Can anyone tell me a little about Austin, TX?

[Joe Portale]

Hello all,

Need a favor. Could anyone tell me about Austin, TX. I am contemplating a position in that city. I know and love south Tejas, been through Houstan and some of the other coastal areas, but have never been to Austin.

I would like to know, first and formost, A) Gun friendly? B) cost of living, c) quality of living
And anything else that you can provide.

I appreciate any comments.

Thanks.

 

[Acme]

As far as I've found, there is no place in Texas more full of liberals than Austin. I swear the trees are hugging back in that city. I would never, never move there. But that's just me. I'm sure there are a bunch of pro-gun people there too, but the liberals are louder.

On the positive side, it really is pretty. A bunch of it runs through the hill country. Lots of parks and trails and places to go outdoors and hike.

And you can always visit the infamous Chuy's where the Bush chicks got "busted".

Acme

 

[Drizzt]

I live in Austin, and yes, there do happen to be 1 or 2 liberals running around, but half of them are state legislators, and they only meet every 2 years . On the other side of the equation, Alex Jones is also based out of Austin (www.infowars.com). There are some good places to shoot around here, and you are surrounded by the Hill Country. The cost of living within Austin proper can be rather high (OK, really high), but there are enough surrounding small towns with a much cheaper cost of living that it really isn't much of an issue. The quality of life here can be quite good (if you overlook the liberals, of course). A great night life and a great music scene (and yet I sit here at home in front of a computer each night ) are complemented by wonderful scenery and plenty of outdoors activities close by. Whatever you're interested in, it can probably be found here. I could certainly answer any specific questions you might have. We definitely need more firearms enthusiasts around here, though.

 

[Incursion]

I go to UT Austin. The cost of living is rising. The traffic is terrible. It is not gun friendly.

 

[Jesse H]

I didn't start getting interested in guns until I moved out, back to Houston. But I LOVE the town. Yes, liberals all over the place, but hanging out at Red's fixes everything.

Red's is a 100yard indoor range in Austin, I think I go there everytime I visit my old friends in Austin. I actually converted one of my gun shy friends, and he just got himself an HK USP 45 a few weeks ago and now is a member at Red's.

 

[slojim]

I don't think it's gun unfriendly at all. That point of view may come from the fact that the city has a lot of state buildings, because of the capitol and UT, and state buildings don't allow handguns. Cost of living is high, especially if you plan to rent, but it's a nice place. I'm in a rush, I may add more detail later if others don't.

 

[David Scott]

I lived in Austin for 10 years. If you take the job, do yourself a favor. Get a home out in the hills west of town (Marble Falls is nice) and only go into Austin to work. Central Texas is beautiful but Austin suffers from urban sprawl and awful traffic.

 

[Dennis]

Austin traffic IS horrible. It's like a demolition derby with intermittent (and SUDDEN) imitations of parking lots.

However, if you know where you're going and "ride, boldly ride" you get along fine! It's like driving in Germany in that everybody relies upon everyone else to drive like a "local." Get a bigger pair of shorts (to allow for cajone growth) and go for it.

Or... if you can get a job where you can avoid the worst of rush hour, that may ease your pain. Just don't plan on checking your map while you drive! It's a dog-eat-dog driving environment!

Pretty town if you like trees - I do.

Police have been "professional" to "nice." Population seems mixed between Yuppies and "down home" types.

McBrides is a gun (coin, fishing gear) shop worth spending a few hours investigating. People there have been consistently nice to me. And there's a dumpy little war surplus store across the street.

I like Austin. It's just a bit too frantic for my advanced age and country temperament (stress on "temper").

Good luck!

 

[HankB]

I live just west of Austin, and I love it here. (Of course, I lived in the People's Republic of Minnesota for far too many years . . .) The only thing I miss is a basement; dig down a few inches to a few feet and you hit limestone, so few homes have basements.

The city of Austin is run by ultraleftist "green" idiots, who's solution to explosive growth is to obstruct traffic flow. (I see another poster refers to it as "Moscow on the Colorado" )And more people run red lights here than any other place I've seen. I'd advise not living within the city limits. (Beware unincorporated areas nearby - Austin is noted for annexing parcels of land, raising taxes, and reducing services.)

Housing costs are rising quickly. Annual property taxes typically run from 2.5% to 3.5% of the market value of your home, which varies from place to place. Shop wisely. (Actually, with recent layoffs at places like Dell Computer, there may be some relative "bargains" on the market.) On the plus side, there's NO state income tax. Sales tax generally runs about 8%, but isn't collected on food and some medicine.

Gas is almost reasonable - I actually filled my tank for $1.19 a gallon this past weekend.

Lake Travis is nearby for water sports.

There's a monthly gun show on the east side, and a number of gun shops with good selections around. McBride's has a good selection, but they tend to be pricey. Heritage Firearms is more reasonably priced. Indoor ranges include Cook's and Red's; the latter sometimes has machine gun shoots, the former bowling pin shoots. Both offer classes for TX CHL. Hill Country Rifle Range to the west hosts both IDPA and IPSC shoots at least once a month, and other IDPA clubs are within driving distance.

Oh yeah - almost forgot. Even though Austin politicians are generally P's of S, I have the good fortune, living just west of Austin, to have Ron Paul as my congressman. He's the only person I've been able to vote FOR in an election for quite some time. (Usually I'm voting AGAINST the worst of two bad candidates.)

 

[Art Eatman]

Your enjoyment of Austin can be dependent on where you work, what shift you're on, and where you decide to live vis-a-vis commuting.

Definitely do some map-reading. East of I-35 tends to be ethnic minority, with higher crime rates. I-35 is a parking lot during rush hour.

Any jobsite out US 183 North, and residence out that direction, is a better commute. Same for Motorola out at Oak Hill...

Downtown job? Oy, vey!

What's funny to me is that for all the political yap-yap in Austin, only some 8% of the voters turn out for city elections. From the TV or the paper, you'd think local politics was the most important thing in anybody's life. Go figure...But as far as city government goes, the inmates have taken over the asylum.

I was born there; boomed around the world from 1950-1963 and then returned home. Lasted until 1983, when I voted with my feet. Great place to visit, but I sure won't live there. Sadly, it's one of the better cities around, if ya gotta live in a city.

Art

 

[Ledbetter]

Greetings,

I'm going to be in Austin Aug. 3 through 5. On the fifth, I'm playing with a band called TAO (The Adventures of . . .) at a festival whose name has something to do with Jerry Garcia. I'll be the keyboard player.

Hope to see you there.

Regards.

 

[elector]

FWIW, I've spent a lot of time in Austin. It's generally an attractive place, even if the surrouding hills are being bulldozed practically by the square mile. Quality of life is good for those who can afford it. Rent and house prices are in the stratosphere. Traffic is gridlocked--the city government knows how to slow it down (with road humps, traffic circles, etc.), but not how to speed it up. The city council, including the mayor, is a pit of lefties who love to waste tax money on feelgood projects. The public schools have a bad rep, at least among my kinfolk there. The newspaper leans left, although the editor makes an attempt at fairness. The voters consistently send crypto-socialist know-nothings (Naishtat, Dukes, Kitchen, Maxey) to the state legislature, plus electing Limousine Lloyd Doggett to Congress. Nevertheless, there are enough "real" Texans remaining to make Austin tolerable--again, for those who can afford to live there.

As for gunshops, try Tex-Guns in South Austin: very small shop, very friendly folks. IIRC, the owner is a retired history teacher, and the clerks are family and friends.

My 1 1/2 cent.

 

[Drizzt]

Ledbetter, I believe that would be Jerry Garcia Birthday Festival at The Pier on Lake Austin. It's a pretty cool spot.

 

[Navy joe]

Is the knife legislation still alive and kicking, the one banning lockblades as well as fixed blades? Weird law for such a CCW friendly state, is it from blissninnies being scared of a mexican with a knife? Dumb, Dumb law!

 

[First On Race Day]

My family has a family reunion in Georgetown every year. It is far enough from Austin not to feel the effects of the traffic, liberals, etc., and close enough to go to the gun store in town and enjoy the city.
So don't feel you have to live in Austin proper. Look to the outskirts.

 

[WAGCEVP]

My Home town

from what I've read here , it sure has changed a lot

course it's been yrs since I've been home.....

 

[Halffast]

Is the knife legislation still alive and kicking, the one banning lockblades as well as fixed blades? Weird law for such a CCW friendly state, is it from blissninnies being scared of a mexican with a knife? Dumb, Dumb law!

While I will agree that this would be a Dumb law, if your not scared of a Mexican with a knife, then you are the blissninny. I should know, I married one!

David

 

[stickman]

we always called austin"berkley on the colorado".
it is a beautiful city, lots to do there and the surrounding area. live in the hill country, if you can.
that's what i miss the most.