Houston vs. Dallas (Arlington, Highland Village, Highland Park: real estate, 2015, apartment)

[Jack Lance]

Originally Posted by Jimmy1953

Comparing Houston to Gudalajara is unfair. Guad would blow out Houston in every way it would be a joke.

I wonder what the gross metropolitan product of Guadalajara is? Houston and Dallas for that matter are much richer cities. So NO Guadalajara does not blow out Houston in every way...

[Jimmy1953]

Originally Posted by Jack Lance

I wonder what the gross metropolitan product of Guadalajara is? Houston and Dallas for that matter are much richer cities. So NO Guadalajara does not blow out Houston in every way...

You define cities by money. I define cities by beauty.In this case it is landslide.

[Jack Lance]

Originally Posted by Jimmy1953

You define cities by money. I define cities by beauty.In this case it is landslide.

Money is important, in fact I bet there are a lot more people in Guadalajara that would prefer to live in Houston or Dallas than vice versa. They cross the border every day to prove it

[TexasTallest]

Originally Posted by Jimmy1953

Comparing Houston to Gudalajara is unfair. Guad would blow out Houston in every way it would be a joke.

im not sure what aspect you are comparing, but i would bet Guadalajara would "blow out Dallas in every way", to an even greater extent, if what you say is the case. not sure why you are singling out Houston in that sense..

Originally Posted by Jimmy1953

The construction in Houston is disjointed. Lost mindless.

there is no zoning in Houston. some of us like having urbanity sprinkled across the city.

Originally Posted by Jimmy1953

You define cities by money. I define cities by beauty.In this case it is landslide.

you are trying to say a city is better because its more "beautiful"? you dont care about the economy or quality of life? a cities image is materialistic. there are a lot more important things to consider than just what a place looks like.

[rynetwo]

Originally Posted by Jimmy1953

Comparing Houston to Gudalajara is unfair. Guad would blow out Houston in every way it would be a joke.

but then you would be in Gudalajara

[BishopDon]

Originally Posted by Jimmy1953

Dallas is focused on the CBD and the neighborhoods next to it. And housing, hotels, shopping, entertainment, transportation are strongly emphasized there. This conscientious planning will bear fruit many times over. Who cares about some 10 story buildings scattered all over creation as in Houston. It's a boring city.

Could you please share what exactly there is to do in Dallas that you can't do in Houston? Because I've lived in both and I didn't see much difference. Houston has a much better nightlife scene overall. I'm assuming since you're in an older age bracket that's probably not important to you, but Houston has better parks, museums, and public amenities such as theaters and ballet that are generally better respected than those of Dallas.

Where exactly is this gap in entertainment options that you speak of? Many people would make the argument that Houston has more/better options, but you seem to think there is some sort of gulf there.

Transportation I agree with you - Dallas has done a better job there overall. I'm not a shopper personally, but I don't know of anything you can find in Dallas that you can't in Houston. As far as street level life, I never noticed much of a difference between the two - they only have what urbanistas would call "active" street life in very small areas of each respective city.

I'm not disputing that there are advantages to "conscientious planning" as you say, but let's not sit and pretend like that planning has created a city that is better overall. Houston is a far, far more interesting city than Dallas is. It feels international, it is quirky due to it's development patterns and each neighborhood has a very different feel. Dallas is a nice city, but severely lacks character in my opinion outside of the downtown area. I'm sorry, but the "Midwest look" isn't ideal for all of us. I don't like the weather and I don't like the treeless landscape outside of the manicured areas of the city. It is what it is, but I still enjoyed my time there. It was just too generic for me compared to the other places I've lived.

With that said, I would find it extremely disingenuous to make a claim that Dallas is boring, when it offers essentially the same activities as does Houston. Again, what activities in Dallas have no analog in Houston? I'm honestly quite curious..

[wallawallahoohoo]

Originally Posted by Jimmy1953

Dallas is focused on the CBD and the neighborhoods next to it. And housing, hotels, shopping, entertainment, transportation are strongly emphasized there. This conscientious planning will bear fruit many times over. Who cares about some 10 story buildings scattered all over creation as in Houston. It's a boring city.

Having lived in both Houston and Dallas, this post is wrong on so many levels. "Strongly emphasized..." that's laughable for DFW.

Housing: Both cities are on equal footing there, but a nod to Houston having more options available all around town (north, east, south, west) than just "north Dallas burbs" with good public schooling.

Hotels: Same, with a nod to Houston having a few more upscale and fancier hotels (as it caters to a more international crowd).

Shopping: Houston, hands down. Similar to hotels, a lot of wealthy internationals (especially from Mexico or LatAm) come to Houston/IAH, and the Galleria is the largest mall in Texas with the most upscale stores - per Wiki. The mere fact that the entire DFW metroplex lacks a Saks 5th Avenue is telling, since a lot of the transplants from Oklahoma won't shop there.

Entertainment: Houston wins again. Sports arenas are not in a far flung area like Arlington, which is a pain to get there and back especially if you live in any of the north Dallas burbs. Houston also has a soccer team. Moody Gardens, NASA, Kemah, Woodlands Pavilion, science museum with butterflies, you name it. I also have not seen one water park in DFW whereas Houston has a few. And speaking of water, you can at least dig your toes in the sand if you want to take an hour long road trip. Dallas also lacks a ballet and other high class performing arts.

Transportation: About the same. Both suck. It's not the NY subway system around Texas.

[dallasboi]

Originally Posted by wallawallahoohoo

Having lived in both Houston and Dallas, this post is wrong on so many levels. "Strongly emphasized..." that's laughable for DFW.

Housing: Both cities are on equal footing there, but a nod to Houston having more options available all around town (north, east, south, west) than just "north Dallas burbs" with good public schooling.

Hotels: Same, with a nod to Houston having a few more upscale and fancier hotels (as it caters to a more international crowd). Does Houston have a Ritz Carleton,Mansion,or a simple W Hotel???

Shopping: Houston, hands down. Similar to hotels, a lot of wealthy internationals (especially from Mexico or LatAm) come to Houston/IAH, and the Galleria is the largest mall in Texas with the most upscale stores - per Wiki. The mere fact that the entire DFW metroplex lacks a Saks 5th Avenue is telling, since a lot of the transplants from Oklahoma won't shop there.You have got to be kidding!!http://www.city-data.com/forum/texas...ng-2013-a.html

Entertainment: Houston wins again. Sports arenas are not in a far flung area like Arlington, which is a pain to get there and back especially if you live in any of the north Dallas burbs. Houston also has a soccer team. Moody Gardens, NASA, Kemah, Woodlands Pavilion, science museum with butterflies, you name it. I also have not seen one water park in DFW whereas Houston has a few. And speaking of water, you can at least dig your toes in the sand if you want to take an hour long road trip. Dallas also lacks a ballet and other high class performing arts.So People in Katy ,The woodlands,Humble, Galveston,Sugar Land and BayTown dont have to drive in to see Football and Basketball Games????

Transportation: About the same. Both suck. It's not the NY subway system around Texas.

..Even You know that transportation in Dallas is not the same as Trasportation in Houston....just stop..

[BishopDon]

Originally Posted by dallasboi

..Even You know that transportation in Dallas is not the same as Trasportation in Houston....just stop..

It all depends on your definition of "the same". DFW has more options in terms of modes and places you can get using alternative modes. That is clear and I don't believe that's debateable. However if you drive as your primary mode (and the numbers say the vast, vast majority of people in both metros do) it's not all that different. I believe something like an average of 5-7 hours difference per year between the two metros according to the last TTI report and a lot of that difference is due to the fact that DFW has much more density north of downtown Dallas than south of it, leading to dramatically different drive times for the northern part of the Metro than for other parts.

Houston has a more even spread in terms of commuting patterns and thus more bad roads on an absolute basis, but comparing the worst roads in each metro will not yield much difference. It's a "horrible vs. terrible" type comparison. (It could be horrible vs. terrible vs. awful if you throw Austin into the mix.)

[wallawallahoohoo]

Originally Posted by dallasboi

..Even You know that transportation in Dallas is not the same as Trasportation in Houston....just stop..

Haha, alrighty then. But come on, Arlington as the home for the Cowboys and Rangers stadiums? The AAC is more like it, location wise. But in Houston, all stadiums are centrally located.

As a devoted shopper, I must respectfully disagree with the thread on Houston vs. Dallas high end stores (it is severely lacking in Highland Village [only Cole Haan? really?], River Oaks, Downtown, and Rice Village). I do observe that Dallas residents are more brand conscious $30K millionaires. (for example, graying bald headed men driving mustang convertibles, badly done plastic surgery face injections on women, etc.) whereas in Houston you see a whole lot fewer beemers on the road.

I think traffic in Houston is worse than Dallas due to it being a larger city, I will give it that. But at least lanes are expanding, unlike the drudgery of the only north/south options in Dallas (DNT and 75), which will never be wider than 3 or 4 lanes. At least in Houston they try to do something about traffic (instead of giving into the NIMBYs of Dallas) and also set a world record with the widest highway in the world: Interstate 10 in Texas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia