Lol. Well I oftentimes hear people say they're afraid of Austin becoming "South Dallas". Really, there is not another city like Austin that I can think of, so finding somewhere to compare it to is hard. But when I hear something like that, it makes me think that people do in fact compare the cities in some way. For instance, you could compare decisions that had different outcomes when it comes to zoning or transportation that caused the two cities to go in different directions. Or using Dallas' history to show Austin the wrong way to do something.
I always thought Portland would be a good city to compare Austin to, but obviously they have a much tighter urban growth boundary and a more mature public transportation system, at least as far as rail is concerned.
I greatly apologize for using the D-word.
In the end, my point was the same. Comparing Austin to NYC is probably a bad idea.