Best places to live in the Southwestern USA

Santa Barbara used to be pretty serene to me, and I never wanted to move there, from fear of boredom. I think Sue Grafton took care of that....

La Jolla was quiet and rich when I did my lab internship there, and I was unhappy for personal reasons. Other times I lived in tough parts of town and been happy.

I don't think folks should look to places to save them somehow.

Yes, ossobuco, I'm sure you are right. But I was dismayed at the City of San Marcos. The opportunities weren't many, and people were just downright cutthroat, in a "nice" Southern way. And they were prejudiced and small minded and backstabbing. Not to me, but they would come to me saying hateful things about each other.

Lots of conflict between the university, the city business owners, and the city government.

This is the town that couldn't come together to put on a play. Twenty years ago, actually twenty-four years ago, a Mrs. Y____, with her vast experience, brought the community together for a full-scale production, and people were still complaining about it twenty-five years later. What she did, what she didn't do, what she said to someone, what she didn't say, whatever...

Austin puts on so many productions, I'll bet a very small few even remember any from twenty years ago, and certainly have big enough and busy enough lives not to harbor any unintentional slights from two decades ago.

So, really, you can get stuck with a quaint-looking, geographically pleasing environment and a lot of stodgy bored people blown up with their own self-importance.

Truely, they were nice to me to my face, so it's not like I was slighted, it was just mortifying to hear the horrible things they had to say about each other. I never knew people could be that way, and there just seemed to be no way to make it stop.

It haunts me even now, obviously, sorry I drone on, but, golly, I've just never seen so many miserable people!

But then... and I'm not disagreeing, it wasn't the geographic environment or the layout of the town streets or the height of the fences or the night lighting or the number of benches downtown that made you happy or happy... or even the clouds in the sky or the rain in the air, per se...

I see your point.

I hear that Santa Fe has entire apartment communities devoted to artists and writers. Sort of a take-off on the "singles' complex."

It's so hot in Austin in the summer, that it really impedes peoples' lives. I feel like I get cabin fever in July and August, although, this year it hasn't been as bad as others.

I would find the plains very depressing, guess I've grown accustomed to rolling hills.

It's really the people that make the difference. There's a little town near here called Marble Falls, and a lot of interesting people retired there. They've got a fantastic library and even a city symphony. I would say about half of the population moved there, which really makes a difference in choosing a small town. Often, in Texas small towns anyway, the old guard is just entrenched, and you can't get anything done without going through them, and they hold on to their power and influence till the very end. Then the next folks in line, usually in their mid-sixties, get to step up to the plate. And they become the old guard.

It probably boils down to economics and ego. For example, there is a "new" theater in Lockhart. I say "new" because it's only six years old now, and for small Texas towns, it will be considered the "new" theater for many decades to come. Anyway, we were trying to attract some of the senior citizens groups in the area.

So, I called the senior citizens group in nearby San Marcos. They make day trips once a month. It's headed up by, guess who, Mrs Y_____, and she said, no, she would not approve of a trip to the new theater. Even though the theater was only going to charge them $3 ea. for admission. She was offended that they dare start one without her stamp of approval. So, the entire group missed out on great theater at a great price, and continues to go over to the university for their occassional productions.

And Mrs. Y____ was even honest about it, she said, "Well, you didn't ask me to direct, so, we're not coming to it."

We went around her, though, to some degree, and got the mayor, the judge, and the nursing homes on our side, so she and her gang were simply bypassed.

I'm so glad to be back in a big city. It just makes all the difference in the world. I would be very, very careful of moving to a small town, especially in Texas. Yeeikes!

But Marble Falls would be an excellent choice. It's beautiful, with well traveled, interesting people, who invest in their community, and have open minds.

The Canyon Lake area is also interesting. Originally about 20 smaller farming communities, that have somehow coalesced into an "area." So, they've avoided the "old guard" syndrome simply by being so spread out till the recent past. Lots of interesting people there. And all ranges of property prices, too. Situated between Austin and San Antonio, it makes a terrific bedroom community and a wonderful retirement area. Not too far from New Braunfels.

New Braunfels is another terrific town in Texas. They do have a bit of the old guard syndrome, but not as much. And they laugh and make fun of San Marcos. There's a story about how the Landa family, the big family in New Braunfels, got even with San Marcos.

The Landa family owns and operates Schlitterbaun. I used to take deposits for them when I was a teller in New Braunfels in the early '80s. Nice people. Their daughter came in to do it, and we got to know each other.

Anyway, they wanted to start the same kind of attraction in San Marcos. It would've been perfect and brought in an amazing amount of tourist dollars, and the infrastructure was there, or could've been put in to support the crowds. But the San Marcos old guard didn't want it and threw out a number of objections and stalled and couldn't get together and the whole thing fell through.

In the San Marcos downtown square is a building called the Jeremiah building. It's owned by the Landa family. And it's falling down, nothing but a shell, and an eyesore. The Landa family have it on the market for 20 times its actual value. They refuse to tear it down, or to sell it. And it sits in downtown San Marcos, as a reminder to the town of their own stupidity.

If you move to New Braunfels, or even to Canyon Lake, and admit that you are a San Marcos refugee, they cuddle you up in love and sympathy.

So, really, it's the people that make the difference.

I tried and tried to understand the conflicts and bitter hatred in San Marcos, but just could never get to the bottom of it. It just doesn't make any sense, but if you stay there long enough, the only way to survive is to become just like them. Ohmigod!! The town needs an exorcist or something.

Oh dupre - I absolutely HATE San Marcos.
A couple of years ago I had to office out of there for a little over a year.
Every single day I would say outloud "I cannot WAIT to be able to get my office back in Austin."

San Marcos definetly has that small town thing going on where for some people who want a quieter rural life it looks okay, but when you scratch the surface the people are ignorant hateful rednecks.

Myself, I can't even remember the last time I left the city limits of Austin. Everything I want and need is here. I'm mean, it's big enough.
As soon as you leave the area, it like you enter some no mans land of hicks and idjits until you get to the next city.
(well, not the hill country, that's pretty, and I have a friend in Marble Falls, so well, I guess that's ok)

Bless you, Chai Tea, for responding!

I wonder if there is a San Marcos Refugee Support
Group.

If there's a list of the top ten worst cities to live in, I'd vote them in.

Please vent. Do tell. What'd they do to you?

Well, it's just that I moved to Texas years ago to specifically live in Austin, not anywhere else.

In the far away past, I'd drive by San Marcos on the way to San Antonio and think, "yuck" what an ugly place, there's nothing here, just crappy business selling black velvet Elvis pictures and such.

Then, the horrible day came when my company said I had to move my perfectly good office from Austin to San Marcos for reasons too long to go into here. I knew at some point I'd be coming back to my original place, just didn't know when.

Every day I would have to drive ALL the way down there, dealing with crazy SUV's and pickups and Tractor Trailers, etc.
Each day in the car I'd say - This is NOT what I moved to Texas for.

Eventually I got to see the town. Major disappointment. I guess it's supposed to look all homey and quaint, but the main street just reminded me of the town next to me where I grew up. Manasquan NJ in case you wanted to know. I was in Brielle, NJ, wasn't even big enough to be a town, it was a bourough.

Can't really think of any specific event. Ususally I not one to complain about conditions that can't be changed. I mean, it is what it is. Had a good job, knew I'd move back eventually, no sense complaining.

But in this case, it was just such a constant irritant.

OH! Here an example. They actually have a hospital there. I swore if anything happend to me in an emergency and someone tried to take me there, they would find 10 grooves cut into the cement in front of the ER entrance, which I clawed out while they were trying to drag me in.
"NO, NO, DON'T TAKE ME IN THERE! YOU HAVE A HELICOPTOR ON THE ROOF! AIR-LIFT ME TO NORTH AUSTIN MED CENTER, SETON, EVEN BRACKINRIDGE! I'LL PAY FOR IT OUT OF MY OWN POCKET! JUST DON'T TAKE ME IN THERE!!!!!

Oh jeez! That horrible hospital!

I have a friend who is very frail. She went to the emergency room, without telling us, and even though there was no one in the emergency room that night, they left her on a table for hours. They were talking and laughing right next to her for hours and nobody did anything to help her.

I couldn't believe it. I called the hospital emergency room when I couldn't find her, went down there and pulled her out.

Once I went in there for some blood work. They drew the blood, not from the inside of my elbow, but said they could clearly see the vein, and poked the middle of my arm. The needle rolled over a muscle--did they even study biology?--and I ended up with a huge bruise. Come to find out I was the first victim for the intern.

Stupid, stupid people.

But osso, I'd rather live in La Jolla and be unhappy, then be unhappy
and living in other places.

My frail friend--a dear sweet gentle woman, with a PhD in English, BTW--went to the Dollar General Store there and felt faint, asked to use the phone to call for help and they refused her. So she walked in the Texas summer heat to the cigar store on the square--you remember? the Hill Country Humidor?--where she knew some of the people, and a lawyer drove her home.

I sent an email to the HQ of that company demanding an apology, and she got one. You should of heard him stumbling and groveling over it.

And, that same woman wanted to use the city bus for a trip downtown. She called and got all the info on stops / times, etc. They dropped her off at one location, but without telling anyone, and especially her, since she had just called that morning for the info, they decided to change the stop to another spot on the square that afternoon. So she was waiting for hours at the wrong location to be picked up on her return trip. Who does that without telling someone? Idiots!

Did you see the fiasco with the re-doing of the courthouse? There was supposed to be a bus stop there, but the engineers didn't design it correctly, so after spending thousands of dollars, there's just this huge indentation of cement on the square that can't be used for anything and isn't reimbursable by the state highway department because they didn't get it right.

Stupid people.

But that's not really the worst of it. It was the deep-seated prejudice that really got me.

Maybe another time ...

Thanks for letting me vent.

If I ever move, I will be thoroughly checking out the town before I go.

Glad to have an Able2Knower in Austin!

CJ, yes, it was a fabulous place to be unhappy!

Santa Fe and Albucrackee
Hi All,

I live in Santa Fe and let me tell you, it's a neat little town, but you can run out of things to do in town pretty fast if you are not into art or fine dining. Just outside town, though, there's over 1,000,000 acres of forest in which to play, so that's cool. Not really a great place for young families (of which I am a father) as things here are more geared toward the older set with lots of $$$. It's safe and temperate though, so that kind of makes up for the lack of activities. As far as Albuquerque....well put it this way. I would be more comfortable walking down Crenshaw Blvd. in L.A. @ 3:00 a.m. than down Central Ave. in Albuquerque @ 3:00 a.m. It's that violent. There's certainly a good bit to do there, but there is also a huge glut of drunken drivers, a huge gang and meth problem and just a general bad vibe. Many people have moved from S.F. to ABQ because it is far more affordable, only to realize they now need bars on the their windows, alarms on their cars and a .38 in their pocket (oh, and just as another aside...we are allowed to carry loaded here, as long as the pistol is in plain sight, i.e. on your hip. This freaks alot of Easterners out the first time they see it. ) Only problem is once you move out of SF, unless you are VERY wealthy, you will never be able to come back and buy in town again. Houses are outrageous!

Just my .02

Interesting information abt AQE, and welcome to a2k hangingcurvecrasher (hcc is probably shorter).

I wonder what the many AQE residents here have to
say about crime and if their houses have bars on them.

Re: Santa Fe and Albucrackee


It's sad that you picked the worse part of Albuquerque to paint an unfair picture of the vast majority of the city. I moved to ABQ from the S.F. Bay Area in 2002 and have never regreted it.

BBB

I suppose hcc is not wrong, as I've heard to be careful on Central - which is right about where I want to live - in the middle of the night.

but, hey, one of my long time friends lives a block west of Crenshaw and I am from a neighborhood in Venice that was redlined when we bought our house, as in, banks don't lend there. My house there, no longer mine, is worth an immense amount of money now, and lots of the smart and hip live in the environs.

I drove the Abq streets around Central (and many other areas, but that area in particular) over and over on my last visit and could see some iffy blocks in one section, but much restoration going on and many good neighborhoods growing pricier. I may end up not buying right there since I may not be able to afford the individual areas that work for me - we'll see - depends on what my present house sells for.

Anyway, I am not put off, but others might be.

BumbleBeeBoogie,

Perhaps you have a valid point and I did paint ABQ with too broad a brush. You are right that there are some nice areas. It has just been my experience (lived there 4 years in college and have brothers that live in various parts of the city) that the town, for its size, has a VERY disproportionate amount of violence and property crime. Again, my time spent there was in the UNM corridor, which is right off Central, so that may have something to do with my view of the city. I just think for having to put up with that much unchecked crime, one should also receive the benefits that come along with living in a much larger city. Benefits ABQ doesn't have (i.e. major league sports team, a real mass transit system, good arts and theater venues, etc.) While a portion of this reply is opinion, the numbers don't lie. Take a look at the statistics in Money Magazine or various other relocation guides. When the national average indices are around "100", ABQ consistantly ranks in the 230-250 range for personal and property crime. That's as high or higher than places like Las Vegas, Phoenix and Detroit. Again, not a bad city, but it does have some problems that need to be adressed soon.

HCC

BBB
delete another damn duplicate post - grrrr!

hangingcurvecrusher
hangingcurvecrusher, you are right that ABQ doesn't have major league sports but does seem to keep the locals happy with the teams they do have. We do have many casinos, which I've not been to yet.

ABQ has a great arts community. Not as good as Santa Fe, but good nonetheless. The work is first rate and the prices are a lot lower. I have several artist friends whose work appears in local galleries. One of them is A2K member, Asherman. When Osso Buco moves to ABQ, we will probably see her paintings in galleries, too. I attend first class concerts monthly with friends in the most acoustically amazing concert hall I've ever been in. I'm part of an acting group. Filming in ABQ is on the increase.

What I like a lot about ABQ is that it is a university town. I wouldn't want to live in the vicinity of the university for some of the reasons you cite. When I drive in the area, it reminds me of Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, California and I feel right at home as a place to visit but not to live. I enjoy the university's influence in that retired professors teach a wide variety of courses for the Lifelong Learning organization for about $5 a class that a retired person, like me, can afford. I'm able to keep my thinking mind active, which is very important.

ABQ is changing. Some like the change, others don't. New homes are going up everywhere on the west side of the Rio Grande river. A housing bubble has started as California speculators have discovered the real estate market in ABQ. What is different about most bubbles, is that many of the developers here have taken a stand against the speculators and refuse to sell more than a small percentage of their homes to the speculators, giving the locals a chance to buy a home. Would you find that kind of ethic in other cities?

Like any city, ABQ does have its warts, but on the whole, I very pleased at my choice to move here. I have wonderful neighbors who look out for me. Even the kids are my friends. The local people are so nice, even the store clerks. I feel welcome, even though I don't speak Spanish, and cared for. Life is good.

BBB

BBB,

I am happy for you. That's great that you have enjoyed your experience in the city so far. Best of luck in your theater endeavours. Since you seem to be realtively new to ABQ, some things you need to try if you haven't already are (in no particular order) a meal at El Pinto, a breakfast burrito at Dos Hermanos, happy hour at Gardunos on the green, and pretty much anything you can eat at the balloon fiesta.

Wishing you all the best....

HCC

HCC


Thanks. I retired and move to ABQ in October 2002.

I forgot to mention that the baloons float over my house almost every morning to their landing field about a mile from my home. My two dogs think they are giant birds and always get excited when they hear the whoosh whoosh as the baloons near our neighborhood.

BBB