I like the trees and all the parks studded about the place. Austin is less of a concrete island than a lot of cities I’ve visited. The roads though. Ugh. I especially hate how two (or three and once four) streets close together but not connected at all still have the same name.
And the traffic. I’ve been here (thinks about it a minute…) 12 years or so and the traffic just gets worse and worse.
Traffic in Austin sucks, thankfully i live ridiculously close to work so i don’t have to put up with it often. But the few times i have to go across town i’m quickly reminded how much driving here is a chore. I’m also not a fan of crazy narrow residential streets where people are allowed to park on both sides and more often than not there’s residential streets with no sidewalks.
We’ve lived here about the same time. Austin roads were always a mess, but when they had the chance the city council voted not to fund development for the roads to accommodate the growing population in the hopes that if they didn’t build it, they wouldn’t come. Which failed predictably, and now they’re so far behind it will be fifteen years easy before they even begin to catch up. On top of that, they’re trying to pay for MoPac’s expansion by making the new lanes toll lanes, and of course all the new roads into north Travis and Williamson county are toll roads. And they’re way over cost. The Austin road system is so far beyond fucked the light from fucked is no longer visible.
You don’t see the residents of Austin having the potential to function properly in the rest of the state?
Fair point; if I’m ever willingly in Texas then something has obviously gone terribly awry and I need help, STAT.
My friend suggested Bumble, telling me it’s “feminist Tinder”.
Apparently you need to have a Facebook to use it, which doesn’t seem very feminist 
It would have been a better story as “Man sues date for sexting in movie theater”
Never used any of them so I couldn’t say. They’re all just creepy ways to meet total strangers to me. To each their own.
Theater Man Dates Sue in Texting Movie
Sorry. 
I think all cities are. Even mine.
Are there any cities you do like? Just out of curiosity?
(And I’m mainly joking with you, of course!)
I like parts of almost every city, especially the older European ones that survived WWII more or less intact. And there are beautiful parts of New York, SF, Atalanta, Savannah, Austin, New Orleans and many others. What I don’t like is how it all works together. If it were engineering, it would be bad engineering. The problem to me is that we haven’t found a good way to adapt cities to the ever shifting habits of human beings. Not that it’s any small problem. It’s probably a harder problem than climate change, if it’s even tractable at all.
As a concept a lot of people living together appeals to me. It’s the execution that disappoints IMHO.
ETA: I know this term is way over used, but my ideal polis would be more organic, evolving with the flexibility of nature but to serve our needs, something akin to the archology concept (architectural ecology), but more adaptable and not all crowded into one building. Aristotle’s idea, that the city is a partnership for living well, was a great one. But I doubt it will be achieved in my lifetime.
I think this is a great point. There is often little actual planning happening that isn’t really ad hoc and driven by the bottom line (like in ATL right now, much of the new developments going up are high end condos or apartments, with little regard to affordable housing). Here we also have the problem of not caring much to preserve the past. We’ve had a few victories lately, GSU managed to get a downtown building from the 20s saved, they people who bought out the first art decco strip mall from the 20s have promised not to change the build itself, and there were a couple of other buildings that recently got something of a reprieve. These are exceptions to the rule, though. But ATL is a rather green city, overall, taken as a whole.
I like this notion, too. More building that takes nature into account, more preservation of historical places, new building that’s renewable and sustainable as possible, more effective public transit in cities…etc. I do think it’s possible, but there has to be the collective will and a general consensus as to WHAT living well constitutes. I don’t think that there really is that.
Also, New Orleans is so wonderful, with all it’s imperfections. It is my favorite city I’ve been to.
Agreed. The main reason I don’t think it will happen in my lifetime is that for the rest of my life and beyond we’ll be dealing with the fallout from climate change, which will make WWII seem like a picnic in comparison. Some days I’m more optimistic, but not many anymore.
In many ways I agree. I’ve set some of the stories I write for fun in NO. And they do better than many at preserving their history, though in part that’s because they haven’t been invaded by profiteering vultures to anything like the degree yours and my cities have.
Nawlins is really great, been there 2-3 times. I’d really like to spend a week or two there to do all the random stuff there, check out all the interesting hole in the wall restaurants, etc. Last time i was there we walked around all day taking pictures of all the random bronze statues that are hidden everywhere.
Now, minus 4! 
What a shame. They shall be missed. /s
I think that last time i was there we were trying to find a Simon Bolivar statue. I don’t recall finding it
Really off topic: Fun fact, Simon Bolivar is probably one of the people who have the most statues around the world. Here’s an overview of his life for those interested in Latin history 
A) Everyone is a stranger unless/until you get to know them.
B) Loneliness is a helluva condition that can drive people to desperate means.
C) It’s easy to be dismissive of how others try to make connections if you yourself are not lacking for intimacy and already have a deep bond with a partner.
It’s a different matter all together when one is contemplating the very real possibility of not ever finding a mate, and the reality that ‘just getting by’ is probably the best it’s ever going to get.
Not that I know from personal experience or anything…
I don’t mean to be. I’m sorry if I came off as callous. I’ve spent multiple years at a time alone and years not alone. I admit I’m probably more adapted to either as I never felt lonely even when I was very alone in life. I sometimes forget I’m an outlier in that regard. And I’m kind of a Luddite in practice (even though my job involves working on technology that’s still barely in its infancy).
I will try to curb my dismissive tone about it from now on.
