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Old 07-08-2012, 11:22 PM
 
Location: Seattle
12 posts, read 95,886 times
Reputation: 82

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Well, this is my last week in Houston. I moved here in 2008. I like many others, I moved down from the NYC area. I took a new job in on the West Coast. Overall I thought Houston was an ok place to live. Not great, but not horrible either. After four years of the heat and humidity that last 10 months of the year (six of them being brutal) I decided I will be happier in a cooler climate that is also more diverse outdoors wise - mountains, forest, streams with a more pedestrian friendly city.

For people looking to move here, I will give an honest assessment of Houston. One thing I noticed about the Houston threads is that there are two extremes. 1) The people who hated Houston so much they just bash it over and over again even when it's not relevant to the topic. 2) The Houstonians who want everyone to believe that Houston is like Napa Valley, Key West, Lake Tahoe, Cape Cod and Aspen Colorado all mixed together. Both groups are just delusional.

Here are the negatives. Again, some of this is subjective. Weather for example is always subjective.

Negatives:

1)Heat and humidity is overkill. Take the hottest day of the year in most places and that is the weather pretty much everyday from April to early November. Even when your not in this timeframe it does not cool down much. There will be the occasional freeze in Jan or February that will just be enough to kill your garden and it is right back up to 80 the next week. The humidity is just brutal. It actually makes it difficult to breath.
2) Crime. While Houston does not have large ghettos like Philadelphia, Baltimore or L.A., crime is definitely an issue. Prior to living in Houston, I lived in NYC for eight years and was never a victim of any crime. Within my first two years in Houston, my apartment was burglarized twice and my wife and I each had our cars broken into. One was at the Galleria and the other vehicle was at the Medical Center. We lived off of Woodway which was supposed to be a good area, but break ins occurred weekly at our complex and we were paying $1100 per month. The crime in Houston does spill over into the higher income areas. It is by no means contained to the "ghetto areas". There is also a ton a gang activity in Houston as more and more crap comes up from the border. Houston is starting to look like a Third World city. I hate to say that, but it is. I do believe diversity is a good thing, but not when alot of crime in Houston is committed by illegal aliens. I am not saying legal Houstonians are to blame for the border situation, but dealing illegal alien crime and Latin American gangs is a major problem in Houston.
3) Lack of scenery and outdoor activities. Houston is flat and pretty boring. There really is no natural beauty outside Memorial Park and some areas around Rice University. After that it is just strip malls, apartment complexes and eventually oil refineries. Don't move to Houston expecting the scenery of Seattle, Denver, Boston or Portland.
4) Traffic and drivers. Horrendous traffic due the lack of mass transit. Houston for some reason is stuck in the stone age when it comes to mass transit. The drivers are horrible, many don't even have a license and they do not believe in blinkers in Houston. It is a foreign concept.

Ok, that is enough complaining. Here is the positives.

POSITIVES

: 1) Food. Houston has amazing food. Some of the best, if not the best in the country. The only area it lacks is pizza. Some places are ok, but nothing compared to the NYC area. Houston's Asian and Mexican food is second to none. Indian and Middle Eastern also are amazing. Of course the BBQ is out of this world. Baker's Ribs on S.Voss is to die for.
2) Great shopping, both for casual and high end. Galleria and all up and down Westheimer is great. You can get anything you want. Meyerland Plaza and the Woodlands Mall is also great.
3) Great sports town. Houston Texans give the best NFL experience in the entire league in my opinion. Great tailgating and a true football team. None of their players are getting arrested for trunk fulls of coke. The Astros always make for a fun day and the Rockets really a great experience for NBA fans. The new Dynamo stadium makes Houston a top soccer city.
4) Sunshine. Despite my complaints about the heat and humidity, Houston is sunny. Very sunny.
5) Politics- The politics in Houston is very reasonable. While it is no longer "good ole boy country" it is far from Berkley, CA or other whackado liberal havens.
6) People - The people here are alright. I made some great friends here. While, I feel a large sector of Houstonians are rude and obnoxious, I did meet some great people here. They maybe hard to come by, but when you find them you will know what I mean.

Overall, on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the best, I will give my experience in Houston a 6. Again, that is just MY experience. The next two guys could give it a 3 and a 9. I am happy and excited for my move to the northwest, but I am a little sad to leave.

I did my best to give the fairest assessment possible. I hope most agree.
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Old 07-08-2012, 11:41 PM
 
Location: Houston, TX
2,239 posts, read 3,218,135 times
Reputation: 1180
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bealtlebones&smokinstones View Post
Well, this is my last week in Houston. I moved here in 2008. I like many others, I moved down from the NYC area. I took a new job in on the West Coast. Overall I thought Houston was an ok place to live. Not great, but not horrible either. After four years of the heat and humidity that last 10 months of the year (six of them being brutal) I decided I will be happier in a cooler climate that is also more diverse outdoors wise - mountains, forest, streams with a more pedestrian friendly city.

For people looking to move here, I will give an honest assessment of Houston. One thing I noticed about the Houston threads is that there are two extremes. 1) The people who hated Houston so much they just bash it over and over again even when it's not relevant to the topic. 2) The Houstonians who want everyone to believe that Houston is like Napa Valley, Key West, Lake Tahoe, Cape Cod and Aspen Colorado all mixed together. Both groups are just delusional.

Here are the negatives. Again, some of this is subjective. Weather for example is always subjective.

Negatives:

1)Heat and humidity is overkill. Take the hottest day of the year in most places and that is the weather pretty much everyday from April to early November. Even when your not in this timeframe it does not cool down much. There will be the occasional freeze in Jan or February that will just be enough to kill your garden and it is right back up to 80 the next week. The humidity is just brutal. It actually makes it difficult to breath.
2) Crime. While Houston does not have large ghettos like Philadelphia, Baltimore or L.A., crime is definitely an issue. Prior to living in Houston, I lived in NYC for eight years and was never a victim of any crime. Within my first two years in Houston, my apartment was burglarized twice and my wife and I each had our cars broken into. One was at the Galleria and the other vehicle was at the Medical Center. We lived off of Woodway which was supposed to be a good area, but break ins occurred weekly at our complex and we were paying $1100 per month. The crime in Houston does spill over into the higher income areas. It is by no means contained to the "ghetto areas". There is also a ton a gang activity in Houston as more and more crap comes up from the border. Houston is starting to look like a Third World city. I hate to say that, but it is. I do believe diversity is a good thing, but not when alot of crime in Houston is committed by illegal aliens. I am not saying legal Houstonians are to blame for the border situation, but dealing illegal alien crime and Latin American gangs is a major problem in Houston.
3) Lack of scenery and outdoor activities. Houston is flat and pretty boring. There really is no natural beauty outside Memorial Park and some areas around Rice University. After that it is just strip malls, apartment complexes and eventually oil refineries. Don't move to Houston expecting the scenery of Seattle, Denver, Boston or Portland.
4) Traffic and drivers. Horrendous traffic due the lack of mass transit. Houston for some reason is stuck in the stone age when it comes to mass transit. The drivers are horrible, many don't even have a license and they do not believe in blinkers in Houston. It is a foreign concept.

Ok, that is enough complaining. Here is the positives.

POSITIVES

: 1) Food. Houston has amazing food. Some of the best, if not the best in the country. The only area it lacks is pizza. Some places are ok, but nothing compared to the NYC area. Houston's Asian and Mexican food is second to none. Indian and Middle Eastern also are amazing. Of course the BBQ is out of this world. Baker's Ribs on S.Voss is to die for.
2) Great shopping, both for casual and high end. Galleria and all up and down Westheimer is great. You can get anything you want. Meyerland Plaza and the Woodlands Mall is also great.
3) Great sports town. Houston Texans give the best NFL experience in the entire league in my opinion. Great tailgating and a true football team. None of their players are getting arrested for trunk fulls of coke. The Astros always make for a fun day and the Rockets really a great experience for NBA fans. The new Dynamo stadium makes Houston a top soccer city.
4) Sunshine. Despite my complaints about the heat and humidity, Houston is sunny. Very sunny.
5) Politics- The politics in Houston is very reasonable. While it is no longer "good ole boy country" it is far from Berkley, CA or other whackado liberal havens.
6) People - The people here are alright. I made some great friends here. While, I feel a large sector of Houstonians are rude and obnoxious, I did meet some great people here. They maybe hard to come by, but when you find them you will know what I mean.

Overall, on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the best, I will give my experience in Houston a 6. Again, that is just MY experience. The next two guys could give it a 3 and a 9. I am happy and excited for my move to the northwest, but I am a little sad to leave.

I did my best to give the fairest assessment possible. I hope most agree.
You know what they say about opinions...everyone has one.

I am a Native New Yorker and disagree with a lot of what you say here. People in Houston are rude and you blamed crime on illegal aliens...that's where you lost ALL CREDIBILITY. Assessment? More like a RANT.

Get out and get out fast....we don't need people like you taking up space in Houston.
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Old 07-09-2012, 12:00 AM
 
Location: Houston, TX
84 posts, read 192,245 times
Reputation: 59
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bealtlebones&smokinstones View Post
Well, this is my last week in Houston. I moved here in 2008. I like many others, I moved down from the NYC area. I took a new job in on the West Coast. Overall I thought Houston was an ok place to live. Not great, but not horrible either. After four years of the heat and humidity that last 10 months of the year (six of them being brutal) I decided I will be happier in a cooler climate that is also more diverse outdoors wise - mountains, forest, streams with a more pedestrian friendly city.

For people looking to move here, I will give an honest assessment of Houston. One thing I noticed about the Houston threads is that there are two extremes. 1) The people who hated Houston so much they just bash it over and over again even when it's not relevant to the topic. 2) The Houstonians who want everyone to believe that Houston is like Napa Valley, Key West, Lake Tahoe, Cape Cod and Aspen Colorado all mixed together. Both groups are just delusional.

Here are the negatives. Again, some of this is subjective. Weather for example is always subjective.

Negatives:

1)Heat and humidity is overkill. Take the hottest day of the year in most places and that is the weather pretty much everyday from April to early November. Even when your not in this timeframe it does not cool down much. There will be the occasional freeze in Jan or February that will just be enough to kill your garden and it is right back up to 80 the next week. The humidity is just brutal. It actually makes it difficult to breath.

3) Lack of scenery and outdoor activities. Houston is flat and pretty boring. There really is no natural beauty outside Memorial Park and some areas around Rice University. After that it is just strip malls, apartment complexes and eventually oil refineries. Don't move to Houston expecting the scenery of Seattle, Denver, Boston or Portland.

4) Traffic and drivers. Horrendous traffic due the lack of mass transit. Houston for some reason is stuck in the stone age when it comes to mass transit. The drivers are horrible, many don't even have a license and they do not believe in blinkers in Houston. It is a foreign concept.

Ok, that is enough complaining.
Agreed on all of the above minus point 2. Positives are right on too except politics; if you are conservative or tea-party you will love it here otherwise turn off your am talk-radio atleast.

Well good luck to you where-ever you go. Seattle sounds very tempting to me too. Maybe one day when I have some money to move....
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Old 07-09-2012, 12:18 AM
 
Location: Seattle
12 posts, read 95,886 times
Reputation: 82
NYER75 is a perfect example of the second point in the second paragraph of my post. Nothing I said was disputed with facts by NYER75. Just typical 'leave now and good riddance' crap because NYER75 either lacks the facts or intelligence to dispute what I said. I am guessing it is both. Love that tough talk from the safety behind the computer screen . There is not much you can say for people who are that bitter due to their own misery and failures. Reading skills are also suffering greatly as I never blamed all crime on illegal aliens. NYER75, put the computer away have mommy teach you how to read.

Highguard - Appreciate you acting like a normal human being. Thank you.
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Old 07-09-2012, 02:18 AM
 
Location: Keizer, OR
1,371 posts, read 3,038,344 times
Reputation: 1184
Houston sunny? Explains why it's the 6th wettest city (in precipitation amounts) in the US. I remember having thunderstorms A LOT while living there.
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Old 07-09-2012, 02:54 AM
 
Location: Clear Lake Area
2,075 posts, read 4,429,504 times
Reputation: 1973
Quote:
Originally Posted by portlanderinOC View Post
Houston sunny? Explains why it's the 6th wettest city (in precipitation amounts) in the US. I remember having thunderstorms A LOT while living there.
Precipitation amounts are skewed by the fact we get hit by major storms from the gulf. Our average annual number of days with percipitation ranks Houston much lower... many major Florida cities have more days with rain for example.
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Old 07-09-2012, 06:22 AM
 
Location: World
4,204 posts, read 4,659,848 times
Reputation: 2840
1)Public Transportation in Houston is not good. METRORail is there but it needs lot of expansion. People living in suburbs have a harrowing time in peak hours because of traffic and I think those residents do not want any public transportation also. so its a catch-22 situation.
2) Not much for tourists in Houston. Few museums and a good zoo. NASA is there on the putskirts. Boardwalk is okay. San Jacinto Monument and USS Texas are fine.
3) This town is good for foreigners/immigrants it seems. Winter is not harsh. living is not expensive and people are friendly.
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Old 07-09-2012, 06:37 AM
 
339 posts, read 798,558 times
Reputation: 267
Negatives:
1)Heat and humidity- I agree, I've lived since 3, moved from Bronx, NY. Traveling to other places, it is just horrible outside during summer, especially sweating like dog, if the AC is out.
2) Crime. Somewhat agree, most of my friends/family have been lucky and been out of police report. I read Chronicle a lot and see some stories on it, so I know.
3) Lack of scenery and outdoor activities. Agree, having been to San Francisco a lot, I can't help to enjoy seeing some hills and curvy roads. Even San Antonio has some places that you can stare at.
4) Traffic and drivers. Somewhat agree, traffic is horrendous even where I live and I live beyond Harris County, but work in the city. Trucks (non-commercial) do tend to drive faster than cars and I see more wrecker drivers than other states. As for blinkers, it depends which part of the city you live in. As a habitual cyclist, I find a lot of drivers to be courteous, I see a lot of drivers yield to me at intersections (and I do stop at intersections).

Positives:
1) Food. Nothing compares to Houston, it is one of our greatest asset.
2) Great shopping. Somewhat agree, there are a lot of places that have gone down like Greenspoint Mall, NW Mall, Sharpstown Mall, Almeda Mall and Gulfgate Mall. FM1960 isn't what it is used to be, you could just go there and find everything you need. Now, it has become a Dollar Store type crowd, one of the saddest thing about living in Houston is seeing that change. The accessibility to shops is probaly our strength, you can park and shop within miles. We now have places that we can buy without going to the Galleria.
3) Great sports town. Somewhat agree, if any of the teams don't win, we will struggle in attendance (Astros). Texans are just winning, but since we lost the Oilers, I think we don't take the Texans for granted like the Oilers, so the attendance will be there for a while. We don't have the sports fanatic in Chicago, Boston and New York. We have a lot of sports radio stations and we have a great resource on kids playing sports.
4) Sunshine. Somewhat agree, we do get a lot of sun because I've been cycling a lot more than past years probaly Global warming. Last year, I rode almost everyday because the sun was out so much. When I think of sun, I think of being in SF, we get more cloudy days than sunny days.
5) Politics- No comment
6) People - Disagree. Compare to other places, I think we have a pretty good place, at least my neighbors and fellow co-workers have been helpful and genuine. I cycle a lot on the trails where people walk, I get a lot of walkers and runners yielding to me, or say hellos/mornings than other places. A few years ago, outside my office I saw a live car accident. I heard a can't miss noise of a car braking extremely hard, so I looked out then an overturned car on 45 South. Immediately, at least 6-8 cars stopped and got out to check on the occupants. The freeway literally stopped on that direction, for 5-10 minutes you can see a group checking on the welfare of the occupants and trying to flip the right side over on the car. That is something I always will remember as Houstonians.


I love looking at what others write about our city, thanks for giving us an insight. Good Luck and have many more properous years in your next location and beyond.
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Old 07-09-2012, 06:40 AM
 
Location: Pearland, TX
3,333 posts, read 9,135,102 times
Reputation: 2340
Kinda weird you forgot "low cost of living" on your positives list. That'd be #1 in most folks' renditions.

Ronnie
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Old 07-09-2012, 07:29 AM
 
Location: Clear Lake, Houston TX
8,376 posts, read 30,585,671 times
Reputation: 4718
It is pretty sunny here as a whole, and in the summer it is intense. More than enough potential for bad sunburns here for at least 6 months. And when we get rain, many times it's of the "4 inches per hour" variety. We also average about 4 inches per month, so draw your conclusions.

As far as "rude" people go... well we do have a lot of transplants here. However the typical NY-er rude and uncouth & sloppy native Houstonian are two different things to me. One you may feel like punching in the face when you hear those stupid little comments w/ that annoying accent, while the other you may find idiotic but humorous.
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