ATX: the Austin Real Estate Life Blog

Let's Be Real: The 7 Biggest Problems With Living in Austin, Texas I love this city. I was born here, raised here, and I've spent my career selling Central Austin real estate. I'm not planning on moving away, ever, but the country lifestyle is starting to appear rosier. That's exactly why I get to say what follows. Austin Texas has changed. It is constantly evolving with the modern times, for better or worse.   Here are the seven things that perturb and grind on me the most , counting down to the one that bothers me the most — with real examples pulled from my own first hand life history account. 7. A City of Strangers In the 1990s, Austin had a small-town feel. You knew people, and you knew where they came from — the family, the industry their parents worked in, the high school they went to. Leaving the house meant running into a familiar face at the post office, the dry cleaner, or the coffee shop. These days, with the city population well past 1 million, I hardly kno...

  Thanks for all of you who took time to complete my survey last week. There were lots of good responses, and they’re helpful to me. One reply especially struck me.  A 36-year-old, lifelong Austin resident said: “If you can do the basics really well, then the voters will support and trust that you can do the extras as well.” Something else that struck me was how much folks want to engage and to learn about what’s in the budget and how it works. That’s why I recently sat down with Kerri Lang, the Director of Austin’s Budget & Organizational Excellence Department, to talk more in-depth on the ins-and-outs of budgeting. I call this going behind the Wire. Behind the Wire: Austin’s Budget Essentially Austin Austinites want their local government to deliver quality essential city services. They want to know that the city is focused on maintaining our roads, improving drainage, supplying residents with clean water, keeping the lights on, providing effective and responsive public ...