Having lived here for 19 years and being a resident of a half-dozen other places: Milwaukee; Raleigh-Durham; Houston; Indianapolis; various Central Illinois “cities;” and Beulah, ND; it would be an understatement to say I initially became a little defensive. Then I checked out the article by this alleged travel writer…he quickly undermines any authority he may have with his choices: Rio over Buenos Aires? Detroit over Chicago? Prague over Berlin (never mind that hipsters drained Prague dry a decade ago)? Hawaii over Costa Rica? Utah (aka Utard) over Colorado? Some aren’t even in the same category. The coup de grace proving how full of crap the author is…drum roll please…skip Austin, visit Houston. This makes Texans from all categories laugh. Go take in a metropolis where the obesity epidemic is in full swing, people have to drive everywhere and the pollution rivals LA. Using local hack Michael Corcoran doesn’t strengthen his case. Corcoran has always been a whiney bitch so most Austinites tend to ignore him and we don’t need an MLB team.
Firstly, the local government foisted the moniker “Live Music Capital of the World,” not the residents. Thanks to the invasion of Californicators and other Texas cities, the cost of living increases drove out the musicians back in the Nineties. If Stevie Ray Vaughn were starting out today, he’d probably be living in more affordable Waco or San Angelo.
Secondly, pretentious? This is up for debate and it depends upon who you speak to. I would say this award really belongs to Indianapolis. This poor excuse for a city is actually a giant suburb because it has no real city at its core. Plus its ego swelled up when the Baltimore Colts ran away to become the place’s NFL team. Some rejoiced saying they were a real city now. Sure just like Green Bay is a cultural hot spot. Raleigh-Durham is a close second. Unless you’re into college basketball and/or corporate welfare (aka RTP), it’s a cultural wasteland.
Let me revisit the question though. Visit. Visit versus reside. Maybe Austin isn’t a place to visit when there isn’t a herd event to push people through: SXSW, ACL Fest, Moontower Fest, Fun Fun Fest and Eeyore’s Birthday. It probably helps to have a resident to stay with, take you to the sites this person finds important as I did with my cousin (an overdue story). Austin doesn’t have an immediate attraction like DC, Chicago or LA. Yet it’s a decent place to live despite the lousy traffic, notable Paultard population and Lege Bashing sessions (currently, the Lege’s immediate plans are to curtail Austin’s zoning rights and bag ban). I want to turn the matter on its head with a different place…Las Vegas. Sin City is always a great time for Somara and me. Would I ever want to live there? Hell no. Many of its younger people who were born and raised there want to leave, go figure.
Mediocrity. Pretentiousness. These are a matter of opinion. Trust me. My parents love Raleigh-Durham. It has been their adopted home for 20 years. Chicago is my brother’s for at least a decade while Nelson has little love for it. Nelson prefers Cleveland, a city which has been a punchline for four decades.
In the end, I’ll keep my mediocre, MLB-less city. The diversity accusation is becoming less of an issue and compared to everywhere else I’ve been, it is the first place I’ve ever resided in where having a college education wasn’t a liability.