Irving..(jail??) vs. Las Colinas (Houston, Dallas: fit in, cheap home, neighborhood)

[nosam95]

I hate to say it....another person moving to Dallas. Im sure you guys are sick of hearing this. I have read a lot of the other threads. momof 2, WOW!! you are a wealth of info. My hubby was told irving is like a jail without walls, plano was all rich kids and may not be a good place to raise our adopted son. (he is a different race). However, the info I have read on Las Colinas looks pretty good.
My hubby is in law enforcement and I am in Human Resources. We have 3 little ones and currently we live in Buffalo, NY. I am looking forward to a change. Richardson and Grand Prairie seem interesting, too. Everyone talks about the hectic traffic. I am a park and ride person myself and the DART seems sufficient to me. If the NYC subway doesnt bother me, I guess I can handle the DART and TRE. Any shared info would be great. Thanks.

[Panam]

Stay where you are. Aside from cheap homes (both in quality and price), cities in TX have nothing to offer. if you like boredom, welcome to TX

[LastDallasNative]

Out of staters, especially from the East Coast and California complain a lot about Dallas. It is not to their liking. They keep mentioning all the things they miss. The Californians would probably be happier if they just took on another full-time job and stayed there in California.

However, it has not stopped them from moving here in droves. Since I have grown up here, the population of DFW has increased from about 1.2 million to the 5 million we have today. (these are rough numbers).

You would probably miss New York.

[smuboy86]

Las Colinas is in Irving, it's just a nice part of Irving. Irving as of right only has one TRE station, but it's in the southern portion, which is the older and not so nice part. Dart is coming to Las Colinas but it's going to take another couple years.

[nosam95]

I am VERY sure I will enjoy tx. I am from Bflo. The only thing i will miss will be a good hotdog and chicken wings (I can make those myself). I am sick of the snow, the mentality, the lack of jobs, lack of growth all of it. I will take 100 degrees over 32 inches of snow any day. I dont have false delusions of grandeur. I know it will be a cultural shock. we dont have a large latina population. I think every place has its good and bad points. I will miss the 10 minute commute. But, i will get over it. I have read a lot of things people have posted on here about not being too happy with the area. It all seems to be individualized to their own experience. I am so excited....I just might buy some cowboy boots to wear with my i love NY shirt. So foundations need a little extra care, so the commute can be long, something about stores taking pesos..we take canadian money here, and a few schools arent so great...I will make sure i wont move in those areas. I just wanted a little down home insight from some natives about the area. When it is all said and done....it's whatever you make it. AND I PLAN TO MAKE IT WORK....yeeeeehaw!! (with a Bflo accent)

[GoPadge]

Oh. Ten minute commutes are possible. It just helps to have the right job near the right neighborhood....

[momof2dfw]

Do you have any idea about where you will be working? I'd hate to say one area or two to look at and you end up working a long ways from home. DART is very doable. Who told you that your son would not fit in in Plano? That is soooo wrong. The Dallas metroplex is pretty darn diverse. The only time I notice that I see a large population of "whites" is when I'm at the hockey games . If you want to look up each school for the demographics you can go to www.publicschoolsreport.com and to the TEA (Texas Education Agency) website and look up their 2006 TAKS results and for each school in a district and you can see how many are in each subgroup (not a big fan of TAKS but this will show you the wide diversity there is as it is graded based on race).
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/accountability.html

I'm not a fan of Grand Prarie. GP and Richardson are totally different. WOW, HUGE differences. I'd go w/ Richardson over GP anyday.

Only one place down here takes pesos. Not many people wear cowboy boots. I do have mine on today though . After another poster ragging Dallas said something about everyone wearing nothing but cowboy boots I took notice that day at lunch. I happened to be at a place in downtown Garland and I was the ONLY one wearing them. LOL!!! Even my hubby does not own a pair. What you will see more of as far as "cowboy" boots are more designer in nature. Not the kind of people that are going to be out working cattle. LOL!!!

Again, if you have any idea about where you and your husband are going to be working it would really help give you a better idea of what suburbs to look at.

[mountianboomer]

Originally Posted by nosam95

I am VERY sure I will enjoy tx. I am from Bflo. The only thing i will miss will be a good hotdog and chicken wings (I can make those myself). I am sick of the snow, the mentality, the lack of jobs, lack of growth all of it. I will take 100 degrees over 32 inches of snow any day. I dont have false delusions of grandeur. I know it will be a cultural shock. we dont have a large latina population. I think every place has its good and bad points. I will miss the 10 minute commute. But, i will get over it. I have read a lot of things people have posted on here about not being too happy with the area. It all seems to be individualized to their own experience. I am so excited....I just might buy some cowboy boots to wear with my i love NY shirt. So foundations need a little extra care, so the commute can be long, something about stores taking pesos..we take canadian money here, and a few schools arent so great...I will make sure i wont move in those areas. I just wanted a little down home insight from some natives about the area. When it is all said and done....it's whatever you make it. AND I PLAN TO MAKE IT WORK....yeeeeehaw!! (with a Bflo accent)

No, No, NO - wrong Texas, don't base your opinions about this Great state, by listening to people in DFW.

No Sir, this is an Economic Hub. DFW is totally different in Mindset than Austin, El Paso, Houston, San Antonio. True there are people (affluent) that would love to Keep Dallas Backward - you'll see, but a whole, lot of others (affluent and not) that make TEXAS a special place.

Do some History research, You know why we can fly the Texas Flag at the same height as the American Flag? and there have been 6 flags over this great State.

It is a smorgasbord of Frontier types, pioneers, innovators, survivor and yes, laggards. There's lots of Southwest cuisine ( I have yet to taste really good Enchilidas) in Dallas, but I honed my taste buds in Central West Texas
(I might be biased) and not to mention T-bone, Sirloin, KC for 2...sure is fun looking for the elusive great Enchilida and Steak.

B'flo, you'll miss friends, family, familiar things which you've grown comfortable with - but don't, DON'T think that Dallas is an absolute definition of this Great State.

Economics - no state Taxes; in some places one gets real property value for their money; Work, career, yeah, yeah,yeah...it's around

Get Here as quick as you can, forget the bus, trains, subway (and Cold weather) - Very Independent mindset on these issues! and temper your Texas 'chic' to

'kpasa? How're ya'll"

True Native's $.02.

[Spookmeister]

nosam95, with that kind of attitude, you could opt to live in Iraq and still be happy, so living in TX won't be much of a shock or challenge. Enjoy your transition.

[socketz]

I am learning that the traffic here is not that bad.............once you learn all the short cuts. Everything here is a big grid, so it's easy to figure out.

Overall it is a pleasant place to live, and no, Plano is not all rich kids. Parts of Plano are actually kind of Blue Collar. Plano has a huge mix.