The real scoop on Dallas (McKinney, West: colleges, taxes, live)

[jfre81]

Don't know about Dallas - y'all have that DART getting people every which way now - but the good thing about Houston is the traffic keeps you from seeing everything too much all the time, staving off boredom

Now, what to do to stave off boredom while sitting in traffic, you might ask...

[SouthDallas40]

Originally Posted by Toto2

I agree that we have an amazing diversity of things to do here. We have been here for 4 years, and have not even begun to see or do all that Texas has to offer. The only thing I miss from the midwest is the beautiful fall color. And of course our Ohio State University Buckeyes! One really cool thing to do here is visit the McDonald Observatory in West Texas. It gives new meaning to the lyrics "the stars at night shine big and bright."

We are capable of some fall color in Big D. I guess you have to know where to look for it.
I took this in my neighborhood in far southwest Dallas called Mountain Creek. Nothing like what you see in the Midwest, but we do try.





And one shot from downtown...

[lh_newbie]

We have spring color - the wild flowers and blue bonnets.

[momof2dfw]

Have you been to Dallas during the State Fair? If not you REALLY should try to come during the fair and spend a few days there.

As someone else pointed out Dallas is no different than many other large cities. I've been to a fair amount of places all over the country and when we travel we AVOID the touristy trap type places. We were in Myrtle Beach a few weeks ago and everyone was telling us to go to Boardwalk at the Beach. We drove by it on our way to our condo and sorry, no thanks. For one it is NOT on the beach. Secondly, most of the things there I have here in Dallas. There was another outdoor mall type place w/ restaurants that every night cars were backed up onto the highway to get into - woohoo, Joes Crab Shack, no thanks. If you want to play miniture golf you have a TON of places to pick from - I can do that here in Dallas too. Which by the way if your into that why not try some of the places w/ the cars to race like Malibu over on Stemmons or head out for the big adventure at Texas Motor Speedway and do the Nascar experience and drive one. Can't do that every other place around. What I'm saying is that simply put there are TONS of things to do here in Dallas but they are not going to be the places plastered all over billboards and even the visitors bureau may not advertise them real big as sad as it is because most people DO only go to the big touristy trap type places. I've witnessed it in every city I've been too. Told to go see the old town area of Sacramento. Drove thru there and eh, all touristy trap stores that are a dime a dozen in all cities w/ the ONLY good thing being the railroad musuem. Sad but true.

When more people STOP wanting nothing but the big touristy trap gimmick places/shops/dining then maybe it will change everywhere around this country. The West End in Dallas was one such after the novelty of it wore off on us Dallasites the only ones that did go were the tourists.

[lh_newbie]

One of the things I am liking about the last few years of development in Dallas:

It seems to me that Dallas is focusing on quality of life for citizens and not worrying as much about making Dallas a tourist destination. Make Dallas the best place to live, work, shop and eat. If we do that, we'll continue the strong residential growth and possibly even increase residential longevity, removing a bit of the transient-ness of the population (don't you love making up words?!)

It is my opinion that the regions focus on housing, shopping, public transportation, transit oriented developments, the new arts district, Victory development, increasing downtown parks, etc - will all maintain and even improve quality of life.

I don't go to the state fair often because I really dislike the parking challenge. And transferring from light rail to the bus just absolutely sucked when I did that a few years back. When the new DART station opens, I have a feeling that attendance is giong to noticably increase. That gives residents a much easier method to get out and experience the local flavor for a MONTH out of the year.

For the sports fan, American Airlines and the new Cowboys stadium are wonderful. These are things I view as quality of life improvements - more venues to get out and enjoy. Basketball, football, hockey.

The arts district improvements will increase arts options - again, improving quality of life.

The Woodall Rogers Park, Main Street Park... increasing quality of life - although that will be more locally significant to the local residents. Someday we may even have the Trinity River Park. We already have White Rock Lake - IMO, one of the best kept secrets of Dallas (shh... don't tell anyone, I like it like that... hehe)

Dallas does offer a lot. We have a couple challenges though. It is spread out. Parking can be a bugar.

We need to continue to focus on what we can offer the residents, encourage it and continue to attract residents from other metro areas. Grow what we have, add more public spaces for the increasing population and we will continue to prosper. Many cities are developing interconnected trail systems - Grapevine has an extensive trail system, Dallas has Katy Trail and White Rock Trail. We need to continue to add LOCAL RESIDENTAL destinations. Allen/Fairview is building a town center, open air type destination. Plano has Legacy/Tollway - these things are wonderful. Lake Highlands is adding a Town Center. Park Lane Place is going to be amazing. The local residents eat these things up. This IS quality of life. We need to continue to encourage that type of growth.

I was just thinking about my company, Yahoo, and our cmopany's mission statement. We are focusing on connecting people to their passions. In my opinion, this is exactly what Dallas has begun to do and needs to continue to do. Passions include shopping, eating, sports, arts, clubs, parks, jogging, cycling, etc. Dallas needs to look at what it can do to encourage all these activities, encourage their growth and improve methods to connect people to their passions. Focusing on these things will make the cost of living only a secondary reason for moving here. Today, it is the primary. We need to change that reason for something longer lived.

[khfar]

The first post did kinda ask for it, but you guys have to admit that there is limited objectivity in this forum... it is primarily a DFW fan club.

Go visit the Michigan boards sometime. This "fan club" will seem mighty appealing after reading all of the venom and negativity being spewed over there. Some days, I can't even read it, it's so hard to take. I like the Dallas board because for the most part, people are friendly and kind to one another.

[jfre81]

DFW fan club? I'm in Houston. I'm contractually obligated to say Dallas sucks.

Just don't see how much more varied the activities in Milwaukee of all places would be...can be a cool town but not a whole lot to see or do.

I do consider DFW rather *shop-centric.* OTOH, I do whatever I can to tell visitors to Houston to go anywhere but the traffic headache that surrounds the glorified shopping mall with the ice rink known as the Galleria.

[Lakewooder]

Brian - I pride myself on finding parking spots during The Fair. Things have changed around with different streets but I can almost always find a free spot on Commerce (coming out of Deep Ellum) under the I-30 (RL Thornton) bridge -- it's easy to then just walk in the front gate. Sometimes you can even find something on the next street south/west, Exposition, or the side streets. That way you can stop in at the Amsterdam for a beer on the way in or out. If you are willing to walk a bit further (and you'll be walking a lot anyway) you can find places in Ellum.

If I'm going to be having a lot of beers all day at The Fair, I just take a taxi, which is $5-$10 bucks from my house. Usually I am meeting friends when I do this and someone may drive me home or whatever..

[jabbit]

lets be honest about Dallas.


don't try to paint a pretty picture when your paint material is tainted.


its okay to paint a real picture with tainted material. be sincere with your medium.

[SouthDallas40]

Originally Posted by jabbit

lets be honest about Dallas.


don't try to paint a pretty picture when your paint material is tainted.


its okay to paint a real picture with tainted material. be sincere with your medium.

That's exactly what we do, jabbit.
We paint a real picture with tainted material, and it still somehow comes out pretty. That's Dallas for you.