More on cities v. suburbs (Houston, Pasadena: best neighborhoods, apartment, renter)

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by crone

You ITL need to come on out to the burbs and drive around. From Conroe to Friendswood to Kingwood to Clear Lake.

If all of us decided to move into THE CITY, where would we go? You do realize that we in the suburbs and exurbs will soon outnumber you Houstonians. ;-}

dontcha already??? 4.1M to our 2.1M

[SouthernBoy205]

Originally Posted by HtownLove

dontcha already??? 4.1M to our 2.1M

That's a big gap.

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by SouthernBoy205

That's a big gap.

like Atl's 400k to 4.9M?
or LA's 4M to 9M
Or DCs 600K to 5M??

Houston has the smallest city to metro gap in the country. The only one of the top ten with a less than 2M gap

[SouthernBoy205]

Originally Posted by HtownLove

like Atl's 400k to 4.9M?
or LA's 4M to 9M
Or DCs 600K to 5M??

Houston has the smallest city to metro gap in the country. The only one of the top ten with a less than 2M gap

Atlanta and Miami are quite impressive.

[TimBomb]

I dont know what was so great about Alief and other old suburbs to be a 'good example'. From what I can tell this was a suburb back when houstonians were simpler people. It all looks like the old baby boomer 1 storey housing here. I guess people made better money or whatever reason people moved up or upgraded to masterplanned communities. I dont really see many boarded up strip malls here. It's pretty far from dead IMO you can check it out yourself. We have lots of new restaurants, new specialty grocery stores, new bank branches popping up. We got the Brays (bayou) project and got atleast 3 large developed parks/ponds. I think what people mean when they says an area is done is when theres not many full blown american whitey in town. I guess we are done then. ni hao texans!

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by TimBomb

I dont know what was so great about Alief and other old suburbs to be a 'good example'. From what I can tell this was a suburb back when houstonians were simpler people. It all looks like the old baby boomer 1 storey housing here. I guess people made better money or whatever reason people moved up or upgraded to masterplanned communities. I dont really see many boarded up strip malls here. It's pretty far from dead IMO you can check it out yourself. We have lots of new restaurants, new specialty grocery stores, new bank branches popping up. We got the Brays (bayou) project and got atleast 3 large developed parks/ponds. I think what people mean when they says an area is done is when theres not many full blown american whitey in town. I guess we are done then. ni hao texans!

Alief is the place to be man. Riverside Terrace is too boring for me. I am moving to Alief next year.

[Vicman]

Economically Alief is thriving, and it has a lot of options in terms of cuisine and business. The only thing is that the school quality has gone down and the crime in some parts can be bad. But it's not economically depressed like Clinton Park.

Originally Posted by TimBomb

I dont know what was so great about Alief and other old suburbs to be a 'good example'. From what I can tell this was a suburb back when houstonians were simpler people. It all looks like the old baby boomer 1 storey housing here. I guess people made better money or whatever reason people moved up or upgraded to masterplanned communities. I dont really see many boarded up strip malls here. It's pretty far from dead IMO you can check it out yourself. We have lots of new restaurants, new specialty grocery stores, new bank branches popping up. We got the Brays (bayou) project and got atleast 3 large developed parks/ponds. I think what people mean when they says an area is done is when theres not many full blown american whitey in town. I guess we are done then. ni hao texans!

[TimBomb]

Originally Posted by Vicman

Economically Alief is thriving, and it has a lot of options in terms of cuisine and business. The only thing is that the school quality has gone down and the crime in some parts can be bad. But it's not economically depressed like Clinton Park.

I dont know what it's like prior to 2007, but yes the schools looked pretty bad when I moved here (except for Kerr HS). Things may be getting better, atleast on the northern side. I did notice that by now a lot of the katrina folks already left. In my neighborhood, the last 'bad element' (the NOLA family who brought home their rowdy NOLA friends) already left, and coincidentally the elementary school near us got rated 'exemplary' doh. another one on Richmond ave was rated exemplary too. anyway, something like this area, with the true diversity and the access to westside business centers/apartments/highways, it would need a miracle for it to have the best public schools but there's still a market for it. I do see california-vietnamese folks grabbing up houses in my neighborhood. I also see very young, some mixed, couples as new homeowners (or maybe leasers) not sure if we have a college around here, or the exburb kids are starting out here
I guess the southwestside suburbia in southwestward leaning houston, even the worst perceived one may be a good candidate for revitalization. just leave it to us transplants, now that its officially the international district

[testmo]

yes there are more people in the metro area but why does that mean downtown/the city will suffer? most cities doesn't work that way

downtown/the city seems to be prospering more than the suburbs. a builder can put up a track of homes for dirt cheap and SOMEONE will buy it. there are quite a few people moving into houston proper for more than that

i do go out to the suburbs and drive around. i visit clients and my parents live in Kingwood. Suburbs and the city by no means compare. Not saying one is better than the other because that is purely one's own opinion, but don't tell an inner looper come on out to Conroe and see what we got!

[Illủmiñatex]

Originally Posted by vegankris

The suburbs have grown and prospered only because of cheap oil. The price of oil is no where near where it should be. Someday that will change. Unfortunately the people it will hurt most are those who are low income. But, it will still hurt middle and upper middle class families too and this is what I think will eventually cause people to start leaving the suburbs. I don't know how long this will take and of course there are those who will desperately hold onto the suburbs with all their might despite the futility of it.

I've read a lot of James Howard Kunstler's work, so my opinions are pretty in line with his writings. The suburbs will become the slums of tomorrow... the suburbs were the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world.... and on and on. Change takes time, but sometimes things happen that push people to change almost over night.

That guy predicted a lot of gloom and doom, only to have the exact opposite happen time after time after time:

James Howard Kunstler - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Based on his failed predictions can you give me one good reason I should believe ANY of his rhetoric? This angry little mouse of a man even has a website called clusterf*ck nation.