AUSTIN | Economic Development

[JoninATX]

Originally Posted by clubtokyo

Seeing lots of chatter on Austin Reddit about relocating after the scotus ruling. Doesn't look good for Austin’s future growth.

I've been hearing about that alot as well. But I question where these people say there going to move to? California is near impossible to move these days unless your wealthy, not too mention the drought stricken west is not where people should move to at this point. Also half the states in the U.S are in favor of anti abortion rights, so packing up and moving to another states similar to Texas wouldn't make much sense.

[freerover]

Originally Posted by clubtokyo

Seeing lots of chatter on Austin Reddit about relocating after the scotus ruling. Doesn't look good for Austin’s future growth.

I think the hope has been on the right to make Austin an attractive place for conservatives with money and they are going to lean into that the more the liberal base of the city is priced out of housing and/or say fuck Texas and go.

Originally Posted by JoninATX

I've been hearing about that alot as well. But I question where these people say there going to move to? California is near impossible to move these days unless your wealthy, not too mention the drought stricken west is not where people should move to at this point. Also half the states in the U.S are in favor of anti abortion rights, so packing up and moving to another states similar to Texas wouldn't make much sense.

NIMBYs are on their way out of power in California. I wouldn't be surprised in they become the countries leading state of new housing in 5 years. If only it would rain.

[clubtokyo]

I also wonder how it impacts local companies who just built offices. Google sail building for instance. Google says employees can relocate without justification now because of the ruling.

[dilliam]

The irony in all of this is that those that will be most impacted by the ruling are the least likely to be able to afford to move across the country to a blue state. And these progressives potentially leaving to other states are only going to further hurt those low income women.

[clubtokyo]

I agree, I’m staying and voting to try and make a difference for now. Just to be clear I love Austin and still want to see our growth continue.

[futures]

Yeah, I work in the tech space (and specifically work with companies looking to attract talent), and the change in attitude towards living in Austin or relocating to Austin over the past year to 18 months has been unreal.

From the power grid, to SB8, to the transgender laws, to this past Friday, Austin is in a different world. And this is all cultural/political before we even start looking at a potential full blown recession.

More specifically, I work with highly educated tech, VC and PE folks, etc. My conversations the prior 10 years were always "I'm so jealous you're in Austin. Would love to get there someday!" to now "How are you holding up there? Is the power any better? I don't see how you could live in a state that thinks about women/LGBTQ the way yours does." It's night and day.

It's been fun, but it's over.

[austlar1]

It's impossible to predict how these things play out over time, but I certainly would not choose to move here under the present political circumstances. If I was being asked to move here in connection with my job, I think I would be scrambling to find different employment. Texas has never seemed less inviting to me than it does now, and I grew up here in the 1950s. The ignorance and hate festering in Texas today is probably worse than it was back then. That is saying a LOT. Whatever merits Austin may have as a place to live are far outweighed by the negatives associated with the political backwardness of this state. If I wasn't so old and broke, I'd be out of here in a flash.

[freerover]

Originally Posted by futures

Yeah, I work in the tech space (and specifically work with companies looking to attract talent), and the change in attitude towards living in Austin or relocating to Austin over the past year to 18 months has been unreal.

From the power grid, to SB8, to the transgender laws, to this past Friday, Austin is in a different world. And this is all cultural/political before we even start looking at a potential full blown recession.

More specifically, I work with highly educated tech, VC and PE folks, etc. My conversations the prior 10 years were always "I'm so jealous you're in Austin. Would love to get there someday!" to now "How are you holding up there? Is the power any better? I don't see how you could live in a state that thinks about women/LGBTQ the way yours does." It's night and day.

It's been fun, but it's over.

yeah. Now when ppl on a call hear I'm in Austin it's more of an awkward "oh.... are you ok?" thing.

[hookem]

All my vacations are now officially scouting visits for new places to live other than Texas. I’m keeping the handle though.

[StoOgE]

Other than a 4 year stint in NYC I'm a lifelong Austinite.

We have actively looked at houses on our last two trips out of state on vacations and that was before this ruling.

I have a number of LGBTQ friends in tech that are actively looking to relocate as well for fear of future rulings that may come.

We're also going to be relocating our remaining embryos from IVF to another state next week. I talked to our fertility clinic and they've basically stopped doing anything but IUI until they know I'd it's legal or not

I don't know what the economic impact will be long term but I have to imagine it will be a non zero impact

[dilliam]

I'm super disappointed by the ruling, but honestly, I'm very much still bullish on Austin and Texas. The Sunbelt cities have seen breakneck growth over the past decade and that did not even show a hint of slowing even through the Trump years.

[drummer]

As a side note, my understanding is that IUI and IVF shouldn't be impacted in any way by the ruling. That said, I completely understand the lack of clarity and/or certainty related to all of that. It's a difficult process - all my kids are from IVF.

[enragedcamel]

The Trump years didn't have anything nearly as wide-scale and impactful as this ruling, though.

I think ultimately, money will speak here. If big name companies start threatening to leave, and we lose bids to purple and blue states, then in ten years or so I could see our total abortion ban getting relaxed.

[freerover]

Originally Posted by enragedcamel

The Trump years didn't have anything nearly as wide-scale and impactful as this ruling, though.

I think ultimately, money will speak here. If big name companies start threatening to leave, and we lose bids to purple and blue states, then in ten years or so I could see our total abortion ban getting relaxed.

Things will start to get better once boomers are all gone. Right now, they are way way way way more politically powerful than their % of the total population and they are driving all this bullshit. The average age in the Senate is 65. Gen Xers aren't nearly as bad and things get more mainstream when you get to millennials. Right now the entire country is being hold hostage by old men yelling at clouds but that get votes in congress or on all the courts.

[StoOgE]

Originally Posted by drummer

As a side note, my understanding is that IUI and IVF shouldn't be impacted in any way by the ruling. That said, I completely understand the lack of clarity and/or certainty related to all of that. It's a difficult process - all my kids are from IVF.

So the issue per our clinic is that they are not sure if they are allowed to discard embryos either non-euploid or those with genetic issues.

I think its *unclear* what the legal implications of IVF are (IUI I think is pretty clearly legal). Generally speaking, I assume already frozen embryos would be completely fine regardless, but I worry if there are implications that the clinics wouldn't be financially viable without being able to perform new IVF cycles.

Without getting too in the weeds there are absolutely people in the country that don't think IVF should be legal which is why we are playing it safe with our embryos and relocating them to Los Angeles where I have high confidence, they will be safe.

In any event, this specific issue aside I think I'm done with this state. I grew up in a state that was generally conservative but in a small government, low tax pro business sort of way and while they may not have liked everything going on in Austin generally left us weirdos to ourselves. Those days have clearly been over for a while with the state government consistently over-ruling city ordinances and with the power the federal courts are about to bestow I just don't want my kids growing up in this environment.

It's my favorite place on earth and where I was born but I just don't see a future here. Sucks.

[LiveattheOasis]

Originally Posted by dilliam

I'm super disappointed by the ruling, but honestly, I'm very much still bullish on Austin and Texas. The Sunbelt cities have seen breakneck growth over the past decade and that did not even show a hint of slowing even through the Trump years.

Still very bullish on Austin as well.

[We vs us]

Originally Posted by StoOgE

In any event, this specific issue aside I think I'm done with this state. I grew up in a state that was generally conservative but in a small government, low tax pro business sort of way and while they may not have liked everything going on in Austin generally left us weirdos to ourselves. Those days have clearly been over for a while with the state government consistently over-ruling city ordinances and with the power the federal courts are about to bestow I just don't want my kids growing up in this environment.

It's been interesting -- so many people now seem to understand something about Texas that they either didn't understand before or were resisting admitting. That's not a blame statement -- we've clearly bounced into a new world almost overnight and much of the chuckleheaded idiocy the state leg plays around with every other year suddenly has real world implications that many of us (or maybe just me) thought were far fetched or impossible. Or maybe this is the coup de grace, the final thing that lets us all know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the folks in charge aren't just doing these things to stoke turnout, they actually believe what they're saying. That insane draft of the TX GOP platform actually seems much more sinister in light of this. Also much more imminently achievable.

[k1052]

Ken Paxton is talking about going back to SCOTUS on Lawrence, Obergefell, and Griswold just as Thomas said they should. Assuming the state will not seek to overturn these or render the decisions non-functional though more BS private action shenanigans is a risk a lot of people will now decline to take. Adios.

[paul78701]

Originally Posted by dilliam

I'm super disappointed by the ruling, but honestly, I'm very much still bullish on Austin and Texas. The Sunbelt cities have seen breakneck growth over the past decade and that did not even show a hint of slowing even through the Trump years.

I have a feeling that many/most of the people saying that they will leave will end up not leaving. Picking up and moving out of state is not exactly a walk in the park. Also, the people who have the means to move are also most likely to have the means to travel to another state to get around the restrictions. The people most affected by this are those that are less likely to have the ability to leave. So, while nobody should feel obligated to stay, my hope is that the people who can move end up staying long enough to at least vote in the midterms.

People seem to be forgetting that the midterms are only about four months away. The results could make a difference. I hope the disengaged people will get engaged and will make a difference. I've been surprised by how many anecdotes I've heard of people who had no idea this was coming or could even happen.

Edit: A temporary restraining order was just issued WRT the Texas ban. Clinics can resume operations. At least for the moment. The fight isn't over.

[dilliam]

Originally Posted by paul78701

I have a feeling that many/most of the people saying that they will leave will end up not leaving. Picking up and moving out of state is not exactly a walk in the park. Also, the people who have the means to move are also most likely to have the means to travel to another state to get around the restrictions. The people most affected by this are those that are less likely to have the ability to leave. So, while nobody should feel obligated to stay, my hope is that the people who can move end up staying long enough to at least vote in the midterms.

People seem to be forgetting that the midterms are only about four months away. The results could make a difference. I hope the disengaged people will get engaged and will make a difference. I've been surprised by how many anecdotes I've heard of people who had no idea this was coming or could even happen.

Edit: A temporary restraining order was just issued WRT the Texas ban. Clinics can resume operations. At least for the moment. The fight isn't over.

This is exactly what I was thinking.