Mansfield??? (Arlington, Grand Prairie, Allen: leasing, new home, school districts)

[Ex-Mansfield]

Originally Posted by blueskies49

I used to be proud to be from Arlington.

Many native Texans instantly become extremely offended when you state anything critical of the Great State of Texas. Its like if you don't talk about the new issues, the problems don't exist.
What these Texans don't realize is that I'm actually very sad, being effectively forced to tear all of my roots established over a 12 year period.
My best laid plans went to pot (due to circumstances beyond my control). Will yours too?

[Canine*Castle]

Ex-Mansfield makes many very valid points throughout this thread. I can certainly understand and agree with what he's saying although many will not. One must find out for himself or herself as we all have different likes and dislikes. Some love the cold, some the hot, some don't mind a melting pot, some do. One must live in a "new world" to really know if he or she will be contented in it.

[Ex-Mansfield]

One issue is that Texas state institutions are heavily biased toward large corporations. The is particularly true in the electricity and natural gas markets. It used to be Texas oil, but since that has faded, its now energy trading manipulation brought on by deregulation. The principles of Enron still live in Texas:
Texans are paying the largest increases in electricity of any state: 58% !!!

I remember the Texas Utilities, state regulators and energy companies all promising that energy rates would decrease. After seeing what Houston based Enron did to rates in California in 2000 (manufacturing a fake energy crisis) I knew they were not being honest.

What makes it doubly bad is that the typical home is forced to use a lot of energy in the DFW area. This uncontrolled burden on poor households is often debilitating as its usually hot and humid. The politicians do little to nothing.
Here are the statistics:
Shocking electricity prices follow deregulation - USATODAY.com

The lame understatement of the year:
"Yet critics say Texas points up competition's failure: Average electricity prices still have surged 58% since 2002. "Deregulation has been disappointing," says Clarence Johnson of the Texas Public Utility Counsel."

[Ex-Mansfield]

I forgot to add this quote from the article:
"In Texas, state regulators have proposed a $210 million fine against TXU after a consultant's report found the company withheld power from the spot market in 2005 to push up wholesale prices."

I casually knew a TXU energy trading division manager. The guy had absolutely no-conscience in scheming to overcharge his fellow citizens. The ironic outcome here is the guy was rewarded for the TXU overcharging and he then bought a home in the King's Mill neighborhood in Mansfield.
No wonder there are so many just-purchased homes there are up-for-sale. I'd want to move out too!

Here is how TXU actually threatened the citizens of Texas after I moved out. The arrogance is unbelievable!

http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2007...ats-shut-down/
http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2007...ll-businesses/

[Ex-Mansfield]

More Google searches reveal that Texas is suffering from another self-induced energy crisis:
"You could say it's unprecedented," says David Dollihite, vice president of home services for Direct Energy. "We've got a pretty serious (manufactured) energy crisis facing us. The best way to get these energy-saving methods out as soon as possible is to set aside the competition."
Direct Energy is a Texas electricity supplier.
Its ironic that Texans were promised lower deregulated energy costs because of competition." Now they want to eliminate it.

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/st...3/story12.html

[Guerilla]

Mansfield is a nice town (of almost 60,000). It has nice hills and the homes are generally nicer than what you would find in South Arlington.

A LOT of new retail is in store for Mansfield including an outdoor mall at Bowen and US 287. And a new Kohls anchored shopping center across from the outdoor mall.

Traffic is generally okay, but in the morning heading north on 287 to I-20 can get backed up, and in the evenings heading south on 287 has heavy traffic, but it is moving.

[Ex-Mansfield]

Radio Interference
------------------
Radio wave interference is caused by the large number of powerful TV, FM transmitter towers located in adjacent Cedar Hill. You can see their red flashing lights to the east from many locations within Mansfield.
I'm into high definition audio and video and could never achieve satisfactory performance while living there. The is caused by being in such close proximity to the many powerful yet invisible radio frequency broadcasts. After moving I noticed a dramatic improvement in my high-end home theater system.

No one escapes. For example the sound system at the new Crossroads Church on highway 360 is a good example of pretty nasty sound quality, of which even the pastor has acknowledged in his sermons!

[Ex-Mansfield]

Several years ago voters passed street bonds and many nice concrete roads were built. One such street is Ragland Road off Matlock in NE Mansfield. In fact this street is adjacent to the upscale Kings Mill custom homes.

But all that money was largely negated by the butt ugly telephone poles which were installed after the street was upgraded. One side was bad enough, but then the utility poles were installed on both sides of the road! Many poles then started to lean and had to be replaced - its an on-going problem.

Going from bad to worse was when the utility tree trimming crew then cut out a large "V" patterns in the center of many beautiful hardwood trees which were now under the utility pole wires.

The cumulative effect looks like hell and objectively demonstrates a lack of class beyond any reasonable doubt. The wires should have been buried when the street was widened and rebuilt. If I still lived there I'd take pictures of this hatchet job and protest it to the Tarrant County Tax Assessor.

The all proves that Mansfield is certainly no Southlake or Plano.

[Guerilla]

Of course Mansfield isn't, but it is trying to be. It really is the nicest suburban city on this side. The best ones have always been north of the airport.

[mbamichael]

Ex-Mansfield, can you tell us where you relocated and made your new home? Mansfield was rated among the top 100 small cities by Money magazine recently. Your comment is helpful, but I'm wondering if you were "forced" to move by circumstance (e.g., job change). It's a tough time to sell a home in most markets these days. Thanks for the inside scoop. I'm exploring communities in the Ft. Worth area and the school district will be the deciding factor.