What do you love/hate most about San Antonio? (Houston: travel, work)

[spursfan]

Originally Posted by phaydee

I hate that people in san antonio take it personally when someone offers a different opinion and that their first impulse is anger(repeat... sorry)

I am going to have to stand my ground on the spurs. I can not stand the fans.. They are all willing to high five you in the arena but also willing to run you over to get out of the parking lot first.... whats up with that?!?

I hate getting flamed by people who have "city pride" but will not lift a finger to make this town a better place. I find THAT VERY disrespectful to the TOWN.

I'd put the blame on the people that designed the freaking walkway to go right past the line of cars out of the arena. Brilliant. After waiting in the parking lot for 20 minutes after the game, I've wanted to run people down many times. They won't even stop for a second so a few cars can get by!

[Steel Man]

Originally Posted by phaydee

-Hate the humidity
-Hate the people that call this a multi-cultural town when there is just one culture, "fake mexican" or "tex-mex"
-Hate all the Super Fat(lazy) People here
-Hate the "it's owed to me" attitude that a lot of people have here
-Hate the wreckless drivers, my commute evolves dodging all the truck/SUV drivers that think they are in the a NASCAR race
-Hate all the TRUCKS/SUVS in this town, come on people, I usually see on or two people in them. Don't you realize you are killing the earth
-Hate spurs fans, you claim to love your team, but "boo" them when they lose?!?
-Hate the smokers here, "psssst instead of flicking ur live smokes out of of ur truck why not just put in a waterbottle that is filled a third with water"
-Hate that there is a 5000+ Mexician restaurants but only 3 vegetarian diners
-hate how most of the architecture looks like that stupid alamo
-Hate that most buildings downtown are dilapidated
-Hate how all the old neighborhoods and houses look like crap but have nice shiny cars in the drive ways and flatscreen that can be seen through dirty windows
-Hate how this is a major tourist town with a championship basketball team yet the roads are in a great need of repair(where is all that revenue going?)
-Hate how it takes 2 months to put up an HEB plus but the 410/281 interchange is on its 3rd? 4th? year of construction
-Hate how people say they have city pride but will not bend over to pick up trash
-Hate all the graffiti, I love graffiti art so why not paint something that makes a statement and not a bunch of crazy looking initials
-Hate how racist this town is!!!!!
-Hate how the peoples first impulse is anger when a change in thought process is presented to them
-Hate how people want a fooball team but failed to fill all the sets when the saints played here
-Hate that san antonio turned down having a pro soccer team(EPIC FAIL)
-Hate how the homeless are treated here
-Hate how the people here clain to be christian but will waste no time breaking all the christian laws
-Hate how this town doesnt have available recycle points or recycle trash cans(I dont mean just one for paper; there should be some for plastic/metal/glass as well)
-Hate all the development is in the north
-Hate how people say his town is divided into North/South/East/West
-Hate all the litter I seen thrown out of moving Trucks/SUVs
-Hate that people can't see past San Antonio's city limits
-Hate how people put their kids on the highest of pedestals
-Hate how people here honk their horns right as the light turns green? o.O
-Hate how people here disrespect joggers
-Hate how people here disrespect pedestrians
-Hate how people here disrespect bicyclist
-Hate how people here disrespect motorcyclist
-Hate how all the good concerts are in DFW/Houstin/Austin
-Hate how all the good big museum exhibits are in DFW/Houstin/Austin
-Hate people say this is the best town yet have never lived(or traveled) anywhere else
-Hate how it takes 4 days for a letter to reach dallas when its mailed here yet will take 1 day when mailed from there
-Hate how this town voted against having more police officers

I can not wait to move out of here

Hate is a very strong word and cuts off communication. Try re-phrasing to encourage discussion. Proactive is better than reactive.

[Spock's Beard]

-Hate the people that call this a multi-cultural town when there is just one culture, "fake mexican" or "tex-mex"

Can't argue that. So-called multi-culturalism in SA is a joke as one culture clearly dominates everyone else.

-Hate all the TRUCKS/SUVS in this town, come on people, I usually see on or two people in them. Don't you realize you are killing the earth

No they're not. That hippie attitude is so mis-guided and I'd like to see YOU haul a tree to a re-foresting site in the back of a Prius.

-Hate how this is a major tourist town with a championship basketball team yet the roads are in a great need of repair(where is all that revenue going?)

Instead of repairing existing roads, revenue seems to go to the building of new roads instead.

-Hate how people want a fooball team but failed to fill all the sets when the saints played here

That's because deep inside I think the average SA'er rejected the idea of being a shameless opportunistic scab trying to exploit Hurricane Katrina to take New Orleans' team from them.

-Hate that san antonio turned down having a pro soccer team(EPIC FAIL)

I like that. An NFL team would work better and I think it's sad that SA is probably the only major US city that doesn't have one.

-Hate all the development is in the north

oh well. You won't find me investing millions to develop a business on the southside. Companies build where the money is, and guess where it's not?

-Hate how all the good concerts are in DFW/Houstin/Austin

I STILL get upset at thinking that Guns N Roses never played here.

[AK123]

Originally Posted by yodi711

10% more humid can feel like alot.

More humidity = hotter/more miserable feeling.

Maybe to some. Not to me... after living in both Austin and Houston. Houston is a little more humid but has more cloudy days. In Austin, it's like the sun is constantly beating down on you with no relief, and the temperatures were a few degrees higher in the summer.

[buffy888]

Originally Posted by JJP

I find it funny that folks in Austin & San Antonio always seem to bring up Houston when it comes to humidity. Always.

Look up weather stats. Houston is a whole 10% average higher humidity than these. Not that much higher.

I lived in Galveston for several years and took classes in Houston 3 nights a week for part of that time. I think both San Antonio and Houston have humidity, but it is more noticeable in Houston (and definitely in Galveston!). As someone with naturally curly hair, I can tell you that my hair notices the difference as well (just like it notices the reduction in humidity when we go back to visit family in Omaha).

I don't mind heat nor humidity (I would choose it over cold any day), but I do still feel the difference.

Things I don't like -
I wouldn't mind if some of the libraries had bigger collections and if more of them had self-checkouts (for example, was just at the Central Library this weekend - almost closing time and there was a huge line to check out - even a couple of self-checkouts at that library would be nice). Some of the locations seem to have much better Juvenile or Young Adult sections than others. As a teacher, I read kids' books quite often so I have ideas of books to read aloud as well as books that reluctant readers would love. It would be nice to have most of them available at my closest branch instead of always having to place holds on them.

I think a change in mindset is needed among a large part of the population regarding the care and keeping of pets. When school first started last year, I could not believe the number of dogs I saw running loose - some with collars, some dragging chains, many emaciated... I don't feel that local animal shelters have as much community support as they could (especially coming from a city that had an amazing humane society where I volunteered - tons of community support, both financially as well as through volunteerism) for a variety of reasons. On a personal level, I don't like that I get home so late from school here that I am too exhausted to volunteer.

I don't like that there are so many dining options that sometimes it is much more appealing to dine out rather than eat at home (not great for the waistline)!

I don't like that I never used to even notice grafitti (okay, I did notice it in the neighborhood surrounding my school, but never really noticed it just driving around town), but posts mentioning it on C-D have caused me to start noticing it.

I don't like that people assume people who are happy in San Antonio have never lived anywhere else. Especially with so many military, some large corporations, and just desirability as a place to live for many, I think this is a city that is very likely to have residents who have lived elsewhere (often several elsewheres).

Things I love are numerous. One is that we are so close to a plethora of places to visit for day trips or short weekends. I love the old neighborhoods and beautiful homes. I like the low water crossing you can drive through by the zoo (don't like other low water crossings when in rains, though!) - yes, this is a minor thing, but I don't remember something like it at any other zoo I have visited. I love the lack of snow and the lack of wind so cold you feel like the inside of your nose is freezing.

[traficdogn]

I love that most people in San Antonio aren't very trendy and don't really care. I don't ever want to lose that.

[Texan in Virginia]

When we moved to northern Virginia in 1989, I counted the days until we could leave. After a few months of being miserable, I decided to make the most of our time here instead. By doing so, we were all happlier (because we all know if Mama ain't happy, nobody's happy) and met wonderful life-long friends. I was not sad to leave the area 3 years later, but was sad to leave the friends. We returned to Virginia Beach and were surprised to learn it was not as perfect as we thought it was during our three year absence.

Four years later, my husband was offered a great job in northern Virginia and nervously approached me about it. That time, I moved with a totally different attitude and have enjoyed our 12+ years here.

Although my heart was left in Texas 35 years ago and I have always planned to return, I realized my attitude is a choice. Time goes by a lot faster when I choose to be happy and content in whatever state I'm in. We will return to Texas soon and will live in the Canyon Lake vacation home we purchased last year while we decide where to build.

We know it will be somewhere in the hill country so I frequent both the SA and Austin CD. I've found wonderful (and miserable) people on both sites.

Bloom where you are planted!

Lori

[fierce_flawless]

Originally Posted by yodi711

10% more humid can feel like alot.

More humidity = hotter/more miserable feeling.

I don't know about that... to me that's kinda like "Well I got stabbed in the stomach with an icepick, then I was stabbed in the stomach with a pocket knife, and let me tell ya, the knife hurt much worse"...

Point is they both suck.

I've lived in Houston, Corpus Christi, Dallas, and SA as well as having spent LOTS of time in Florida (family there) and a fair amount of travel time in New Orleans.

Ugh on all of it. Hot is hot. Humid is humid. I laugh at the "heat & humidity wars" on CD, where everyone tries to claim somewhere else is more miserable. It's funny to me, because once there is humidity at all and once we're up over 90 degrees, I am bi**chy and miserable and sweaty. The only one hot weather I find preferable is the Florida coast and the Texas coast because the coastal breezes help a LITTLE... but it is still hot/moist wind blowing. Ick.

So to tie into the thread topic... that's my biggest "hate". The weather. I am a Texas native, so is my family, but I just can't deal. I think if I knew there'd be an end in sight, as there is in places with 4 distinct seasons, I'd be much happier about it.. but I hate the fact that once it starts to get hot I know it's going to stay that way for sometimes as long as seven months!

The warm weather is when my sinuses act up, when my asthma gives me problems, when I can't so much as do some mild gardening without sweat dripping in my eyes. I just "hibernate" as much as possible and dream of December days.

I know not everyone is like me on this. My mom loves the summer and is always at the river or lake or beach or camping or cooking out and trying to involve me in it. I am just hot natured I suppose. I remember being little kid and whining because she would always make me go play outside and would tell me "It's not that hot! Go play" and I felt like a melting blob.

So I guess it's not fair to say it's a SA thing. It's really just more of a Texas thing. I cannot think of a city in Tx where I'd be happy with the weather, ever.

The other biggie for me is the pet care /stray issue. I don't get how so many people think it's okay to chain their dogs in the heat with no shelter / water, let them run around the neighborhood and get pregnant over and over... that kind of attitude baffles me.

Next I'd say the public transportation system... of course I think many people have this same complaint about their cities aside from the obvious cities that are way ahead on that issue. It has recently become a thorn in our side as my partner got a different job. It used to take 25 minutes on the bus to get from over here (West side, Zarzamora and Commerce) to NW, Balcones Heights, almost to Crossroads mall where she worked prior to this. One bus, no transfers, and very reasonable since a car trip to the same place took about 25 minutes as well. Taking the bus was cheap and easy, and a no-brainer.

Likewise when I worked downtown at Soledad and Commerce right across from Main Plaza I took a bus straight down Buena Vista, got off at St. Mary's (Soledad was under construction) and walked a block to work, and it took 15 minutes total (vs. 10 in the car). Cheap, easy, and much more preferable to paying for parking downtown.

Now that she has this new job, which is only 2.2 miles from our house, because of how the buses run and because she's not a 'straight shot' from where we live anymore (more of a diagonal), it takes 2 buses and 25 minutes with about 3/4 of a mile walking, whereas it's about 7 minutes in the car. Of course most of that 25 minutes is spent waiting for the connecting bus. That's crazy to me. Yeah, 25 minutes is not that much but when you're talking just over 2 miles and it taking 2 buses and 25 minutes!?

The extreme Spurs fanaticism bothers me, I'll admit that. In general I'm not a sports fan though, so that's why. Overload of anything bugs me. Many reasons and I won't get into them here.

People here will spend $$ on big decals for their car (Spurs, names, 8 balls, whatever)...and chrome wheels, oversized tires, etc., but they won't spend $20 on a booster or carseat for their kid, or even bother to buckle them up.

What DO I like? SA's got this understated charm that is hard to explain. The old neighborhoods, downtown, the rich and interesting history (enough to keep me busy for a decade or more), all the nearby towns and places to visit and see, the "live and let live" attitude.

I like that I can go wherever to run errands, wearing whatever happened to be clean and no one cares.... maybe that's just because of my neighborhod. No one here has money to be concerned with crap like that. As long as you're clean/don't reek, no one bats an eye. So I can be "poorly dressed" if I'm in a hurry and don't feel like an outcast. LOL. I never got that vibe in Dallas for sure!

Tortillas, tex-mex, PUFFY TACOS!

[RodgerJ]

I have lived in 5 different American states and 3 different foreign countries. I would like to share the most salient impressions that San Antonio left with me after leaving recently after residing there for 6 years.

LIKES:

Southern-Texas nature, plants, trees and landscaping that give the area in some places a very tropical, Spanish feel. I really miss my native-Texas garden in my old back yard-very beautiful plants and flowers. Throw down some Mexican flagstone in the back yard and you've got instant character.

Hispanic Culture: Having lived overseas I enjoy San Antonio since one can routinely hear Spanish spoken. It makes the city seem different than the normal, dull, vanilla U.S. city.

Downtown: San Antonio may be the most interesting city culturally, architecturally, and in spirit of any other US city in the middle part of the continent. It is not Paris or Prague but compared to many U.S. cities, it has grit, flavor, and a relaxing charm.

Cost of Living and jobs: San Antonio offers a better than average chance of making a comfortable living based on wages, job availability, and house prices.

Surrounding Environs: I heard a lot of complaining about SA when I lived there but do not think that I have ever met anybody that did not like the neighboring Texas Hill Country. Even if you hate SA there is something within 30 miles that you will like.

Winters: I now live in Germany and around January a SA winter seems like paradise.

Good Vibes: Unlike many American cities that I have lived in, I can walk around SA and do not feel that there is some simmering hatred for who I am. Even the roughest looking groups of people seem that they just want to ignore you if you ignore them. It is not crime-free but I do not feel the meanness that I have felt in other cities.

Friendliness: Cross the border into Louisiana and you get death-ray stares from food workers when you interrupt their conversation to place an order. In SA, customer service folks are friendly and enthusiastic. A general good work ethic and attitude is noticeable.

DISLIKES

Recreation: 1.2 million people and there are less parks and nature trails than the average German village of 10,000 would have.

Noise: The big-radio, Harley Davidson motor revving, truck with loud pipes culture thrives in SA.

Slobs: Yep, the houses, yards, cars, and people can be an eyesore. SA may have the highest percentage of people in the world that wear the same clothes to a restaurant that they slept in.

Drivers: I have lived all over and out of all my experiences only SA's driving situation is burned into my memory like a nightmare. One word for the drivers: oblivious. Oblivious to what? Everything!

Summers: Yes other places have bad weeks and days but SA can put together a string of scorchers that last months after everybody else's heat wave is a distant memory.

Friendliness: Not every clerk at the register should become your best friend in 5 minutes.

Culture: Those looking for a high-charged academic and fitness oriented culture will be unsuccessful. If you are in horrible physical shape and do not want the stress of being judged harshly then you have found your city.

WHAT COUNTS

I work with people like myself that have lived all over. SA seems to be the most universally liked U.S. city for most people. A lot of people have some gripes about it but for the total package, many, many people I have know have moved there, or in the local area, and are very content.

[quest51210]

PHAYDEE, where do you plan on moving? i have lived in SA, LA, Long Beach, Austin, Houston, and Galveston

not many of those cities are different