Why Dallas??? (Fort Worth, Plano, Garland: crime, homes, neighborhoods)

[Lakewooder]

I wish I could find an emoticon which would adequately answer that last question.

[Minafair]

Lakewooder....care to expand on that for those of us (me) who are completely clueless??????

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by Minafair

Lakewooder....care to expand on that for those of us (me) who are completely clueless??????

Dallas and Ft Worth are as different as night and day.

[Lakewooder]

There is a longtime rivalry between Dallas and Fort Worth as is there between Dallas and Houston, Midland and Odessa, Tyler and Longview, etc..

One is seen as the white collar city and the other is the working class city..

No offense taken I hope! Welcome to Texas!

[FarNorthDallas]

I think the Dallas and Ft Worth boards should be combined since there is a growing number of folks living in Tarrant Co. but working in Dallas Co.

[Minafair]

Well, thanks for the advice everybody. I will say it does seem like people on this board are more active than on the Ft. Worth one. Thanks again!

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by Minafair

We live north of Fresno, actually in the foothills and have the mountains in our backyard right now. We're on 13 acres and other than the fact that it's hot, we really like were we are but my husband is really interested in this promotion. I'm just trying to figure out what's there and why I would want to and how I would convince my 12yo daughter.

The racial issues in this area are minimal, of course there is no diversity where we are, pretty much a rural area, my daughter's school is about 90%white and I would actually like her to experience more diversity. She's a straight A student, smart as can be and her education is very important to us but she's also pretty naive and I don't know how she would handle herself in an urban environment. She went to private schools until we moved here and found a good public school but it's small. So that's a big concern for me.

Cost of living isn't too bad, we pay about 1500/month for a 4 bd on the 13 acres but we're getting a pretty good deal and we're about 50 minutes out of the city.

I don't really have any ideas of Dallas, my only experience in the south is Little Rock and that was a bad one.

I can't think of any ways in which Dallas, with 6 million people, is similar to Little Rock, other than that they both have gas stations and supermarkets. Perhaps you shoulld mention the problems you had in Arkansas and people could tell you if they apply to Dallas?

Because of its size, and because of heavy inmigration from much of the rest of America, you should be able to find anything you want in Dallas, any kind of people.

It's really hard to try to provide a total stranger with relevant information. If you described more about yourself and your family, what you like to do, etc, it would work better.

[lizziebeth]

If you're coming from the Central Valley or thereabouts, the heat shouldn't be much worse.

My dad has commuted from Far North Dallas to Ft. Worth for close to 20 years now. It's not the ideal commute except that he's going against traffic until he gets close to Ft. Worth. He has satellite radio so that entertains him for the duration of the trip. Before that, talk radio and Car Talk tapes.

There are many cities in between Dallas and Ft. Worth or even closer to Ft. Worth. I don't know enough about any of the Ft. Worth suburbs except for Keller and Southlake. Look into Arlington too. You might be hard pressed to live in Southlake on 100K unless you're coming in with substantial money from your current home and land.

I do agree with momof2dfw...I guess I didn't realize how much Carrollton was becoming like Farmers Branch, a suburb which I wouldn't move to right now. There's your racial tension...dealing with the illegal immigration business in Farmers Branch has been in the news quite a bit.

We're 5 hours from Little Rock by car and I suspect a lot further away in many other terms.

[kt2le]

You'll want to live in Tarrant County, not Dallas County. I never thought I'd say it (since I grew up in Dallas) but Fort Worth is great and you'll love living there or in the area.

[hamiltonpl]

Originally Posted by Minafair

My husband has an opportunity for a promotion which would move us to Dallas and I'm wondering why I would even want to consider it. We lived in Little Rock for a year and I hated it. Too much racial stuff, no really good areas to live. We currently live in CA and the only reason I can even think of to move is better housing prices but we'd be renting for now.

He'd be making about 100K/year. How far is that really going to go there?

We have two kids 12 and 4 and one on the way so schools are very important and we don't want to be on top of our neighbors, so if I do consider it, where should we look to live?

So, what's good about Dallas and please tell me it's nothing like Little Rock.
Thanks!!

Why would you think that it is anything like Little Rock? First, let's check out the skylines.

ooh, behold the 6 mighty buildings in (very) Little Rock


Dallas Skyline:

'Nuff Said.

Then, let's check out the number of Fortune 500 companies in the area. It is widely known that Fortune 500 companies hire very highly educated people from around the globe. For the vast majority, the well-educated have very little chance of being racist. The companies pay very well, and are located in large urban centers that have the world-class infrastructure that global companies need.

First, Texas is home to 111 of the Fortune 500 companies. We're in second place in the nation, behind New York (by one company.) Thirty-one of those Fortune 500 companies are in Dallas. That means there's a lot of money. And also a lot of global travelers and well-educated people in the area. See Fortune 500

By comparison, the entire state of Arkansas has only 5 Fortune 500 companies. Five. Two of those are located in Little Rock. Two vs. 31? Not even close to a match.

Dallas is also home to 13 billionaires. Little Rock? Zero. Billionaires throw around a lot of money. They're used to certain things. Museums, restaurants, estates, galleries, etc... They can also reinvest in their community. It is said for every billionaire, there are a thousand millionaires. See Forbes Also, Dallas was named by Black Enterprise as one of the top 10 places for African Americans to work, play and live (coming in as number 6). blackenterprise.com Little Rock did not make the list.

Additionally, the Economist recently reported "City GDP." That is, which cities have the largest economies. Dallas ranked 13 in the WORLD. Right above Hong Kong. The economy in Dallas is tremendously strong. Strong enough to be a true global player. When Dallas takes a day off, the global economy feels the dent.

Don't forget that Dallas is also home to all professional sports teams. From pro-basketball, hockey, soccer, football, and baseball. Little Rock has none of those things. I'm so confused why you would think that Dallas was anything similar to Little Rock. They are nothing alike at all. If you are still classifying Texas as the "South" -- that ended about 150 years ago. Texas stands on its own. It's not the south. It's not the west. It's Texas.

Dallas is home to a lot of money. It has more commerce, and is much more of a global city than Little Rock. There is simply no comparison. Both are south of the Mason-Dixon line. Both cities speak English. And as Ace said, they both have grocery stores and gas stations. The similarities end there.