Some seem to think Houston doesn't take pride in its appearance. Thoughts? (Austin: apartment complexes, employment)

[AK123]

Originally Posted by jluke65780

Why are we talking about making Houston pretty? it needs to remain ugly. If we try to be pretty.......we'd be Dallas!

Dallas is pretty?

[jd2008]

I can't personally comment on Dallas; frankly it doesn't look a whole lot different to me than Houston. Both are sprawling, spread out cities with strip malls and the like.

Anyway, on to the original poster; I certainly can't speak for all Houston residents but I really don't take a whole lot of pride in this city. I like some of the people I have met here but other than that, the city itself is frankly an ugly, sprawling, strip-mall infested dump with poor transportation infrastructure, poor city services and little, to no appreciation of its past or history.

One thing that really, really makes this city ugly are the highways. While most cities do everything they can to hide them (landscaping, barrier walls, berms, depressing the road itself, tunnels, etc.), Houston has this strange fascination with building these things as big and as in-your-face as possible. I used to think LA highways were ugly but Houston takes it to a whole new level of vomit inducing ugliness.

In fact, unlike other cities where highways are used to get you from one distant location of the city to another across town, Houston places a significant percentage of its businesses along the highway. Highways here are in many ways treated like regular roads; many businesses actually have their address as a "block" of a given highway. This is comparable to how fast food places and other junk in some small towns in the boonies hug the highway (while the old downtown of the town dies).

Additionally, there are frontage roads within the city itself complete with big-box stores, massive parking lots, enormous signs and inflatable weightlifters/dogs/etc. They call frontage roads here "feeders" which makes me laugh every time I hear it because it makes me think of some obese Houstonian pulling into a Whataburger off the highway stuffing his face, but I digress. Anyway, this design and reliance causes the highways to become huge and discourages things the city could do to dampen the impact of these monstrosities. Building a barrier wall would hide the giant Best Buy located...you guessed it...right on the highway.

Of course, the highways are not the only thing that makes Houston so ugly. There are so many undeveloped lots, overgrown medians, crumbling strip malls, pothole filled roads...and that is within the loop that is supposedly considered the "urban and trendy" section of the city. "Trendy" townhomes in places like Rice Military sit adjacent to used car lots and junk yards. The city and its residents seem to care so little about things like quality of life, the environment, recycling...hell just walking!

Anyway, sorry for the rant. It's just its ben about one year since I moved here and I swear it is really getting to me. I used to be in the mindset that I could somehow make positive change to this place but the more time I spend here, the more I learn that none of that will happen in my lifetime (and I'm not even that old!). Its tough to have pride in a place where you are counting down the minutes to leave.

[jfre81]

Houston places a significant percentage of its businesses along the highway.

The city doesn't place businesses anywhere. The business owners did.

The "strange fascination" with big freeways is due to people's fascination with car culture.

If you leave, that's OK. Maybe somebody else can have your job.

[sevfiv]

Here, we take the good with the bad. That's what you have to do in a city that annexes in to oblivion, doesn't have strong staff support for enforcing existing regulation (like mentioned earlier), has no zoning except for said regulation and some neighborhoods that keep on top of deed restrictions, has feeders along all freeways (less 288), and has strong political push for expanding freeway but not public transport.

[dcoolbro]

Can Houston do a better job of making itself look a bit nicer? Sure. That's why it's important to be involved as much as possible on the decisions the city leaders make. Complaining on the net aint gonna change much. Personally I don't think Houston is nearly as ugly as people make it seem. But houston is more of city that's about being functional, than pretty. That's why we have all the freeways and what not. I like functional.

[Big Dirty]

Originally Posted by dcoolbro

Can Houston do a better job of making itself look a bit nicer? Sure. That's why it's important to be involved as much as possible on the decisions the city leaders make. Complaining on the net aint gonna change much. Personally I don't think Houston is nearly as ugly as people make it seem. But houston is more of city that's about being functional, than pretty. That's why we have all the freeways and what not. I like functional.

Houston being ugly or pretty is largely based on your perception of it. It is so large that the areas you frequent can sway your entire idea of the place. I live in Northside (the area between downtown and the 5th Ward) which is very ugly, rundown, and dirty. I drive to work on 45 N to Aldine (very ugly, rundown, and dirty). I go to eat at Colombian restaurants in SW Houston (very ugly, rundown, and dirty). With that being the case I could conclude that Houston is very ugly, rundown, and dirty. I would be correct because that would be MY Houston.

However, I go shopping at the outlets in Cypress-Fairbanks which are very nice and pretty. I go to the Starbucks in River Oaks which is nice and pretty. I hang out in Montrose which is gay. I mean nice and pretty.

I am sure in live, work, and play in the burbs you will have a completely different opinion of H-town as well.

[Spade]

Originally Posted by jd2008

I can't personally comment on Dallas; frankly it doesn't look a whole lot different to me than Houston. Both are sprawling, spread out cities with strip malls and the like.

Anyway, on to the original poster; I certainly can't speak for all Houston residents but I really don't take a whole lot of pride in this city. I like some of the people I have met here but other than that, the city itself is frankly an ugly, sprawling, strip-mall infested dump with poor transportation infrastructure, poor city services and little, to no appreciation of its past or history.

One thing that really, really makes this city ugly are the highways. While most cities do everything they can to hide them (landscaping, barrier walls, berms, depressing the road itself, tunnels, etc.), Houston has this strange fascination with building these things as big and as in-your-face as possible. I used to think LA highways were ugly but Houston takes it to a whole new level of vomit inducing ugliness.

In fact, unlike other cities where highways are used to get you from one distant location of the city to another across town, Houston places a significant percentage of its businesses along the highway. Highways here are in many ways treated like regular roads; many businesses actually have their address as a "block" of a given highway. This is comparable to how fast food places and other junk in some small towns in the boonies hug the highway (while the old downtown of the town dies).

Additionally, there are frontage roads within the city itself complete with big-box stores, massive parking lots, enormous signs and inflatable weightlifters/dogs/etc. They call frontage roads here "feeders" which makes me laugh every time I hear it because it makes me think of some obese Houstonian pulling into a Whataburger off the highway stuffing his face, but I digress. Anyway, this design and reliance causes the highways to become huge and discourages things the city could do to dampen the impact of these monstrosities. Building a barrier wall would hide the giant Best Buy located...you guessed it...right on the highway.

Of course, the highways are not the only thing that makes Houston so ugly. There are so many undeveloped lots, overgrown medians, crumbling strip malls, pothole filled roads...and that is within the loop that is supposedly considered the "urban and trendy" section of the city. "Trendy" townhomes in places like Rice Military sit adjacent to used car lots and junk yards. The city and its residents seem to care so little about things like quality of life, the environment, recycling...hell just walking!
Anyway, sorry for the rant. It's just its ben about one year since I moved here and I swear it is really getting to me. I used to be in the mindset that I could somehow make positive change to this place but the more time I spend here, the more I learn that none of that will happen in my lifetime (and I'm not even that old!). Its tough to have pride in a place where you are counting down the minutes to leave.

Your best bet is to send your rant (and a good one IMO) to the local leaders of Houston. The more people do it, the better chance it will make your quality of life improve. Complaining on the net like dcoolbro said is not really doing much. Your rant was needed but it needs to be heard by the local leaders in the city and hell, the state. Your comment in bold has alot to do with zoning as well.

[TexasTheKid]

I frankly like Houston's warts. I think it adds character. But, if we're going to rant, I do have one gripe. What's with the haphazard placement of the dividing barriers separating I-45 North's HOV lane from the mainlanes? Those things zigzag all over the place. Didn't anyone think to measure how long they needed to be rather than just start putting them in all willy-nilly? That was such a simple thing to get right that it boggles my mind it was done so randomly. Couldn't the city afford a tape measure?

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by TexasTheKid

I frankly like Houston's warts. I think it adds character. But, if we're going to rant, I do have one gripe. What's with the haphazard placement of the dividing barriers separating I-45 North's HOV lane from the mainlanes? Those things zigzag all over the place. Didn't anyone think to measure how long they needed to be rather than just start putting them in all willy-nilly? That was such a simple thing to get right that it boggles my mind it was done so randomly. Couldn't the city afford a tape measure?

Doesn't METRO maintain the HOVs? That could explain something.

[blkgiraffe]

Originally Posted by AK123

Dallas is pretty?

I'd say overall, yes.