Is Dallas ugly? (Houston, Corsicana, Athens: gated, cost, pool)

[Dallaz]

Originally Posted by DaveG99

that is an incorrect statement. There are plenty of navigable rivers in Texas. I have been kayaking down many of them. Maybe you mean navigable by a large boat?

YES! No river is navigable by large ships!

[AlGreen]

Originally Posted by JimBaker488

One thing for sure about you Texas guys, you do uphold you're reps to exaggerate.

Hm, and it must also be true what they say about Missouri's poor school system. "You're" means "you are"....the word you're looking for is "your".

And how convenient for you to assume that I'm a "Texas Guy".

[AlGreen]

Originally Posted by Scout_972

Classic autumn colors? Classic for what region?

Yes, Dallas does have fall colors and rolling terrain. Get out more.

Wow. That's probably the neatest shot I've ever seen of Dallas.

[Walter Benjamin]

I haven't read every single post on this thread, but I will agree that there are some very beautiful parts of Dallas, specifically White Rock Lake and some of the streets in Kessler Park. The Katy Trail is charming -- almost beautiful.

Where Dallas really falls down is in its treatment of public space, which is much less beautiful than it might have been in a place where civic elites were more public-minded.

Places as varied in period and function as Central Park, the Hudson River Greenway, or the High Line in Manhattan; the Arroyo Seco Parkway in Los Angeles; the Wilbur Cross Parkway in Connecticut; Golden Gate Park and the Embarcadero in San Francisco; the Junipero Serra Freeway in the Bay Area; Millennium Park in Chicago; the Emerald Necklace and Boston Common in Boston are different in many many ways but they all have one thing in common:

Those with money and power decided that it was worth spending significant money on a use of space that would beautify the environment, elevate the experience of the citizenry, and create a unifying symbol for the public to enjoy together. (Note the inclusion of parkways on that list. Yes, highways can be beautiful too. US 289 to Austin is not half bad. The boulevards of L.A. are also enlivened by their vernacular architecture. The Vegas Strip is great of course.)

This is where Dallas really falls flat in my opinion. The main streets are aggressively, painfully ugly. Mockingbird, Lemmon, Lovers, Greenville, Abrams, Northwest Highway, Harry Hines, Elm, Commerce, Pearl - I've driven them all looking for an ounce of charm and haven't found a single ounce. At some point, the city fathers decided, consciously or unconsciously, that it wasn't worth the effort to give the city a great public space. The city really suffers for that reason.

Is there a single park in Dallas that transcends the utilitarian? Is there a single commuting route in or out of the "jobs corridor" between downtown and Plano that allows for a single moment of aesthetic pleasure?

There are a couple of exceptions. Jefferson Blvd. actually has buildings that address the streetscape (like Wilshire in L.A.), which creates a wonderful space. The old motels on Fort Worth Ave, heading out of downtown to the west, are also pretty great. The other western approaches to the skyline (I-30 and the viaducts) are nice. There are any number of beautiful houses and yards, and good for the people who maintain and enjoy them, but that's just the issue - they're meant for private enjoyment, nothing wrong with that, but they add little or nothing to the public beauty of the city. (Of course Swiss Ave is worth seeing, but it's a fifth-rate version of any vulgar stretch of Beverly Hills.)

Maybe the Woodall Rodgers Deck Park will help this issue ... here's hoping.

[hstfan82]

Originally Posted by Dallaz

YES! No river is navigable by large ships!

Ever been to New Orleans,Memphis, or St. Louis? The Mississippi River can handle any ship from the ocean up to New Orleans. The rest of the river is used for huge barges. Why do you think those bridges are so high above the river? You could also add the Missouri and Ohio to this list of rivers that are navigable by large ships.

[DaveG99]

Originally Posted by Dallaz

YES! No river is navigable by large ships!

you didn't say large ships. You just said navigable.

[AlGreen]

Originally Posted by hstfan82

Ever been to New Orleans,Memphis, or St. Louis? The Mississippi River can handle any ship from the ocean up to New Orleans. The rest of the river is used for huge barges. Why do you think those bridges are so high above the river? You could also add the Missouri and Ohio to this list of rivers that are navigable by large ships.

He's talking about rivers in Texas.

[Dallaz]

Originally Posted by DaveG99

you didn't say large ships. You just said navigable.

What do you think navigable mean?

Navigable-deep and wide enough to provide passage to ships.

[Dallaz]

Originally Posted by hstfan82

Ever been to New Orleans,Memphis, or St. Louis? The Mississippi River can handle any ship from the ocean up to New Orleans. The rest of the river is used for huge barges. Why do you think those bridges are so high above the river? You could also add the Missouri and Ohio to this list of rivers that are navigable by large ships.

I am talking about T-E-X-A-S!

[hstfan82]

The Trinity could be better looking, but is the way it is for flood control reasons. Of course, our levee system here is woefully deficient according to the Corps of Engineers and is need of probably a billion dollar upgrade when all is said and done, but most of our city leaders (Angela Hunt exception) want to build a toll road inside the levee! We've held most of the whole Trinity River project because they want their toll road in a flood plain. That shows what fine leadership we have in this city.