What's the name of entire metro area? (Houston, Dallas: unemployment, subdivisions)

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

Puhleeease...

Not including Fort Worth in the name when referring to the whole metropolitan area is just stupid.

Fort Worth & its suburbs could easily survive on their own without Dallas, its a separate major US city with its own identity & economy. Over 2 million of the 6 million people Dallas likes to claim are in Fort Worth's municipality so in reality the Dallas metro area has about 4 million people with all of its surrounding towns, a little over 1 million of those are in the actual city limits of Dallas.

No, Fort Worth does not have 2 million people in its legal jurisdiction. It has about 750,000.

And no, Tarrant county could not survive as a separate economic entity. It doesn't have the job base. According to US Census records, about 30% of Tarrant County's work force commutes to Dallas, Denton or Collin countiy for employment. Possibly a comparable number commute to Dallas county at night for entertainment they can't find at home, but I don't have stats on that. I do know that the caliber of entertainment you find in Dallas county exceeds what is available in Tarrant county.

Adding "Fort Worth" (and Arlington) to the name of the metro is a practice in the Census Bureau, but in actuality, it is superflous. Fort Worth is not in the same class as Dallas. It is a fine community in its own right, and has many things to see and do... it should not be minimized. But it is not equivalent to Dallas, either in population, commercial strength, national and international recognition, and other areas.

[grindin]

Eh, I've always thought of it as the Metroplex or North Texas or Down For Whatever.

I've always associated Dallas with Ft. Worth. One doesn't seem to go without the other. Maybe because I used to change planes in D/FW all the time and there seems to be a more concerted effort to unite each side of the Metroplex over the last 30 years, and i'm in my 20's, so I was never alive during the era when the two had more separate identities. I've heard the stories about the owner of KXAS not caring if Dallas had an NBC station back then, or how one of the Bass brothers would carry a sack lunch with him when he went to Dallas. Whether Dallasites and Ft. Worthians like it or not, they go together like Minneapolis and St. Paul, peanut butter and jelly or peas and carrots. That being said, Dallas is the more well-known of the two.

There seems to be more of an effort for the cities to be a part of a whole 'thing' unlike Tampa Bay, where Tampa/St. Pete/Clearwater constantly cut off their noses to spite their faces in order to one-up each other (but water can be a psychological as well as a physical boundary too). It made the metro area feel a lot more small townish than it really was (about 3 million in the metro, but nearby Orlando was smaller and felt more metropolitan and 'faster')

OTOH, I've never really thought Baltimore and DC really go well together --even though those two cities aren't that much further from each other than Dallas and Ft. Worth, BUT due to DC being elitist and white collar while Balto is more working class blue collar, their cultures are totally different. Dallas and Ft. Worth have differences, but they're more similar to each other than Balto-DC are. If you want to start a fight with a Baltimorian, tell them that they're just like DC. Washingtonians tend to sneer at B-more. But as DC real estate got more expensive, they began to discover the cheaper prices of B-more and realized it wasn't so bad after all.

[blueskies49]

Originally Posted by aceplace

Instead, why don't we just call it "Dallas". Most of the world has heard of Dallas, at least in terms of the TV show, and they aren't interested in the local distinctions we make between Dallas city and Highland Park and Plano. Or the distinction we make between Dallas city and Fort Worth city. Every other metro in America is known by the name of its most populous municipal government, and the second-largest or third-largest municipalities don't take offense, or feel slighted. In fact, Plano or Irving or Mesquite don't feel slighted by being lumped into the Greater Dallas identity, so why should any other community or municipality have a chip on its shoulder about it? And if they do, they should get over it.

My bold. But Fort Worth does feel slighted. Some of the Star-Telegram columnists and even the editorial board from time to time emphasize this very point. They're not likely to "get over it" anytime soon. There's not much they can do about it, though, except to keep doing what they're doing in terms of trying to keep a spotlight on their city.

Originally Posted by aceplace

If you have a casual chat with a stranger in an airport, you might make some small talk by asking... "where are you from?"

Most people would keep the answer general, and avoid confusing the listener, by answering with the name of the metro area, an answer like "Bostonr", or "Atlanta", or "San Francisco". In actuality, they may live in a small suburb of these places, but they don't want to be obscure or confusing by mentioning it's name.

Good point. I don't live in Fort Worth but I live in Tarrant County. Whenever I'm away from the area but still within the state I say I'm from Fort Worth but if I'm out of state then I'll say Dallas. Alot of outsiders don't really know where Fort Worth is or even realize how close it is to Dallas but most know where Dallas is.

Also, this entire discussion is the reason that local businesses in the 70's hired those ad execs in the first place: To get the visibility of this area out there in terms of of identification. This very confusion is why they came up with the term Metroplex and even had it patented.

[joebaldknobber]

Fwd

[John Shaft]

Originally Posted by blueskies49

Good point. I don't live in Fort Worth but I live in Tarrant County. Whenever I'm away from the area but still within the state I say I'm from Fort Worth but if I'm out of state then I'll say Dallas. Alot of outsiders don't really know where Fort Worth is or even realize how close it is to Dallas but most know where Dallas is.

Shame on you, substituting Dallas for Fort Worth so guiltlessly. Besides these people will never know as long as you keep misleading them! Come on, do your part to put Ft. Worth into the national consciousness.

[lizziebeth]

I say use "DFW".

I'm not quite sure why Fort Worth has so much hate for Dallas. Yet pretty much every time I'm in Fort Worth, someone makes a snide comment about Dallas. Even the Star-Telegram has "Where the West Begins" on their masthead (or whatever it's called). I smile when I read that because based on my experiences in Fort Worth, you just know the paper is dying to include..."Not Dallas, where the East peters out" as I've heard there. I don't think I've ever heard anyone dis Fort Worth in Dallas. Frankly, isn't it nice that there are two good sized cities that both have a lot to offer and are so close to each other? Play nice, Fort Worth...

[blueskies49]

Lizziebeth, it's cuz FW feels like they are in Dallas's shadow all the time and John, I'm probably not helping, as you noted!

Originally Posted by John Shaft

Shame on you, substituting Dallas for Fort Worth so guiltlessly. Besides these people will never know as long as you keep misleading them! Come on, do your part to put Ft. Worth into the national consciousness.

[UrbaneAspects]

I dont see why this is a controversy in the 1st place. I moved here 3 months ago and I already know..based on the airport that its DFW. Nothing more or less. Metroplex...That could be any city. Any city can be a metroplex. Its DFW just like the airport.

[Exult.Q36]

Originally Posted by aceplace

That is a very good point, and it roundly contradicts my earlier assertion that the term "North Texas" represents the metro.

The gist of the question is on how to identify the metro to outsiders, in North America and the rest of the world. Most of the world's population would not make a distinction between what we call "the Panhandle" and what is visibly the northern portion of Texas.

So, I recant my earlier opinion. Whatever we call the metro, "North Texas" is not an appropriate term.

Instead, why don't we just call it "Dallas". Most of the world has heard of Dallas, at least in terms of the TV show, and they aren't interested in the local distinctions we make between Dallas city and Highland Park and Plano. Or the distinction we make between Dallas city and Fort Worth city. Every other metro in America is known by the name of its most populous municipal government, and the second-largest or third-largest municipalities don't take offense, or feel slighted. In fact, Plano or Irving or Mesquite don't feel slighted by being lumped into the Greater Dallas identity, so why should any other community or municipality have a chip on its shoulder about it? And if they do, they should get over it.

Here we go again " What are you talking about? Its called DFW not Dallas and Dallas would not get the same notarity nationally or as a world class city without the city of Fort Worth that jack its population a good 2 million people. Fort Worth is no longer a step child of Dallas. It just as many people in Tarrant as Dallas county now. Just admitted Dallasites you no longer are the dominate city in the region there are two dominate cities in the region.

[lizziebeth]

Originally Posted by kdogg817

Here we go again " What are you talking about? Its called DFW not Dallas and Dallas would not get the same notarity nationally or as a world class city without the city of Fort Worth that jack its population a good 2 million people. Fort Worth is no longer a step child of Dallas. It just as many people in Tarrant as Dallas county now. Just admitted Dallasites you no longer are the dominate city in the region there are two dominate cities in the region.

Sorry, you don't make much sense or maybe the words don't make much sense to me. You'd be surprised at how many people have maybe heard of Fort Worth who haven't actually traveled here. Geography isn't a strong suit for any number of Americans. When I go to the midwest, people still think that people in Dallas live on ranches, ride horses and are distantly related to JR Ewing...and "Dallas" hasn't been on tv in years. Why they think that about Dallas I don't know given that it is one of the top ten cities in population. So you can only imagine the image they'd have of Fort Worth.

We have nothing to "admit". In no way do I, as a Dallasite, feel superior to Fort Worth. Y'all just seem to have a big old chip on your collective shoulders. We never think of you as a stepchild. We don't consider ourselves the dominant city of the two...we're just a city, one of many in the U.S....but apparently you do or you wouldn't be bringing it up. Yes, there may technically be more people in Dallas proper than in Fort Worth proper but who cares if there are more people.

Hate to break it to you but Dallas would have the same degree of notariety even without Fort Worth being right next door. It's not like "ooh, you're from Dallas. Tell me what it's like to live so close to that treasure of a city, Fort Worth." I wouldn't expect the opposite statement either. Travel anywhere out of the state and Dallas stands pretty well on its own even if the impression is based on stereotypes. Talk to anyone from outside of the US...chances are pretty good that they've heard of Dallas. They may have also heard of Fort Worth but they didn't hear of Dallas because of anything to do with Fort Worth. I've worked with a number of Europeans and Asians over the years and know this to be true.

Bottom line...I'd still call the metro area DFW. Since I live within the Dallas city limits, when I'm asked where I live, I say "Dallas".