Please register to participate in our discussions with 1.5 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
There's no side walks in Texas. Somebody has to pay for all that cement in California. How can you compare Texas and California. California has so much more to offer. its like comparing a Land Rover to a Civic they are the same thing but at different cost.
Well, I haven't been back to Texas for a few years so I really don't know what's going on today but I would be curious to know when they removed the sidewalks. I have a picture of me in front of my house when I was a kid (early sixties) in what was then a rural suburb of Houston and oddly enough there were sidewalks. We had electricity and running water too!
Well, I haven't been back to Texas for a few years so I really don't know what's going on today but I would be curious to know when they removed the sidewalks. I have a picture of me in front of my house when I was a kid (early sixties) in what was then a rural suburb of Houston and oddly enough there were sidewalks. We had electricity and running water too!
Yeah, I'm a native Houstonian, lived in Houston for 45 years and not only did we have running water and a sidewalk at our tract house, we also had a telephone and we ate with knifes and forks. Of course we all rode to school on horses and our little house had 20,000 acres behind it (at least that's what I told all of my Yankee relatives).
Yeah, I'm a native Houstonian, lived in Houston for 45 years and not only did we have running water and a sidewalk at our tract house, we also had a telephone and we ate with knifes and forks. Of course we all rode to school on horses and our little house had 20,000 acres behind it (at least that's what I told all of my Yankee relatives).
What's really ironic is that I saw my first cow in my early 20s right here in CA. Those things are freaking huge! When I left Texas I had an ATM card, remember the old IMPACT machines? When I opened a checking account here I asked about a card and got a blank stare. Remember back in the late 1970s and early 1980s when supermarkets started installing computers at the ends of isles you could use to help you locate stuff in the store or how they bagged up your groceries and then you'd drive around to the loading area and they'd load the car? Never seen anything remotely similar here even in the 21st century and I live in the second largest metro in the state!
In many ways a move to the West Coast was like stepping back in time. All in all I really like CA but sometimes I feel like I'm living in the past.
2. Discouraged things like lots of divorces and having kids out of wedlock. Many psychologists (grudgingly) and financial writers are starting to agree that these 2 things are an emotional and financial disaster that make people weak and vulnerablet.
LOL....this is news to me. The Republicans are now the anti-divorce and anti-kid out of wedlock party?
You're welcome. I'm hoping that maybe with the upcoming governor's race, the Republican candidates won't bow to the wishes of social conservatives, but my guess is that they'll have to if they want to win the primary election.
If what happened to the republican candidate in NY 23 is any indication, the republicans will be scrambling to appeal to even more conservative, right-wing fringe voters. I say, give them all the rope possible. It assures me that the dems will be in office for a long time. Maybe even California will replace their hopeless republican with a democrat. My feeling, personally, is the CA constitution should be thrown out and rewritten.
How the heck did this thread degenerate into a debate about GWB, Naomi Wolf, public transit in TX and NY-23?
CA's problems are caused by the CA legislature, CA politicans and CA voters. None of the rest of this garbage means anything. If Californians want to know what the problem with California is, just look in the mirror.
CA's problems are caused by the CA legislature, CA politicans and CA voters. None of the rest of this garbage means anything. If Californians want to know what the problem with California is, just look in the mirror.
Ya think? I've been saying that for years based upon WAY too much time spent at the Capitol in a "former" life.
As I'm fond of saying, "You'll never get rich betting on the collective memory or intelligence of the electorate!"
So, you're in favor of higher-density neighborhoods and public transportation? That's not for me. I prefer having some green space, and some peace and quiet. I think most people would rather sit in their comfortable cars - even in traffic congestion - than feel forced to use public transportation.
I used to live in Riverside and did not have a car. I lived next to a Walmart which was convient, but it wasn't a grocery store. I got a discounted bus pass but if you want to buy much taking the bus to the store is a major hastle. The bus service was middling. I could get a fair amount of places in town and some out but it literally took hours to make what would be a half hour trip in a car. Relatives came out and drove me to the store for a monthly shopping. It was nice when I could get away, but where I wanted to go, where the houses and stores were not, I couldn't get there and seldom went anywhere unless I had to. If the system had been better, unless it got you really out of town, I wouldn't have used it much either.
Since I've moved to a little town with no public transportation at all I do miss it sometimes. But it wouldn't help with the store or most of the trips I need to take anyway. I order a lot of stuff online because its so much simpler. But it has that space around me that I found intolerable to lose when I was at my apartment. Given the choice, I'd take here and the space in comparison to the middling or even a really good transportation system. Here, I am saving for a car, but if I decide I'd like to go out of town and just have trees and silence I could do it, and without having to go miles and miles and miles.
In California I was not forced to use public transportation and utterly dispise sitting in traffic. I'd rather take a long boring bus ride than sit on Magnolia at 5:00 while the traffic crawls. If something was here I'd use it. But public transportation needs a certain amount of riders and the population here wouldn't support a system all that well, even if people regularly used it. Riverside has no such excuse. If there was a more functional transportation system there it would be used, and likely fully, but that would STILL leave freeways crowded simply because schedules do not always match public transportation, stuff needs to be hauled places and there are simply too many people for the space.
I don't see people ever abandoning suburbia. Some of us just aren't made to have neighbors a wall away. But being able to get to the train a few steps from the door won't work that way. It can be compromized with park and rides and other similar options. There will still be places where people will need cars because there aren't enough people to pay for a transportation system.
If cutting down on pollution is the goal, then maintaining roads is as important. Roads that eat your tires, ruts and bad designs that create traffic problems add much pollution to the air. We'll never have NO cars, but we need good options to not use them for those who like the idea. And maintain (as we aren't everywhere) the roads we have. There is never a single, only one option that works.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $53,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 1.5 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
