Our family is considering a move out of ATX, which seems to be WAY against the flow of traffic, which for us, is kind of the point.
Twenty years ago, we loved this town. It was carefree and a bit strange. Cowboys, punks, hippies and yuppies all made for a fascinating mix of culture and politics.
We could move freely via automobile, generally avoid crime, live comfortably on average salaries, and not worry too much about planning ahead for entertainment and leisure.
For better and worse, those days are behind us. Traffic is snarled, many of our old haunts have been razed, you can't get a table at your old standby restaurant, and things are beginning to look more and more homogeneous in entertainment districts.
But this is not an indictment of Austin, it's a REALLY long request for folks to lend a hand to find out where folks think there's a place out there that is *sort of* similar to Austin 20+ years ago. Or for that matter, if you've been to Austin recently, how Austin 'feels', but on a smaller scale.
We demand tolerance of a city. Not in a PC kind of way. In a leave us alone and we'll leave you alone kind. Go to church four times a week? Great. Have full sleeves and a collar with plugs and a submissive boyfriend. Fantastic. Just don't preach you to me, and I'm happy to call you neighbor and have a coffee or a beer with you.
We want good food availability, including organic produce and meats, decent local/regional restaurant options. Local/regional fresh seafood if at all possible. And as it pertains to this forum, I want a place to let my garden grow. Either that or cost of living good enough to build myself a nice fat greenhouse/growroom.
We don't mind a little traffic in a commute, but if it consumes planning even on the weekends, then we don't want in. We're looking at places that are metro areas of 600,000 to 1,000,000 or so, give or take.
We like cities that care about planning enough to still have standing trees after development (Houston and Jacksonville need not apply), but don't suffocate development (and especially downtown re-development) with petty neighborhood association pressure.
We want a comparable cost-of-living to Austin, which is still respectable, but rising quickly.
And we'd like some place that enjoys celebrating in the form of festivals throughout the year. If at least some of those are family friendly, then that's fantastic.
We don't like bitter cold (Minnesota, New England, Upper Midwest, Upper Mid-Atlantic), but aren't afraid of 'true' seasons (Lower Midwest/Middle South).
Employment is still necessary, but only for one of us. The other is working mobile and can do it anywhere there is an internet connection. We have some flexibility here.
Education is important. We have two children and we aren't afraid of them going to public school, but we want one where parents still give a damn. Private school is certainly an option as well, depending on cost of living and location.
One of us was born and raised in the South (Savannah/Atlanta/Florida), and the other on the cusp of the South and Southwest (Houston/Austin). We have collectively lived in Brooklyn, Kansas City, Miami and throughout Central Texas.
We aren't really concerned about culture shock, *except* when it comes to activities and access to goods mentioned above.
I know. A lot to ask, but we're ready to move along and here are some that we're considering.
Is where you live a candidate?
Twenty years ago, we loved this town. It was carefree and a bit strange. Cowboys, punks, hippies and yuppies all made for a fascinating mix of culture and politics.
We could move freely via automobile, generally avoid crime, live comfortably on average salaries, and not worry too much about planning ahead for entertainment and leisure.
For better and worse, those days are behind us. Traffic is snarled, many of our old haunts have been razed, you can't get a table at your old standby restaurant, and things are beginning to look more and more homogeneous in entertainment districts.
But this is not an indictment of Austin, it's a REALLY long request for folks to lend a hand to find out where folks think there's a place out there that is *sort of* similar to Austin 20+ years ago. Or for that matter, if you've been to Austin recently, how Austin 'feels', but on a smaller scale.
We demand tolerance of a city. Not in a PC kind of way. In a leave us alone and we'll leave you alone kind. Go to church four times a week? Great. Have full sleeves and a collar with plugs and a submissive boyfriend. Fantastic. Just don't preach you to me, and I'm happy to call you neighbor and have a coffee or a beer with you.
We want good food availability, including organic produce and meats, decent local/regional restaurant options. Local/regional fresh seafood if at all possible. And as it pertains to this forum, I want a place to let my garden grow. Either that or cost of living good enough to build myself a nice fat greenhouse/growroom.
We don't mind a little traffic in a commute, but if it consumes planning even on the weekends, then we don't want in. We're looking at places that are metro areas of 600,000 to 1,000,000 or so, give or take.
We like cities that care about planning enough to still have standing trees after development (Houston and Jacksonville need not apply), but don't suffocate development (and especially downtown re-development) with petty neighborhood association pressure.
We want a comparable cost-of-living to Austin, which is still respectable, but rising quickly.
And we'd like some place that enjoys celebrating in the form of festivals throughout the year. If at least some of those are family friendly, then that's fantastic.
We don't like bitter cold (Minnesota, New England, Upper Midwest, Upper Mid-Atlantic), but aren't afraid of 'true' seasons (Lower Midwest/Middle South).
Employment is still necessary, but only for one of us. The other is working mobile and can do it anywhere there is an internet connection. We have some flexibility here.
Education is important. We have two children and we aren't afraid of them going to public school, but we want one where parents still give a damn. Private school is certainly an option as well, depending on cost of living and location.
One of us was born and raised in the South (Savannah/Atlanta/Florida), and the other on the cusp of the South and Southwest (Houston/Austin). We have collectively lived in Brooklyn, Kansas City, Miami and throughout Central Texas.
We aren't really concerned about culture shock, *except* when it comes to activities and access to goods mentioned above.
I know. A lot to ask, but we're ready to move along and here are some that we're considering.
Is where you live a candidate?
