Please give me reasons NOT to move to Houston (Jacksonville: home, allergies)

[patrickmich]

I am considering a move to either Houston, TX or Jacksonville, FL.
I know many of the good aspects of Houston (jobs, housing costs, etc),
but please give me an honest assessment of the reasons not to move
to Houston. Thanks.

[neotextist]

Weird. Didn't you already post this thread? But I don't see it anywhere.

[Texas Mack]

-- If you have certain allergies, the pollen here can be bad.

-- The Northwest Freeway with the exception of nights after 10:00 PM is a nightmare (in fact, most freeways in Houston are worse than Jax's but given the difference in size between the two cities, that shouldn't be a shock)

-- We don't have hills, although, our landscape (including foliage) isn't very different from Jacksonville's, so that might not matter to you.

-- Flooding can be a concern in areas of the city, especially to the east toward the inland waterways

-- Add about 1 to 2 degrees on average to Jacksonville's daily summer temperature. Humidity is more or less the same. In other words, for about 4-5 months, it is very hot and humid here. Less so in October and parts of May. And then pretty pleasant for the rest of the year (although, there will be a handful of "cold" mornings in the winter).

-- Smog is a definite factor from about April to September, though not visibly as bad as what you can see in California or Phoenix (Phoenix has fewer smoggy days but their smoggy days seem worse because the air is trapped in the valley and "thickens").

[Roma]

Property taxes. Look into that too.

[kremlin]

I'm not familiar with Jacksonville, FL but the assessment of Houston in the above thread is accurate. It's a concrete jungle here, with 1 nice urban park, Memorial. Diverse communities - those are the key words - diverse and separate communities. If you eat out a lot, there are plenty of choices. If you are single, difficult to meet people, so you have to make a concerted effort to put yourself out there. Other than that, it's a great city for families.

[Mayor_McCheese]

-Property taxes are very high
-Heat and humidity make it unbearable to be outside longer than 3 minutes in the summer
-No Winter or snow
-Traffic is a nightmare making it impossible to get anywhere in under 45min
-Several toll roads that are not cheap
-public transportation is expensive
-English is the second language
-Floods almost everywhere a few times a year
-Hurricanes
-At least once a week someone is driving their car into a home or store

[SilverWings]

Jacksonville has a better football team and better beaches.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by SilverWings

Jacksonville has a better football team...

Then why do they lose to the Texans more often than not?

Originally Posted by Mayor McCheese

Traffic is a nightmare making it impossible to get anywhere in under 45min

I can get from one Starbucks to the other across the street on West Gray in about 40 minutes....doing a commando crawl the whole way.

[EasilyAmused]

Either you want to live in the City of Houston or the Po-dunk town of Jacksonville. Your call. But honestly, go there. We don't need one more xburb commuter on the road.

[patrickmich]

Well let me tell you, mainly what I'm interested in is waterways and bridges. If I can have nice waterways (rivers, especially) and scenic bridges crossing over them, then
I will be happy. I also do not want winters, pure and simple. Is the river or rivers in
Houston worth talking about? I hear there are bogs down in that area. What is a bog?
Is it related to a swamp of some sort? Someone mentioned the east area of Houston getting flooded. What comprises the "inland waterway"? I definitely get scared off
by words such as "concrete jungle". I want a big city, but a place where escape is
relatively easy.