2023 Bum Steer of the Year

[South Austin 52515]

1 minute ago, mdmost said:

Your mom?

[texasdago 7573]

Well, compared to Houston the number of greenbelts and hiking opportunities in/around the city isn't even close.  Find me an experience like hiking River Place or Bull Creek or Baurle Ranch in the middle of Houston.  Our area in SW Austin is packed full of MTB trails that you can ride all the way into town.  

[royiv 9322]

8 minutes ago, texasdago said:

Well, compared to Houston the number of greenbelts and hiking opportunities in/around the city isn't even close.  Find me an experience like hiking River Place or Bull Creek or Baurle Ranch in the middle of Houston.  Our area in SW Austin is packed full of MTB trails that you can ride all the way into town.  

There's a small little 1500 acre park just inside the loop in Houston. You may have forgotten about it.

[Dewey 3286]

Don't forget all the badass frisbee golf courses!

[CooterBrown 18014]

Texas sucks for public land. The 1500 acres in Houston and Austin’s green space is comically pathetic compared to any place west. The Greenbelt is overloaded with people and it’s starting to show. Every decent Greenbelt in town is overrun with trash and dog shit.

Austin is just such a beating to do anything that you could do easily even 10 years ago. Blues in the Green is a logistical train wreck. Trail of Lights is the same. Going to Zilker Park is getting close to impossible on weekends. Restaurants are packed.

We will leave as soon as my youngest graduates. Right now Fort Collins is the leader for us. It reminds me of Austin in the early 90s.

[Neonmoon 38129]

15 minutes ago, texasdago said:

Well, compared to Houston the number of greenbelts and hiking opportunities in/around the city isn't even close.  Find me an experience like hiking River Place or Bull Creek or Baurle Ranch in the middle of Houston.  Our area in SW Austin is packed full of MTB trails that you can ride all the way into town.  

Compared to Houston? Houston is concrete swamp shithole doused in oil byproducts, only redeemed by its great food and good people. Try to aim a little higher 

[texasdago 7573]

7 minutes ago, royiv said:

There's a small little 1500 acre park just inside the loop in Houston. You may have forgotten about it.

Yes.  There is.  There is one big park.  Terry Hershey trail is nice.  Hermann Park is great.  Austin has parkland and trail systems spread everywhere with offshoot trails spread all over and around town.  Just from a natural trail standpoint, it's not even close.  The Greenbelt has so many offshoot trails 

[texasdago 7573]

7 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

Texas sucks for public land. The 1500 acres in Houston and Austin’s green space is comically pathetic compared to any place west. The Greenbelt is overloaded with people and it’s starting to show. Every decent Greenbelt in town is overrun with trash and dog shit.

Austin is just such a beating to do anything that you could do easily even 10 years ago. Blues in the Green is a logistical train wreck. Trail of Lights is the same. Going to Zilker Park is getting close to impossible on weekends. Restaurants are packed.

We will leave as soon as my youngest graduates. Right now Fort Collins is the leader for us. It reminds me of Austin in the early 90s.

I can take you to trails in the greenbelt in the middle of spring where you may come across half-a-dozen people.  Blues in the Green?  Yeah, it's busy... go park by Barton Springs, swim for a while then walk over.  That's what we did this summer.  Everyone told me I was crazy driving myself to ACL.  Did it four days... parked in an area that was easy to access, walked 20 minutes into ACL and got out without any problem. There's always ways to make it work.

 

But... F those idiots who bag their dog turds and leave them on the trails.  

[texasdago 7573]

Found it...

 

https://twitter.com/jamesrambin/status/1487102572557185026?t=5ocRyLHgZUo6pupwHLbPVA&s=19

 

[BrickHorn 18237]

17 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

Austin is just such a beating to do anything that you could do easily even 10 years ago. Blues in the Green is a logistical train wreck. Trail of Lights is the same. Going to Zilker Park is getting close to impossible on weekends. Restaurants are packed.

The Christmas lights at Mozarts used to be a quaint, weird little sideshow to enjoy over a cup of coffee. Now it’s a ticketed clusterfuck.

Honestly part of the problem is the town’s success. It turns out a lot of people ended up liking the same things a smaller number of us liked and told our friends about. So those things got bigger and more congested and pricier and more corporatized until they lost all the charm that made them so fun and worthwhile in the first place. 

[Jiggy-Z 3432]

21 minutes ago, BrickHorn said:

The Christmas lights at Mozarts used to be a quaint, weird little sideshow to enjoy over a cup of coffee. Now it’s a ticketed clusterfuck.

Honestly part of the problem is the town’s success. It turns out a lot of people ended up liking the same things a smaller number of us liked and told our friends about. So those things got bigger and more congested and pricier and more corporatized until they lost all the charm that made them so fun and worthwhile in the first place. 

Thank God Surly doesn't have that problem.

[t_eight 146]

Then came the churches, then came the schools
Then came the lawyers, then came the rules
Then came the trains and the trucks with their loads
And the dirty old track was the Telegraph Road

 

[Armybrat 40850]

2 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

Ha, you couldn’t be more wrong.  All the douchiest of LA are all imports.  They come here to embrace that.  Natives are typically a far cry from that.  

Too bad….. Mrs. Brat left LA in 1949.

[MAUFRAIS 6629]

Austin’s still great if you can afford the right version and know what it is. It isn’t necessarily the most expensive shit in town, but it definitely isn’t cheap.

[deadshank 24653]

So much angst.

I live in Houston.  
 

It’s horrible.  It’s great. It sucks. It’s not too bad.  I don’t care.  

If I lived somewhere else I’d feel the same way.  There would be some things that would be wonderful and other things that would be bad.  

There is no utopia.  
 

 

[texasdago 7573]

13 minutes ago, deadshank said:

So much angst.

Exactly. People act like they live in Detroit.  Maybe Texas Monthly should stick to picking on Cancun Ted.  

[conVINCEd 21469]

24 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

Too bad….. Mrs. Brat left LA in 1949.

You left the great-grandchildren behind in Cali so soon after the war.  Shame on you both. 😉

[Bateshorn 9927]

4 hours ago, texasdago said:

Bitching about the loss of old Austin is an Austin tradition. I need to find the articles that I came across online showing people from the 1940s and 50s complaining about the loss of old Austin.  Having moved back from houston, I laugh so hard at the people complaining about traffic.   

And please Round Rock and Pflugerville are as Austiny as Sugar Land and Katy are to Houston.

Yes... it's terrible here.  Don't move here.

When my great, great Aunt sold her house at what is now MLK and San Antonio and retired to Westminster , the Statesman covered her move, as the University was acquiring one of the last private residences that was Drag adjacent.  One of the last lines in the article was how Austin wasn’t as good as it used to be. 
 

Having recalled that and cooked down town in the late 90s, going to shows waved in by bouncers, drinking at Egos late night with the service crew, coffee at Flipnotics, taking the back way home via the low water crossing at  Tom Miller to avoid the Westlake PD, don’t tell me this place hasn’t changed. And not for the better.

Edited January 2, 2023 by Bateshorn

[Loop 1604 227]

Austin was getting bad enough when I was in school 2007-2011, now it’s unrecognizable. 
 

Went from a badass town in the 90s to a generic mid-sized city by 2010 or so. Now it’s just another Houston or Dallas, albeit with terrible infrastructure and a city government that is idiocracy level qualified.

Edited January 2, 2023 by Loop 1604

[YGIFS 19450]

10th largest city in America dealing with issues.  Film at 11.  

[Bolero88 277]

15 hours ago, longhornmatt said:

The irony of Austin being so smug and holding onto the idea that it’s still uniquely special is it’s now really a worse version of Dallas and Houston and the major California cities and [insert virtually all other larger MSAs in the United States that at least have better infrastructure and bigger city attractions like true airline hubs to offset the negatives].

I would imagine Brickhorn’s and others’ descriptions of Dallas as a banal suckhole were made with scorn, but at this point Austin should just accept its fate and embrace the banal big city status like Dallas.  Build a fuckton of roads to help with traffic and stop pretending you give a shit about whatever greenbelt, admit you’re snobs who like money and nice things (and start getting more places that cater to that instead of pretending you’re still casual and quirky), and just get on with it.  You’ll all have more of the stuff you like deep down and you won’t annoy everyone else with the fake “Keep Austin Weird!” persona.  The only thing worse than banal suckholes are banal suckholes that insist they’re this century’s equivalent to Renaissance Florence.

Gross. Just no. 

[DalTxHornFan 3102]

I'm old enough to remember way back when Zilker Park had a functioning mini train for kids:

 

https://www.zilkertrain.org/zilker-eagle-construction-updates/

Train Prep & Testing

Adjustments must be made before the train can run on the new rail (e.g. rail height, railway switches, loading dock, etc.). Construction timelines will dictate the exact timing of this phase, leaving ample time for safety and efficiency testing.

Estimated Completion: 

ONGOING

[hornian 5219]

14 hours ago, deadshank said:

There is no utopia.  

 

https://utopiatexas.info

[Neonmoon 38129]

The real discussion is population growth. Any “it’s not as good as it used to be” arguments are just bitching about population growth of the city they live in. 
 

 

[Brisketexan 105151]

10th largest city in America - still governed as if and with the infrastructure of the 70h largest city - dealing with issues.  Film at 11.  

FI to capture a big part of the problem. A big part of it is Austin continuing to pretend to be what it’s not: a dinky town where the only thing going on is state govt and a university. We act like we’re Helena, MT in that regard, with the infrastructure and transportation system to match. I grew up in Houston, I know sprawl and traffic quite well. I used to laugh at Austinites complaining about traffic. About 10 years ago, I stopped laughing. But hey, we’ll all just bike everywhere, like they do in Copenhagen! It makes perfect sense as we have the exact same climate!

That’s aside and apart from the moneybags hipster douchebag world being our defining culture.

[ztejas 43454]

21 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

It’s another generic high-end and pricey city

If Austin is generic so is every other city in the country. Austin has an F1 track, SXSW, one of the most prominent public universities in the world, a WGC event inside the city limits, three lakes all great for recreation, good public golf courses (that you can play year round), a fuck ton of bars and nightlife spots, an MLS team with an elite fan experience... you can go on. 

There's a reason Austin is a huge tourist destination. There's a lot of places I'd enjoy living but a lot of that is a function of me living here for so long. Austin is pretty fucking cool and there's a shit ton of stuff to do. 

[bolverk 29683]

17 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

The real discussion is population growth. Any “it’s not as good as it used to be” arguments are just bitching about population growth of the city they live in. 
 

 

DING! DING! DING!

 

Pretty much. Look at the metros that are currently in our "weight class" and compare their growth rates (btw, that 3 percent growth rate for Austin was recorded from 2020 to 2021). Now, think about those that are also in the same class and which others you'd prefer to live in and why.

What is it about their growth patterns, business opportunities, planning decisions, natural/cultural amenities, livability/affordability that you prefer over Austin?

19	Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO MSA	2,972,566	2,963,821	+0.30%	Denver-Aurora, CO CSA
20	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD MSA	2,838,327	2,844,510	−0.22%	Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA CSA
21	St. Louis, MO-IL MSA	2,809,299	2,820,253	−0.39%	St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington, MO-IL CSA
22	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC MSA	2,701,046	2,660,329	+1.53%	Charlotte-Concord, NC-SC CSA
23	Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL MSA	2,691,925	2,673,376	+0.69%	Orlando-Lakeland-Deltona, FL CSA
24	San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX MSA	2,601,788	2,558,143	+1.71%	San Antonio-New Braunfels-Pearsall, TX CSA
25	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA MSA	2,511,612	2,512,859	−0.05%	Portland-Vancouver–Salem, OR-WA CSA
26	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA MSA	2,411,428	2,397,382	+0.59%	Sacramento-Roseville, CA CSA
27	Pittsburgh, PA MSA	2,353,538	2,370,930	−0.73%	Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA-OH-WV CSA
28	Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX MSA	2,352,426	2,283,371	+3.02%
29	Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV MSA	2,292,476	2,265,461	+1.19%	Las Vegas-Henderson, NV-AZ CSA
30	Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN MSA	2,259,935	2,256,884	+0.14%	Cincinnati-Wilmington-Maysville, OH-KY-IN CSA
31	Kansas City, MO-KS MSA	2,199,490	2,192,035	+0.34%	Kansas City-Overland Park-Kansas City, MO-KS CSA
32	Columbus, OH MSA	2,151,017	2,138,926	+0.57%	Columbus-Marion-Zanesville, OH CSA
33	Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN MSA	2,126,804	2,111,040	+0.75%	Indianapolis-Carmel-Muncie, IN CSA
34	Cleveland-Elyria, OH MSA	2,075,662	2,088,251	−0.60%	Cleveland-Akron-Canton, OH CSA
35	Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN MSA	2,012,476	1,989,519	+1.15%	Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro, TN CSA

Edited January 2, 2023 by bolverk

[Red Five 40859]

45 minutes ago, DalTxHornFan said:

I'm old enough to remember way back when Zilker Park had a functioning mini train for kids:

 

https://www.zilkertrain.org/zilker-eagle-construction-updates/

Train Prep & Testing

Adjustments must be made before the train can run on the new rail (e.g. rail height, railway switches, loading dock, etc.). Construction timelines will dictate the exact timing of this phase, leaving ample time for safety and efficiency testing.

Estimated Completion: 

ONGOING

I'm thinking a four hour wait for that thing these days. The last time I tried to go to Barton Springs in the summer there was a line around the block waiting to get in. We left, and went to Matt's for dinner, and there was a two hour wait to get in there. 

[austingirl 2191]

Eh, sure we have problems, but so does every big city and there's still no place in Texas I'd rather be. (And we need to be in TX to be close to family.) There's still charm, and things to love. The lady down the street from me has a mini-horse she dresses up for Halloween every year, and we always make sure to walk by her house to feed him carrots or apples. I went into this shop on North Lamar last week and was greeted by the owner's 3-legged dog. Dan's burgers still taste like they did when I moved here in 1999 and they're still my favorite burgers in town. I still laugh at the OG El Arroyo's signs. I still enjoy White Christmas at the Paramount in winter, and their summer movie series in the summer. Etc. 

(The caveat to the above is that I recognize that I'm fortunate enough to have been here and bought property before things got too out of hand, and that we can afford to live here. I know my tune might be different in different circumstances.)

[UT_OB1 2223]

17 hours ago, longhornmatt said:

This is kind of the crux of the issue.  Nowhere in Texas really has great climate or natural beauty, so it all depends on the people.  

We pretend Austin and the Hill Country are beautiful, but that’s just because we’re comparing it to the rest of the state.  Everywhere east of the Mississippi has actual forests and hill country that is prettier than Texas, places with mountains are prettier, places with Pacific and Atlantic coastlines are prettier than our Gulf Coast, etc.  It isn’t hot as balls 9 months of the year and then cold as balls for the other 3 months everywhere else.

If the people in Texas are going to act like the people everywhere else … then lots of other places are better.  Texas is a harsh place, and it’s problematic if you aren’t offsetting that with the culture you grew up loving.

This is a really stupid fucking take. 

[gmr548 16580]

So much angst.
I live in Houston.  
 
It’s horrible.  It’s great. It sucks. It’s not too bad.  I don’t care.  

If I lived somewhere else I’d feel the same way.  There would be some things that would be wonderful and other things that would be bad.  
There is no utopia.  
 
 

This is true to an extent, but after living all of my 30 years in Texas, the summers, which are getting progressively worse, are starting to induce seasonal depression for four-plus months a year.

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

10 minutes ago, UT_OB1 said:

This is a really stupid fucking take. 

I like Texas because of the vast public lands accessible to its residents to enjoy its natural beauty.

[mdmost 43003]

Yeah, Big Bend has no natural beauty at all to speak of. The Hill Country...trash. 

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

11 minutes ago, mdmost said:

Yeah, Big Bend has no natural beauty at all to speak of. The Hill Country...trash. 

There’s lots of pretty places in Texas. Almost all of it is privately owned.

[texasdago 7573]

55 minutes ago, Red Five said:

I'm thinking a four hour wait for that thing these days. The last time I tried to go to Barton Springs in the summer there was a line around the block waiting to get in. We left, and went to Matt's for dinner, and there was a two hour wait to get in there. 

I'm sorry but if you can't get into Barton Springs without a massive line, you're doing it wrong. We will go in the dead of Summer when it's hot as balls and so long as you don't arrive at the wrong time, you can go in the back way with a tiny line. You just have to find workarounds.  I'd give up on my secrets but I'm not giving up on my secrets.

 

And Austin is still weird enough where on some Sunday morning so I can go to my local park and see a bunch of people, some of which are topless, dancing around the music like it's the most normal thing in the world.  

If I were to complain about one aspect of the growth I don't like it's the mid-rise towers in West campus. That was pretty jarring. But, I love the Austin Skyline. The skyline of my college years sucked.

1 minute ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

There’s lots of pretty places in Texas. Almost all of it is privately owned.

As if Big Bend is easy to access, too...

[Mole 4333]

I lived in Denton some years back. At the time, it had most of what I loved about old Austin (whatever old Austin is). The old timers complained that everything had changed. It had certainly changed, but they also got old.

I haven’t been back to Austin in about 10 years, but the last time I visited, it felt old and stodgy, nothing like the cool fun place where I went to college. Strangely, I was also older and stodgier and nothing like the cool fun person I imagine I was in college.

Austin traffic sucked when I was in college. Everything was overcrowded then. I’m sure it’s worse now, but it was terrible then too. I’m way less patient with terrible traffic these days though.

I’ll take everyone’s word that Austin isn’t as cool or fun as it used to be, but direct observation tells me that we’re not as cool or fun either. That’s ok.

[Bateshorn 9927]

2 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

 

FI to capture a big part of the problem. A big part of it is Austin continuing to pretend to be what it’s not: a dinky town where the only thing going on is state govt and a university. We act like we’re Helena, MT in that regard, with the infrastructure and transportation system to match. I grew up in Houston, I know sprawl and traffic quite well. I used to laugh at Austinites complaining about traffic. About 10 years ago, I stopped laughing. But hey, we’ll all just bike everywhere, like they do in Copenhagen! It makes perfect sense as we have the exact same climate!

That’s aside and apart from the moneybags hipster douchebag world being our defining culture.

 

So much this.  You Austin stans just do not understand how woefully undeveloped your infrastructure is.  And the quirky shit that made up for it is disappearing by the second.  

[texasdago 7573]

One of the things I like about Austin is all the breweries.

Austin craft beer when I was in college:

1. Celia (don't think you could visit)

2. Uh... Shiner Bock?

Austin craft beer today and all the places you can enjoy (and this is far from exhaustive)

https://austin.eater.com/maps/best-breweries-austin-beer-taprooms-central-texas

How about distilleries?

Same story.

[texasdago 7573]

Typo... Celis dammit 

[utee94 15824]

You could definitely visit Celis when it first opened, they offered free tours.  After I turned 21, I visited almost every day for a week, to get my free samples.

 

[Snake Diggity 4625]

The difference between the “Austin sucks now compared to 10/20/30/40/50/60 years ago” is that there’s now actual evidence that it’s more true.  Austin is no longer topping any of the “best places to live” lists.  There are plenty of good arguments that Houston or San Antonio or Corpus are better places to live.

That said, there’s still plenty to love about Austin.  We now have MLS to add to UT sports and F1 to add to SXSW.  There are a shitload of great restaurants and breweries that have opened in the last 10 years.  But instead of being defined by the University, state govt, and hippy/music culture, Austin is now clearly defined by economic/career opportunity.  That’s where it stands out relative to other cities.  That trait will always bring huge problems like traffic, crowds, a loss of culture, and expense.

I will likely never leave because we are committed to living close to extended family, and I don’t think I could ever go back to living in a small town, which limits me to SA, Houston, or Austin.  If that weren’t the case, I’d probably move to San Diego or Charlotte.

Edited January 2, 2023 by Snake Diggity

[troph 24810]

18 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

Texas sucks for public land. The 1500 acres in Houston and Austin’s green space is comically pathetic compared to any place west. The Greenbelt is overloaded with people and it’s starting to show. Every decent Greenbelt in town is overrun with trash and dog shit.

Austin is just such a beating to do anything that you could do easily even 10 years ago. Blues in the Green is a logistical train wreck. Trail of Lights is the same. Going to Zilker Park is getting close to impossible on weekends. Restaurants are packed.

We will leave as soon as my youngest graduates. Right now Fort Collins is the leader for us. It reminds me of Austin in the early 90s.

Yeah but Texas had a far superior set of rules governing navigable rivers. I can fish anywhere on the major Texas rivers by kayak and can even stop along the shore on private property. We also have way more accessible public lands on the coastline than most states.  But outside of that when you look at hiking, camping, hunting and lake or pond fishing, yes Texas severely lacks compared to western counterparts.

Edited January 2, 2023 by troph

[Wally Pryor 5261]

It's fun to chuckle at saps who still wear the weird shirts. Worked in the early 80s. Best used to wash your car now. 

 

[Red Five 40859]

2 hours ago, texasdago said:

I'm sorry but if you can't get into Barton Springs without a massive line, you're doing it wrong. We will go in the dead of Summer when it's hot as balls and so long as you don't arrive at the wrong time, you can go in the back way with a tiny line. You just have to find workarounds.  I'd give up on my secrets but I'm not giving up on my secrets.

Yeah I've been to Barton Springs probably four times in the last 20 years, so I confess I don't know the super secret ways to get in. I just know after we parked a half mile away and started walking over, it looked like the Jerusalem scene in World War Z. 

[Neonmoon 38129]

data relevant to discussion 

 

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

data relevant to discussion 

 

That map would look so different if the first national park was established in 1776 instead of 100 years later. Hard to go back in and create parks when a place is settled. 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, mdmost said:

Yeah, Big Bend has no natural beauty at all to speak of. The Hill Country...trash. 

I think the Hill Country is ugly. *ducks*

There are spots, but overall I feel like it's just scrubby, rocky land that has scars from people everywhere.

[ztejas 43454]

39 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

data relevant to discussion 

 

Conversely, Texas is middle of the pack when it comes to combined national and state park coverage as a % and ranks much better than surrounding states (and it looks like only 6 states have more total acreage).

That map is also misleading because while Padre Island isn't a national park it's a federally managed national seashore. 

Edited January 2, 2023 by ztejas

[Dahobbs 17543]

Grew up in Austin. Moved to Houston in 2011. Visit regularly as both my family and my wife's family live in Austin now. Austin isn't the same, but it is also better in many many ways. Downtown used to be a ghost town except for 6th Street Thursday through Saturday. Now, there are people all over, living, working, and shopping. That's a real city and so much better than it was before, you know, if you actually like people. Austin now has restaurants with actual good food as opposed to restaurants that are just popular because they were "Austin." The city still has a vibe distinctive from Houston and Dallas, younger and more fun. It is just in it's late 20s, early 30s now.  If all you ever do in Austin is stay in the burbs and the outskirts, while only driving into town for work, then, yes, I'm sure it feels worse. 

[Redneck Mutha 7957]

20 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Conversely, Texas is middle of the pack when it comes to combined national and state park coverage as a % and ranks much better than surrounding states.

Counterpoint: