El Paso is 4th worst paying city according to this article (loans, homes)

[mistabinks]

Originally Posted by caiguar

Im a new implant from the NE to the east area of the city, right now is pretty bad but the city is working on fixing things and looks like its moving a long pretty fast, pretty bad because of all the contruction going but looking good

Excellent post.

[kidicarus89]

Originally Posted by fakeguy

Yeah, I'm gonna need an explanation on what makes the infrastructure and quality of life so terrible. I like the area.

The area's a textbook example of sprawl. Entire housing divisions with only one outlet, long, one-lane boulevards that were built too wide and encourage speeding and further agitate congestion, almost zero walkability, development advancing so rapidly the city is desperately trying to add parks and pumping stations to accomodate growth, no sense of place, neighborhoods abutting junkyards and other eyesores, etc.

On the other hand, El Paso's sprawl is not nearly as horrendous as Houston's, San Antonio or Dallas, and most of the sprawl can be blamed squarely on the state of Texas and the laissez-faire attitude it has toward development planning, which leaves cities with very little power to hold developers accountable for their awful plans.

[fakeguy]

Originally Posted by kidicarus89

The area's a textbook example of sprawl. Entire housing divisions with only one outlet, long, one-lane boulevards that were built too wide and encourage speeding and further agitate congestion, almost zero walkability, development advancing so rapidly the city is desperately trying to add parks and pumping stations to accomodate growth, no sense of place, neighborhoods abutting junkyards and other eyesores, etc.

On the other hand, El Paso's sprawl is not nearly as horrendous as Houston's, San Antonio or Dallas, and most of the sprawl can be blamed squarely on the state of Texas and the laissez-faire attitude it has toward development planning, which leaves cities with very little power to hold developers accountable for their awful plans.

You make some good points. The biggest is the number of lanes on roads. I think TXDOT (or whoever plans them) always underestimates the # of lanes needed. The worst IMO is the new SPUR and then 375 behind Ft Bliss. It feels like it is developing rapidly so hopefully it'll all be improved.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

TXDOT and the city measure traffic in a dumb way, and when I say dumb, I'm not criticizing it, I mean dumb as in not too much logic built in.

TXDOT and the city measure the traffic based on a traffic counter, that rubber hose-looking thing you see stretched across a road anchored by a box that records each hit, much like those hand held counters. What they don't take into account are the driving skills of the drivers, and these are the people who foul up roads.

Also, developers are not required to build highways, or expressways, only the streets into and in their developments. Once built, they deed the streets over to the city. So the city maintains them, but they don't actually put up money to build them.

You are right about Houston, San Antonio, etc. The developers build enormous master-planned communities that support thousands of vehicles, but getting to and from the communities is not the problem for the developers. TXDOT plans things far ahead in advance, like ten to twenty years, but if a farmer decides to sell 500 acres of his rice fields to a developer, then that greatly affects the capacity of the closest highway/expressway almost over night.

I currently live outside of Houston and the commute to work is 38 miles one way; you'd think that would be too far for most people, but the area west of Houston continues to grow at a rapid rate, so much so that the 24 lane freeway they upgraded to several years ago is now backed up at certain times of the day.

My solution? We are moving the opposite way, we are moving into the city of Houston, in the shadows of downtown, and only 4 miles from the office. I think that is what needs to happen in El Paso, residents should start to gentrify the downtown area and the urban density needs to grow. The stadium will be a catalyst and move El Paso in this direction.

[malamute]

I agree with all those about the sprawl, it's tremendous sprawl here and the traffic is getting worse by the day, everyone on the east side seems to work in the west side and everyone in the west side seems to work in the east side and the traffic that used to back up right before downtown is now backed up 6 or 7 miles before.

It seems that there are so many vacant houses in the central area that could be renovated or else like everything else around here -- torn down and new housing built. Sunset Heights is an example of gentrication that seems to have worked at least in many areas of it. It once was kind of shabby but is now one of the more beautiful neighborhoods and where the houses don't all look the same.

It doesn't make sense thought that so many of these "planned" housing developments are planned so far at the edge of town and will only create much more water use and traffic.

[DesertDog]

I've stayed away for quite some time because I felt this forum was getting boring or maybe I was just boring myself but regardless I would like to add my half cent opinion. This town is getting big. In the six years I've lived here the changes are crazy. I live on the far east side and thank god I'm retired. I drove to Murchison off Cotton last week and it took me 55 minutes. I think 30 of those minutes were getting out of the east side of town. Traffic is beyond bad for El Paso but probably would be normal for other cities. I guess I was just spoiled cause it didn't use to be this way. The sprawl is just as bad as mentioned by others but what can you do when so many are now coming here? We're growing and everyone better just resign themselves to that and accept we can't go backwards. I don't know where else the city could build but the far east side as everywhere else is built out. It suck but just remember this. I can still leave my front door unlocked when I run to the store because my neighbors know me and would recognize a strange car at my house. My 15 yr old and my grandkids can still play in the neighborhood without fear. We can go for walks after dark with out something for protection. I can cook on the grill in December. I can be by myself in my jeep in 15 minutes and wander forever if I choose. We have the best law enforcement and fire depts in the nation. and in my humble opinion El Paso has the most beautiful women in this country. Add up the positive and negatives of any city our size and be thankful where you live. I know this city isn't for everyone but I've lived coast to coast and in between and this place ain't bad. I will respectfully get off my soapbox now and go back into hibernation. Thank you for your kind attention. DD

[kidicarus89]

Originally Posted by HookTheBrotherUp

I currently live outside of Houston and the commute to work is 38 miles one way; you'd think that would be too far for most people, but the area west of Houston continues to grow at a rapid rate, so much so that the 24 lane freeway they upgraded to several years ago is now backed up at certain times of the day.

My solution? We are moving the opposite way, we are moving into the city of Houston, in the shadows of downtown, and only 4 miles from the office. I think that is what needs to happen in El Paso, residents should start to gentrify the downtown area and the urban density needs to grow. The stadium will be a catalyst and move El Paso in this direction.

Wow, 38 mile commute each way? Just think of the free time you'd have if you, say, lived within a 10-15 minute walk to work? Of course, downtown Houston housing ain't cheap, is it?

What you're talking about, moving closer to downtown, is what I think will be a huge generational shift from the 1950s model of suburban development and vast tracks of ugly freeways, back to the traditional model of building cities that are pedestrian and mass transit-friendly. I don't think it'll happen for another 25 years or so, but as gas gets more expensive and people begin seeing the appeal of urban living, I think the younger generations will see the car-driven city as more a hassle as anything.

No, I don't think the urban lifestyle is for everyone; some people love living in the suburbs just fine, but for others, they at least need to option to live in more navigable neighborhoods and cityscapes.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

^^^ I think you are very correct. One thing I've noticed about the new urban density is that the ages of the people living in the urban areas tend to be young, <25 to early 30s. Many are transplants, and so they expect the urban experience. Developers and business owners need to target the young crowd, us older people are set in our ways.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by DesertDog

I've stayed away for quite some time because I felt this forum was getting boring or maybe I was just boring myself but regardless I would like to add my half cent opinion. This town is getting big. In the six years I've lived here the changes are crazy. I live on the far east side and thank god I'm retired. I drove to Murchison off Cotton last week and it took me 55 minutes. I think 30 of those minutes were getting out of the east side of town. Traffic is beyond bad for El Paso but probably would be normal for other cities. I guess I was just spoiled cause it didn't use to be this way. The sprawl is just as bad as mentioned by others but what can you do when so many are now coming here? We're growing and everyone better just resign themselves to that and accept we can't go backwards. I don't know where else the city could build but the far east side as everywhere else is built out. It suck but just remember this. I can still leave my front door unlocked when I run to the store because my neighbors know me and would recognize a strange car at my house. My 15 yr old and my grandkids can still play in the neighborhood without fear. We can go for walks after dark with out something for protection. I can cook on the grill in December. I can be by myself in my jeep in 15 minutes and wander forever if I choose. We have the best law enforcement and fire depts in the nation. and in my humble opinion El Paso has the most beautiful women in this country. Add up the positive and negatives of any city our size and be thankful where you live. I know this city isn't for everyone but I've lived coast to coast and in between and this place ain't bad. I will respectfully get off my soapbox now and go back into hibernation. Thank you for your kind attention. DD

Yes, the negatives are definitely getting to be more so -- but the positives -- the weather for one still outweigh the negatives.

We were very spoiled here before -- a cross-town commute took maybe 20 minutes, we had add the advantages of a moderate sized town with the small town feel. We lacked all those huge city disadvantages but you're right, there's not rolling back the clock, the old El Paso with it's charm is past tense now.

And for a city this large, it is nice that no one needs to worry about locking doors and all that. You can break down anywhere at 2 am and wouldn't need to fear a thing except closed mechanic shops.

[snuffster]

Originally Posted by DesertDog

and in my humble opinion El Paso has the most beautiful women in this country.

And the majority have an illegitimate kid before they drop out of high school. Multiple kids by 21. I moved back home to DFW two years ago after I retired from the military. Was planning on staying a few years and finishing school at UTEP but changed my mind. I lived in the new area off Zaragosa where Edgemere dead ends. Neighborhood was brand new and already houses up and down the street were filling up with old broken down cars leaking oil parked on the side of the road. 10 or 12 people lived in the house next door, a new house mind you, only a couple were kids and none spoke english. Kept me awake with their backyard parties blasting mexican music a couple nights a week, junk cars parked on the front lawn (rocks), ect. I doubt a single one had a green card. I figured it would be a nice clean middle class area to live in for a few years but it was getting ghetto quick.