Poor Jonestown (Dallas, Austin, Cedar Park: affordable houses, employment, neighborhood)

[JayBrown80]

Originally Posted by thesonofgray

I(I think I hear a train wreck coming...)

Oh NOES! And no one has answered my question yet!

[chickenfry]

Jonestown was in the old days nothing but a little burg populated mostly by little bitty weekend fishing cabins. it eventually led to cheap rental housing, most of those cabins were tucked into the cedar brakes, pretty isolated if you know what i mean. perfect place for folks looking to cook some meth. those folk are long gone. as for the murders, please. that was a freak who started his rampage in marble falls, moved to the home of an ex-girlfriend in northwest travis county which was near jonestown------not in jonestown. jonestown is now very much a town in transition. there are still little cabins, some next door to very high end waterfront estates, and no violent crime to speak of, or meth factories to be stinking up the neighborhood when the cooking is in high gear!

[mathomp]

I looked there for a retirement house for my parents a few years ago. Mostly septic systems. Very rural. Some very nice views. Not a lot of infrastructure like great roads or services there. Probably a lot of places to have more privacy but a lot of central Texas has that.

[Lana Pettit]

Originally Posted by JayBrown80

I am not familiar with Jonestown myself, but was doing a real estate search (one of my favorite pastimes) and noticed a house that was very nice, located in Jonestown, that had lake views.

"Lake views?" I thought, "But it's so cheap, why?"

So I looked up some information on Jonestown.

This is what Wikipedia had to say.

Jonestown is well known for both annual festivities as well as crime and drug problems.
In 2007, mass murderer [URL="http://www.city-data.com/w/index.php?title=Paul_Devoe&action=edit&redlink=1"]Paul Devoe[/URL] began a killing spree that started with the murder of four people in Jonestown and ended in [URL="http://www.city-data.com/wiki/New_York"]New York[/URL].[URL="http://www.city-data.com/forum/#cite_note-3"][4][/URL] Also, the city has been known for having a plethora of [URL="http://www.city-data.com/wiki/Methamphetamine"]methamphetamine[/URL] labs in its vast forests

And I thought to myself "Poor Jonestown!"

Does anyone live there? Familiar with the area? Did Wikipedia unfairly malign your town? Or is it pretty spot on?

I was deaply hurt by your comment...POOR JONESTOWN...That you would make a comment like that not even knowing or having the understanding that their are hard working, familys raising children that live there. What were you thinking? Poor you..
I attend First Baptist Church Jonestown, Texas. Welcome everyone....

[Runemaster]

Originally Posted by Lana Pettit

I was deaply hurt by your comment...POOR JONESTOWN...That you would make a comment like that not even knowing or having the understanding that their are hard working, familys raising children that live there. What were you thinking? Poor you..
I attend First Baptist Church Jonestown, Texas. Welcome everyone....

I think you're misunderstanding him. He's asking if it's true or if Wikipedia got it wrong, in which case "poor Jonestown" for being maligned by Wikipedia...

[FueledByBlueBell]

Jonestown, TX is a beautiful area but very affordable because it is so difficult to get anywhere from there. Yeah, there probably are some labs as it is out in the county but I wouldn't worry too much.

[Trainwreck20]

If you wish to post about Jonestown (the original topic), have at it. If you want to discuss what each other REALLy meant or disect the individual lines of each post, do it in a DM - the rest of the forum is really not interested. If you want to discuss religion, go to the religion forum.

[ROY DUBOSE]

from what i've learned about "early Austin", the areas west of town and north of the lake were notorious for harboring outlaws and ner' do wells -- many folks went out that way because law enforcement was lax, property size was larger and somewhat seculded, and those that lived out there left each other alone. to a certain extent, that attitude translated well into fishing camps and the "lake" lifestyle -- will be interesting to see how the area develops now since 183a (not to mention the growth of leander) has really brought such easy access to jonestown/lago vista proper

[thelakenight]

I have a vacation home in Jonestown and have since 2006. We have never had any trouble and have great neighbors. Due the the heavy tax base provided by The Hollows, we have excellent police!

[tongpa-nyi]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Wikipedia gets its information from whoever wants to put it on there, or edit it. They're quite open about this. I will go to Wikipedia to get a START on something, but I absolutely follow up with more reliable sources.

Wiki's accuracy is highly contingent on the popularity of a topic. Jonestown is so low on the list of important pages on that website that the info contained was probably submitted by fewer than 10 people, and that might even be a stretch.

On the other hand, pages about larger cities and other major topics that are generated by hundreds or thousands of people tend to be extremely accurate and chalk-full of references for further research. Wiki's page on the controversial topic of Global Warming, for example, is outstanding. I've not found another single source on that subject that handles as much information and points of view in such a compact and concise summary.

But this is a Jonestown thread. My two cents --- it does have a bad rep and bad history. It's been historically poor. So was South Austin until the last couple decades. I remember looking at a small house in Bouldin in the early 90s and was scared off by the "high" price tag of $60,000. Now that house is probably worth at least $400,000.

Point being, Jonestown's proximity to the lake and being in the path of growth will lead to future prosperity. The terrain is nice. It simply needs some love and attention. It will get it, and those who get in there early are going to be the real winners. It won't remain a hideout for the dregs of rural Texas.