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Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
10,138 posts, read 16,049,308 times
Reputation: 4047
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Lol, well I was just talking to my cousin on the phone, he lives in San Jose and I live in Houston. We visit each others city VERY often and are both from Chicago. We rarely ever have anything nice to say about each others city.
So I told him we should take this up on CD (He doesn't have an account so he can just watch from mine) and see which one the people prefer more.
By the way, I know San Jose's skyline is short, but their downtown is actually really nice when you visit, pretty good food in downtown there.
But same can be said about Houston.
Okay so here's the criteria;
- Economy
- Diversity (Economy)
- Diversity (Food)
- Diversity (Culture)
- Parks
- Zoo's
- Professional sports (I mean the ones in the MSA- Not the CSA!! those belong to Oakland and San Fran, but SJ does have NHL & MLS)
- Natural scenery
- Art scene
- Music scene
- Weather
- Airport
- Public transportation
- Roads
- Education
- Cost of living
- Quality of life
- Shopping
- Hotels
- Tourist attractions
- City nickname
**PLEASE NOTE** Okay, I mean San Jose metropolitan area strictly, not the Bay Area but only San Jose metropolitan area. Same for Houston, only the Houston metropolitan area.
I visited San Jose for the very first time last Summer & have lived in Houston so I'll go by my own personal observations.
- Economy Houston
- Diversity (Economy) Houston
- Diversity (Food) Houston
- Diversity (Culture) Houston has more over all cultural diversity, SJ is mostly Hispanic, Asian, & White(you rarely see a Black person there).
- Parks ?
- Zoo's ?
- Professional sports Houston
- Natural scenery San Joseeasily
- Art scene Houston
- Music scene Houston
- Weather San Jose
- Airport Tie
- Public transportation San Jose
- Roads Freeways Houston, neighborhood streets SJ
- Education San Jose
- Cost of living Houston
- Quality of life San Jose
- Shopping Houston
- Hotels Houston
- Tourist attractions Not sure
- City nickname Space City
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
10,138 posts, read 16,049,308 times
Reputation: 4047
Quote:
Originally Posted by Metro Matt
I visited San Jose for the very first time last Summer & have lived in Houston so I'll go by my own personal observations.
- Economy Houston
- Diversity (Economy) Houston
- Diversity (Food) Houston
- Diversity (Culture) Houston has more over all cultural diversity, SJ is mostly Hispanic, Asian, & White(you rarely see a Black person there).
- Parks ?
- Zoo's ?
- Professional sports Houston
- Natural scenery San Joseeasily
- Art scene Houston
- Music scene Houston
- Weather San Jose
- Airport Tie
- Public transportation San Jose
- Roads Freeways Houston, neighborhood streets SJ
- Education San Jose
- Cost of living Houston
- Quality of life San Jose
- Shopping Houston
- Hotels Houston
- Tourist attractions Not sure
- City nickname Space City
The only one I disagree with is airport, when i got to San Jose, I felt like I arrived in Jaipur, India. No mechanical bridge from the plane exit to the terminal. It was a staircase that you had to carry suitcases down. Which was fine, but the elderly and small children it would be inconvenient.
I think IAH is way better than San Jose International.
Houston wins in the Zoo category, but San Jose has some nice parks too, and near the Valley. I give it the edge on parks, it has great hiking trails as well.
Their nickname is "Capital of Silicon Valley". Ours is Space City. Both are pretty cool nicknames.
The only one I disagree with is airport, when i got to San Jose, I felt like I arrived in Jaipur, India. No mechanical bridge from the plane exit to the terminal. It was a staircase that you had to carry suitcases down. Which was fine, but the elderly and small children it would be inconvenient.
I think IAH is way better than San Jose International.
I was impressed with the new Southwest terminal though. It opened the very day I flew out.
**PLEASE NOTE** Okay, I mean San Jose metropolitan area strictly, not the Bay Area but only San Jose metropolitan area. Same for Houston, only the Houston metropolitan area.
No matter what the US Census says, the fact is that San Jose is part of a larger urban (a.k.a. "metropolitan") area called the Bay Area, which also includes San Francisco and Oakland. Contrary to the belief of some on CD, there is not a wall or barren wasteland that separates San Jose from the rest of the Bay Area, in fact San Francisco and San Jose are hugely dependent on one another. San Jose gets its news broadcasts from San Francisco networks, its shares public transportation networks (BART, CalTrain), and so on and so forth. The NY Times even has a section on the greater Bay Area.
And since Houston is the dominant city in its metropolitan area (whereas San Jose is not), it will beat San Jose in most categories including international airport, sports team, cultural amenities, etc. Most people in San Jose head to San Francisco for these reasons (hence, it being part of an interconnected urban region).
I'm fine with comparing city propers, in which case Houston would probably win because as I said it is the dominant city in its region, but ignoring the fact that its part of the Bay Area is ridiculous and disingenuous.
No matter what the US Census says, the fact is that San Jose is part of a larger urban (a.k.a. "metropolitan") area called the Bay Area, which also includes San Francisco and Oakland. Contrary to the belief of some on CD, there is not a wall or barren wasteland that separates San Jose from the rest of the Bay Area, in fact San Francisco and San Jose are hugely dependent on one another. San Jose gets its news broadcasts from San Francisco networks, its shares public transportation networks (BART, CalTrain), and so on and so forth. The NY Times even has a section on the greater Bay Area.
And since Houston is the dominant city in its metropolitan area (whereas San Jose is not), it will beat San Jose in most categories including international airport, sports team, cultural amenities, etc. Most people in San Jose head to San Francisco for these reasons (hence, it being part of an interconnected urban region).
I'm fine with comparing city propers, in which case Houston would probably win because as I said it is the dominant city in its region, but ignoring the fact that its part of the Bay Area is ridiculous and disingenuous.
This is not a fair comparison because with San Jose, there is a major city about 50 miles up the road that it depends on and vice-versa, while Houston stands on its own.
Last edited by CaseyB; 07-04-2010 at 05:14 PM..
Reason: off topic
San Jose and San Francisco are far from one another.
I used to commute between them both, and the drive is not exactly short. They are part of the same area, but they seem worlds apart.
San Jose is such a mysterious city, it flies under the radar. Everyone I know who lives there lives there because they work in IT. Why would anyone want to live there if they're not a techie?
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
10,138 posts, read 16,049,308 times
Reputation: 4047
Quote:
Originally Posted by Overcooked_Oatmeal
You must be new here. The Houstonians on this board are constantly attempting to denigrate other cities in order to lift theirs up. It's pretty sad and laughable at the same time. Houston is a fine city in its own right, but some of the posters from there are so damn insecure.
This is not a fair comparison because with San Jose, there is a major city about 50 miles up the road that it depends on and vice-versa, while Houston stands on its own.
I don't try to degenerate a city.
San Jose does maintain it's own MSA. I don't see where it comes into my "faults" for Houston boasting. This is possibly one of the first few threads I've even had about Houston.
As for my relationship with my city, I go extremely hard on it, I criticize Houston more than compliment it because I feel it can always improve.
I wouldn't have picked San Jose for this unless I thought America's 10th largest being good enough.
True, I hate the airport, and criticized that, but that's my opinion.
So don't comment about me or my intentions as if you know me... this thread has been around since yesterday, you comment on it today just to try to make me and Houston posters look bad... look if you don't want to contribute constructively to the thread then don't okay.
I don't know about San Jose, but I rarely see black people up here in Sonoma/Marin area... I can go a week easy. It is kind of creepy actually how white it is. i.e. Sonoma county is only 1.3% black. I think there are only 3 black people in my zip code. I'm pretty sure San Jose has a good mix.
actually I was wrong, it is 1 black person in the entire zip code.
White population: 497
Black population: 1
American Indian population: 11
Asian population: 7
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander population: 1
Some other race population: 41
Two or more races population: 13
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