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But I can say unlike Houston vs Atlanta at least the thread turned out positive and everyone started agreeing with each other.
That's usually how the DFW vs. ATL threads go. There seems to be a mutual respect between the two on the forums. I guess it's a testimony as to how similar the two metros are. However, the Dallas posters don't seem to hang out in the City-vs-City forums as much as the Houston posters do.
I guess the OP missed the 300-Page epic clusterf**** that the Dallas Vs. Atlanta thread became.
Before Uncle Greg comes in to close the gate, I'll put in my .02 as I always do
- Food (Major category) : Too subjective. There are things that Dallas excels in, there are things that Atlanta excels in in this category. The explosive growth of both Metro areas and the changing tastes of the American public have really helped the gastronomic scene in both though. This isn't 1990 anymore, that's for sure! I will say that I like the Latin food in Dallas better and what passes for "Southern Food/Country Cooking" to be mediocre to OK in both. I used to live in Mississippi, so my standards are high on that. I do love Big Daddy's off of Old National or Paschal's here in Atlanta though.
- Infrastructure Dallas has a better freeway network. Atlanta has a heavy-rail system that's usually cuckolded by the rural and suburban politicians who get brownie-points by "sticking it to Atlanta". The Dallas area seems to really embrace their light-rail system (which is pretty impressive)
- Downtown office space: DT Dallas has a stubbornly high vacancy rate, and has since the S&L fallout in the 1980s, so I guess Dallas "wins" in this category.
- Parks (Major category): Atlanta. We have two awesome major parks (Piedmont and Grant), and we also have Stone Mountain Park and Kennesaw Mountain Park in the metro area. I wish we did have something similar to White Rock Lake Park though.
- Cost of Living - Dallas' housing prices in general are lower, and benefits from Texas not having a state income tax or a birthday bill/ad valorem tax for your car. Property tax in Texas is higher. I don't know about auto insurance, but my insurance is lower here than it was in many other states. Salaries and how far they go in either? Depends on who you ask.
- Quality of Life: WAY too subjective. What's important to one person may not be as important to another.
- Good neighborhoods: WAY too subjective. ATL has Buckhead, DFW has the Park Cities, ATL has Little 5 points, DFW has Bishop Arts, etc. I think that there are more bohemian/"arty" type of communities in Atlanta though.
- Influence of Suburban cities: Atlanta is often stereotyped as a crime-ridden welfare state by the surrounding suburbs (the further outside 285, the more obvious this attitude). Racial politics plays a role in this, as well as common elitism on both sides. Dallas seems to be hemmed up by its suburbs, particularly the northern ones in terms of competing for corporations, people moving to the city, etc. The multi-polar nature of the DFW area is a lot more apparent that than the multi-polar nature of Atlanta. However, the DFW area seems to work together as a whole moreso than Metro Atlanta, where there seems to be an underlying current of "Us vs. Them" on all sides.
- Influence of other major cities in the state: What other major cities in Georgia? I'm kidding. But I will say that the Dallas-Houston rivalry makes them do things that they wouldn't otherwise do because neither one wants to be outdone by the other. But Atlanta sort of "wins" by default for being the only MAJOR (Over 1 Million) city in the state.
- Any political influence? (Atlanta has plenty, being the state capital): See my comments about how a lot of the rural and suburban politicians in Georgia practically make careers out of sending big "Screw-Yous!" to Atlanta. Georgians didn't invent the concept of "cutting off the nose to spite the face," but we sure as hell seem to make it an art form.
- Major rivers/lakes: Dallas has more artificial lakes than Atlanta does. People go rafting on the Chattahoochee river a lot. I don't see the same being done on the Trinity.
- Activities for outdoors Atlanta, hands down. Closer to the mountains, national parks, Atlantic and Gulf beaches are not that far away, etc. more benign climate (to me). Dallas does have great walking trails and there are boating activities because of the multitudes of lakes around the metro area.
- Shopping: Tie
- Good hotels Tie
- Airports (Size, Hubs, airlines, and how busy they are): Southwest > Delta > American to me. But both offer convenient services due to the large presence of major hubs. I like ATL better as a hub airport, much more efficient layout for that type of setup. The renovation projects really updated a lot of the terminals and are very nice. DFW is better to me as an O&D airport in terms of layout, but the Skylink train really helps getting around that behemoth airport a lot better than the old Airtrans system. OTOH, Terminals A and C could stand to be remodeled heavily. I felt like I was stuck in an 80s time warp whenever I'm in those terminals. Terminal's D and E are nice though.
- Future city renovation projects: Tie
I'm not qualified to compare the two, since I've only changed planes at DFW and have never been outside of the airport.
That being said, this is an very balanced and excellent post.
I guess the OP missed the 300-Page epic clusterf**** that the Dallas Vs. Atlanta thread became.
Before Uncle Greg comes in to close the gate, I'll put in my .02 as I always do
- Food (Major category) : Too subjective. There are things that Dallas excels in, there are things that Atlanta excels in in this category. The explosive growth of both Metro areas and the changing tastes of the American public have really helped the gastronomic scene in both though. This isn't 1990 anymore, that's for sure! I will say that I like the Latin food in Dallas better and what passes for "Southern Food/Country Cooking" to be mediocre to OK in both. I used to live in Mississippi, so my standards are high on that. I do love Big Daddy's off of Old National or Paschal's here in Atlanta though.
- Infrastructure Dallas has a better freeway network. Atlanta has a heavy-rail system that's usually cuckolded by the rural and suburban politicians who get brownie-points by "sticking it to Atlanta". The Dallas area seems to really embrace their light-rail system (which is pretty impressive)
- Downtown office space: DT Dallas has a stubbornly high vacancy rate, and has since the S&L fallout in the 1980s, so I guess Dallas "wins" in this category.
- Parks (Major category): Atlanta. We have two awesome major parks (Piedmont and Grant), and we also have Stone Mountain Park and Kennesaw Mountain Park in the metro area. I wish we did have something similar to White Rock Lake Park though.
- Cost of Living - Dallas' housing prices in general are lower, and benefits from Texas not having a state income tax or a birthday bill/ad valorem tax for your car. Property tax in Texas is higher. I don't know about auto insurance, but my insurance is lower here than it was in many other states. Salaries and how far they go in either? Depends on who you ask.
- Quality of Life: WAY too subjective. What's important to one person may not be as important to another.
- Good neighborhoods: WAY too subjective. ATL has Buckhead, DFW has the Park Cities, ATL has Little 5 points, DFW has Bishop Arts, etc. I think that there are more bohemian/"arty" type of communities in Atlanta though.
- Influence of Suburban cities: Atlanta is often stereotyped as a crime-ridden welfare state by the surrounding suburbs (the further outside 285, the more obvious this attitude). Racial politics plays a role in this, as well as common elitism on both sides. Dallas seems to be hemmed up by its suburbs, particularly the northern ones in terms of competing for corporations, people moving to the city, etc. The multi-polar nature of the DFW area is a lot more apparent that than the multi-polar nature of Atlanta. However, the DFW area seems to work together as a whole moreso than Metro Atlanta, where there seems to be an underlying current of "Us vs. Them" on all sides.
- Influence of other major cities in the state: What other major cities in Georgia? I'm kidding. But I will say that the Dallas-Houston rivalry makes them do things that they wouldn't otherwise do because neither one wants to be outdone by the other. But Atlanta sort of "wins" by default for being the only MAJOR (Over 1 Million) city in the state.
- Any political influence? (Atlanta has plenty, being the state capital): See my comments about how a lot of the rural and suburban politicians in Georgia practically make careers out of sending big "Screw-Yous!" to Atlanta. Georgians didn't invent the concept of "cutting off the nose to spite the face," but we sure as hell seem to make it an art form.
- Major rivers/lakes: Dallas has more artificial lakes than Atlanta does. People go rafting on the Chattahoochee river a lot. I don't see the same being done on the Trinity.
- Activities for outdoors Atlanta, hands down. Closer to the mountains, national parks, Atlantic and Gulf beaches are not that far away, etc. more benign climate (to me). Dallas does have great walking trails and there are boating activities because of the multitudes of lakes around the metro area.
- Shopping: Tie
- Good hotels Tie
- Airports (Size, Hubs, airlines, and how busy they are): Southwest > Delta > American to me. But both offer convenient services due to the large presence of major hubs. I like ATL better as a hub airport, much more efficient layout for that type of setup. The renovation projects really updated a lot of the terminals and are very nice. DFW is better to me as an O&D airport in terms of layout, but the Skylink train really helps getting around that behemoth airport a lot better than the old Airtrans system. OTOH, Terminals A and C could stand to be remodeled heavily. I felt like I was stuck in an 80s time warp whenever I'm in those terminals. Terminal's D and E are nice though.
- Future city renovation projects: Tie
...and ANOTHER eloquent post by grindin!
It's definitely true that the threads comparing ATL and DFW tend to be more civil because of the similarities between the two metros. The differences really come down to personal tastes and preferences rather than anything else.
There seems to be a mutual respect kinship between Dallas and Atlanta as opposed to Atlanta and Houston.
Its almost like Dallas and Houston are brothers and Atlanta is Dallas' girlfriend that his brother Houston doesn't like.
BINGO I'd say Dallas and Houston are sisters, and Atlanta is the friend that Houston doesn't really like. Sucking her teeth talking about, "She ain't all that, see how her toenail polish is chipped at the edges..."
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
10,138 posts, read 16,035,535 times
Reputation: 4047
Quote:
Originally Posted by grindin
BINGO I'd say Dallas and Houston are sisters, and Atlanta is the friend that Houston doesn't really like. Sucking her teeth talking about, "She ain't all that, her toenail polish is chipped at the edges..."
Please tell me they don't have that attitude that black girls normally have when they argue. That would be melodramatic to the nth power.
Anyways, who the heck voted for Miami on the poll? I just put it there for fun, had no idea anyone would take that seriously...
Please tell me they don't have that attitude that black girls normally have when they argue. That would be melodramatic to the nth power.
Anyways, who the heck voted for Miami on the poll? I just put it there for fun, had no idea anyone would take that seriously...
See, I didn't even mention anything about them being black, and how do you know that is an attitude that all black girls "normally have?" Way to ruin a joke by bringing in stereotypes.
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