Austin In The Polls

[texastarkus]

America's Top 10 Shopping Cities
New York City doesn't even crack the list, but one state has the market cornered.
By Meghan Casserly
1. Houston
2. Dallas
8. San Antonio
12. Austin

http://blogs.forbes.com/meghancasser...-outlet-malls/

[wwmiv]

America's Least Insured Cities:

1. Dallas
2. Houston
3. Miami
4. Las Vegas
5. Austin
6. Orlando
7. Bakersfield
8. San Antonio
9. Riverside
10. Atlanta

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-a...=hp:mainpromo3

[BevoLJ]

Another poll we came near the top of.... @ number 3.

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/ne...s+Journal%2529

Austin traffic among worst in U.S.
Austin Business Journal
Date: Friday, January 21, 2011, 10:59am CST

Austin was ranked as having one of the worst commutes in the nation, even coming in third using one indicator, the Texas Transportation Institute reported Thursday.

The "2010 Urban Mobility Report" ranked Austin as having the third worst traffic time index in 2009, or the time it takes to commute in traffic compared with the same distance during non-rush hours. The city came in 14th among 101 cities for excess fuel consumed because of congestion.

...

[DougRockstead]

1. Austin, Tex.
Austin is arguably the the country's best crucible for small business, offering a dozen community programs that form a neural network of business brainpower to help entrepreneurs. Now overlay that net with a dozen venture-capital funds and 20 or so business associations, plus incubators, educational opportunities and networking events. Mix all these elements in what many call a classless society, where hippie communalism coexists with no-nonsense capitalism, and you’ve got a breeding ground for start-ups.



Read more: http://www.kiplinger.com/magazine/ar...xt-decade.html

[DougRockstead]

Austin is ranked 7th best....

http://health.yahoo.net/rodale/MH/th...s-for-men-2011

[texastarkus]

See the list here: http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/1728/americas-worst-speed-traps/

2. Austin, Texas Speed traps: 189

The second entry from Texas in the top 10 is Austin, which one motorist described as practically a police state. Remember that here, they have "home rule," so municipalities don't have to follow state laws—and it seems they've taken that invitation to go quite seriously off the script.

That motorist said he was ticketed for going three to four miles per hour over the speed limit in a school zone, and when he was going 83 in an 80 mph zone.

There are serious speed traps at the northern and southern city limits, motorists note on Speedtrap.org, with many noting that everyone they know seems to have a couple of tickets. One woman wrote that she received a ticket and took a driver's education course to eliminate it. A clerk called her a year later and said the ticket was now a warrant and the fine had been increased. Luckily, she had her paperwork to prove it had been eliminated. She also noted that she'd seen three cars pulled over at once.

[DougRockstead]

Originally Posted by texastarkus

See the list here: http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/1728/americas-worst-speed-traps/

2. Austin, Texas Speed traps: 189

There are serious speed traps at the northern and southern city limits, motorists note on Speedtrap.org, with many noting that everyone they know seems to have a couple of tickets. One woman wrote that she received a ticket and took a driver's education course to eliminate it. A clerk called her a year later and said the ticket was now a warrant and the fine had been increased. Luckily, she had her paperwork to prove it had been eliminated. She also noted that she'd seen three cars pulled over at once.

I think that's a bit extreme. I haven't had a ticket here in quote a while, and I put all kinds of mileage on my car. I think sometimes it has to do with how you drive...

[Jdawgboy]

I agree, I have never been stopped for speeding here.

[BevoLJ]

I have been back in Austin for almost 10 years now and only have one ticket in that time, and that was up by Dallas in Waxahachie (sp?). Although to be fair I don't speed all that much. I may go over by 5 mph here or there, but pretty much just go with the flow of traffic.

One thing about what was said in there is the guy getting a ticket for speeding in a school zone. Really? Complaining about that? I am all for speed traps in school zones. As long as the school zones are clearly marked the tickets from those areas should be huge.

Edit: wait the speed limit in the school zone was 80? I am confused.

[JAM]

Speed in a school zone or neighborhood - BOOK'EM DANO! You can get away with speeding in a neighborhood far more than you can on the freeway in this town - or most for that matter. I think its sort of backwards, the freeways are made for high speed traffic (in some places anyway)

Want to get a speeding ticket? Just speed on 183N toward edge of town - it won't take long. There are some nice APD and Cedar Park men in blue waiting for you. I'm hoping to get pulled over by that hottie police woman on the motorcycle.

[KevinFromTexas]

Austin was tied with Denver. This was based on investment, ridership and safety.

http://www.usnews.com/news/slideshow...transportation

Top Ten U.S. Cities for Public Transit


1.) Portland
2.) Salt Lake City
3.) New York
4.) Boston
5.) Minneapolis/Saint Paul
6.) San Francisco
7.) Los Angeles
8.) Honolulu
9.) Austin (tie)
9.) Denver (tie)

[KevinFromTexas]

2009 MSA GDP numbers.

http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/regi...ewsrelease.htm

38 - Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX 78,426

[KevinFromTexas]

http://www.builderonline.com/local-m...-for-2011.aspx

The Healthiest Markets for 2011

2. Austin-Round Rock, TX

[BevoLJ]

Pay your taxes people!

Austinites 4th worst tax procrastinators in U.S.

Austin was again ranked the 4th worst tax procrastinator in the U.S., Intuit Inc. reported on Monday.

Read more: Austinites 4th worst tax procrastinators in U.S. | Austin Business Journal

....

The top 10 procrastinators (last year's ranking in parenthesis):
Houston (No. 1)
Chicago (No. 2)
New York City (No. 3)
Austin (No. 4)
San Antonio (Not listed last year)
San Francisco (No. 5)
Seattle (No. 6)
San Diego (No. 7)
Los Angeles (No. 8)
Dallas (No. 9)


http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/ne...ess+Journal%29

[KevinFromTexas]

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/ne...ket-in-us.html

Austin 2nd best job market in U.S., firm says

Austin Business Journal
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 8:33am CDT

Austin ranked high on another job market listing, taking the second slot on an employment outlook report released on Tuesday.

Ajilon Professional Staffing named Austin the second best place to find a job in the U.S., according to a U.S. Department of Labor statistics analysis and staffing trends nationally. The recruiting and workforce solutions firm cited Austin's lower than average unemployment rate — 7.3 percent — diversity of industries, and rich talent pool.

The full list:

1 - Minneapolis-St. Paul
2 - Austin
3 - Salt Lake City
4 - Boston
5 - Milwaukee
6 - Richmond, Va.
7 - Raleigh-Durham, N.C.
8 - Baltimore
9 - Pittsburgh
10 - Dallas

[wwmiv]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-a...=hp:mainpromo9

America's 30 Funniest Cities

Daily Beast
Date: March 30, 2011

All joking aside, given April Fool's Day, The Daily Beast wanted to find out in a more-than-anecdotal way which cities have the best sense of humor—where people are most likely to easily laugh off a bad day. To find America's Funniest Cities, we partnered with consumer-research firm Experian Simmons, which provided the following data for more than 200 of the largest markets in the country:
• The percent of adults who self-identify as funny
• The percent of adults who watch primetime sitcoms
• The percent of adults who watch syndicated sitcoms
• The percent of adults who usually see comedy movies or romantic comedies
• And the percent of adults who went to a comedy club three or more times in the past year

Top Ten:

1. Austin
2. New Orleans
3. Waco (um... adult metro area population: 703,514?)
4. Atlanta
5. Baton Rouge
6. Chicago
7. Milwaukee
8. Detroit
9. Philadelphia
10. Tallahassee

The only funny joke in the entire article is "You know you're in Columbus when the four seasons are almost winter, winter, still winter, and construction."

[KevinFromTexas]

I would actually argue that watching prime time sit-coms is a subtraction of someone's humor. I can see the syndicated ones helping, though.

[BevoLJ]

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/ne...ess+Journal%29

Austin leads nation in small-business vitality ranking
Austin Business Journal

Austin is the U.S. market that is most conducive to the creation and development of small businesses, according to the latest On Numbers rankings.

Oklahoma City is second in the current standings, followed by Charleston, S.C., Charlotte and Seattle.

We used a six-part formula to analyze the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas, searching for the places that offer the best climates for small businesses. See the bottom of this page for a database with the top-to-bottom standings.

Austin emerged as the clear leader, thanks to its outstanding records in three statistical categories that have a direct impact on small-business activity:

• Population: The Austin area added 286,000 residents between 2004 and 2009, an increase of 20.2 percent. The only metro to grow faster was Raleigh at 22.8 percent.

• Employment: Austin’s job base expanded by 9.3 percent between 2005 and 2010, the third-fastest upswing in the nation.

• Small-business growth: The number of small businesses grew by 1.5 percent in Austin between 2007 and 2008, the latest period covered by official statistics. No other market did better than 0.6 percent.

....

[texastarkus]

Austin ranks high for, well, just about everything
Austin Business Journal - by Colin Pope
Date: Wednesday, April 13, 2011, 6:22pm CDT

Austin ranks high for, well, just about everything | Austin Business Journal

Rarely does a week go by without Austin being listed at or near the top of a "best of" list.

With so much positive PR for this city flying around, I thought it would be helpful to wrangle it all together. So here goes.

• The biggie people still like to talk about came from Kiplinger’s Personal Finance in May 2010, which tagged Austin as the No. 1 best city to live in for the next 10 years.

• Just last week, Austin placed third in a "Youngest Cities" ranking, which was based on how youthful residents feel, not their actual age.

• When it comes to social networking, few cities beat Austin's prowess, Men's Health magazine says.

• Austin is the second-best place to find a job right now, according to number crunchers at Ajilon Professional Staffing.

• In November, Austin was deemed to have the second-strongest job market in the country by the Milken Institute (behind only Killeen, Texas).

• That backs up another list in July 2010 that put Austin among the top job-generating cities.

• In May 2010, Austin was listed among the country’s healthiest cities on two other lists.

• A CNN/Money study last year labeled Austin as recession-proof.

• Austin was chosen as one of the eight best places to live and work in the U.S. by Business Review USA.

• Austinites have the ninth-best “quality of life,” according to Portfolio.com study in May 2010.

• Austin (again) ranked No. 4 on a list of the biggest tax procrastinating cities. I'll go out on a limb and put this one in the "positive" category because it illustrates how laid back and cool this city is. We're much too busy this time of year with rodeos, music festivals and perfect weather to be bogged down by tax forms.

• Austin was ranked the third-best city to move to in the United States, according to a RelocateAmerica.com report about a year ago.

• They were on to something, because earlier this year U-Haul said Austin is one of the most-moved-to cities in the country.

• Austin was picked as the nation’s most progressive and proactive entrepreneurial center in a July article from Entrepreneur.com.

• PayScale Inc. just ranked Austin second among cities considered an IT startup “Hot Spot."

• Austin is the third-best city for young entrepreneurs, says Under 30 CEO.

• Entrepreneur magazine ranked Austin a top creative center in July.

• If you're a college student, there are few places better than Austin, according to a Huffington Post ranking.

• Austin ranks as the nation’s fifth-best city for new college graduates in the latest annual listing by Bloomberg Businessweek.

• Austin was deemed by Men’s Health to be America’s most sex-happy city.

• Austin was Yahoo Travel’s third-best city for singles last year. And Vavoom.com put Austin as its second-best city for dating behind Miami earlier this year.

• Austin did well on a Forbes list in June 2010 highlighting the best cities for young professionals.

• We have some of the cleanest air in the country, according to another list.

• Austin is the best city for Hispanics, according to Popular Hispanics.

• While we're not really an industrial town, Austin is still one of the country's top cities for manufacturing jobs, according to Manufacturers' News Inc.

• In December, Forbes put Austin at No. 12 on its first list of the best cities for shopping.

• We already have more restaurants per capita than most cities, but that didn't stop Austin from being named recently as one of the top 10 emerging restaurant markets in the U.S.

• When it comes to live music, Austin is No. 3 in the U.S., according to MSNBC.com.

• Austin is also one of the safest cities of its size, another study said.

• Late last year, Austin residents were ranked the 7th brainiest in the U.S. by Daily Beast.

• And all that brainpower must make life easier, because Austin is one of the least-stressed cities in the U.S.


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http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/bl...well-just.html

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NOTE:
I know we're not supposed to post full articles but this kinda says what forum is all about.....

[texastarkus]

The 10 best athlete-owned restaurants

http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slu...aurants_042111

For a variety of reasons – an effort to diversify investments, to create a post-career business opportunity, ego or challenge – many gridiron heroes and ballpark messiahs have splashed their names on an establishment that also serves as a shrine to their athletic glory. For most, the formula is pretty standard: generic pub food, lots of TVs, and even more memorabilia covering the walls. The only thing usually missing is the athlete. Don’t expect to spot Brett Favre greeting guests at his steakhouse in Green Bay...

The list:

1. Vince Young Steakhouse (Austin, Texas)
2. Wayne Gretzky’s (Toronto)
3. Dan Marino’s (Las Vegas and Miami)
4. Elway’s (Denver)
5. Greg Norman’s Australian Grille (Myrtle Beach, S.C.)