Most Authentically Texan City (Houston, Dallas: construction, military, linear)

[winkosmosis]

Originally Posted by Nairobi

Oh, please. Austin has always been a sprawling, suburban town, long before it ever became as populated as it currently is. At only 2800 ppsm, it is less dense than both Dallas and Houston, so please spare us the blame.

Sprawl isn't just about density and certainly not average density which doesn't take into account green space and parks... Sprawl is mainly about size and development patterns.


Houstonists want to build highways crisscrossing Austin so it's easier for suburbanites to get into the city for work. Well that would create blight and strip mall sprawl in the city, much more than already exists. And more highways out to the suburbs would encourage more far flung sprawling development.

[sxrckr]

Originally Posted by winkosmosis

You've got this backwards. It's the newcomers to Austin, especially from within Texas, that want to turn Austin into Houston with freeways everywhere, sprawl, etc.

Originally Posted by winkosmosis

Sprawl isn't just about density and certainly not average density which doesn't take into account green space and parks... Sprawl is mainly about size and development patterns.

Houstonists want to build highways crisscrossing Austin so it's easier for suburbanites to get into the city for work. Well that would create blight and strip mall sprawl in the city, much more than already exists. And more highways out to the suburbs would encourage more far flung sprawling development.

Please tell us how long you've lived in Austin to become so "knowledgable" about it and its populace?

Where are you getting these assertions from?

What is a "houstonist" and why are they always out to do something bad?

As usual, it just sounds like you don't really know what you're talking about with regard to either of these cities.

[winkosmosis]

Originally Posted by sxrckr

Please tell us how long you've lived in Austin to become so "knowledgable" about it and its populace?

Where are you getting these assertions from?

What is a "houstonist" and why are they always out to do something bad?

As usual, it just sounds like you don't really know what you're talking about with regard to either of these cities.

4 years, and I studied geography at UT... This stuff is actually my field Mod cut. All my best friends are still in Austin too.

Yes I do understand Austin and Houston more than people who don't have the training to understand the geography of the cities. I'm not lying when I tell you that running more highways through Austin will make it worse. There is a case study to prove that--- it's called every city in America over the past century, including Austin itself.

[Jack Lance]

As usual (according to the results of the poll) it appears that even Texans conflate cowboy or western motifs with being Texan. History evidently means nothing to what being Texan is all about. All I can say is do not complain Texas when people stereotype this state as one giant rodeo because you yourselves are playing right into that image....enough said.

[RMFW]

Originally Posted by Jack Lance

As usual (according to the results of the poll) it appears that even Texans conflate cowboy or western motifs with being Texan. History evidently means nothing to what being Texan is all about. All I can say is do not complain Texas when people stereotype this state as one giant rodeo because you yourselves are playing right into that image....enough said.

As usual, people with only a superficial concept of Fort Worth write it off as some Disney-like hyperbole of cowboy culture embodied and limited to the Stockyards and seem to have no sense of its history nor any clue as to the complex and richly cultured modern city that it is. Comments like this amount to little more than the clueless guy in the back of the room who mutters, "well we all know how she got the job." Enough said.

[JJG]

Originally Posted by RMFW

As usual, people with only a superficial concept of Fort Worth write it off as some Disney-like hyperbole of cowboy culture embodied and limited to the Stockyards and seem to have no sense of its history nor any clue as to the complex and richly cultured modern city that it is. Comments like this amount to little more than the clueless guy in the back of the room who mutters, "well we all know how she got the job." Enough said.

I can't rep ya enough for this...

[Jack Lance]

Originally Posted by RMFW

As usual, people with only a superficial concept of Fort Worth write it off as some Disney-like hyperbole of cowboy culture embodied and limited to the Stockyards and seem to have no sense of its history nor any clue as to the complex and richly cultured modern city that it is. Comments like this amount to little more than the clueless guy in the back of the room who mutters, "well we all know how she got the job." Enough said.

Are you saying that people who voted for FW in the attached poll actually see it the way you have just described? What is this history that makes it so uniquely Texan, I'm sure it has great history but is that history really the most Texan of all the cities listed in the poll? Was Santa Anna defeated nearby was it ever a capital of the state? You come up with a vague outline of an argument then mimic me by saying enough said. I don't think so!

[Nairobi]

I see Jack Lance's point. I haven't seen anyone here write off Fort Worth as a cowboy hicktown, but what is it about the city that represents the ENTIRETY of Texas so well? That's all I've been trying to make clear in this thread. Is it that we simply disagree about the things that make a place authentically Texan?

[RMFW]

As to the first question, I'd suggest you're not giving people enough credit (especially considering its a landslide, so there appears to be some consensus on the matter). In response to your second point, the topic at hand focuses on authenticity, not which city is most unique. Regarding your last point, it seems to have gotten your attention, so I guess I did something right. And as for the rest of it... I don't know... find a book, I'm not going to write one here.

[RMFW]

Originally Posted by Nairobi

I see Jack Lance's point. I haven't seen anyone here write off Fort Worth as a cowboy hicktown, but what is it about the city that represents the ENTIRETY of Texas so well? That's all I've been trying to make clear in this thread. Is it that we simply disagree about the things that make a place authentically Texan?

I share your curiousity about this exact point which is why I set up the poll to begin with and have been interested in the discussion. I guess I'll just wait to see if some who voted for a Fort Worth could chime in on their particular reasoning.

I will also concede that, at least in my view, Texas is far too large and diverse to ever be able to be fully represented by one city alone.