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For some reason you are trying to stick me on to some side of an argument I had no intention of being on. I am not here to put down Houston. Or say it is a crappy city. I like Houston. But if you think for one second Houston is on the same level as any of those "Older cities" I mentioned then you are out of your mind.
I made a point that to put down Austin because of one thing can just as easily be made about the city he boost (Dallas). For some crazy reason you come in telling me that Houston is of the same level as London? Are you really going to tell me that? Tell me which of these cities Houston is on par with?
NYC
London
Paris
Hong Kong
Beijing
Shanghai
Singapore
Tokyo
Sydney
Seoul
Mumbai
Kuala Lumpur
Jakarta
Bangkok
Taipei
New Delhi
Milan
Madrid
Barcelona
Rome
Lisbon
Moscow
Brussels
Prague
Budapest
Stockholm
Amsterdam
Zurich
Frankfurt
Hamburg
Berlin
Warsaw
Toronto
Chicago
LA
Atlanta
SF
San Jose
DC
Boston
Dubai
Cairo
Johannesburg
Istanbul
Buenos Aires
Santiago
Sao Paulo
Mexico City
Melbourne
....
I could go on.
And on Rice. It is a great school. Anyone would should be honored to get a degree from there. But it is small. NYC, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Philly, LA, Silicon Valley, Seattle, Raleigh, DC, Baltimore, St. Louis, Providence, Nashville all offer better and in many of those cases several options that are better. And even more so in some of those cases the schools they offer are quite larger. I've always heard of Emory as being the "Ivy League" of the south. But then my father (who was from Houston) went to Emory rather than Rice so I may have grown up with a bit of bias on that one. Either way neither are Harvard or Stanford.
On the population thing you keep bringing up. Houston is the 4th largest city in the US. But then again that is like saying Miami really has less than 400,000 when the cities is only 40 odd miles big. The area has much more (5.5 million). Same with Pitt, Boston, .... and so on. CSA wise Houston is 9th not 4th. And that is only in the US. We are talking world not US which you seem to keep forgetting. Houston is not even in the top 50 world wide by population. In fact there are something like 30 cities with double its population, 15 witI h triple, and 6-7 with over 4 times as much. Tokyo has like 7 times the population of Houston. So please move on from that one.
I think you are overrating a couple cities here. Atlanta and San Jose are two of them. I can understand your points on not making Houston. But with some of these others, I cant understand.
I love Houston. It's still my hometown even if I do live thousands of miles away these days. I want nothing but good things for it. However, I just don't agree that it's a truly world class city yet. I guess we'll have to just agree to disagree on that one. I will give you well-known, but respected? Maybe in certain circles, but overall I see Houston receiving much more disrespect and disdain from non-locals not only on C-D, but in general in everyday conversation from people everywhere I go, rather than respect and compliments. And it's always the same old tired and outdated stereotypes, but they are still out there. Trust me on that one. People seem to change their tune once they've actually spent some time there, but the negative image is still very much in circulation. I wish it wasn't.
Metro wise Houston is 6th. At the rate of its growth it will surpass Philadelphia and Dallas within the next 2 decades. And like I said earlier it's unfair to compare Houston and Tokyo because of the huge difference. Come back to me in 300 years for a more fair and balanced analysis on population.
As I've said in other posts, I grew up in Tokyo. I used the bus, the trains the subway, etc. for transportation. I loved it. I naturally prefer Nyc because of this. It looks like I'm here to stay (in Texas),and with that said, I'll be blunt. I'd MUCH prefer Houston or Dallas over Austin. It's just a matter of preference. Austin doesn't seem like a city to me. It just seems like a big, overgrown town. This is my perception, my opinion, my view, my beliefs...before anyone tries to counter my feelings about Austin. Some people prefer the slower pace of Austin. I just prefer a faster pace, more amenities, etc. Opinions and preferences will differ. A person would just have to experience Austin for themselves and form their own opinion.
As I've said in other posts, I grew up in Tokyo. I used the bus, the trains the subway, etc. for transportation. I loved it. I naturally prefer Nyc because of this. It looks like I'm here to stay (in Texas),and with that said, I'll be blunt. I'd MUCH prefer Houston or Dallas over Austin. It's just a matter of preference. Austin doesn't seem like a city to me. It just seems like a big, overgrown town. This is my perception, my opinion, my view, my beliefs...before anyone tries to counter my feelings about Austin. Some people prefer the slower pace of Austin. I just prefer a faster pace, more amenities, etc. Opinions and preferences will differ. A person would just have to experience Austin for themselves and form their own opinion.
I agree. And I think you are dead right. Especially the part of your post I bolded.
But there are a few things that go into that. One being I believe that is a big part of the feel and what Austin goes for. I do believe that is much of the image, and culture that the city and many of the people in the city try to foster and encourage. For Austin to be a big small town, not a small big city. Which is much more attractive to some people, and much less attractive to others.
The other part is there is a huge part of Austin that fights any growth passionately. The 'No-growth' or NIMBY crowed if you will. They try to do all they can to keep Austin as a large small town that it always has felt like, rather than the small big city that it has become. However, to me I always felt this was very counter productive of them. Austin has always grown by 25-50% every 10 years. It is just how the city is, and that isn't going to change. And by keeping up the good old NIMBY or no-growth fight, all they are doing is maintaining that wonderful feel and culture of Austin being a large small town that is so attractive for people looking for a place to live. What they accomplish by trying to prevent growth in the city is create an even more attractive city and making Austin grow even more.
So what you just mentioned about Austin is one of those tight-ropes that it must walk to not lose itself. The city wants to keep that image and feel of being the large small town, but it must do so responsibly understanding that it is not in reality as large small town, but a big city. And big cities must act responsibly in ways that small towns do not, offering services that small town do not, and taking a greater responsibility for maintaining certain forms of growth (Density vs Sprawl) and responsible forms of transportation that is better for the citizens and environment. There are some things that small towns can do and get away with, with less harm than big cities do. But while Austin wants to keep that small town feel, it is not a small town rather a big city, and must behave responsibly as big cities should.
It can be done. In the part of London that I live, Camden Town, it is right in the middle of London but often feels like a small village.
I agree. And I think you are dead right. Especially the part of your post I bolded.
But there are a few things that go into that. One being I believe that is a big part of the feel and what Austin goes for. I do believe that is much of the image, and culture that the city and many of the people in the city try to foster and encourage. For Austin to be a big small town, not a small big city. Which is much more attractive to some people, and much less attractive to others.
The other part is there is a huge part of Austin that fights any growth passionately. The 'No-growth' or NIMBY crowed if you will. They try to do all they can to keep Austin as a large small town that it always has felt like, rather than the small big city that it has become. However, to me I always felt this was very counter productive of them. Austin has always grown by 25-50% every 10 years. It is just how the city is, and that isn't going to change. And by keeping up the good old NIMBY or no-growth fight, all they are doing is maintaining that wonderful feel and culture of Austin being a large small town that is so attractive for people looking for a place to live. What they accomplish by trying to prevent growth in the city is create an even more attractive city and making Austin grow even more.
So what you just mentioned about Austin is one of those tight-ropes that it must walk to not lose itself. The city wants to keep that image and feel of being the large small town, but it must do so responsibly understanding that it is not in reality as large small town, but a big city. And big cities must act responsibly in ways that small towns do not, offering services that small town do not, and taking a greater responsibility for maintaining certain forms of growth (Density vs Sprawl) and responsible forms of transportation that is better for the citizens and environment. There are some things that small towns can do and get away with, with less harm than big cities do. But while Austin wants to keep that small town feel, it is not a small town rather a big city, and must behave responsibly as big cities should.
It can be done. In the part of London that I live, Camden Town, it is right in the middle of London but often feels like a small village.
Whew ::wiping my brows:: I'm just glad you didn't call me an angry little bird. LOL That tickled me enough to make me chuckle out loud in my office. LOL
But yes, what you said is true. Austin just seems a tad bit confused...or actually, there are too many opposing forces. If it's trying to grow, let it grow. If it's growing, Austin needs to take action to support and sustain the growth. Public transportation is a joke. The highway infrastructure is ridiculous.
Notwithstanding, I've always said Austin can be a nice place to raise a family. I've made the decision to stay because my oldest has rooted himself here, and I'd feel it unfair to uproot him from his school, friends, etc. based upon my preference/wants. He likes the Austin area. If we ever make the move (I'm hopeful), it will be after our middle child graduates high school in six years.
The other part is there is a huge part of Austin that fights any growth passionately. The 'No-growth' or NIMBY crowed if you will. They try to do all they can to keep Austin as a large small town that it always has felt like, rather than the small big city that it has become. However, to me I always felt this was very counter productive of them. Austin has always grown by 25-50% every 10 years. It is just how the city is, and that isn't going to change. And by keeping up the good old NIMBY or no-growth fight, all they are doing is maintaining that wonderful feel and culture of Austin being a large small town that is so attractive for people looking for a place to live. What they accomplish by trying to prevent growth in the city is create an even more attractive city and making Austin grow even more.
Part of the reasons for the problems of Austin is the No-growth crowd totally controlled everything in the 70s. They believed if you didn't build it they wouldn't come. They tried to force everything North-South as the East and West were too environmentally sensitive. Naturally the west boomed. Now they built 130 on the east and are building the 290 toll road to the east. The west is a total mess as far as traffic. By trying to stop growth, they lowered the quality of life. They're trying to catch up.
Austin is a more popular place for ONE REASON. The city marketing department pumps more advertising dollars into advertising the city than any other city in the state.
I used to think this was all nuts but I read something recently (need to go search for the article again) that both the Austin and Dallas tourism bureaus were suspected of having paid off one of the food shows to come film in the cities. The tip-off happened when Houston was also asked by the show for payment to be shown, refused to participate, then word got out.
I used to think this was all nuts but I read something recently (need to go search for the article again) that both the Austin and Dallas tourism bureaus were suspected of having paid off one of the food shows to come film in the cities. The tip-off happened when Houston was also asked by the show for payment to be shown, refused to participate, then word got out.
There's denial of any payout apparently, but either way it's still rather unsettling that TV shows or anyone else would go around asking for payment to showcase the city, especially in this economy.
There's denial of any payout apparently, but either way it's still rather unsettling that TV shows or anyone else would go around asking for payment to showcase the city, especially in this economy.
But this is strange. Why only Texas? If Top Chef asked all the Texas cities for cash, who's to say they don't ask any other city in which it is showcased for cash? And what in particular does this have to do with Austin pumping money for advertising the city?
Is that to say that every other city that is famous has pumped in serious taxpayers money for advertising their city?
All I know is that people that have heard good things about Austin have heard it through word of mouth. Here in the bay area plenty of people wanna get to know Austin and I don't see any billboards, or commercials saying, "hey come to Austin."
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That tickled me enough to make me chuckle out loud in my office. LOL
