This post makes it look like I have a lot of complaints about the great state of Texas. I do. But there are also many things I love about it. After all, I’m still here 16 years later. Now onto my soapbox! (I limited it to just 3 things – my biggest beefs)
1. Heat
This one doesn’t require an explanation. Just a couple of visuals for ya. There are people who move to Texas for the weather! I never acclimated to it. “Sweltering” and “oppressive” aren’t the adjectives I am looking to use any longer.
Average Hourly Temperature in Austin
Humidity Comfort Levels in Austin
Thanks to weatherspark.com for these revealing visuals!
2. Car culture
– Dude, this is Texas. What did you expect?
– I don’t know? I was young and adventurous and after a decent job, and that Texas does have.
The first time my mom visited Austin she declared that there was no city.
“You can’t walk anywhere, everything is too spread out. Where is the city?”
I was offended.
Mom, you were right. You can’t live here without a car. You can’t get anywhere, hold a job, see a doctor, get groceries. Everything is far away. Public transportation exists, but it’s just that. A city bus that shows up every 45 minutes is not a terribly helpful bus. Not if you’ve ever used public transportation that actually works. Add one connection and now it takes you 3 hours to get from point A to point B. Now throw in some sweltering heat and oppressive humidity pictured above.
– But you have a car!
– Luckily I do. Driving everywhere for everything. Forgot to get milk? Drive, park, walk through the darn parking lot and all the way to the back of the grocery store (that’s a separate rant, grocery stores the size of an airport). Screw the milk, kids can drink water.
Naturally, the city is built for cars, not for people. Sidewalks are an afterthought, let alone bike lanes (And this is Austin, they are actually trying!). Routes don’t account for pedestrian traffic. Crossing a street is always a detour because pedestrian crossings are far in between and are they ever ever conveniently located? Nah. Speed limits are excessive, streets are unnecessarily wide, inviting even for those excessive speed limits to be broken.
Huge trucks and SUVs. Everything is bigger in Texas (except it’s not just Texas). Bigger house! Bigger car! The bigger the safer! So big that a driver can’t see a middle schooler standing right in front of the truck. Physically unable to. Who is it safer for? People in general are not used to seeing pedestrians and are not taught to account for them when driving. (Queue separate rant post: 100% of Texans would fail a Finnish driving test)
The sprawl. What was first: the traffic or the sprawl? Zoning rules make sure you won’t have anywhere to walk. Miles and miles of cookie cutter residential properties is not a meaningful walk. Maybe if you have a dog. Still the most boring walk ever. And you never arrive anywhere. Many books have been written about this so I’ll stop here.
3. Guns
This honestly didn’t bother me too much until I had kids. But when the ability to own often ridiculous and over-the-top firearms is worth more than the lives of people around you, something is not right. I don’t want my kids to do active shooter drills at school. Yes, I know they don’t call it that, they call it a ”lockdown drill” so as to not freak out the 6-year-olds. Yes, I know it’s for their safety. No, it’s NOT NORMAL. Nothing will ever make it normal. The entire rest of the world doesn’t have to do this. A fire drill makes sense. An active shooter drill should not exist.