^ That area is now the chic area SoCo. It is the place to hang out with the hipsters. Terra Toys had to move out of the area because it was priced out. Ironically, sometimes the businesses that help revitalize the area get priced out and have to leave or close down.
There is no magnet school down town.
No, I didn’t fly into Austin when I moved here. I drove down IHwy35 from the Dallas area after finishing college and not being able to find work there. But I loved that little airport. It was so convenient.
Yes, I know places inevitably change in 32 years, but I was referring to the laid back vibe of Austin. It’s still a very accepting place and I loved raising my kids here but it’s vibe is one that feels more hurried now. Plus, I’m older now and can’t keep up the pace. But I still love Austin and so do my kids. Everywhere we have visited in the states and even in other countries, people know Austin. It’s really kind of weird sometimes just thinking that it’s gotten so popular now.
Have they shut down the LBJ high school? There was always a controversy about that school: a part of the students are academic advanced students and a part of them are from the neighborhood. There seems to be a “feeder” middle school (only for the last two grades) that feeds into that also. That LBJ high school used to attract the students whose parents could not afford to live in a good school district. This school provides the only route for the students from lower SES family background to get into an elite college so it was popular among the not-so-rich students. To get into that high school, the students need to apply for its admission, I think. (Strictly speaking, it is not a truly state-level magnetic high school like the one, in Kealing? It is just a selective school in the AISD but it actually recruits students anywhere from the greater Austin Area including the Round Rock area, I think.)
No, there is now LASA magnet high school and LBJ together. The two magnet middle schools are much closer to downtown than the magnet high school. I just wouldn’t say that the middle schools are downtown- they are both in urban neighborhoods.
The controversies continue at both the Kealing and LASA- in terms of its selectivity favoring the higher SES families. They are both heavily populated by White students then next Asian students (relative to the % in the school district).
LASA is actually a selective magnet high school and you must prove residency in AISD. It’s one of the best in the state and listed as one of the best high schools in the country.
I look it up. It is LASA high school that was in my mind when I mentioned the LBJ High School. I think you could hardly avoid the controversies when, in the same campus, you mix the students on the accelerated track who “aim high nationally”, with the “neighborhood kids” whose top students might attend the community colleges (maybe just a couple attended the flagship?)
I think a company would be wise to choose an area like Detroit! It needs the revival and the homes are dirt cheap. With the influx of taxes, it would solve so many problems there. And it actually is a cool city.