I'm confused:Is SA nice or not? (San Antonio, Alamo: homes, school districts)

[Topperone]

Here are some more gems.

Hot and humid in the summers... 98 degrees with 95% humidity!

It'll never be 98 degrees with 95% humidity, not here. Don't believe me or anyone who actually lives here, just go to wunderground.com, they have the temp and humidity on an hourly basis for the past 30+ years.

[NEsananto]

I've lived in San Antonio my whole life, but I have visited other cities and states. San Antonio sucks in many many ways. First of all, the crime rate is high and if you live here you can expect to be scared for your life or of being attacked 24/7. Maybe I have more paranoia because I'm an attractive young blonde college student, but I never feel safe. There are creepy individuals everywhere you look unless you live in the Dominion (rich people neighborhood) or parts of Sonterra and Alamo Heights . I carry mace at all times, am always looking over my shoulder, am scared to be out and about at night, and my husband and I are always checking to make sure our doors are locked. My husband's truck was stolen and stripped in January 2007, my sister has had her car burglarized two times in the past year, and my friend who moved here briefly had his crotch-rocket motorcycle stolen immediately upon moving here and it was never found. My mom's house was burglarized a few years back right before Christmas and all our presents/jewelry/money was stolen, and my dad's house was burglarized earlier this year. Car theft and burglaries of cars/homes is outrageously high. Everyone I know in San Antonio has been victimized in some way by crime. The murder rate is going up as well. Poor Mexicans account for roughly 60% of the population- and almost all the crime in San Antonio is committed by this race; don't get mad at me it's the truth! I watch the news every night! Oh and if you're not bilingual it's hard to get a job and people look and talk down to you if you don't know Spanish. While I'm on the subject of jobs, the job market is saturated with soooo many people looking for work and you're lucky if you can find a job that pays more than $12/hour even if you have a college degree and ample experience- I am totally serious about this from personal experience plus working at a staffing agency for awhile. Rent and home prices are drastically increasing each year and the population is exploding. The highways can't keep up, so of course rush hour is a nightmare. "Rush hour" or more better called "Slow-Ass Traffic Hour" is roughly between 7:15-9am and 4:30-6:20pm Mon-Fri. Whoever runs all the city's construction projects needs to slapped around really hard because ever since I was old enough to have memories (I'm 25 now) there has been constant annoying poorly planned construction all over the city and it NEVER ends!!!! People here drive like total idiotic maniacs 24/7. My husband and I drive just down the highway a bit to go the gym every-other-day, and each time we make the drive we like to count the number of idiotic drivers we come across in the 5 mile drive. On average it's 9-12 bad drivers for just that small stretch of driving!! As for the city's highlights: yeah the Spurs basketball team is from here, but the hometown games and any other event such as Fiesta are always inundated with super shady poor people with their pack of 5 children per single mother and her 50th boyfriend. We are the 10th Fattest City and our teen pregnancy rate is #1 in the nation! I hope you take all this into consideration before moving here!! We're planning to move to a new city (finally!) next year when our lease is up!

I so hope this isn't what you're basing your views of San Antonio off of.

[Topperone]

Don't get me wrong, there are some positive and very positive posts but the ones that are negative are so delusional and agenda driven that they basically cancel out anything positive.

[hello13685]

Everybody, I know my delivery was a bit colorful, but I thought it might have a more lighthearted tone than the alternatives! I've actually made quite a few positive and broad-sweeping generalizations about SA in the past (none of which have drawn ire, interestingly, given that they were dreaded generalizations). Among my positive views to share with the OP are that SA has nice weather, the people are unparalleled in their general friendliness, and housing costs less than it does in some other cities (although you don't the coolness that many of those cities have to offer).

One other thing that I think that the OP should consider if she/he has children, is that, unless you are going to ensconce yourself in Alamo Heights or something, I'm not sure San Antonio is the best place to raise kids from an educational perspective. I recall a conversation I had with two good friends when I lived in California. One of my friends, who had two school age children, was contemplating a lucrative move to Fort Wayne, Indiana. My other friend said, "You do realize that you eventually take on the characteristics of the place you live. Your children will be socialized to become like the children they grow up around." Well, when this realization sank in, my friend decided to stay in California. I think a move to SA would be good for kids in the sense that they would be exposed to diversity, and they would be enculturated with warm values. On the downside, I would be hesitant to raise kids here because of the lower standards for education, and, in this increasingly competitive world, one may want to think twice about raising them in a culture that even the cheerleaders regard as being "slow" and "laid back," a place with a "small town feel" (which one can translate to "small town mentality"). That would be my biggest reservation. These are factors that I would consider, anyway. Hope this helps. Now, I'm sure that people will come on and say how strong the San Antonio schools are. Let me say that I make part of my living in SA teaching local university students, and, although quite enthusiastic, their preparedness for college-level work is abysmal compared to my former students in three other states.

[rd2007]

wow.. my kids spent their entire elementary and part of their middle school years in San Diego and Monterey and I was amazed at how awful the California system was. They were easily three years behind where I was at their age. I originally figured it was yet another dumbing down of society, until we moved to San Antonio.. Suddenly my kids were actually being challenged and that never happened in either San Diego or Monterey.. I place most of the blame on the amount of off days the kids "enjoyed" in California. It was pathetic and I don't know how they thought any kid could get an education.. it provides great entertainment on Jay Leno's Jaywalking skits though. I always love it when the person they're asking questions to is either a teacher or student in California. Completely believable though..

BTW, I'm not saying San Antonio's education system is great either. I do not like how they teach for a test and I am routinely disappointed when I use words my kids have never heard before..

[citywide]

I looked into buying a home in SA two years ago because my mom moved back there and I stayed an extended amount of time looking around the Stone Oak area, and I have to say, the traffic around the city is disgusting. There is constant gridlock from 3:00 on.

I agree with the posts about the city. I would never move back. It's just one huge urban sprawl with absolutely no character. I live in Las Vegas and even though I complain about this city occasionally, the more I travel the happier I am to come back here to live, believe it or not.

[kmerian]

Originally Posted by NEsananto

I so hope this isn't what you're basing your views of San Antonio off of.

I agree, the racist classist rantings of a bigot are to be avoided. It is clear that whoever wrote this bases their opinon of a city on its wealth and "whiteness". There are people like this everywhere, but her moving away will only improve the quality of san antonio.

[dvlpr]

hello13685:

First of all, as strongly as I disagree with you, you sound like an intelligent person who I would probably enjoy having drinks/conversation with. And I think we all ought to be capable of disagreeing in a civil way.

Further, most reasonable people would agree with you (and your comrades) that SA ought to focus on improving any number of things (education first among them). And of course SA doesn't have the quantity (or overall quality) of art/cultural/food & wine opportunities that places like NYC/SF/Chicago/etc. have. Given SA’s size, it’d be naive to expect that.

But as another poster pointed out, it's your hyperbolic, silly, exaggerated arguments (the single/third grade spelling bee comment, or the other poster claiming that single/young professional scenes are "non-existent") that undermine any credibility that you might have. Your statements, aside from being childishly argumentative, are factually incorrect, and you shouldn't feign surprise when people point that out. Of course, I would guess that’s probably your primary motivation.

I would also guess that you (and the other posters who share your point-of-view) aren't the least bit involved in the arts/theater/live music community. It's easier to hole up in your apartment and complain on a message board than it is to get out and get involved.

Repeating myself: in the past month, I've been to 3 live theater performances, 2 lectures, 8 art gallery installations, 2 live music shows, and countless Fiesta parties/events. Do you just need me to invite you out with us one of these nights?

I’m curious (and you and your comrades never seem to answer): what precisely would get you excited/engaged, culturally speaking?

And if it doesn’t exist in SA, why not do something about it? We are a growing city, and there are people moving here (for jobs) every day. Many of these people probably have higher expectations for cultural “quality-of-life” than what currently exists in SA. With all the other good things that SA has to offer, why not play a part on making the cultural scene richer, more vibrant, and more exciting?

[dvlpr]

Originally Posted by citywide

I looked into buying a home in SA two years ago because my mom moved back there and I stayed an extended amount of time looking around the Stone Oak area, and I have to say, the traffic around the city is disgusting. There is constant gridlock from 3:00 on.

I agree with the posts about the city. I would never move back. It's just one huge urban sprawl with absolutely no character. I live in Las Vegas and even though I complain about this city occasionally, the more I travel the happier I am to come back here to live, believe it or not.

I love someone from Las Vegas complaining that SA has "huge urban sprawl with absolutely no character".

Awesome.

[hello13685]

Hi dvlpr,

I don't really report a lot of facts, just opinions, so they can't be incorrect. Regardless of how people read what I write, let me be clear (again) that it's almost all opinion. I wouldn't want to give prospective transplants the impression that there is no art community in SA, because there is. It's just that it's a letdown from places I've lived before. That's why I hole up in my apartment (like you say) and don't get out as much. I just don't know how to enjoy First Friday after growing up in a major, international, cultural center. Now, if someone is moving here from an even worse place, and SA is therefore a step up, then that's great. In those cases, all of your suggestions are spot on, and the new people here will love it. It's all relative, really, and I think people can figure that out on their own. People don't need to get mad at me. Isn't my current unhappiness with the culture punishment enough? (By the way, I haven't left because my primary job pays me a lot more than I'd earn elsewhere, and I like it.)

And as far as facts go, isn't Texas' public education system ranked somewhere around 40 out of the 50 states?