So why does Austin keep making top 10 lists? (Houston, Santa Fe: apartment complex, layoffs)
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For all of you wondering about "why put austin on a top ten list" I think I have a simple answer. I searched for top ten lists that included austin, and to be honest most of them were business or money-related articles, publications, or mags.... This especially makes sense when Austin makes the top ten for professional and fast growing. All of those "best places to live" lists serve to boost even more business and growth, which is already going well.
All aside, I am considering to move there myself after a visit this past march. beautiful city!
Who puts this list out? If it's a marketing gimmick meant to hype up Austin, it sounds like it's an Austin publication then. I see Top 10 lists on Forbes all the time and if my memory serves me correct, Austin was listed for Young Professionals and something else, which I unfortunately don't recall. Why would Forbes, or any 3rd party publication, hype up Austin for no reason?
Well, just like Santa, the Easter Bunny, and other fictitious characters, we all want to believe in a perfect place that will fulfill all our fantasies, and the top 10 lists play into that.....
Think of this...why always 10? why not 5, 3, 16, 13, etc....simply just plays into the same branding and marketing that we use to sell movies, music, and anything else sellable.......think of it another way....look how many there are....lets start with Money Mag.....their best place to live issue is the best seller every year....Forbes has several best selling issues
..while the 400 richest people is always the biggie, they always sell lots of issues anytime a best cities article is trumpeted on the cover.....and they get many hits from the cities they mention on the web, some people of which may buy their products, and link to them.......
Also, look at how many of those lists there are...it used to be just a couple.....mostly money mags annual...and now it has morphed to something almost mastabatory in the way people focus on them......what do they mean?
Well, certainly Flint, Akron, and Youngstown will never be on them...and there are certainly good qualities in all the ones that are often mentioned, but anyone who really thinks that even in just one you look at, that the cities really should be in that order, are looking at things in a childish way, not realizing that it is at best all subjective.....they take the cities that are doing well, attracting relocatees, and such, and just keep on rehashing them in one survey after another......
Think of it like baseball, another stat obsessed situation........where you can endlessly parce stat after stat, and argue who is/was the best at every position.....
What I would like to see, that I never saw yet, would be the ten greatest american cities of all time.....well, here goes.......hey, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!
1.)New York
2.)Philadelphia
3.)Los Angeles
4.)San Francisco
5.)New Orleans
6.)Chicago
7.)Washington DC
8.)Atlanta
9.)Boston
10.)Houston(the last one because of all the growth, and the real possibility of it becoming great soon)
look how many there are....lets start with Money Mag.....their best place to live issue is the best seller every year....Forbes has several best selling issues
..while the 400 richest people is always the biggie, they always sell lots of issues anytime a best cities article is trumpeted on the cover.....and they get many hits from the cities they mention on the web, some people of which may buy their products, and link to them.......
I don't know guys, sounds like your just doing a lot of gossip here. If the top 10 lists were a big conspiracy to sell the most magazines then why list Austin? It's the 16th largest population....surely there are others ahead of it...and back when they first started throwing Austin on there you guys were like the 32nd city or something. Isn't Houston and Dallas larger? Why Austin all the time then?
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Also, look at how many of those lists there are...it used to be just a couple.....mostly money mags annual...and now it has morphed to something almost mastabatory in the way people focus on them......what do they mean?
Apparently according to y'all they mean absolutely nothing and some nerd just randomly spins a bottle on a map and then makes up ranking numbers for things like friendlyness and nightlife and cost of living?!?!??!
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Well, certainly Flint, Akron, and Youngstown will never be on them...and there are certainly good qualities in all the ones that are often mentioned, but anyone who really thinks that even in just one you look at, that the cities really should be in that order, are looking at things in a childish way, not realizing that it is at best all subjective.....they take the cities that are doing well, attracting relocatees, and such, and just keep on rehashing them in one survey after another......
So the top 10 mags are dictating which cities do well...I guess they must get paid off or something?
Quote:
1.)New York
2.)Philadelphia
3.)Los Angeles
4.)San Francisco
5.)New Orleans
6.)Chicago
7.)Washington DC
8.)Atlanta
9.)Boston
10.)Houston(the last one because of all the growth, and the real possibility of it becoming great soon)
So you feel all these cities are better than Austin? You would have a COMPLETE meltdown in LA or New York if you complain about the traffic OR the drivers in Austin. Cost of living in San Fran would wipe most people out before they even get their feet on the ground, and if you guys want to talk about dirty cities how about sea's of homeless peoples feces littering the downtown area? In Washington area it's the murder capital of the country and the commute is 2 hours on average to jobs. Atlanta has huge racial tensions and gang problems, Boston has crippling winters that will make your 3 months of not being able to stay outside during the day pale in comparison, you would run back to texas crying your eyes out. New Orleans is just one more hurricane away from being in ruins again, if you think Boston has bad winters try Chicago where the windchill gets to negative 40 and subzero temps are the norm for almost half of the year (you wont be sweating, instead your skin will be turning purple with white dots and will burn and feel like your on fire) -- they dont call it the windy city for nothing and your land locked, and if you go to Philidelphia or New York for that matter -- leave your need for friendly people behind because these people hate the fact that they have to share air with you....You complain about the heat and humidity in Austin or water not being clean or dirtyness or traffic or lack of charater -- all that is worst in Houston -- I know because I had a friend that moved from that area to up here..... That's not even to mention that about 8 of those cities have less jobs and cost more to live in them. I'd say the articles have it right for the most part myself...seems like Austin isn't perfect but there is no huge down side like many other cities -- it may not have a huge upside either but seems to balance out for the most part.
Last edited by Mack wild; 06-19-2008 at 02:47 PM..
That's what I don't get. I mean there are several articles consistantly over the years that talk up Austin. It's not just Forbes, I've seen several others. In every one that I see Austin always seems to be near the top and the most balanced with rankings for individual categories. I don't know if the hype has just caught on such that these writers just make it a sexy pick and randomly come up with numbers or what they judge these things on, but if you listen to Scongress1234 or some of the others on here you would think it to be a huge conspiracy.
Its a marketing gimmick, not a conspiracy......this isn't any assassination theory plot.....just an attempt to sell lots of magazines and get lots of web hits.......think of it...you have a magazine or web page out....you are the marketing director.....wht do you do to generate interest? Well, coming out with top 10 lists would be a doable thing, but actually pretty lame at this point....I can guarantee you that even as marketing gimmicks go its not imaginative anymore...
Austin is a nice place, don't get me wrong.......but god, no way it lives up to the hype, no matter how scientific a job you do collating how many 'Lists" it pops up on.......another question I have for you guys..would you relocate to a city if it WASN"T on top 10 lists? Would you go to a city if it STOPPED appearing on top 10 lists?
I simply think that top 10 lists themselves are a very tired marketing gimmick, no matter who is on or not on them.....fact is, people read them like holy writ, and, if they want to believe that they really shoud be in even the order of one specific list, then let them believe.......cities are just cities.......
and will continue to be so long after top 10 city lists aren't cool anymore...
I do notice that major cities are not on them often.....you can say that they are beyond top 10 list hype...even in Texas, you don't hear DFW mentioned, which is by most measures the best place to live in the state...best jobs, most to do, all 4 pro teams, and so on......never see other major cities either,, like NYC, LA, SF, BOS, DC, Chi, and such.........its more to pump up the little and mid sized metros that really need the hype and all the attention they can muster...and as I said, most of those metros actively look to geton those lists, and advertise them profusely on their city websites....
Its a marketing gimmick, not a conspiracy......this isn't any assassination theory plot.....just an attempt to sell lots of magazines and get lots of web hits.......think of it...you have a magazine or web page out....you are the marketing director.....wht do you do to generate interest? Well, coming out with top 10 lists would be a doable thing, but actually pretty lame at this point....I can guarantee you that even as marketing gimmicks go its not imaginative anymore...
Austin is a nice place, don't get me wrong.......but god, no way it lives up to the hype, no matter how scientific a job you do collating how many 'Lists" it pops up on.......another question I have for you guys..would you relocate to a city if it WASN"T on top 10 lists? Would you go to a city if it STOPPED appearing on top 10 lists?
I simply think that top 10 lists themselves are a very tired marketing gimmick, no matter who is on or not on them.....fact is, people read them like holy writ, and, if they want to believe that they really shoud be in even the order of one specific list, then let them believe.......cities are just cities.......
and will continue to be so long after top 10 city lists aren't cool anymore...
Personally I don't judge based on the top 10 lists alone. I do my research of whats important to me, I talk to people, I even have dating sites where I talk to real people on a nuetral forum about their city. Austin almost always gets a thumbs up from my age group. I am dedicated to trying to make wherever I go be a place where I stay. Maybe I will leave eventually but the last thing I want is to finally get to a place and HATE it. Im not really sure how Austin is over-rated. I guess it's because it's made out to be this awesome place to be but really the real appeal of the city is that it's balanced and ordinary. A way to live city life without a lot of the major drawbacks of many other cities. Like I said before the west is expensive, the north is cold, and other area's of the south tend to have more crime issues. I mean to me if your looking for some city life and fun where it stays warm (without paying an arm and a leg) you got only a handful of choices. You got North/south carolina -- but a lot of that is too small -- certainly smaller than Austin. You got Virginia but with more crime and gang issues and intermixed rich and poor neighborhoods, and you got Florida which is getting pretty expensive and is very dangerous these days according to many of the people down there. The only place that's a slam dunk in Florida is south Florida and that takes the cake in the country when it comes to crime and irritating people -- and it's very expensive.
Thats why Austin is getting all the buzz, it's an actual big sized city in the south without any real polarizing issues -- at least not YET.
Let me say that I've been around...and I remember very well, pre-web, when there was just one top 10 lists, Money Mag, and it wasn't even top 10 list, just measured
the top 330 metro areas and ranked them accordingly...each year the joke was that cities would morph from one ranking to another, so they would say, "How great could _____be? It made #3 this year, and now its #15....now, with the web, its FAR more hyped(top 10, or city rankings, lists)......I would say that its one of the most popular places for people to surf, and yaoo itself had one today again....about the 12 one in the last 3 months.......
And look how meaningless my great city list was......as mac said, totally subjective.....like all the rest, or any that HE/SHE would post up on here.....at best, its fun, but, at worst, its just marketing fluff for websites/magazines......
My last point, does a great city really need top anything lists? Should it not be so great that everyone is aware of it? And, on the other hand, if its a small or mid-sized place, wouldn't those lists ruin the whole point and ambience of the city if thousands more stream in? Either way, just a marketing gimmick is all they really are........
And it someone is in a dying city, and makes a great move becaus of the lists, and is happy, good for them.....everyone is happy....
I don't know guys, sounds like your just doing a lot of gossip here. If the top 10 lists were a big conspiracy to sell the most magazines then why list Austin? It's the 16th largest population....surely there are others ahead of it...and back when they first started throwing Austin on there you guys were like the 32nd city or something. Isn't Houston and Dallas larger? Why Austin all the time then?
Apparently according to y'all they mean absolutely nothing and some nerd just randomly spins a bottle on a map and then makes up ranking numbers for things like friendlyness and nightlife and cost of living?!?!??!
So the top 10 mags are dictating which cities do well...I guess they must get paid off or something?
So you feel all these cities are better than Austin? You would have a COMPLETE meltdown in LA or New York if you complain about the traffic OR the drivers in Austin. Cost of living in San Fran would wipe most people out before they even get their feet on the ground, and if you guys want to talk about dirty cities how about sea's of homeless peoples feces littering the downtown area? In Washington area it's the murder capital of the country and the commute is 2 hours on average to jobs. Atlanta has huge racial tensions and gang problems, Boston has crippling winters that will make your 3 months of not being able to stay outside during the day pale in comparison, you would run back to texas crying your eyes out. New Orleans is just one more hurricane away from being in ruins again, if you think Boston has bad winters try Chicago where the windchill gets to negative 40 and subzero temps are the norm for almost half of the year (you wont be sweating, instead your skin will be turning purple with white dots and will burn and feel like your on fire) -- they dont call it the windy city for nothing and your land locked, and if you go to Philidelphia or New York for that matter -- leave your need for friendly people behind because these people hate the fact that they have to share air with you....You complain about the heat and humidity in Austin or water not being clean or dirtyness or traffic or lack of charater -- all that is worst in Houston -- I know because I had a friend that moved from that area to up here..... That's not even to mention that about 8 of those cities have less jobs and cost more to live in them. I'd say the articles have it right for the most part myself...seems like Austin isn't perfect but there is no huge down side like many other cities -- it may not have a huge upside either but seems to balance out for the most part.
Think what you aer saying....you are saying that those ten cities are absolutely worthless, yet you say that Austin is perfect, and everything they are not.......I live here, and wish I could tell you otherwise.....
And god knows I wish it was perfect. And I really like it.......but it sure as hell isn't without huge down sides, or problems.......it certainly isn't americas answer to urban blight, crime, and sprawl........homeless all over,
Very nasty traffic, and a pretty high crime rate...even at SXSW last year, someone had his brains literally bashed in in front of a club on san Jacinto.....and we don't have beaches, mountains, or much, but we do have a nice hilly area west of the city....and I enjoy that a bunch......
Frankly, I'm far more interested in the phenonenon of top 10 lists per city marketing itself, than the fact that Austin is on many of them.......and at any time the same cities will pop up on the majority of them.......I think you could write a book on it, honestly...
Call it, "The selling of our cities - Top 10 lists"....
Personally I don't judge based on the top 10 lists alone. I do my research of whats important to me, I talk to people, I even have dating sites where I talk to real people on a nuetral forum about their city. Austin almost always gets a thumbs up from my age group. I am dedicated to trying to make wherever I go be a place where I stay. Maybe I will leave eventually but the last thing I want is to finally get to a place and HATE it. Im not really sure how Austin is over-rated. I guess it's because it's made out to be this awesome place to be but really the real appeal of the city is that it's balanced and ordinary. A way to live city life without a lot of the major drawbacks of many other cities. Like I said before the west is expensive, the north is cold, and other area's of the south tend to have more crime issues. I mean to me if your looking for some city life and fun where it stays warm (without paying an arm and a leg) you got only a handful of choices. You got North/south carolina -- but a lot of that is too small -- certainly smaller than Austin. You got Virginia but with more crime and gang issues and intermixed rich and poor neighborhoods, and you got Florida which is getting pretty expensive and is very dangerous these days according to many of the people down there. The only place that's a slam dunk in Florida is south Florida and that takes the cake in the country when it comes to crime and irritating people -- and it's very expensive.
Thats why Austin is getting all the buzz, it's an actual big sized city in the south without any real polarizing issues -- at least not YET.
Sounds like you haven't been here before..i can tell, as you are idealizing the Austin metro to death.....you are setting yourself up for major disappointment when you do that.
Lots of idea's here. I guess this means that people who come from other area's of the country feel that Austin is no different then the city they left from and in some ways worse and in some ways better (maybe). I always got the impression that Austin was the most balanced city in the south. That if you wanted to live in the south and escape the winter without paying a high cost of living (out west) or without a ton of crime (florida) and still have plenty to do and be by the water that Austin was your place. Then again since I am just renting and not buying a house maybe I will be happier with South/mid California or even Florida.
If you Wiki Austin it just sounds more appealing to young people than any other city in the south, and has by far tons more ways to get involved in things than anything any other city mentions, I guess maybe other cities just dont bother to mention them??? There are also a few streets filled with barhopping nightlife (all located on one street is paradise to a club goer by the way -- and it's not that common to have a setup like that), notoriously friendly people, and plenty of entry level jobs. Of course Im not going to be young forever so I have to get this decision right, don't have time for a lot of mistakes....
If you are young, you have all the time in the world for mistakes.....why would moving to Austin be a mistake? Even it it doesn't live up to your idealized expectations, it still will be a good time....and who says you have to make this the last move of your life?
BTW, here is a description of my immediate neighborhood.....I live next to a wendy's, which is across the street from a huge shopping strip, with a HEB and all....across the street, two mega-apartment complexes....as you go down the street, you pass a car wash, a BMW dealership, a tech park,
a couple gas stations, and a walgreens.......I have passed these same places hundreds of times......my point is, Austin is just a city....where people
live, work, have fun, mostly live and work........this isn't someones fantasia of the best city to live in, per top ten lists...this is just a bunch of people trying to make a living and maybe enjoy things a bit while they are here, is all.....in other words, this is reality....
Last edited by scongress1234; 06-19-2008 at 03:44 PM..
If you are young, you have all the time in the world for mistakes.....why would moving to Austin be a mistake? Even it it doesn't live up to your idealized expectations, it still will be a good time....and who says you have to make this the last move of your life?
BTW, here is a description of my immediate neighborhood.....I live next to a wendy's, which is across the street from a huge shopping strip, with a HEB and all....across the street, two mega-apartment complexes....as you go down the street, you pass a car wash, a BMW dealership, a tech park,
a couple gas stations, and a walgreens.......I have passed these same places hundreds of times......my point is, Austin is just a city....where people
live, work, have fun, mostly live and work........this isn't someones fantasia of the best city to live in, per top ten lists...this is just a bunch of people trying to make a living and maybe enjoy things a bit while they are here, is all.....in other words, this is reality....
I don't have unrealistic expectations here. I just live in a small town that makes me feel like I might as well just be dead. Im single and a small town is no place for a single youngin and I have lived in a state ranked dead last in entertainment, jobs, and oppurtunity for most of my life. I just want a place where I can afford to stay there, that has a climate that is not too cold for a 1/3 of the year, where I can feel excited to be alive. I am dead inside here, I need to leave. Whenever I go somewhere on vacation or move somewhere for the summer -- I come alive. I love having people all around, and options for things to do with my time. Your little walk sounds very cool to me. Im the kind of person who would get a happy grin on my face to be battling wild drivers in the street trying to cut me off -- at least Im living....at least there is some sort of stimulation...
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