5 Reasons to live/move to Dallas (Houston, Austin: crime, big home, employment)

[Cupcake77]

Originally Posted by aceplace

A metro of 6 million people is able to offer a much vaster scale and extent of cultural entertainment that a smaller metro. Here's a partial list of DFW theatre companies, professional, semiprofessional and amateur.

This is definitely one reason to live in DFW rather than some second or third echelon metro.

ACT I Productions
African-American Repertory Theater
AmeriStage Players
Amphibian Productions
Anagram Productions
Artisan Center Theater
Audacity Theatre Lab
Black Academy of Arts and Letters
Blacken Blues Theater
Box Theatre
Cara Mia Theatre Company
Casa Manana
Cautionary Tale Theater
Circle Theatre
Collin Theatre Center
Contemporary Theatre of Dallas
Core Performance Manufactory
Cornerstone Theatre
Creative Arts Theatre & School
CrimeScene Company
Dallas Children's Theater
Dallas Summer Musicals
Dallas Theater Center
Echo Theatre
Ennis Public Theatre
Enter Stage Left
Family Music Theatre
Fight Boy Theatre
Firestarter Productions
Flower Mound Performing Arts Theatre
Fort Worth Theatre
Frisco Area Children’s Theater
Frisco Community Theatre
Garland Civic Theatre
Garland Summer Musicals
Greater Lewisville Community Theatre
Hip Pocket Theatre
ICT MainStage
Inevitable Theatre Company
Jubilee Theatre
Junior Players
Kitchen Dog Theater
Level Ground Arts
Lyric Stage
Martice Enterprises
McKinney Repertory Theatre
McKinney Summer Musicals
McKinney Youth Theatre
Mesquite Community Theatre
Momentum Productions
Music Theatre of Denton
ONSTAGE in Bedford
Pantagleize Theatre Company
Pegasus Theatre
Plano Community Theatre
Plaza Theatre Company
Pocket Sandwich Theatre
Project X
PublicWorks Theatre Company
Repertory Company Theatre
Richardson Theatre Centre
Richland College Theatre Department
Risk Theater Initiative
Rotunda Theatre
Rover Dramawerks
Runway Theatre
SceneShop
Second Thought Theatre
Shakespeare Dallas
Shane-Arts Theatrical Ensemble Rep
Slappy's Puppet Playhouse
SMU Division of Theatre
Stage West
Stars Theater Company
Stolen Shakespeare Guild
Stone Street Theatre
Sundown Collaborative Theatre
TCC Northeast Playhouse
TCC South Drama
TCC Southeast Campus Drama Program
TCC Theatre Northwest
TCU Department of Theatre
Teatro Dallas
Teatro de la Rosa
Teatro delle Muse
TeCo Theatrical Productions
Texas Radio Theatre Company
Texas Wesleyan University Theatre Department
Texas Woman's University Theatre Department
The Actors Conservatory Theatre
Theater Fusion
Theatre Arlington
Theatre Britain
Theatre Brookhaven
Theatre Coppell
Theatre Off the Square
Theatre Quorum
Theatre Three
The Butterfly Connection
The J Players
The San Jacinto Project
UD University Theater
Undermain Theatre
UNT Dance & Theatre Department
Upstart Productions
Uptown Players
UTA Department of Theatre Arts
UTD Theatre Production Ensemble
VOX
WaterTower Theatre
WingSpan Theatre Company
Word of Mouth Productions

That doesn't make me want to live here. lol sheeesh ok

Dallas or Texas is no paradise. I don't know anyone who moves to Texas for the weather or scenery. I don't know anyone out of state who comes to Texas for a vacation, unless it's top see the alamo or college kids for spring break.

I know a lot of natives will get extremely defensive and I found myself Defending Texas and Dallas many times from people who live out of state trying to make me feel bad for living here. It's a natural instinct. But I am stuck here and I do try and make the best of it. I have no choice, but it's been hard living here.

I miss the cool fresh air, nature, the mountains, change of seasons, clean streets, beautiful landscapes even in the crappist parts of town, not having to fight traffic on the highway to get around the cities.

Unless you been to Denver or any city in Colorado, you wouldn't understand.

I have been told by Californians, unless I been to their cities I wouldnt understand why they insist on staying there any paying 800k for a 1700 sq foot house. They claim it's because living in california is so wonderful, they are willing to pay that. Ok I admit I don't understand but many feel strongly about. Many also lose their homes and coming running to other states so they can have a home.

Everyone has a different idea what quality of life is.

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by Cupcake77

That doesn't make me want to live here. lol sheeesh ok

Dallas or Texas is no paradise. I don't know anyone who moves to Texas for the weather or scenery.

I don't know anyone who lives in New York or Chicago for the weather or scenery either.

Actually, I know of quite a few people who preferred Dallas weather to that where they came from. My math teacher in school was one such person. People from Chicago usually cite the Dallas weather as the primary attraction. Other than that, they prefer Chicago to Dallas, but the Dallas weather overrides everything else and keeps them here.

The Cross Timbers area where I live is, in my opinion, quite pleasant and scenic... thick forest and lakes. True, it's not as scenic as, say, lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevadas, but the most important thing to me is not scenery but big city urbanity and a fast moving economy.

So be that as it may, you have a point... different people have different motivations and interests. You have to decide between North Texas and Colorado based on your priorities. In my case, I hold the Colorado mountains in little regard... a one or two week vacation is good enough for me, then back to the megacity with its dozens of theatre companies, among other things.

But lets be frank... I would die of boredom anywhere in Colorado. Trying to adjust to the limited urban resources of even a city the size of Denver would be like wasting my life.

[Cupcake77]

Originally Posted by aceplace

I don't know anyone who lives in New York or Chicago for the weather or scenery either.

Actually, I know of quite a few people who preferred Dallas weather to that where they came from. My math teacher in school was one such person. People from Chicago usually cite the Dallas weather as the primary attraction. Other than that, they prefer Chicago to Dallas, but the Dallas weather overrides everything else and keeps them here.

The Cross Timbers area where I live is, in my opinion, quite pleasant and scenic... thick forest and lakes. True, it's not as scenic as, say, lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevadas, but the most important thing to me is not scenery but big city urbanity and a fast moving economy.

So be that as it may, you have a point... different people have different motivations and interests. You have to decide between North Texas and Colorado based on your priorities. In my case, I hold the Colorado mountains in little regard... a one or two week vacation is good enough for me, then back to the megacity with its dozens of theatre companies, among other things.

But lets be frank... I would die of boredom anywhere in Colorado. Trying to adjust to the limited urban resources of even a city the size of Denver would be like wasting my life.

I am glad you are happy here!

[Canine*Castle]

The winter weather in Dallas is most delightful but unfortunately, the miserable summers don't quite make up for it.

[aceplace]

I see a confusion in this thread... sometimes people specifically mention Dallas, sometimes Texas. They are not one and the same.

A good reason to live in urban Eastern Texas is the variety of cities and geographic areas within a 4-5 hour drive. DFW, Houston, Austin and San Antonio are incredibly different from one another... much more diverse than an equivalent area between New York and Washington. Within a few hours drive you can go from a swampy pine forest to the incredible scenery of the Palo Duro canyon.

[$DFW8$]

Originally Posted by aceplace

I don't know anyone who lives in New York or Chicago for the weather or scenery either.

Actually, I know of quite a few people who preferred Dallas weather to that where they came from. My math teacher in school was one such person. People from Chicago usually cite the Dallas weather as the primary attraction. Other than that, they prefer Chicago to Dallas, but the Dallas weather overrides everything else and keeps them here.

The Cross Timbers area where I live is, in my opinion, quite pleasant and scenic... thick forest and lakes. True, it's not as scenic as, say, lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevadas, but the most important thing to me is not scenery but big city urbanity and a fast moving economy.

So be that as it may, you have a point... different people have different motivations and interests. You have to decide between North Texas and Colorado based on your priorities. In my case, I hold the Colorado mountains in little regard... a one or two week vacation is good enough for me, then back to the megacity with its dozens of theatre companies, among other things.

But lets be frank... I would die of boredom anywhere in Colorado. Trying to adjust to the limited urban resources of even a city the size of Denver would be like wasting my life.

Actually, I prefer the weather in NYC(where I am from) over weather here in Dallas. It is just so hot here and there is no consistency! One day it can be hot and the next day it can be cold. Now I am not saying that NYC is a weather destination, but IMO, it is better than Dallas(weather wise).

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by $DFW8$

Actually, I prefer the weather in NYC(where I am from) over weather here in Dallas. It is just so hot here and there is no consistency! One day it can be hot and the next day it can be cold. Now I am not saying that NYC is a weather destination, but IMO, it is better than Dallas(weather wise).

The original point was that no one moves to Dallas for the weather. My reply was that no one moves to NYC for the weather either. They move there to enjoy an urban metropolitan lifestyle. The larger point... that large cities have a value totally unrelated to weather.

I don't know anything about the weather in NYC, I've never lived there. But there is one phenomenon that may measure the perceived value of New York weather versus Dallas weather.

That measure is the existence of Miami. It is very common for New Yorkers to move en masse to south Florida to escape the New York winters, but it is highly unlikely for Dallasites to move in order to escape the winter weather. Thus, it is logical to assume that Dallas winters are better, since fewer (if any) people are driven out of town by them.

Are New York summers like paradise? I've heard not... that they are steamy and hot, especially in view of the elevated temperatures caused by a city... the so-called Urban Heat Island. That's why the wealthy flee the city in the summer. I would guess that Dallas is hotter, but considerably less humid. NYC is a coastal city with an ocean that can supply all the humidity that its summer heat can evaporate, whereas Dallas has no offshore ocean, and a rise in temperature will reduce the relative humidity.

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by Canine*Castle

The winter weather in Dallas is most delightful but unfortunately, the miserable summers don't quite make up for it.

Dallas summers are paradise compared to Miami in April.

[Canine*Castle]

Originally Posted by aceplace

Dallas summers are paradise compared to Miami in April.

Well, the OP isn't inquiring about Miami, just Dallas. Right now, Miami's dew point is an 86 (I'd have to slit my wrists) and in Dallas, it's a 70. I wouldn't live in FL if someone gave me a mansion on the beach.

[GABMER]

I understand we are all looking for something different and that is why I started the thread. It is very interesting and enlighting to hear all of the opinions it helps people like me when they are considering a move. Lets keep the reasons only for Dallas, since this is the city we are interested in.
Thanks!