what is the deal with Corpus Christi (living, military)

[NOTAM]

i try not to even "relive" the nightmare of living in South Texas(i lived 30 minutes from Corpus, and worked in Corpus) last year...and decided to just check out this link....well i have to say, what was said in those posts really depicted my impression of the area. for all of yall who criticize me for criticizing Corpus and South Texas, believe me, after 3 years in Georgia, i was ecstatic about coming back to my homestate of Texas...and when i took the job down there, i had high hopes...and what i ended up in was a Third World Country....just like these posters describe. one of the posters say "well it's better than Iraq, or is it?"....i kept saying to myself that whole year, i would have rather been deployed to the sandbox than repeat another year there...at least i would have had "battle buddies". i am so glad that nightmare is over and i have found MY Texas once again and am very happy.............

Originally Posted by CalGal953

I only visited Corpus twice, in spring 1999 and 2001, and my experiences there were okay. I did see a lot of negative posts from some people that lived there, though.

City of Corpus Christi Texas Sucks - Screwed Central Board (http://www.screwedcentral.com/ubb/Forum10/HTML/000080.html - broken link)

[fierce_flawless]

Originally Posted by SOM

<SNIP>

I hate:
-Trash / litterbugs / dirty diapers in every parking lot
-Lack of culture (concerts / theatre / a freakin' record store!)
-Crappy city maintenance, like Ocean Drive parks that have broken up road work pavement at the waters edge
-Ugly parks (Cole Park excepted, although see comment above!)
-The weather
<snip>

Okay, I'm too lazy to dig...what other comment about Cole park? I can't find it!

My two cents;

I grew up in Portland (lol, I almost typed POTland... and that would be true too cuz there was not much else to do!)... which is across the Harbor bridge and just a few miles outside CC. People live in Portland, but usually work in CC or at the Naval Air Station. Portland is (well was?) about football, church, and kids. Now I know, Corpus and Portland are two different places.. but not really!

I moved when I was 13, in the mid 80's, to San Antonio. My mom still owns a house in Portland, the one I grew up in, that she keeps as a rental, because she had some fantasy that one day me or my brother would move back there.

Um, no thanks.

I realize that SA isn't NYC, but for a girl from Portland it WAS the "City" and after getting out of small town Portland, with it's good-ole-boy cops, a church on every corner, and NOTHING TO DO if you didn't play football or want to be head cheerleader, I was glad to go and had no interest in returning there to live. For "fun" we hung out behind the K-Mart, or in the HEB parking lot. Then we had to hide from the cops after curfew. Thank goodness almost every yard had pampass grass and such to hide in. There is probably more now (I think even a movie theater!), but at the time there was not a thing to do there. My mom was content to macrame and paint and go to the beach, so if that's your thing and you like it low key you might be okay there.

I also have a love-hate relationship with the entire area. Of course I spent a lot of time in Corpus, there's no where else to shop and eat. Portland has more stuff now (a Starbucks even!!!) but Corpus wasn't that much better, and just seemed very slow and backwards.

I grew up spending almost every warm weekend on the beach, and lots of time at the CC bay, and I get a longing for it from time to time, head down for a weekend, then come back to SA with no desire to go back for several months. I agree it has a ton of potential but it's got a long way to go. The funny thing is, my kids (who have been raised in SA, and are 10 and 16) romanticize the place and LOVE it and want to move there. They have no idea though of what it's like to LIVE there. I think they're just infatuated because, unlike SA, it has a breeze.

I will say one thing... I read about the bacteria in the water causing death and loss of limbs when entering a flesh wound. OMG!! The reason this shocks me is becasue when we were at Port A last month we saw NO warnings, and when we took the kids to Cole Park there were warnings but they in no way conveyed the real danger of bacteria-laden waters!! We did not get in the water there but we did see someone with their toddler wading. Scary!

[latetotheparty]

re: bacteria in the water.....

four years ago, i got a staph infection while i was still in the hospital recovering from hip surgery ..... THAT required three more surgeries, 8 weeks on i.v. antibiotics, etc. etc. etc. ...... that infection was much more difficult to deal with than the originally pretty complicated hip surgery.....

point being i guess is that bad shiot can happen ANYwhere and usually does sooner or later......

[kandia123]

Originally Posted by Marlow

You know, I'm not sure. Corpus has always been predominantly a working class town--oil refineries, agriculture, military. It's got a low per capita income. If you look start driving around the older parts of town and go out Agnes, or Leopard or Lipan you'll see some very rough, old neighborhoods. For a while Corpus led the state, and maybe the country, in teenage pregnancies. It's the birthplace of the GI forum, once a powerful Hispanic civil rights organization but in recent years more of a corrupt joke.

As I've mentioned in earlier posts the local leadership has been awful. Have you seen the Coliseum? I predict it will stand there, dilapidated for at least the next 10 years because no one can agree what to do with it. People have argued and argued about how to develop the bayfront with the result that nothing gets done. A friend who moved her from Wisconsin said she'd never seen a town do so little with so much. I lay that squarely on the shoulders of the City Council.

Texas Monthly is magazine about Texas (duh) and they'll have stories for example about music in Texas and they'll mention Selena, but won't say anything about the Texas Jazz Festival, which is the largest FREE jazz festival in the country. They'll write stories about Tex-Mex food and leave CC out completely. They'll talk about beaches and leave out the National Seashore. I don't know why.

I'm hoping that is changing. Texas A&M-CC has grown a lot in the last 10-15 years. We have new people on the City Council. The ABC center is bringing national acts to the area. This weekend there are more things to do in town than there is time to do them (rodeo, Buc Days stuff, boat show).

I'm glad you all are liking it so far and hope you continue to. Like someone said above, I think it's only a matter of time til CC is "discovered" by the masses. I like it here and I want other people to appreciate it, but it's ok with me if the Californians (nothing personal) don't flock here like they are to other parts of the state.

What the **** is wrong with Californians?

[Marlow]

Originally Posted by kandia123

What the **** is wrong with Californians?

There's nothing wrong with Californians. This thread was started in 2008 before Corpus Christi had its own subforum. At that time, every other thread in the Texas forum was about all the people who were moving to the San Antonio/Austin corridor and the Dallas/Fort Worth area with many of them being from California. I was just saying that although I wish CC had more going on, it's fine with me to not have the explosive growth seen in the other areas.

[SOM]

Originally Posted by fierce_flawless

Okay, I'm too lazy to dig...what other comment about Cole park? I can't find it!

I was referring to the broken up pavement at the water's edge as a re-enforement. Cole Park is OK, but not idyllic by any means.

-Crappy city maintenance, like Ocean Drive parks that have broken up road work pavement at the waters edge
-Ugly parks (Cole Park excepted, although see comment above!)

[darkwave]

Originally Posted by gabetx

Wow those posts from that other website are rediculous and stupid! And to think that they influence others and put a bad image for the city. Most of the things said on there are not true.

Anyways, now on to what I am posting this comment for. Does anybody on here that live in Corpus think that Corpus is really starting to be discovered now?

Especially since development has now crossed Oso Creek on the southside and city officialls are going to add toll lanes to half of the city's freeways, (which hint that major development and suburbanization are now on the way), and the outlet malls and pad sites along it in Robstown are about to be built, and the Crosstown Commons project is about to get under way, and the mall is about to undergo major renovations, and now it seems like new neighborhoods are springing up once a month.

I think once Crosstown Commons is built, there will be a lot of development along the Crosstown freeway. And I think the same will go for US 77 when the outlet mall and the fairgrounds are complete.

I think in the next 10 years Corpus Christi's population will jump compared to the last 30 years. As well as the whole metro area.

What do you guys think? Do you think the city is finally being "discovered"?

The latest research shows that more people are leaving Corpus Christi than moving to Corpus. I don't think there is going to be any major developments taking place any time in the near future.

[KerryB]

Originally Posted by darkwave

The latest research shows that more people are leaving Corpus Christi than moving to Corpus. I don't think there is going to be any major developments taking place any time in the near future.

But but, the lady who has lived in Corpus her entire life told me it was a wonderful place to live.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by latetotheparty

re: bacteria in the water.....

four years ago, i got a staph infection while i was still in the hospital recovering from hip surgery ..... THAT required three more surgeries, 8 weeks on i.v. antibiotics, etc. etc. etc. ...... that infection was much more difficult to deal with than the originally pretty complicated hip surgery.....

point being i guess is that bad shiot can happen ANYwhere and usually does sooner or later......

Agreed, in california this is very common especially since it doesnt rain very often. When it does rain you need to stay out of the water for at least 3-4 days.

[SOM]

Originally Posted by KerryB

But but, the lady who has lived in Corpus her entire life told me it was a wonderful place to live.

How dare she be happy!