5 Bad things about Abilene,TX (El Paso, Fort Worth: real estate, mobile home, transferring to)

[Evoman]

Hi, thinking about a move to Abliene,TX as soon as I find employment. Can someone list 5 bad things about Abilene that I should consider before moving.

People? Taxes? Jobs? Things to do? Nightlife?

Please help out and list the negative and some positive things that you may have also. Thanks

Evoman

[teatime]

If you're thinking about moving somewhere, why would you be asking for "5 bad things?" I don't get it. "Bad" is subjective, btw. I have NO idea what you would consider "bad."

[Metro Matt]

Flat, dry, ugly, treeless, not diverse...what else do you wanna know?

[Westerner92]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

Flat, dry, ugly, treeless, not diverse...what else do you wanna know?

Not true, kinda, not true, not true, and for the most part.

The area around Abilene is rolling-type hills. There is a range of hills/mesas just south of the city that have a prominence of over 500 feet.

It is dry by Texas standards, but it receives more rain than almost the whole Western US.

Abilene is nicely landscaped, and the downtown has many public pieces of art. There are tons of tree-lined streets and charming neighborhoods.

The area around Abilene is mesquite trees and scrub transferring to cross timbers. Much of the land has been cleared for farming and ranching.

The ethnic makeup of the city was 78.07% White, 8.81% African American, 0.55% Native American, 1.33% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 8.73% from other races, and 2.44% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 19.45% of the population.

Here's a picture of Abilene's downtown. As you can see, it is not ugly or treeless.


P.S. I'm not from Abilene. I'm just pointing out the things that aren't true.

[ChristieP]

ZERO nightlife.
Very little shopping. People usually go to Midland or Fort Worth for anything beyond the basics.

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by Westerner92

Not true, kinda, not true, not true, and for the most part.

The area around Abilene is rolling-type hills. There is a range of hills/mesas just south of the city that have a prominence of over 500 feet.

It is dry by Texas standards, but it receives more rain than almost the whole Western US.

Abilene is nicely landscaped, and the downtown has many public pieces of art. There are tons of tree-lined streets and charming neighborhoods.

The area around Abilene is mesquite trees and scrub transferring to cross timbers. Much of the land has been cleared for farming and ranching.

The ethnic makeup of the city was 78.07% White, 8.81% African American, 0.55% Native American, 1.33% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 8.73% from other races, and 2.44% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 19.45% of the population.

Here's a picture of Abilene's downtown. As you can see, it is not ugly or treeless.


P.S. I'm not from Abilene. I'm just pointing out the things that aren't true.

I just couldn't live anywhere in Texas west of about Fort Worth unless it was in El Paso which has mountains to compensate for the vast amount of nothingness. Some people like that though more power to them they can have it.

This pic doesn't do the place any justice either. Even little ole' Tyler has a larger skyline than that!

[NOTAM]

That would depend on what one considers night life.
I am surprised about the shopping-anything beyond the basics folks would travel 1.5-2 hours or whatever to Fort Worth?
I don't know Abilene well at all, but I imagine it to be on the same level as Wichita Falls, perhaps? With a standard mall, SuperWalmart, Target, assorted strip malls.
Doubting there is a Whole Foods or IKEA or anything like that there.
teatime..what do you have to say to this?

Originally Posted by ChristieP

ZERO nightlife.
Very little shopping. People usually go to Midland or Fort Worth for anything beyond the basics.

[teatime]

Originally Posted by NOTAM

That would depend on what one considers night life.
I am surprised about the shopping-anything beyond the basics folks would travel 1.5-2 hours or whatever to Fort Worth?
I don't know Abilene well at all, but I imagine it to be on the same level as Wichita Falls, perhaps? With a standard mall, SuperWalmart, Target, assorted strip malls.
Doubting there is a Whole Foods or IKEA or anything like that there.
teatime..what do you have to say to this?

Heh, typical comments from people who like to diss Abilene. Whatever!

We have a medium-sized mall and a ton of strip malls and locally owned stores. I think we have plenty of shopping. I certainly don't have to go elsewhere for anything! Two Super Walmarts, two Lowe's, one HD, one Target, Kmart, you get the idea.

Of course, I'm not one of those who thinks that a place isn't "civilized" unless there's a bunch of Yuppie chain stores. Nope, no IKEA but we DO have a couple of local places that will HAND CARVE furniture for you plus a number of antiques stores with beautiful furniture! Custom bootmakers, too. And a locally owned natural foods store plus a BIG farmer's market.

That's the sort of thing I like. I'm really unimpressed with the supposedly trendy national chains; even though we have a lot of them, I like supporting the local folks. Our local barbecue restaurants get very high ratings from Texas Monthly and such but Famous Dave's moved in, too. So, I guess we have something for everyone.

[txsizzler]

Abilene proper, in my opinion, is alright looking. I have been through there many an occasion, and whilst Abilene itself looks alright, once you get outside of the city (especially north of the city), it gets plain butt ugly. Vast nothingness (save the occasional refinery, mobile home, cactus mound). Even outside of Wichita Falls looks vastly improved to the outside of Abilene.

As I mentioned, though, once inside the city limits, Abilene looks nice. Shopping is about average for this size of city, cannot really comment on the nightlife (why would I drive to Abilene for that?? lol). Alot of military presence there. Overall, not a bad place to live... cheap real estate, decent weather, nice skyline (despite what Metro Matt says).


Ian

[WillysB]

There is a range of hills/mesas just south of the city that have a prominence of over 500 feet.

That range of hills is the Callahan Divide, separating the Colorado and Brazos (called the Rio de los Brazos de Dios by early Spanish explorers, translated as "The River of the Arms of God"), rivers watershed. Cattle drives used to come thru there at a gap in that divide, now called Buffalo Gap. That same cattle drive would proceed north thru what is now Fort Phantom Hill Lake and onwards. Fort Phantom Hill Lake runoff flows northward into what becomes the Clear Fork of the Brazos River.