Austin, Texas is the state capital of Texas and is named after [Stephen F. Austin]?. Known at one time as Waterloo.
The University of Texas at Austin is located in Austin. It is also self-proclaimed as the "live music capital of the world", a title it goes a long way to earning with a vibrant live music scene centered around the many clubs on 6th street and a yearly music festival known as South by Southwest. Because of the Radio, Television, and Fine (RTF) arts department of the university, Austin is also the location for a number of movies such as Spykids?, [Dazed and Confused]?, and Slackers? and is home to several famous directors such as [Robert Rodriquez]?.
With a city population of around 650,000 and metro population of over 1 million people, Austin is the fourth largest city in Texas (behind Houston, Dallas, and [San Antonio]?), and the 16th largest in the U.S. Largest employers include the State of Texas, The University of Texas at Austin, Dell Computers, Motorola, and IBM. The region is known as Silicon Hills. There has been a large amount of rapid development with the construction heading driving the city toward the north and the south.
Austin lies on the Balcones fault. The eastern part of the cities is flat while the western part and western suburbs consist of beautiful rolling hills, which unfortunately makes the city vunerable to flash flooding. To control this flooding and generate hydroelectric power, Austin has a series of dams which control runoff run by the Lower Colorado River Authority.
Politics: Austin is administered by a non partisan council of seven members each of which are elected by the entire city and and an elected mayor. Under a tradition known as the "gentleman's agreement" which has existed since the 1970's, one of the council seats is contested only by a member of the African-American community while another of the council seats is contested only by a member of the Hispanic community. Political parties are not a major influence on city politics, and the main political actors within Austin are interest groups such as the pro-environmental [[Save Our Springs Alliance]].
The current mayor is Gus Garcia, who was a long time member of the city council.
The political controversy that was dominate between the 1990's was the conflict between environmentalists who dominate in the city center and advocates of more urban growth who tend to live in the suburbs. This conflict has been less heated in the last several years as the idea of [smart growth]? has become popular.
Austin is served by Bergstrom International Airport
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