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Popular opinions selects San Diego in poll comparing Houston, Seattle, best cities in America, where would you like to live, national surveys, international cosmopolitan cities, socio-economics
Don't really understand why this argument is on the San Diego forum. Why don't you take this thread to the Houston forum if that is where you enjoy living and let those of us who adore San Diego have our forum to ourselves. Thank you for your opinion but you shoulod really move on.
DH and I considered moving to Houston a couple of years ago. My brother lives there & my parents had considered relocating there from NYC. Houston turns out to be a terrible place to live if you have MS (the heat is oppressive in the summertime and exacerbates MS symptoms) and I couldn't stand the smell of the refineries. There are very charming neighborhoods (although it was sad to see the widespread tear downs of bungalows for 2 story McMansions in these older neighborhoods) and the Galleria has no competition in San Diego.
Again - as in ALL these similar discussions - each city has its pros/cons and everyone can nit-pick to death what they view as all the negatives about each city - ad nauseum.
I have lived for one year in Houston and must say it has been the worst place in my entire life that I had lived at. The people where super friendly and good food, but nothing else. Picture the worst aspects of LA with a lot of industrial plants without the ocean, without the Hollywood glamor, WITH high heat and humidity and there you have Houston, TX.
Don't really understand why this argument is on the San Diego forum. Why don't you take this thread to the Houston forum if that is where you enjoy living and let those of us who adore San Diego have our forum to ourselves. Thank you for your opinion but you shoulod really move on.
Actually it was the opening insecure poster who likes San Diego that brought the topic up, not those EX RESIDENTS of San Diego who now live complete happiness in other better areas (in my case Houston!) No one in Texas sees san Diego as anything special as a city.
I can't even believe people try to compare dirty, hot, humid, boring, blue collar city of Houston to beatiful San Diego !!!
We sold out of L.A. and live in Houston now and we can't wait for prices in SoCa to stabilize so we can go back! There is a reason why everything is so cheap hear: it stinks, it 's dirty and ugly! Forget the Woodlands, Kingwood, Sugar Land, they are OK but cannot compare to San Diego in general.
Houston resembles a Thirld World country with dirt poor neighborhoods, no zoning laws, horrible infrastucture, pathetic weather (especially in summer) and huge bugs. We don't even want to talk politics or religion here!
So, if you cannot SoCal in the first place and have to settle for less in Texas, that's a different story but for God's sake, go to North Carolina, Florida, etc... but not Texas
Yes, people are friendly and food is great in TX but that is about it! There is no place to go outside either because of rain, humidity, bugs, heat, cold or wind! Plus, where is the ocean ( I am laughing about Galveston now), clean rivers,mountains?
Here we come CA, next year, and I don't care if we have to live in a condo but let it be in the Golden State!
I can't even believe people try to compare dirty, hot, humid, boring, blue collar city of Houston to beatiful San Diego !!!
We sold out of L.A. and live in Houston now and we can't wait for prices in SoCa to stabilize so we can go back! There is a reason why everything is so cheap hear: it stinks, it 's dirty and ugly! Forget the Woodlands, Kingwood, Sugar Land, they are OK but cannot compare to San Diego in general.
Houston resembles a Thirld World country with dirt poor neighborhoods, no zoning laws, horrible infrastucture, pathetic weather (especially in summer) and huge bugs. We don't even want to talk politics or religion here!
So, if you cannot SoCal in the first place and have to settle for less in Texas, that's a different story but for God's sake, go to North Carolina, Florida, etc... but not Texas
Yes, people are friendly and food is great in TX but that is about it! There is no place to go outside either because of rain, humidity, bugs, heat, cold or wind! Plus, where is the ocean ( I am laughing about Galveston now), clean rivers,mountains?
Here we come CA, next year, and I don't care if we have to live in a condo but let it be in the Golden State!
You call Houston boring compared to San Diego! Also, how about the low 50's with rain for what about 2 weeks now for you guys and the associated mudslides and even more coastal pollution than usual in Southern Cal. you make me laugh with the absurdity of your statements. The only thing you said that makes me believe you have even visited Houston is that it is hot there in the summer!
DISCLAIMER, this is not scientific proof that san diego is superior to any city. they're just fun to read to see what is on peoples' minds. SEAandATL, pay attention to popular opinion. its fine that you have your own opinions, but you sound disrespectful most of the time. each post has AT LEAST 7 responses, most with more than 12. i didn't conduct the questions/polls, but i have found them from yahoo answers. read on...
the first post is particularly geared towards that guy from Houston who always brags about houston and puts down san diego (by the way, the only reason houston has a metro of 6 million people is because it covers an area of 10,000 square miles. an area that size in southern california, which would include san diego, orange county, and LA and parts of the inland empire, has a population of 21,000,000+ residents, lol. stick with facts man). let the polls speak for themselves. lets go with the real facts. looks like popular opinion chooses san diego as the city of choice between houston, denver, and san diego, BY A LANDSLIDE! i didn't set up the poll, read it for yourself.
the next 2 posts below is an unbiased poll of peoples' choice between seattle and san diego. both are very comparable cities, but looks like san diego gets the upper edge again. let the PEOPLE do the speaking, NOT the person!
the next post is san diego vs. the international cosmopolitan city to the north, san francisco. looks like popular opinion dictates san diego once again. and remember, these are NATIONAL surveys!
the next post only has 5 responses but the interesting fact is that all 5 responses chose san diego over new york and chicago. it's a national poll but it may be bias since the person asking the question is concerned about cold weather. still, interesting responses!
that's all for now. i had a hard time finding questions comparing other major city centers in the united states, oh well! but across the board, the general consensus from people on yahoo answers that live all over the united states absolutely love san diego, even in many other posts but i didnt include them here because they only had a couple of responses.
Since you mentioned me, I figured I'd come on here and post. Anyways, I read through all the answers. There were some interesting replies. I wasn't sure how many of the yahoo users who favored San Diego were actually from California, or somewhere else. One thing for certain, 99% of those who favored San Diego were because of the weather. Looks like Seattle had a close competition with San Diego though, but those who love the sun and don't like rain would of course go for San Diego.
Now I didn't mean to come off as disrespectful. I just got heated. In fact, I'll level with you, out of all the places to live in the United States, I would still rank San Diego in the top 10. All I was saying is that I didn't think it's the #1 greatest city and only city in the world, imho.
Love that saying. It's old saying that will endure the test of time.
All cities have their merits and their drawbacks. Certain cities have things that are very attractive to some and not to others.
However, there is a general desirability measure--called real estate prices. Cities that are considered more desirable are more expensive. The price of real estate reflects this general consensus about that desirability--location, weather, safety, city infrastructure, economic opportunities, entertainment, beauty.
San Diego is undoubtably strong in entertainment, beauty, weather, and location. It is quite weak in infrastructure, transportation planning, and economic opportunities for the lower and middle class (and some would also argue also for the upper class--enormous taxes, Mello Roos in the new upscale neighborhoods). Overall, the general public feels it is a desirable city and the real estate prices reflect it. Even in this housing slump--San Diego is still one of the most expensive cities in the US. Most places prices have gone down relative to it.
I have lived in a few major cities and some minor ones and personally love San Diego the best and plan on staying. But I have been attacked by some SD zealots on past forums because I mentioned that some cities, such as Phoenix/Scottsdale, have some merits (growing city-thus more jobs opportunities for entry levels and professionals alike, new buildings, new infrastructure, City gov't a little less corrupt) that SD lacks.
To just blindly accept that SD is the best city in the world is silly because the flaws will just get bigger if they are not addressed, and cities one disdains will become economically more successful and attract talent to them. One of the things that makes a city great is its ability for its residents to address its problems constructively.
On the other hand, to say SD sucks and is nothing special just because one couldn't hack it here (it is competative!) makes one a sore loser. Because simply from cost of living here alone shows that SD is coveted place to live. I said coveted--which does not necessarily lead to happiness. And as for mudslides, fires, pollution---doesn't Houston have tornados, dust storms, and unbridled industrial pollution????
And as Sassberto, the sage of San Diego city forum, says, where ever you go, there you are.
I've been living in SD for about ten years and agree with you that is an easy life here in SD, but urban (smart) growth? I grew up in Europe (Germany) have lived extensively on a few continents including Frankfurt, Cape Town, Singapore, Hong Kong, Houston, San Antonio, Orlando, and of course San Diego. I love the weather in SD, I have no problems with the people or traffic or jobs, but when it comes to urban growth especially smart growth, San Diego is way behind other places. I think only Orange County has worse city planning or lack thereof.
Everything is a decentralized grid of suburbs and stripmalls. Where is the smart urban growth? In downtown/little Italy? Oh boy. Smart growth would somewhat entail a work/live arrangement with available und actually usable public transportation. No - the trolley is no viable alternative and neither is the bus system. They do exist, but are only somewhat usable. e.g parking at the fashion valley mall and taking the trolley to the game.
I have considered a few times buying a condo downtown, but most decent paying jobs (other than lawfirms) are located in areas such as Sorrento Valley, Poway, RB and CV.
I have a few friends who bought in downtown to live and play. They all have jobs or businesses outside of downtown and when it comes to play they prefer to "hang" at places like Jack's of La Jolla. Kinda defeats the purpose of smart growth if you still have to drive everywhere.
I'm not knocking SD. I truly enjoy living here.
hi bigboy,
my smart growth comment is referring to san diego's utilization of its urban core and the massive midrise/highrise condominium projects that are under way and that will be under way in the downtown area. you must also remember that san diego's basin is extremely small relative to nyc, chicago, houston, san francisco, seattle, etc. and ESPECIALLY LA's, which allow them to have dense urban centers. san diego is a series of canyons, valleys, rolling hills, cliffs, wetland, mesas, and flat lands in pockets here and there. it is impossible to have the same urban growth as other wide open cities, but for what it has, this conservative city is doing an excellent job, and is continuing the trend on an even more efficient level. the airport does limit the height of buildings in downtown to 500 feet so that's definitely a negative, and because of san diego's low population density citywide due to its topography, light rail is rational. san diego still has a tremendous amount of room for growth, and it's going to happen. considering its topography, it's pretty dense for what it is and will only get denser in the coming years. biotech and telecommunications are taking off here!!!
Since you mentioned me, I figured I'd come on here and post. Anyways, I read through all the answers. There were some interesting replies. I wasn't sure how many of the yahoo users who favored San Diego were actually from California, or somewhere else. One thing for certain, 99% of those who favored San Diego were because of the weather. Looks like Seattle had a close competition with San Diego though, but those who love the sun and don't like rain would of course go for San Diego.
Now I didn't mean to come off as disrespectful. I just got heated. In fact, I'll level with you, out of all the places to live in the United States, I would still rank San Diego in the top 10. All I was saying is that I didn't think it's the #1 greatest city and only city in the world, imho.
SEAandATL, thanks for this comment, it was genuine. also for the record, i don't think san diego is the #1 greatest city and only city in the world, in fact, i would quickly agree that san diego doesn't belong on a top 10 list of cities in the world. i can quickly think of 10 cities that are overall measurably better then san diego... new york city, london, paris, tokyo, milan, vancouver, sydney, toronto, ... okay i can't think anymore but i know san diego is not the best city in the world, nor does it really come close. what i can say though, is that san diego has all the qualities of a region that has the potential to be a top 10 world city; obviously won't happen in my lifetime, and probably never will because of its rough topography which keeps population density low...
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San Diego wins easily !
