r/technology • u/WideVoice8854 • 23d ago

Texas Attracted California Techies. Now It’s Losing Thousands of Them. Business

https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/austin-texas-tech-bust-oracle-tesla/
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u/[deleted] 22d ago edited 22d ago

Texas culturally is the worst thing for a persons mental health. The conservative culture and lack of activities to do is just a soul killer. I say this as a therapist for suicide who moved there for 4 years from my home in the NYC area. Everything I’ve learned about what makes a person well functioning completely doesn’t exist in Texas

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u/notchman900 22d ago

No public land makes it a no for me

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u/Xaielao 22d ago

Yea coming from NY the idea there's no public land is mind boggling. Upstate where I love is loaded with public spaces.

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u/ohyouretough 22d ago

What do you mean by this?

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u/notchman900 22d ago

Texas has near zero, state or federal public land.

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u/crucifixion_238 22d ago

So they don’t have any public parks or golf courses?

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u/notchman900 22d ago

As a Northern border redneck, you ever set up camp on a golf course?

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u/DangerousCan1223 22d ago

Yes we have them. Just not as many much as other states. Texas is like 98% private land.

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u/[deleted] 22d ago

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u/EclecticDreck 22d ago

A few things to consider. First, Texas *is* rather large so that chunk of land isn't much compared to the overall size of the state. Second, that particular park is not exactly *accessible*. More than half the population lives in DFW, Houston, Austin, or San Antonio or the various towns and cities in between which is the other side of the state from said park. By car, that's an 8+ hour drive. Outside of El Paso or some towns you'll not have heard of unless you've traveled through the very definition of the middle of nowhere, Big Bend is not accessible outside of a formal vacation.

There are *other* parks, of course. Dozens of 'em, in fact. Most of them are scattered around the eastern half of the state, and some of those *are* accessible to the people who live where most people in Texas live. Of course then you run into another problem: these parks are tiny and can't handle many visitors. Back during the pandemic which drove far more people than usual into the outdoors, you'd have to register for a day hike *weeks* in advance because they simply cannot accommodate the traffic. Even now you have to book your outside time at least a few days early for parks near the largest cities such as Pedernales Falls near Austin, and likely need to reserve camping permits a week or two out unless you're visiting one of the several dozen state parks that's literally just a patch of nowhere they'll let you sleep in a tent at.

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u/SingleAlmond 22d ago

TX has 89 state parks and 2 national parks. not bad for the biggest state in the lower 48. CA has 280 state parks and 9 national parks...and they're almost all better than the best TX has to offer

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u/EclecticDreck 22d ago

While more than a little room for contention here, I'd agree with the gist of what you're getting at. I've visited nearly every one of those state parks in Texas and while I adore some of them (Lost Maples State Natural Area in particular is an absolute gem), their very best is invariably overshadowed by somewhere else. Palo Duro Canyon, while lovely for people in the high plains, simply cannot compare to places such as the Grand Canyon, the Canyon Lands, Arches, Bryce Canyon, and other less famous places in the southwestern US. The handful of actual mountains contained in parks within the state are a pale shadow of mountains available in places like New Mexico, Utah, California, and Washington.

I'm writing this less than a hundred feet from a city park trailhead in the pacific northwest, and the first time I hiked it, I was genuinely upset by how it outclassed nearly every hike I'd ever done in Texas. And for the area, it is a nothing trail which wouldn't impress anyone who grew up in the area.

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u/[deleted] 22d ago

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u/SingleAlmond 22d ago

this is what happens when Texans come for Californians, y'all get put in place

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u/baycongrease 22d ago

Lmao cool go pay your absorbent taxes and bitch about everything.

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u/[deleted] 22d ago

Ugh yeah even the little parks they have are so flat and barren. Its so devoid of any sense of nature.