Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 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.
Location: from houstoner to bostoner to new yorker to new jerseyite ;)
4,084 posts, read 12,631,181 times
Reputation: 1973
Advertisements
Quote:
Originally Posted by DeaconJ
That was the other point I wanted to make...it's not "people" in the northeast and other areas that have a problem with those cities mentioned, but just some people online in these forums. I've visited Chicago, New York, Boston, Toronto, Philadelphia, Newark, Buffalo, Rochester, etc. and have always been received very warmly by people I've met there. No one has ever reacted negatively in any way to my being a resident of Atlanta. That is the real world...this is the cyber world.
That's true to a certain extent, but I've met many people in real life who wrinkle their noses in disgust or disbelief when they find out I'm from Houston or Texas. Perhaps because you're in Atlanta you don't get it so much. Atlanta, Miami, New Orleans, and the NC cities are the most universally liked Southern cities. Many think anything in Texas, except Austin of course, is just what that previous poster said, backwards, corrupt, Bush-loving, fundamentalists, etc. These stereotypes are perpetuated and enforced by the media, like the recent story on the highway robbery in Tenhaha, a tiny, tiny, tiny town in Deep East Texas. So now the rest of Texas must suffer the negative association, just like we did with the dragging death in Jasper years ago, and the Branch Davidians in Waco, the FLDS sect in West Texas, and Bush of course. You rarely hear about Texas in the media unless it's something negative. And so it goes.
Last edited by houstoner; 03-24-2009 at 08:08 AM..
It's because the Trogs on here love to bait the Sunbelters with ugly and unfounded comments about their home cities because they know that they will elicit a reaction from them.
The only reason that I bother to respond is that I know there are posters on here that are making a genuine effort to glean pertinent info about the South on these threads and I don't want to see them mislead.
Go ahead and talk smack on my analysis -- it's been my experience in Chicago, Boston, NY, Portland, SF and Seattle as to why people don't like Texas.
You asked for people to respond to you by allowing people to respond to your analysis and than you act like you speak for the people in those cities. I have been to Chicago and they welcomed me with open arms. If you didn't want people to single you out, then you shouldn't make comments like this. And as much as people call the Southern or Sunbelt cities close minded. When I see comments like Bush Loving, weirdo's, religious, greedy etc. etc. I would think we need to reassess who really has the close mind. From your comments the past few days on Southern cities, you shouldn't be surprised.
In simplest terms, cities like Atlanta and Houston do not offer all of the positive attributes of larger northern cities, while still having all the negatives. This has nothing to do with any bias against the south like some of you are saying, but has everything to do with when these cities grew.
Northern cities grew before the automobile age, thus have more pedestrian friendly neighborhoods, better transit, and more ornate buildings due to the cheaper building materials of the time. I will say that areas up north constructed after WWII are not that much different than what you find built in the south during that same time period. It all comes down to the fact that southern cities were not that populated back in the day when we used built cities right.
If you want an example of a good southern city look at Charleston, SC. It has lots of older, well preserved building stock and is better than any northern city of similar size IMHO.
Don't quite understand the hate for Atlanta. I think many Americans consider it the major Southern city where people from the West coast & Northeast feel comfortable. Other than airport lay-overs, I have had only 2 long weekends in Atlanta & got to see the city a bit. I'd like to go back.
Well alot of People from the northeast or moving to Atlanta. Alot of people complain but the people from the northeast and west or moving here in droves.
In simplest terms, cities like Atlanta and Houston do not offer all of the positive attributes of larger northern cities, while still having all the negatives.
If that was true then why would people from the north move there? That makes no sense for people to move to a place that has less to offer in every category than what they have now. High housing costs, high taxes, lots of regulations, and lack of jobs are negatives that these sunbelt cities generally do not have compared to their northern counterparts.
Much of the population growth of cities like Houston, Phoenix, Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Nashville, etc. has been at the expense of many declining northeastern cities. A lot of the animosity in these city forums comes from people in those northeastern cities who somehow have decided to place the blame for the ills of their city on those popular, growing cities.
We all know where the blame, if any, should be placed...and it's certainly not on the growing cities...
Every large U.S. city is super sprawled and has suburbs galore...but people have the choice of urban or suburban living in every large U.S. city, and if they choose to live in the suburbs then so be it.
DeaconJ - Don't single me out here. The OP asked for reasons why people on this forum overlook and even dismiss (not in those words) the south so I am playing a very common stereotype against the south.
Let me define common. I have heard this angle several times from several different west/east coast metro's about Texas and the South. I didn't state that this is my view point or my own impressions that I am projecting to the public on this site. You asked for reasons on this thread and reasons I gave.
Leave my name alone when commenting on this analysis though.
"some people online in these forums"
Single you out? I responded to your statements...if you feel that you've been singled out in some way, I would recommend that you not post anything in the future. You would know it if I actually singled you out.
[quote=5Lakes;8024280]In simplest terms, cities like Atlanta and Houston do not offer all of the positive attributes of larger northern cities, while still having all the negatives. This has nothing to do with any bias against the south like some of you are saying, but has everything to do with when these cities grew.
Northern cities grew before the automobile age, thus have more pedestrian friendly neighborhoods, better transit, and more ornate buildings due to the cheaper building materials of the time. I will say that areas up north constructed after WWII are not that much different than what you find built in the south during that same time period. It all comes down to the fact that southern cities were not that populated back in the day when we used built cities right.
Northern cities have negatives that are both common with the south as well as many unique negatives. Boston, Philly and NYC, Chicago are great cities but each have turnoffs for me. I love the north for what it is and for what it offers but I have yet to discover what makes it that much better than southern major cities. Maybe these city-vs-city threads are dominated by posters from such pro tradtional northern-style urbanity websites like SSP and SSC?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 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 2 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.
is just what that previous poster said, backwards, corrupt, Bush-loving, fundamentalists, etc. These stereotypes are perpetuated and enforced by the media, like the recent story on the highway robbery in Tenhaha, a tiny, tiny, tiny town in Deep East Texas. So now the rest of Texas must suffer the negative association, just like we did with the dragging death in Jasper years ago, and the Branch Davidians in Waco, the FLDS sect in West Texas, and Bush of course. You rarely hear about Texas in the media unless it's something negative. And so it goes.
