Arlington Vs Fort Worth (Plano, Irving: suburbs, definition)

[JJG]

Originally Posted by WorldKlas

Both Fort Worth and Arlington are cities in Tarrant County.

But Fort Worth is THE county seat of Tarrant County and 2nd anchor of the Metroplex. That's why I said "Fort Worth's county."

Arlington is still a suburb because it's still mostly dependent of other, larger cities.

[RayStokes]

Arlington has lots to do, but it's not nightlife central as far as a singles scene goes. The good news is your're only a 10-15 minute drive to Fort Worth's nightlife as well as probably a 20-25 minute drive to central Dallas. If it were me I'd honestly just live close to your job. Assuming you work normal business hours, commuting in our traffic can be a beating and you'll grow tired of sitting in it 4-5 days a week during rush hours.

Arlington and Fort Worth are both big places. Both have their nicer parts of town and run down, uglier parts of town. You can't paint either with a broad brush. Anecdotally speaking, my biggest knock on Arlington is that, at least for me, it seems to have the worst traffic in all of DFW. I find it more unbearable than Dallas or Fort Worth's traffic when including both surface streets and freeways.

[jbb303]

I lived in far southwest Arlington for about 10 months back in 2001-2002 and my biggest knock on living there was that it took forever to get anywhere. And that was as much a consequence of everything being so spread out as it was the traffic. Going to the grocery store or to dinner almost always involved 30-40 minutes of travel time, whether going to the Green Oaks/Little Road area or to Cooper.

[Exult.Q36]

Originally Posted by jbb303

I lived in far southwest Arlington for about 10 months back in 2001-2002 and my biggest knock on living there was that it took forever to get anywhere. And that was as much a consequence of everything being so spread out as it was the traffic. Going to the grocery store or to dinner almost always involved 30-40 minutes of travel time, whether going to the Green Oaks/Little Road area or to Cooper.

Yes but a lot has changed since 2002 in southwest Arlington. There is a Super Walmart among other things that didn’t exist in 2002.

[Gone Again]

Originally Posted by jbb303

I lived in far southwest Arlington for about 10 months back in 2001-2002 and my biggest knock on living there was that it took forever to get anywhere. And that was as much a consequence of everything being so spread out as it was the traffic. Going to the grocery store or to dinner almost always involved 30-40 minutes of travel time, whether going to the Green Oaks/Little Road area or to Cooper.

You lived here a whole ten months. Not long enough to learn your way around.

While I will admit that it can be time consuming getting around Arlington, after living here two years, we have no problem getting around quickly because we know which roads to avoid, which places are always busy and at what time of day. That takes more than ten months to learn. As well, it's that way everywhere around here, now that everyone is moving here from California, and where ever else.

As a general response to somethings said earlier - I'm not a fan of Arlington. We live here because that's just how it worked out when we returned from out of state. But Arlington isn't anymore a hell dump than say, Garland, parts of Farmers Branch or south Dallas. In fact, in spite of my many criticisms of Arlington (I've been hearing about the corrupt city govt since I was a kid in N. Dallas.

To those who say it isn't one thing or another, because it doesn't have basic needs, etc, I say that is subjective depending on your needs. My wife daughter and I find almost all of our needs met. We do drive to Fort Worth and surrounding areas for certain outdoor activities, but that would be true if we'd moved back to N. Dallas as we'd intended. The only thing Arlington lacks, as far as I'm concerned, is a Trader Joe's.

Arlington is fine. Just don't expect much from city government, especially if you think Six Flags, Jerry World and more restaurants than anyone could possibly need is the direction to progress towards.

[tcualum]

I would love to have a Trader Joes in Arlington. My other wish was IKEA but now we have one in Grand Prairie I got my wish.

[jbb303]

Originally Posted by Gone Again

You lived here a whole ten months. Not long enough to learn your way around.

I worked in Arlington for 6 years a few years prior to that and I went to UTA for 2 and a half years. I knew my way around Arlington just fine.


Like I said, it was 15+ years ago and I lived in the triangle between 287/Little Rd/Sublett that was right on the Kennedale border. Part of my problem was that getting around involved from that location a lot side street and freeway access road driving. I would probably feel differently if I had lived in a different part of town.

[bringamac92]

Originally Posted by WorldKlas

Both Fort Worth and Arlington are cities in Tarrant County.
Agree that Arlington (like Plano) is not urban, but each is city by population size —- as is Irving
Cities don’t have to be county seats, nor do they have to provide public transit to meet the definition of city
There is a difference between being URBAN-like and meeting the definition of being a city.

Lol sorry most of us think of a city is a municipality offering the basic necessities such as public transit, pedestrian friendly sidewalks, and bike lanes important in determining a city. Hey lets all drive our F350's to Olive Garden yeah?!?! Or lets build parking garages and parking lots because "yeah man they definitely aren't an eyesore!


Arlington is an oversized SUBURB. Fort Worth and Dallas are real cities, and by god I pray they get annexed by the actual cities around them. #rantOVER.

[tcualum]

Have you tried to use the public transit in Fort Worth or Dallas other than the light rail or train? I've tried and it's not the most reliable. Also, I know of plenty of areas in those cities that don't have pedestrian friendly sidewalks. My son's school in Fort Worth doesn't have a sidewalk leading to it at all and the traffic on the street in front is too unsafe for him to bike to school. I agree that Arlington needs public transit and have voted in favor of it. I would argue however that in most of sprawling Dallas and Fort Worth you can't live the urban lifestyle you're talking about either.

[WorldKlas]

Originally Posted by bringamac92

Lol sorry most of us think of a city is a municipality offering the basic necessities such as public transit, pedestrian friendly sidewalks, and bike lanes important in determining a city. Hey lets all drive our F350's to Olive Garden yeah?!?! Or lets build parking garages and parking lots because "yeah man they definitely aren't an eyesore!


Arlington is an oversized SUBURB. Fort Worth and Dallas are real cities, and by god I pray they get annexed by the actual cities around them. #rantOVER.

You can make up your own definitions that in you mind means city; but truly Arlington IS A CITY as is Irving and Plano.
Most of Dallas is also not URBAN by the way.