Is Austin a liberal city but only liberal compared to rest of Texas or a liberal city compared to the rest of the US?

[As Above So Below...]

Originally Posted by cw30000

If this is true, then why are they voting in the same people that make where they came here a unaffordable place to live?

Because politics isnt the main reason places are unaffordable. That's just something people tell themselves to score points in conversations about politics.

Costal California for example is as expensive as it is because, well, look at it. The weather is perfect year round, there are beautiful beaches, mountains, tons of things to do outdoors, its the worldwide center of entertainment and technology, etc. There is no other state that offers near that much. Because of all of those things, California has been a huge magnet for people over the last generations and still is for wealthy foreigners. That's not because its liberal, that's because its California.

There are liberal places that are cheap. Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and even Philly and Chicago are very affordable for big cities especially for what you get in return.

People move to Texas because its cheap for what you get. There are cheaper places, but Texas offers a lot for what you pay for it. But it still doesn't add up to what California offers if you have the money.

After all the cost of living in Austin and DFW have gone up a ton and they havent elected people that are any different than the ones they had before the explosive population growth. Its just because more people have moved in and supply and demand.

[Dopo]

Same thing I say every time people talk about liberal/conservative
It all depends on your defintion of liberal/conservative

I get the sense that conservatives think that liberal = lots of young people, lots of minorities, inner city areas.

Utah gives homeless people free housing and free healthcare and nobody calls Utah a liberal state
Nevada has Las Vegas and I've never heard anybody call Las Vegas a liberal city.

[DaBears02]

Originally Posted by As Above So Below...

Because politics isnt the main reason places are unaffordable. That's just something people tell themselves to score points in conversations about politics.

Costal California for example is as expensive as it is because, well, look at it. The weather is perfect year round, there are beautiful beaches, mountains, tons of things to do outdoors, its the worldwide center of entertainment and technology, etc. There is no other state that offers near that much. Because of all of those things, California has been a huge magnet for people over the last generations and still is for wealthy foreigners. That's not because its liberal, that's because its California.

Politics do play a factor in cost of living as well. California is also expensive since they don’t build anywhere near enough housing to meet the demand. They will announce all these buzzword liberal policies and will do literally everything but build housing. What I will say though is that a reluctance to build housing is neither a democratic or republican trait but is rather an issue on all ends of the spectrum. There are tons of democrat NIMBYs and republican NIMBYs that drive up housing costs.

[Kmanshouse]

I visited Austin in 2019. It felt like Nashville, kinda.

It felt VERY Texas still, to me, but with an enormous college student population added, and more musical.

The vibe didn't feel super liberal to me overall. They may vote blue, but then again, most big cities do.

It didn't feel as liberal as Portland.

[As Above So Below...]

Originally Posted by DaBears02

Politics do play a factor in cost of living as well. California is also expensive since they don’t build anywhere near enough housing to meet the demand. They will announce all these buzzword liberal policies and will do literally everything but build housing. What I will say though is that a reluctance to build housing is neither a democratic or republican trait but is rather an issue on all ends of the spectrum. There are tons of democrat NIMBYs and republican NIMBYs that drive up housing costs.

But thats just it, NIMBY isnt a political issue its a people issue.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by DaBears02

What I will say though is that a reluctance to build housing is neither a democratic or republican trait but is rather an issue on all ends of the spectrum. There are tons of democrat NIMBYs and republican NIMBYs that drive up housing costs.

I call that "lack of proper city planning"

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Seems to me, generally speaking, Austin residents, for the most part, are more of a slightly left-leaning, common-sense independent Liberterian type town rather than a loony-left "liberal" cesspool, that right wing conservatives want everybody to think that it is. Most people in Austin are pretty cool with just about anything, as long as you're not hurting anybody or getting in anybody's space. Most everybody is respectful and tolerant of so-called "alternative" lifestyles, even if they don't agree with whatever that particular lifestyle might happen to be.

[whereiend]

Originally Posted by Kmanshouse

I visited Austin in 2019. It felt like Nashville, kinda.

It felt VERY Texas still, to me, but with an enormous college student population added, and more musical.

The vibe didn't feel super liberal to me overall. They may vote blue, but then again, most big cities do.

It didn't feel as liberal as Portland.

Portland is one of the most liberal cities, so that is a high bar? I don't think anyone is claiming that Austin is the single most liberal city in the US. But looking at voting patterns Austin is much closer to Portland than it is to Nashville.

[whereiend]

Originally Posted by cw30000

If this is true, then why are they voting in the same people that make where they came here a unaffordable place to live?

1. I don't agree that Austin has followed California policies in this respect. Austin has built more housing per-capita than any other city in the US. I agree with others that this isn't a Republican or Democrat issue, specifically.

2. I think the more left wing policies Austin has followed, for example the criminal justice policies are not driven by Californians, they are driven by left-wing Texans. Texas is a big state and it produces many who align with the far left, and these people often migrate to Austin. Californians on the far left would rather stay there than move to Texas. I think the Californians we get are more moderate as they are obviously open minded about living in a conservative state.

[Need4Camaro]

I agree that most Austinites relocating here are native Texans and not out of state transplants.

I think Austin does follow a general progressive government policy that in many ways are modeled from those cities, regardless if or if not local democratic Texans choose to 'vote' to be like San Francisco, Portland or Seattle. The city leaders seem to take key policies that stem from those cities, such as open camping, police funding reallocations, plastic bag bans, transit first policy, focus on high density living spaces, permissionary stance toward street impeding protesting or even rioting, weakened prosecutions on minority groups, ect.

Housing I think Austin is doing better than those cities for the time being, although I do wonder what would happen if Austin took more of a Houston approach when it came to housing. Houston is 3 to 4 times larger and yet still seems to have more inventory keeping housing prices overall affordable.

Here is a chart showing housing supply vs demand in Austin:
https://www.axios.com/local/austin/2...omes-inventory