Quote:
Originally Posted by ILUVSAT
Let's look at reality...Austin is young and talented. It's population growth consists of "young people." In addition, those "young people" are making money and want to live in an urban environment with international recognition. Yes, we can build and create an urban environment with international recognition; but, Austin has us beat at this moment. Yes, they do (and I am being nice here...it's far worse than most of us want to think).
With their river and university system which spits out more than 30,000 college grads a year, SA cannot compete on the young level. We are not as "cool" as they are right now. Can we gain in the future...YES! But, how long will that take?
It's up to the universities in our community to recruit more students. And the city's responsibility to enable a developer to create an environment conducive of wooing young talent to SA. If we cannot, we loose! That is the real truth and fact.
I do not know how we can and am praying that we can in the near future...otherwise we will loose out.
The truth may hurt...but it is something that can drive us to success in the future!
As much as it may "pain" me to say, and as a life-long San Antonian, I tip my hat to Austin for what they have become. I hope we can be partners in the future. San Antonio has much to learn and develop from Austin. Which is NOT a bad thing!
I love Austin and I wish we could work together with them as a "region." Nonetheless, I do not see that happening in the near future.
If British Airways chose "bratty" Austin as a destination, where the heck is our airport authority? From what I have heard, this may not be an anomaly. Rumor has it that ABIA may be in negotiations with an Asian carrier for a N/S from AUS to Asia. Where are we???
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I completely agree with everything you just said. I will add one more thing: I hope that people are happy with their city as-is, in the moment. Improvement, progress and innovation are in everyone's best interest, and I'm all for it. But I think there is an insecurity at the root of all the you-know-what measuring contests.
I feel like San Antonio is an extraordinary place to live right now. Enjoy the period at the precipice of wholesale change, where things are still cheap and easy but new and interesting places and opportunities are emerging. I saw an LA Times article about the next 'hip, new' area to sprout up overnight and to be honest a lot of the characteristics the article described we have here in spades: affordable housing, ease of transportation, mix of old and young families, mix of cool and uncool, mix of artists and working class. And the article was sort of saying, enjoy it now before its overrun with hipsters, condos, etc. and it loses the qualities that made it attractive in the first place.