This Is Austin!

Austin American Statesman - Austin360.com - This Is Austin - Sunday, July 22, 2007

With just about 700,000 residents, Austin is the fourth largest city in Texas behind Houston, San Antonio and Dallas. It's 16th largest among U.S. cities, just behind San Francisco and Columbus, Ohio, and just ahead of Memphis, Tenn., and Baltimore.

The Austin metropolitan area, which includes five counties, has about 1.5 million residents, a population larger than 11 individual states, including the Dakotas, New Hampshire and Hawaii. And among those five counties - Travis, Williamson, Hays, Bastrop and Caldwell - three rank with the fastest growing in the nation.

Since 2000, Williamson to the north has ranked among the 20 fastest growing counties in the country. Hays to the south has ranked among the Top 30. Bastrop to the southeast has been among the Top 60. That's Top 60 among more than 3,000 counties nationwide. Overall, the Austin metro area has grown about 17 percent since 2000 and is expected to grow another 13 percent by 2011.

Today, the Austin metro area has more residents than the combined populations of 33 countries, including Greenland, Monaco and Liechtenstein.

Austin's residents are regarded nationally as young, creative, highly educated, thoroughly wired, independent and entrepreneurial. The city routinely ranks highly in surveys of "most livable" cities in the country.

It is a broad urban landscape that is increasingly dense, complex and diverse. By land size, the five-county metro area sprawls across 4,200 square miles, an area larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined.

Established in 1838 and originally named Waterloo along the lower Colorado River, Austin has been the permanent capital of Texas since 1870, home to the University of Texas since 1883 and home today to just about twice as many Mexican free-tailed bats as city residents. Austin promotes itself as the Live Music Capital of the World, and hundreds of musicians work to make that true. A hard-core contingent of locals wants to Keep Austin Weird.

The basics of Austin...

The seven Austin icons: The Governor's Mansion; the Texas Capitol; Barton Springs; Mount Bonnell; the University of Texas Tower; Sixth Street; and the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue along the south shore of Town Lake.

The seven institutions of higher education, which, when in session, draw more than 110,000 students: the University of Texas at Austin, St. Edward's University, Texas State University-San Marcos, Huston-Tillotson University, Concordia University Texas, Southwestern University in Georgetown and Austin Community College.

The seven lakes, stretching 85 miles north up the lower Colorado River from downtown Austin: Town Lake, Lake Austin, Lake Travis, Lake Marble Falls, Inks Lake, Lake LBJ and Lake Buchanan.

The seven major events: South by Southwest in March. Austin City Limits Festival in September. Star of Texas Fair and Rodeo in March. The Texas Book Festival in the fall. Republic of Texas Biker Rally in June. The Trail of Lights and Zilker Christmas Tree in December. Any University of Texas home football game in the fall.

The seven treasures: The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, the Blanton Museum of Art, the literary treasure trove that is the Ransom Center, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum; the Mexican free-tailed bats, the Town Lake hike-and-bike trail system and Zilker Park.

But there is so much more. Most residents have their own favorite and double-secret favorite things about Austin - things that are not in tourist guides and publications such as this.

For example, some will tell you that the prettiest drive in the metro area is a 13-mile strip of road called Park Road IC, which runs from Bastrop State Park (just east of Bastrop) through the rolling piney woods to Buescher State Park (near Smithville). Because it's in a park, there is a fee of $2 per adult if you're not using state park facilities.

Or that from Guerrero Park, a largely undeveloped 363-acre tract in Southeast Austin, you can see the lower Colorado River begin its run to the Gulf of Mexico after filling the seven big lakes above Longhorn Dam.

Or that you can go to the top of the Tower on the UT campus. A ride to the top goes for $5, and you must reserve a spot. Call 475-6633.

Or that Bright Leaf natural area is a hidden jewel just off RM 2222 just west of Mesa Drive right in the middle of the city. Bright Leaf doesn't have a playscape or picnic tables, but it has delightfully peaceful hiking trails and thousands of birds.

Or that the north-south streets downtown are all named after Texas rivers: Red River, Neches, Trinity, San Jacinto, Brazos, Colorado, Lavaca, Guadalupe, San Antonio, Nueces and Rio Grande.

Or that, though people might live with a sense of safety along many Austin lakes now, it has not always been that way. Between 1843 and 1938, there were more than a dozen major floods along the lower Colorado River in Central Texas. Mansfield Dam at Lake Travis is what keeps flooding under control in this part of the 860-mile-long river now.

Or that there is a bona fide farm right in the middle of the city: Boggy Creek Farm, an organic farm in East Austin. It's open on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Or that the University of Texas student union isn't just for students. Located on the campus' West Mall just off Guadalupe Street and just south of 24th Street, the Texas Union includes a downstairs bowling alley and pool hall that nonstudents are welcome to use. And parents will appreciate the reasonable prices.

Or that many Austin neighborhoods are abundant in urban wildlife including raccoons, opossums, armadillos, deer, porcupines, beavers, skunks and, well, rattlesnakes.

Or that Austin was dubbed the City of the Violet Crown by O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) in his short story "Tictocq: The Great French Detective in Austin." It was a reference to the lavender glow from the so-called Moonlight Towers. Of the 31 light towers erected in 1895, only 17 remain today. Each tower is a triangular lattice of ironwork, stands 165 feet tall and illuminates a large circular area at night. You can see three of them along Trinity Street at First and 11th streets.

Or that Austin has a jungle within steps of the urban jungle? It's the Barton Creek Greenbelt, eight miles and 800 acres of parkland beginning at Zilker Park and running west along Barton Creek. Hikers, bikers and swimmers feel like they are miles from civilization even though they're just steps away from the traffic on the highway and at shopping centers.

The list is endless........

This is Austin. Enjoy!

Click here for the Austin360.com - This Is Austin (2007)

(Above content from Austin360.com - Austin American Statesman 2007)

Why Austin?

Among thousands of other reasons, here's how our city ranks when compared to others:

Austin is known as the Live Music Capital of the world!

Austin is ranked as the 12th best city for singles, August 2007

Austin is among the Coolest Cities for Young Professionals according to Kiplinger.com, September, 2005

Austin ranks as the 4th Best City in Overall Standard of Living by Expansion Management, June 2006 

Austin ranks 2nd among the TOP 10 Best Big Cities in the country by cnn.money.com, 2006

Austin ranks as the 3rd Smartest Ciy in the country by Bizjournals.com, June 2006

Austin ranks in the Top 5 "Smart Places To Live" by Kiplinger's Personal Finance and the Austin Business Journal, June 2006

Austin ranks 28th in the Best Places for Business and Careers by Forbes, May 2006

Austin ranks 2nd in the Top 50 Best Places to Live by Men's Journal, March 2006

Austin ranks 6th in the Top 10 Cities for Walking by Prevention Magazine, August 2006

Austin ranks as the 2nd Best Place to Live For Moviemakers by Moviemaker Magazine, December 2006

Austin ranks as the 3rd best Wireless Place to Live in America by Livescience.com, June 2005

Austin ranks 2nd among the 10 Best Places to Live, judging on financial, educational and quality of life criteria by Money Magazine, July 2006

Austin ranks 2nd among the 50 Best Places to Live comparing the combo of Adventure, attractiveness, and affordability by Men's Journal, April 2006

Austin was voted the Best Place to Live for Future Business Locations by Expansion Magazine, August 2006

Austin ranks 9th in the Top 10 Hot Cities for Entrepreneurs by Entrepreneur.com, September 2005

Austin ranks is one of the Top 10 Cities to be a Dog by DogFancy Magazine, November 2005

Austin ranks 8th of America's Cleanest Cities by Readers Digest, July 2005

Austin ranks 10th in the Top 10 Healthiest Cities in America by Sperling's, July 2006

Austin ranks 11th in the 25 Best Running Cities in America poll by Runners World, July 2005