3 Best/Worst Things About Houston? (Galveston, Richmond: homes, neighborhoods, high school)

[EugeneBKLYN]

Originally Posted by jfre81

It's coastal and it's humid, so yeah, they're here.

FWIW, I haven't seen a cockroach in my apartment in the six months I've been here, despite having a couple of cats who like to spill their food out of their bowls and bat it around and under the fridge, stove or whatever where I can't much pick it up.

Damn. I hate those things.

[knowledgedropper]

Originally Posted by groens

ditto, jfre81. i was here & remember quite well hurricane alicia-- during alicia we had about 15 tornados just in our zip code, and there were fallen trees EVERYWHERE, no electricity for a couple of weeks, & the entire neighbourhood looked like a disaster area, and that was NORTH of downtown in oak forest/garden oaks.
not to mention that i am in a hurricane evacuation zone, here in houston, southeast of downtown, just inside the loop (not far from U of H central campus). my house is in a 500 yr flood plain, & did not flood, at all, during Allison... but we are at risk for a storm surge from a large hurricane due to our proximity to the ship channel.
i guess only someone unfamiliar with the layout of houston & it's proximity to bodies of water & waterways would criticise our "perceived" succeptibility to storm surges & impact of hurricanes. one could have easily said the same about New Orleans regarding their "apparent" distance from the gulf, without taking other risks into account.

First of all, New Orleans is surrounded by two other large bodies of water. Secondly, Katrina was a man-made disaster or failure. The hurricane damage would have been close to nil, if not for negligence of the government --state, local, and the feds are all guilty. Moreover, If Houston were to have any impact from a hurricane, it would only be because Houston is negligent in terms of taking care of its streets and drainage systems.

Yeah, love those coastal views in Houston!! LOL--give me a break!

[jfre81]

You have as much marsh to traverse to the south of NOLA before you actually hit the Gulf as you do in Houston.

Very little of Los Angeles proper actually touches the Pacific, and the parts that do are way-out-there annexations a la Clear Lake or Kingwood or (insert farflung corner of Houston city limits outside the loop) over here. But we don't bat an eye before saying LA is on the west coast.

[knowledgedropper]

Originally Posted by jfre81

You have as much marsh to traverse to the south of NOLA before you actually hit the Gulf as you do in Houston.

Very little of Los Angeles proper actually touches the Pacific, and the parts that do are way-out-there annexations a la Clear Lake or Kingwood or (insert farflung corner of Houston city limits outside the loop) over here. But we don't bat an eye before saying LA is on the west coast.

But it does touch the pacific--Venice Beach, Playa Del rey, etc--all city beaches. Granted, the Socal beaches are ice cold and much of them rocky--not soft sand and warm waters like the gulf. Yet, at least LA is truthful, when it lays claims to being a coastal destination--because it is. Sadly, Houston is still set in a swamp in no man's land and not close to being coastal.

[jfre81]

Venice/Venice Beach pretty much has its own separate identity from the rest of LA. Once again, you could draw a parallel to Clear Lake which is technically part of Houston.

It is understood that if you want to live on the beachfront that you don't really want to be in the city of Houston. That is not news to anyone.

[knowledgedropper]

Originally Posted by jfre81

Venice/Venice Beach pretty much has its own separate identity from the rest of LA. Once again, you could draw a parallel to Clear Lake which is technically part of Houston.

It is understood that if you want to live on the beachfront that you don't really want to be in the city of Houston. That is not news to anyone.

Wrong!! Venice is just a section of the city of LA. For example, Venice and Playa Del Rey along with interior places like Holllywood, Van Nuys, and Encino are all LA city proper. Now, places such as Culver City , Beverly Hills, Redondo Beach, and Manhattan Beach are all separate and distinct municipalities surrounded by LA proper.

Finally, since when was Clear Lake on the Gulf? By the way, it's not a part of Houston city proper--sorry! Nonetheless, Clear Lake is still a much better choice than Houston proper and it's western and northern suburbs.

Nearly forgot, downtown LA is 12 miles to the nearest beaches. How far is Houston from the beach?? LOL

[jfre81]

Downtown LA is just as far of a drive from the beach considering traffic.

Since you are going to consider all these outlying communities part of LA, why couldn't we do the same for the Greater Houston area which includes Galveston which you extol so much.

Let's say a hurricane is brewing off the coast. Now who's better off - someone in the city or living on the beach?

[Vicman]

Originally Posted by jfre81

Downtown LA is just as far of a drive from the beach considering traffic.

Since you are going to consider all these outlying communities part of LA, why couldn't we do the same for the Greater Houston area which includes Galveston which you extol so much.

Let's say a hurricane is brewing off the coast. Now who's better off - someone in the city or living on the beach?

But the point is that Venice is a part of the actual city limits of Los Angeles, while Galveston is a separate city from Houston.

[Nanner]

Houston is not close to the beach. It's the equivalent of saying Palmdale,Ca or Riverside,Ca are close to the beaches in Socal--they're not!!! just like Houston isn't close to the Gulf.

"Close" is a relative term. Houston is a heck of a lot closer to the beach than, say, St. Louis. But I think you're missing the point. The point is that you can go to the beach and then drive home at the end of the day. So YES, proximity to the beach is a positive thing about living in and visiting Houston.

[jfre81]

Point taken. So a more apt comparison might be Long Beach. But still, Greater Los Angeles.

Clear Lake is on water and it is in Houston, if not being *on the ocean.*

The whole point of Houston from the getgo was A) a railroad hub and B) an inland port. Everything else built around that. Galveston is an impractical location for that. At that time Galveston was a more important seaport (the busiest west of New Orleans in the late 1800s). Well, the 1900 Hurricane changed that. From then on the shipping went more in the direction of Houston which became the primary business center as the oil boom came.

Proximity to the coastline was sacrificed for practicality. It is what it is.