3 Best/Worst Things About Houston? (Richmond, Center: rent, car insurance, construction)

[Dakota Fleming]

the bad
Long red lights
High crime
metro buses
katrinas

[KerrTown]

Originally Posted by knowledgedropper

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.

Question of the day, why are Houstonians always seemingly worried about Hurricanes?? I would think that having a 50-60mile buffer from the gulf would be a sufficient barrier. Why doesn't Houston attempt to fix it's drainage system, it seems to flood there constantly--induced by the slightest bit of rain.

Finally, STOP acting as if Houston were a coastal town. It's a flat inland city--always wishing it were Galveston! LOL

My Aunt and Uncle lives in Palmdale and they can go to the beach within one day, assuming it is not traffic on the antiquated freeways. After all it is part of the L.A. metro and unbelievably still in L.A. County even after driving through those mountains on CA-14.

You just answered the question why Houston is not on the coast. It is just not safe to have a coastal city on this coast with the constant hurricane threat. Ever heard what happened to Galveston in 1900? No wonder the survivors moved to Houston and beyond. Even Katrina couldn't beat the Galveston storm one century before.

[Vicman]

Originally Posted by Dakota Fleming

the bad
Long red lights
High crime
metro buses
katrinas

The crime is only bad in certain parts of town. Avoid them, and the crime is delightfully low.

Now, as for Katrina, the thugs are more or less in New Orleans; the thugs who came in 2005 cannot stand the Houston police.

[Vicman]

1. Galveston is getting a lot of rich people who are kicking out the middle class with high tax rates.

2. Galveston public schools are closing right and left now that the enrollment is being sucked out of GISD schools. Soon GISD, in terms of what it has on Galveston Island, will be left with 6 elementary schools, 1 5-6 school, 1 7-8 school, one magnet 5-8 school, and 1 9-12 high school. GISD also has a K-8 on the Bolivar Peninsula.

Originally Posted by houstoner

That's a first. I've never heard of any Houstonians pining to be Galvestonians! I think if you live here long enough, you'll begin to understand why. For most, the island falls into the "nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there" category because it's economically depressed (compared to Houston) with too much crime and poor schools, not to mention the threat of hurricanes... and it's tiny, very small town... I mean, I just don't see what's to envy. The architecture is great, it's historical and has beaches. That's pretty much ALL Galveston has going for it. That makes for a great day trip, not a great place to live.

Houston is roughly a 45-minute drive to Galveston, more or less depending on what part of town you're coming from. Again, considering the threat of hurricanes six months out of the year, that's plenty close enough for me! Anyway, it's part of our metro area so we don't need to BE it.

[bostoner]

Originally Posted by Vicman

1. Galveston is getting a lot of rich people who are kicking out the middle class with high tax rates.

2. Galveston public schools are closing right and left now that the enrollment is being sucked out of GISD schools. Soon GISD, in terms of what it has on Galveston Island, will be left with 6 elementary schools, 1 5-6 school, 1 7-8 school, one magnet 5-8 school, and 1 9-12 high school. GISD also has a K-8 on the Bolivar Peninsula.

Yeah, it seems to be on its way to becoming a winter Texan, rich man's playground type of place. Lots of people building second homes there.

How many schools were there before?

[jfre81]

I hope those aren't the people getting all the relief money once a hurricane hits, like in Florida in '04.

[Bike4Life]

Originally Posted by Dakota Fleming

the bad
Long red lights
High crime
metro buses
katrinas

You are exaggerating about high crime (all over the place) or just live in the wrong neighborhood as you keep repeating that? Have you been in East L.A., Detriot, Harlem? Every city has a spotty record but you keep generalizing that the entire city has high crime to make other international cities look innocent.

And long red lights? Are you color-blind and missed the green light twice? Or worse, are you one of those red-light runners who almost hit me? Check out Austin, the red-lights are even longer!

[AK123]

Originally Posted by knowledgedropper

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.

Compared to the other major cities in TX (Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio...), yes, Houston IS close to the beach.
I used to live in Austin.
We can get there in an hour and go on a whim, unlike those other cities.
There's also Kemah.

[Vicman]

Originally Posted by houstoner

Yeah, it seems to be on its way to becoming a winter Texan, rich man's playground type of place. Lots of people building second homes there.

How many schools were there before?

I do not know exactly how many schools GISD had at its peak.

Oh, and the opening of a K-5 charter school in GISD will hasten the decline of the GISD elementary schools.

I know the following closed recently:
* Alamo ES (2007)
* San Jacinto ES (2006)

There are several others that closed, but I do not know all of the names of the schools that recently closed.

[pacific_trader]

good:

proximity to Galveston
good museums and theater district
awesome restaurants and dining

bad:

summer heat and humidity lasts 6-8 months
crime
ineffective public transportation (you MUST have a car)