A Publication For The City Of Austin: Fill & Download for Free

I’ve lived in Boston for almost 4 years, and have been to NYC dozens of times.Boston is SIGNIFICANTLY smaller. It’s the worlds biggest small town in my opinion. In terms of the actual city itself (meaning tall buildings and lots of jobs) it will take you an hour to walk from one end to the other. It’s pretty common to run into people you know.Boston is (slightly) more affordable. Don’t get me wrong, Boston's housing prices are insane. I know 5 guys who live together in a decrepit house in the hood, and they’re still paying $850 a month each. That said, that wouldn’t even cover a two bedroom apartment in NYC.Boston is cleaner. Boston has very clean air. It has a rat problem, but not like NYC where rats rule the city. Most noticeable is the homeless population. In terms of straight numbers, the ratio of homeless in Boston and NYC is roughly equal, with NYC slightly edging to be #1. However, Boston has guaranteed housing in shelters, as a result there’s only around 200 people actually sleeping on the streets at night, compared to tens of thousands in NYC.NYC is #1 in a few industries, Boston is #2 in many. Boston is #2 in banking (roughly tied with Charlotte), behind NYC. Boston is #2 in tech (roughly tied with Austin), behind San Francisco. Add into that being #1 for education and healthcare, and Boston's economy is more diverse.Boston's winters are more brutal.American history is more prevalent in everyday lives in Boston.NYC public transit kicks the crap out of Boston. Inside the city, NYC is much more reliable, faster, and more comprehensive. Then again, you don’t need public transit as much in the city of Boston. In the far suburbs of Boston, there is no public transit. Tens of thousands of people commute from Connecticut to NYC daily by train. I know a handful of people who commute from New Hampshire to Boston, roughly the same distance. They have 3 options: leave the house at 5:30AM to beat traffic, drive for half an hour to catch an hour long train into the city, or take an hour and a half long bus ride. The only place where Boston is equivalent to NYC is the wealthy suburbs immediately outside the city. If you can afford a million dollar house, you can live in Chestnut Hill or Winchester and get to the city reliably in about half an hour.

I lived in Austin for 5 years and have spent some time in Plano, and I have also lived in many different parts of the United States. I will describe the things about Texas that are memorable and interesting to me, and which I am knowledgeable about: namely the natural beauty of Texas, the small towns and the different types of food you can find there and the cities of Austin and Dallas.Geography:One thing that surprises a lot of people about Texas is that the geography is varied. It is a huge state and it isn't just plains and farmland. Austin is located on the eastern edge of the Texas Hill Country, which is one of the most beautiful parts of Texas and extends a few hundred miles to the West of Austin. This area is filled with lots of really steep (but mostly short) hills. The hills are covered with a short trees and desert plants. During the late summer this area is extremely beautiful because of all of the wildflowers, see this link for pictures http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&cp=24&gs_id=2j&xhr=t&q=hill+country+wildflowers&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1366&bih=682&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=si8MT4CsDsPX0QHRiunPBQ#um=1&hl=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=texas+hill+country+wildflowers&pbx=1&oq=texas+hill+country+wildflowers&aq=f&aqi=g-S1&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=9927l10702l0l11048l6l4l0l0l0l1l250l706l0.3.1l4l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=bd33f2b2081c5f30&biw=1366&bih=682This area is also known as a great place to go cycling (bring your climbing legs) or motorcycle touring. There are a handful of interesting state parks, my favourites being Enchanted Rock which is gorgeous and also a great area for rock climbing and also Hamilton Pool:http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=682&q=Hamilton+Pool&gbv=2&oq=Hamilton+Pool&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=1031l2841l0l3213l13l12l0l3l3l1l180l1218l0.9l9l0.The fact that the hill country extends all the way to Austin means that Austin is also a very beautiful place. Austin is basically divided in half by the hill country and the hilly side is gorgeous. The city took advantage of the geography by designating a number of areas inside the city as greenbelts. The most famous of these is Barton Creek, which is a 6 mile creek that ends in downtown Austin and is home to an amazing swimming hole as well as excellent mountain biking, rock climbing and even caving.Outside of the Hill Country one can find the rolling plains and farmland that is usually associated with Texas. If you are not from Texas or the middle of the country you might expect this part to be exceedingly boring, but the plains are home to one of the coolest and most beautiful things in all of Texas, the lightning storms. The middle of the United States is often called Tornado alley because extremely powerful storms, some of them supercells, readily form in this region. The United States is home to most of the world's Tornados (correct me if I am wrong) and the storms that produce them are some of the most beautiful natural phenomenon on Earth (at least in my personal opinion). If you haven't seen one of these storms you might think I am totally crazy, but they are truly forces of nature that must be seen to be appreciated.There are many other areas of Texas worthy of note, Big Bend national park is a very isolated area on the border with Mexico and is home to a gorgeous canyon and a desert that springs to life during its own wildflower season. Palo Duro canyon is an undiscovered gem in the Texas panhandle, and there are even some mountains near the border with New Mexico.One downside to Texas is that nearly all of the land is private (I am sure some would view this as an upside). Texas, like all of the states to the west of it, has huge amounts of land that are not a part of cities. In other states large tracts are owned by the bureau of land management, which allows you to pretty much do whatever you want on the public land. This is not so in Texas. One cultural Faux Pas in Texas is trespassing, especially in the country. I have heard from many long time Texans that even setting foot on the other side of someone's fence could provoke them to shoot at you (and they might even be legally permitted to do so). If you are doing a road trip through Texas and are planning on camping be careful about the spots you pick. That said, outside of this particular circumstance, the stereotype of Texans is that they are friendly people.Barbecue and small towns:Texas is dotted with small towns. Most of the towns that I have visited are organized around a central square, which is the analogue of downtown, and they usually have a very old but beautiful building in the very center, perhaps city hall or a courthouse. There are many small towns with something unique about them, but my favorite thing hands down about the small towns in Texas is the food, especially the barbecue. The term barbecue means different things to people around the United States and around the world. In Texas it is a specific genre of food, and definitely not just a grill with hot dogs and hamburgers. I don't know if every town in Texas is blessed with amazing barbecue, but the towns near Austin certainly are. Elgin, Bastrop, Luling, Lockhart, and Driftwood are all towns near Austin that have awesome barbecue. Texas barbecue is known for two things in my opinion. The first is the Brisket. I hated Brisket until I lived in Texas but now Brisket is generally my favourite barbecue item (most people have their own brisket preference, I like mine really fatty and not dry, generally some part of the Brisket will have the taste that you like you just have to know to ask). The second unique thing is that Texas barbecue is generally served sauceless (many different parts of the country have their own geographically standardized barbecue sauce), which might be viewed as a disadvantage. In the small town food department I must also mention the city of West, which is halfway between Dallas and Austin and is a town founded primarily by Czech immigrants (incidentally there are many enclaves of Czech culture in Texas, but West is the one I am most familiar with). West is one of the centers for the production of Kolaches, which are a food item that as far as I can tell is unique to the Czech republic and to Texas. Kolaches (at least the Texas version) are sort of like really fancy pigs in blankets. There are also sweet versions.Austin:Austin is the capital city of Texas and is also a city of great cultural significance. If you are very liberal chances are you will be happiest in Austin as it is the politically most liberal city in Texas. If I had to pick one city in which to live the rest of my life it would without a doubt be Austin (not for anything political). It is a very well balanced city and has something for everyone. It also has a great combination of Texan kindness and hippy chillness. As already mentioned, within Austin one can do a large number of outdoor activities. In addition to that Austin is known for its live music scene. On any given day in Austin there are hundreds of live music performances. Austin is also home to the Austin City Limits music festival and the South by Southwest film/music/technology festival. In theory it will be home to a formula one race next year. Similarly there are lots of great things for young people, there are numerous bars and restaurants. The city has a very low cost of living and is the home to a major university. The economy of Austin is driven by the presence of the capital, the University, and growth is being driven by large technology companies like Dell, Samsung, National Instruments, etc. There is a large hispanic population and as a result the city is culturally diverse. This is true of Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston as well. I believe that Houston has a large Indian population and maybe Dallas also.Dallas:I have some experience with Dallas as my family currently lives there. Dallas is located 60 miles south of Oklahoma, and is a real serious city. In particular there are two population centers, Dallas and Fort Worth, and sprawling mass of suburbs which surround them. Both Dallas and Fort Worth have cultural attractions of typical of major cities, museums, opera, zoos, sports teams, many of which are quite nice. I would say these things are amongst the most impressive of any city in the United States, excepting New York perhaps. I believe Dallas has the somewhat dubious distinction of having the largest number of malls of any city in the United States, and in some ways Dallas contains a lot of the archetypes of modern American cities and suburbs. The place in which my family lives, Plano, perhaps embodies the definition of the word suburb more than any place I have ever lived. Plano is an extremely well organized city, with blocks of houses with repeating designs, well lit and constantly cleaned streets, powerful home owner's associations, insanely low crime rates, lots of fancy cars, high performing schools (anecdotally with large drug problems), tons of families, things which close early, etc. Both Dallas and Fort Worth are surrounded by places like this. These places are either great (they provide an affordable place to raise a family) or really boring depending on your perspective. Austin for the most part has much more diverse architecture, etc. I have heard people say that Fort Worth is a great place, but I have not been there and thus cannot comment.Dallas is home to a large number of oil and gas companies (as is Houston), and is also home to a decent amount of wealth, much of which is concentrated in University Park/Highland Park, two small cities embedded within Dallas.Other Random Cultural Things/Strange Facts:Like most other places in the United States, outside of the major cities the only radio options are either Country music or something Spanish language, which is probably Spanish language country music, for all I know.Police give out a ton of speeding tickets. Texas cities dominate the lists of cities with the most speed traps. Houston in particular is number one by a huge margin.On the flip side, the speed limits on some roads are quite high, 80 on parts of the I-10. Texas police have a reputation for strictness.A common greeting is the two finger wave, generally this is exchanged between drivers going the opposite direction on a small two lane highway somewhere.Texas currently occupies the nexus of awesome hamburger chains. In'n Out burger has reached Texas from the West. Five Guys has reached Texas from the Northeast. Whataburger has always been in Texas. You can find all of these right next to each-other in some parts of Texas, definitely Dallas.American Football is an extremely important part of culture in Texas, both in cities and in small towns. The show Friday Night Lights is a good depiction. I have heard that on any given Friday night 20% of the population of Texas is at a high school football game. College football and the NFL are also extremely popular.Texas is huge. There is a city in the panhandle of Texas, Dalhart, that is closer to the capitals of New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming than it is close to Austin. If you start driving from Houston towards the Pacific Ocean, you will spend half your drive in Texas.El Paso is in the southwest corner of Texas and lies just across the Mexican border form Juarez. Juarez is perhaps the most dangerous city in the world. El Paso is somehow the safest city of its size in the United States.The Hill country is one of the worst places for allergy sufferers in the entire world. There is essentially an allergy season at all times of the year. The worst is the Cedar season which is in January. Pollen counts are among the highest recorded anywhere in the world during this time period. Some days in Austin it looks like there is a gray haze over the land. This is not smog it is clouds of cedar pollen. If you have an allergy to cedar and are living in this area you should take a vacation for the Cedar season.Texas is an amazing place and you should definitely come visit if you have the chance.

These gorgeous tiled steps are a bit off the beaten path (16th and Moraga).(More info here: http://www.colettecrutcher.com/pages/artwork_pages/mosaic006.html#info)This wacky concrete slide is nestled into a mini-park on Seward and Douglas in the Castro.Here's a video:Want to escape the city? Check out Mori Point in Pacifica (10-15 minutes south of SF).Also a great place to watch the sun go down:Perhaps the best-kept secret of all is that there are, in fact, San Francisco natives who still live in San Francisco. I know dozens of them personally! That's all I can post in a public forum (looking around furtively)... but if you'd like to meet some of these rare creatures, go ahead and PM me and I'll try to hook you up.Perhaps you're wondering where all the other natives went? I don't have any data on this subject, but an informal survey of my childhood friends says that the lion's share of them still live in California - just not in the City. There are also lots of SF natives in Boston, New York, Boulder, Austin, Seattle and Portland.