re: Another business moving its HQ from California to Texas

May I ask what you guys do? Dallas should be putting those stories out there. Houston and Dallas both have tremendous upside. There plenty of money in both of those cities. Cost of living is really attractive Texas has good schools. There's talent there but it's hard to compete with Austin.

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shite's been going on for decades

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No shite.

I’m simply stating our experience with doing it, not saying we started the movement.

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May I ask what you guys do?

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We're in the manufacturing business.

Here's the deal with Austin...

When it comes to schools, quality of life, tech connections, funding connections, and the feeling of a big city in a small town - we have all of that.

On the other hand - we cannot build houses fast enough, which means the one's we do have are expensive...we have the tech talent, but manufacturing was killed a few years ago - it has been rebuilding, but it lags behind Dallas, Houston, and SA. While the quality of life is good - we lack big city things to do. We're surrounded by cities with pro sports franchises - we have one...soccer. Meh.

Also, the growth of Austin is silly right now...SILLY. I saw a stat the other day that said if NYC and Austin kept growing to year 2100 at the same clip as they both grew from 2000-2012, then Austin would have 33.5MM people compared to NYC's 26.6MM.

Soooooo many infrastructure changes/additions are needed RIGHT NOW to properly deal with the people we have, and that come on a daily basis (about 150 p/day). These are large, expensive projects.

We need to connect the North shore and South shore of Lake Travis to support the migration of people North of the lake, we need to expand highways we have already expanded, we need more large East/West roads which we sorely lack (traffic here blows), and we need to fix the crumbling sewer/water lines that are currently in place.

I said a few years ago that, in the not-to-distant future, we will be looking at Austin and San Antonio much the same way we look at Dallas and Ft. Worth. The MSA is simply becoming too dense for it to not be looked at that way. San Marcos, Buda, New Braunfels...they are all exploding as Austin grows (and SA, but that place is a dump).

The other thing to consider is the growth to the North - which is quickly encroaching on Waco. So, it could be unprecedented in regards to what Austin could wind-up being in the center of. And this would be helped greatly along if the likes of Elon Musk can make it easier and faster for people to move around the state.

Houston and Dallas are still extremely attractive - world class airports, ports, talent, etc. But Austin has the unique, and enviable position of being centered in the middle of a massive economic machine, with a beautiful landscape, low unemployment, an educated population, and appetite for growth and innovation.

Lol... I wish tigerdroppings was the biggest problem.

There's so much money just stuck on both coasts. That money has to start moving around the country to have a prayer of growing out of the shite storm of '08.

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Was Baton Rouge on the shortlist of places to move?

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Close.

Baton Rouge was short of the list of places to move.

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It's hard to find quality people in Baton Rouge,

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My company has been hiring kids from LSU for over 15 years, and they are consistently better than what we get from Texas, A&M, or any of a half dozen other schools. Penn State has been money, too, but a small sample size.

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and SA, but that place is a dump

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Lolz. I don’t live in either but I’d take SA over Austin with ease. Personal preference, but to call SA a dump when you’re Austin is laughable.

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Don’t think they Bay Area is in a decline.

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No, but they have their citizens who'll cheer the exit of any big business.

Just like the morons that told Amazon to get the hell out of New York.

Cancer