Reply #29: Having moved from a beach region to Austin, I can sympathize.

[jobycom]

I grew up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and miss the beach, too. I wind up at Lakes Buchanan or Travis or Canyon Lake as often as possible. On a windy day from the right angles Lake Buchanan can almost look like a real beach, as long as you don't look too far across it. :-)

You're right about East Austin, and that was the point of my post above. Most of it is not bad at all, and many of the complaints are from people who simply equate non-white with undesirable. I had a friend who lived on Montopolis and swore she heard gunshots once a week, and there is some graffiti and broken-up buildings in that area, but it's nothing like the pictures I've seen of LA. Austin's a little bitty town in comparison.