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Sure, it's pretty easy to make fun of transplants complaining "Austin is so hot!", but as someone who has lived here for a quarter century, I think many of thes

Sure, it's pretty easy to make fun of transplants complaining "Austin is so hot!", but as someone who has lived here for a quarter century, I think many of these complaints are valid, and, at least for me, "the bloom is off the rose" when it comes to Austin, and the past 5 years or so have seen a notable deterioration in Austin's appeal: 1. When I moved here in the late 90s, there was "the grand bargain" of Austin: it didn't have the amenities like world-class museums, theater, sports teams or architecture of big cities like NY or SF, and it didn't have mountains or beaches, but it had the sweet spot of being much more affordable so that you could actually enjoy these things a lot more. You could afford to live centrally and enjoy things like Town Lake, downtown, the good smaller museums and theaters we do have, etc. at a fraction of NY/SF prices. That bargain no longer works. Austin is expensive AF right now, especially housing, but its amenities and geography still lag what bigger cities offer. 2. Saying "Austin is where ambition goes to die" is a bit harsh, but there's also a lot of truth to it. People often move to Austin specifically because they're looking for a better work/life balance than other places. Young people move to Silicon Valley or NYC because they have big dreams and are willing to work insane amounts to try to achieve them (even if it means lots of other parts of their life suffer). I don't think Austin's focus is "bad", but it is noticeably different compared to NY or SF. 3. Obviously Austin has always been hot in the summer (I used to say we paid for our 10 months of great weather with 2 months of hell), but this summer was the worst by many objective metrics in a long, long time, and it's only going to get worse over the long run. Obviously everything ebbs and flows, and after feeling like Austin was a "meme stock" over the past few years (tons of crypto bros, Musk fans and real estate investors moved here shortly before/during the pandemic), it's nice to see things calming down. Still, just looking objectively, I think there are a lot more cities now that offer a way better "bargain" than Austin does at the moment.

MichaelZuo 3y ago
> 2. Saying "Austin is where ambition goes to die" is a bit harsh, but there's also a lot of truth to it. People often move to Austin specifically because they're looking for a better work/life balance than other places. Young people move to Silicon Valley or NYC because they have big dreams and are willing to work insane amounts to try to achieve them (even if it means lots of other parts of their life suffer). I don't think Austin's focus is "bad", but it is noticeably different compared to NY or SF. I've noticed this too, people don't directly say it's 'where second-rates and third-rates go', but there's definitely a sentiment.

MichaelZuo 3y ago

> 2. Saying "Austin is where ambition goes to die" is a bit harsh, but there's also a lot of truth to it. People often move to Austin specifically because they're looking for a better work/life balance than other places. Young people move to Silicon Valley or NYC because they have big dreams and are willing to work insane amounts to try to achieve them (even if it means lots of other parts of their life suffer). I don't think Austin's focus is "bad", but it is noticeably different compared to NY or SF. I've noticed this too, people don't directly say it's 'where second-rates and third-rates go', but there's definitely a sentiment.