Best quality of life for families near Texas Medical Center? (Houston: low income, appointed)

[Weatherguy]

I showed the OP's post to my step-mom, who is from Connecticut. She just laughed. She's been in the Rice University area of Houston for 40 years, and would never leave. The OP obviously hasn't even driven around. Houston has dozens and dozens of outstanding neighborhoods, complete with trees. And the northwest through northeast neighborhoods are built in pine forest. Lots of fun and/or beautiful neighborhoods like West U, Montrose, Heights, Meyerland, and of course the Memorial Villages, just as examples. Some of the burbs are quite nice, like Sugar Land, Cinco Ranch, Woodlands. I'm betting the OP has explored none of those areas.

Highrise architecture is all over Houston. It's a big draw for many people. Maybe not for the OP.

To the OP, your negativity is a concern, and is indicative of folks who are extremely homesick. The classic pattern is to cut down other places in an effort to elevate the status of where you're from. I wouldn't recommend that approach. Houston thrives on optimism, and you'll make few friends with such negativity. Seriously, it might be best for you to return to CT if that's what you need.

By the way, the more I read the opening post, the more I think it's a troll post. I did a search on all posts by the OP, and they're really nasty. Look at this link to see one of them:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/houst...l#post35438563

[lhafer]

Why are people still responding to this troll post??? 51 responses later and the OP hasn't reeplied yet.

[Weatherguy]

Some things aren't adding up. The more I look into this, the more I think someone is yanking our chain. Hard to be sure, but sometimes when posts have a track record of being "over the top", it can simply be trolling to get attention.

[bluebonnetnutmeg]

I don't even know what a troll post is. I was completely sincere when I made my request, and I appreciate those who responded sincerely. I think in summary, it is correct that SE Texas is not the place for my family. We lived in Friendswood in a development called Polly Ranch. In Friendswood, 5th graders at Windsong Elementary School are asked to supply 5 reams of copy paper as a school supply. I am sorry folks, but there used to be an uproar when schools couldn't afford books, well now books aren't used much in school anymore, but asking public school children to supply their own paper is really "over the top". Also, in Connecticut, as in Massachusetts, New York, and the like, all public school teachers are required to hold Master's Degrees, or attain them within 5 years of being hired, or else they cannot maintain certification, therefore, most university teacher training programs have responded by creating 6 year programs where people who are interested in careers as professional teachers graduate directly with Master's Degrees . In Texas, teachers are paid much less, and do not have the same requirement, so most hold only Bachelor's Degrees, and have little incentive to invest further in their careers in terms of money or time, and I am sorry to say, it shows in their training. I know Friendswood schools are small by Texas standards, but they seemed to us a lot like another large and infamous Texas institutional system: the prisons. The P.E., Art, Gifted, Music, and Library teachers all worked at more than one location, having student loads of up to 1300 students apiece! Our CT school had a full time teacher for each of these subjects (again, with a Master's Degree) dedicated to working in a single school of 300-400 students. I think it is clear how a difference a ratio like that can make in every child's experience. I could go on, and on. I think what it comes down to is that people who moved to Houston in the 70s and 80s seem to think it is terrific, but anyone moving there today has a very different experience. I hear what the person from Sugar Land who spoke about the museums was saying, we enjoyed the Zoo, the Natural History Museum, Armand Bayou, Moody Gardens, and the Galveston Children's Museum all very much, but once we grew bored with them, and looked for other things to do, we came up dry. My kids are only young once, and we can't wait around for things to be built and get better, we need to be somewhere that is already culturally rich. I could imagine a community developing around the Natural History satellite, but there were still all those power lines around, nasty drainage ditches, fakey fountains (where they dye the water, I am not kidding), traffic, and the houses were really overpriced and crammed together. I lived right near the intersection of 528 and 518 in Friendswood, and while yes, the Gold Club "Gentleman's Club" on West Bay Area Blvd may have been more subtle, the seedy elements still exist there, pawn shops, and smoke shops etc. besides, you pass by that stuff so often it still affects you and your children whether it is technically in your town or not. The Friendswood Library and Stevenson Park were ok, but Friendswood Library was pitiful compared with even the smallest town library in CT. I guess there is not a lot of public support for libraries in Texas, because everyone there was so grateful just to HAVE a library. Nothing was close together, everything was very inconvenient to get to, the traffic was a mess so you could not get very much done in a day, and nothing but sad ugliness all around. I just did not find it a pleasant place to live at all, and part of the wonderful thing about America is our freedom of speech and opinion. I really wish that people had been more honest with us about the place instead of recalling the Houston of yesteryear, and I just wanted to find out if there was somewhere I had overlooked, but I guess not, and in absence of that, I just wished to give a more balanced and truthful picture of the place to possibly help spare others the experience we had. In summary, coming from a place where drive-thrus are not allowed by zoning, to a place where drive-thrus are a part of the culture and there is no zoning, was quite a shock. It was and is not for us, and it is hard to imagine that anyone who had seen another life would settle for it. Yes, I know Friendswood was founded in 1895 by Quakers and was a fig farm. Big deal. That is about all there is to know, I need more depth than that. Best wishes to you and yours.

[Weatherguy]

Anyone who is so unhappy, so negative, and so obsessed with how much better their former place of residence was should just leave and never look back. There are many, many people from CT and other places from around the U.S. (and the world) who are perfectly happy in the Houston metro and have found communities they love. Through my relatives in CT, I know plenty who would leave there in a minute if they could. I happen to enjoy visiting CT and I don't share their negative views of CT. Takes all kinds.

The following is for the OP and others who tend to hang out here to whine.

I realize everyone is busy with family matters, but if there's time to spend on obsessive negativity, then there's time to do better things. The museums need docents, the zoo needs animal caretakers, churches and other organizations need people to help those in crises and to run soup kitchens. Hospitals need volunteers. Schools need volunteers. The numerous animal shelters around the metro need volunteers, including fosters. There are are city planning committees that need volunteers (that's why so many things are improving, like the walkable streets program, bayou renovation program (it's having incredible results), city cleanup programs, etc.). As for entertainment, there are many festivals, including international festivals, where you can get to know people from all over the world. You can dine in restaurants serving food from all over the world. The metro is mentioned in various online forums as having the friendliest and kindest people you can find. My folks live among people from 9 countries (at last count) on their street, and these visitors are really into the community and loving it.

All is not perfect, of course. There are city problems that need to be resolved, and a lot of citizens are actively working on them instead of just whining.

Those who hang out in forums like this so as to be obsessively negative need to evaluate their lives carefully, decide what needs to change, and then change it. Being constantly down and negative as a lifestyle doesn't mean dragging the rest of us down with you.

[texas7]

Your life is what you make it - if all you see is sadness and ugliness then that is what you choose as your focal point. The glass half empty type. If Connecticut residents were all similar-minded then I'd think it was a sad place. I just can't see starting a thread about being desperate for help yet filled with a rude negativity for those from whom you are asking help (I.e. Your post about the "types" of people found in Texas). Seems rude.

[Jack Lance]

I don't think a teacher with a Masters degree is by default a better teacher especially when you are talking about a grade school curriculum . I think most people with a BA can master an elementary course of study.

I'm sure the Master degree requirement makes the system feel better about itself, and obviously, adds to an air of superiority, but In the end, it is only pretentious.....


Just for the record the total population of Conn 3.5 Mil, Population of Texas is 27 Mil....

[77030]

Originally Posted by bluebonnetnutmeg

I think in summary, it is correct that SE Texas is not the place for my family.

I think everyone agrees with this conclusion. From what you have said, I would think you could have figured that out on a quick recon trip from your beloved Connecticut, before making the big move down here to nasty ol' Texas.

You are obviously upset that you made the move. Understandable. But you are upset with yourself, don't expect much sympathy from the folks here, who love Texas and would never live anywhere else.

[Htown2013]

One of the reasons, among many, that I like Texas is the ability to provide very well for a family if you work hard developing a valuable skill with persistence and a positive mental attitude, even on a single income with a bachelors degree.

I hate the arrogant elitism up north, where people put much more importance on credentials and pedigree. There you needed at least a dual income professional family, both with graduate degrees, to have jobs that can afford a decent house in an area with good schools.

[Htown2013]

Many of the subdivisions in Texas have power lines and 'drainage ditches' a.k.a. bayous due to being low lying coastal plain due to flooding. The bayous are engineered to remove water quickly, maybe they are ugly, but they protect the areas. Many houses in the area you're talking about have underground power lines in the residential streets, just the distribution lines are above ground.

Some Houston area schools are easily in the same league as the best of the Northeast namely Austin and Clements near Sugar Land, Seven Lakes in Katy, and Memorial, just to name a few. But unfortunately, on average, I agree the typical schools are not as good.

I agree that many of the developers build the houses too close together. I wish they would double the spacing between houses. I got lucky and found an oversized central lot, but that is not the norm.

Sugar Land is its own city with zoning and planning. It is not some hum drum place and is a great place to raise a family. While it does have history and is somewhat unique to Houston, I will agree that it cannot compare with the history and legacy of the U.S. Northeast. With that being said it is very culturally diverse, which I think is great, and a good way to learn about customs and cultures outside the traditional mainstream American history.