEA (and the Outlet Mall) coming to town not far me or Tera Vista. I told him that retail sales are not very good jobs. If he had gotten the new Dell factory built here (Dell's HQ is here) instead of India, then I would applaud him. We were told that the streets would be in place prior to the opening but they are still constructing the access roads. It has just added to the congestion.
I am not sure how housing compares to Raleigh. It is cheaper here than Dallas but more expensive than Houston.
So far as the Dell Diamond (Round Rock Express) goes I wish that they had built it elsewhere. I am about 3.5 miles from it, as the crow flies. They tend to have fireworks after most (if not all) night games. Once the explosions vibrated my windows when I was trying to sleep.
With all the construction going on it will still be too little too late. In the mean time the local streets are going to pot.
Personally I wish I never came here and I have been trying to leave for 10 years now.
Eric | Round Rock, TX