Good luck with this. I don't think he realizes how pedestrian unfriendly cities in the Southwest are. He'll quickly realize a trip to pick up groceries will take 2 hours via bus, and he'll be forced to walk without sidewalks in 105 degree heat to the bus stop while everyone else drives by in airconditioned cars looking upon him like he is homeless.
Also at 100k people it isn't exactly "small town America" as the article claims.
I started to wonder about the actual size when he mentioned "reasonably extensive" bus service and then four colleges. And maybe my estimation is skewed from having grown up in the suburbs instead of Chicago itself, but I would expect living in an actual small town to be a lot cheaper than just 30% under.
The other point from anamax about the city slicker teaching the yokels how it should be done is very apt. There is a reason why hackers gravitate towards Silicon Valley: people like to be with other people who are doing the same thing. Tyler is by no means dumb. As the author--who admittedly also posted here that he didn't want to debate the article--points out, there are two universities (University of Texas-affiliated, I might add) and two junior colleges. The area is also home to pipe and robotics companies. It is also very insular, especially when it comes to "being shown how things are done" because the Dallas area has been the older, wiser brother to Tyler for decades.
Oh, and "nothing about local politics?" I guess the reporting from KLTV, the oldest television station in Tyler, doesn't count.[1]
I grew up outside of a town with 5K people; it was the largest town in a 50-mile radius.
Small towns have under 1K people, at least where I come from.
The town I grew up in had a population of ~35k, and it was definitely a 'small town'.
These things are all relative to your local norms, but I think demanding that 'small towns' have at most four people and a lame horse is excessive.
Personally, I'd but the line between "town" and "city" to having some kind of rapid rail transit. (That'd mean, for example, that in the country where I live is just one city.)
My point was that the size of a 'small town' varies by context, and that a town of 1,000 would be tiny even in the context of a place that doesn't have many people.
Also, 'city' in the UK is to do with a special government/crown-granted status, not really the population per se.
Try doing this in north-eastern Montana.
(Or, better yet, don't. You'll die.)