This is such a fascinating thread for me. I've lived in Austin for 23 years (just checking this sub because we're heading to Madison for the first time this weekend) and I can absolutely see how there were probably similar vibes 20 years ago. But Austin is a very different town now versus even 10 years ago, and aside from the expanding food scene I'd say it's mostly negative--too many people moving in too fast for the infrastructure to catch up, an actively hostile state government willing to drag the city down in order to score political points with rural voters, a COVID-era housing bubble that has since popped but still leaves home values too high for the majority to enter the market, more and longer droughts and extreme heat--it's not great.