Better place to live?? Dallas metro or Houston metro? (San Antonio: best city, landscaping)

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by AlGreen

...and i never said i didn't like palm trees. i said i didn't like the way houston plants too many of them, like they're the only tree in the world. they're nice in moderation; they look taudry when overplanted.

i might be nitpicky about stuff like this, but i have every right to be, people

only trees in the world? The pine trees are what gets to me. those things are everywhere.

My area has too many pines, oaks and and magnolias.

Not very many palms in my area.






what hood do you go to in Houston?

[Redlionjr]

Originally Posted by AlGreen

lol "chic"? do you know what that word means? and i just don't like too many palms

yes, but it doesn't have the rolling hills or majestic hardwoods that the rest of east texas does

Yes I'll say the only area that come close to North East Texas(Piney Woods area)/Longview/Tyler/Marshall/Texarkana/Ark-La-Tex area..that whole area would be The Woodlands and even then its still flat.

back on subject. Damn I gets it's a love/hate thing when it comes to the look of Houston. I think inside 610 loop area is probably one of the best looking area's within city limits in Texas. I think it's just the northen section of the city which tends to look blah. And the eastern part heading out to Baytown and that area. But I don't think it's anything wrong with areas like The Woodlands or even certain subdivisions. But every city has good,bad, and ugly. It's just Houston is so huge so it might have alot "more" of certain things.

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by Redlionjr

Yes I'll say the only area that come close to North East Texas(Piney Woods area)/Longview/Tyler/Marshall/Texarkana/Ark-La-Tex area..that whole area would be The Woodlands and even then its still flat.

back on subject. Damn I gets it's a love/hate thing when it comes to the look of Houston. I think inside 610 loop area is probably one of the best looking area's within city limits in Texas. I think it's just the northen section of the city which tends to look blah. And the eastern part heading out to Baytown and that area. But I don't think it's anything wrong with areas like The Woodlands or even certain subdivisions. But every city has good,bad, and ugly. It's just Houston is so huge so it might have alot "more" of certain things.

I agree. There is so much beauty in this city, I hate when people drive across some highways, or to one part of town and say the city is ugly.

within the loop, parts of the west, and south west are so nice. It is stupid to generalize the city based on limited areas. I do agree that within the loop has some of the nicest areas within city limits in Texas. Dallas, SA or Austin are all less attractive within the city limits in my opinion

[AlGreen]

well i'm certainly not stupid, but i'm entitled to my opinion, as are you. just because you think houston looks fine doesn't mean anyone who disagrees is wrong or blind.....houston is a not-so-nice looking city with some nice areas/neighborhoods. i call it how i see it, and that's just how i feel

[HtownLove]

which big city is not a not so nice looking city with some nice looking areas??? All big cities are like that, why is Houston being singled out??

[AlGreen]

the majority of the atlanta area is attractive to me. with very few areas that i perceive to be "ugly"

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by AlGreen

the majority of the atlanta area is attractive to me. with very few areas that i perceive to be "ugly"

don't jump the question. We are not talking about Sandy Springs or other areas. Redlion said that Houston city limits seem to be the most attractive to him, and I agreed and asked what city isn't as you described? having nice areas and not so nice areas.

Like Houston, Atlanta has as many attractive areas as unattractive ones.

[stoneclaw]

Originally Posted by HtownLove

which big city is not a not so nice looking city with some nice looking areas??? All big cities are like that, why is Houston being singled out??

Htownlove, i often would defend Houston the same way you do. I'd use those same arguments to say that you can't judge the entire city with one giant paintbrush because it has a few ugly areas. That was until I was reminded by a few recent visits to other cities. Even though its not completely fair, people do tend to judge a book by its cover. In this case, it's the city's appearance off the highway. The same way a pretty girl or handsome man can't go to a job interview dressed in shabby clothes, city's can't have rough appearances off the freeway. It is what it is.

If all of Houston's freeways looked like SW Fwy 59 in Sugarland, SW Fwy 59 through Montrose, N.45 in The Woodlands, Southeast Fwy (45) in Clearlake/League City, West Loop/Galleria area, Katy Freeway, and 288, I'd have no complaints. The problem seems that the nice stretches of freeways go rather short distances and aren't enough to outnumber the bad. Las Vegas has plenty of crummy areas right off the back part of the strip, but they're more secluded. No one can convince me that the freeways going through the city don't look nicer and have a smoother look to them on and off than alot of Houston's. Denver Colorado's, I-25 is the main corridor going through the city looks repaved and redone. Much of the blighted areas are hidden by sound barrier walls and the interchanges look brand spanking new like BW8 and I-10 West in Houston. South BW8 and South 45 with the Palm Trees is easy on the eyes too.

The main culprit in Houston is the main freeway which connects downtown to its main airport, I-45. It as improved a little bit with the newer shopping centers and everything but they're still strip centers, only now, slightly facing away from the freeway. In 10-15 years, they'll be looking just like the one's they tore down and just remodeled. 45 being cluttered with big rusted billboards and shabby apartment buildings is a monstruosity. It was so bad that the city encourgaged Taxi drivers to take alternate 59 North (a rather boring drive) just to avoid it when the Superbowl was here. Some of the trees that they use on North 45 are a poor choice to where they look shabby and disarray. That's where I tend to agree with Al Green on this issue. The aspens on West Loop going through Bellaire are perfect, straight and symmetric. We need more areas like that.

I realize that alot of cities have their ugly areas, its just they cover them up better. I-70 East of Downtown Denver looks putrid, but its not a main drag of the city that visitors see first. Dallas, TX's I-35 is nothing special either, it definitely isn't N.Central Expwy, but it doesn't have the clutter of I-45 in Houston. The pic of NYC that DANNY posted is hideous, but I'm willing to bet it can't be seen from the freeway.

Things are improving in Houston though i must say. Trees for Houston is a good natural effort of hiding many blighted areas through the city, but some fail at covering some of the old crummy businesses off the freeway and raggedy strip centers. Another problem Houston has is it's gigantic city limits! It's true the bigger the city is, the harder it is to manage. Even though they do have some sub-juridictions to manage parts of the city, more needs to be done. I'm glad to see the new Mayor has been a little more agressive on tearing down dillapidated structures throughout the city and off the freeway than our last one. Driving on the freeway and seeing one less ugly structure has already made an astronomical amount of difference. It's just going to take time to undo the damage that's already been done.

[AlGreen]

htownlove, you asked me a question, and i answered it. you cannot convince me that metro atlanta is as equally unattractive as houston is. it simply isn't in my opinion. i never stated that it was fact, but you cannot force others to agree with your opinion. it doesn't work that way

atlanta's architecture is more stunning, their trees are more beautiful, there's more attention to aesthetics, etc

[Redlionjr]

Originally Posted by AlGreen

the majority of the atlanta area is attractive to me. with very few areas that i perceive to be "ugly"

Now I have to disagree, Atlanta City limits is beautiful and stunning. I love the green,the grit, the neigborhoods,the hills,there architecture as well(which I wish dt Houston would put a little bit more detail in there scrapers,even tho I still Houston scrapers overrall have ATL scrapers beat)..and at times the sceneary reminds me of east texas. With that said man to me the outer areas that make up metro Atlanta are just as fugly as some Houston burbs. It's just as much sticks,rural looking areas of uncut grass. And it's really when you start getting in the cities core for me when you start seeing the true beauty. Atlanta just does a better job of hiding the uglies.. Unlike Houston.but to me once you hit the inner loop coming from the north it pays off. Now if your hitting the loop coming from the south I don't really see a problem. I like the landscape from that view. I think it pretty much goes like this

I-45 North-The Woodlands/Spring/Humble/Addicks - Decent to average sceneary more so located in the Woodlands area

I-45 North-Greenspoint/North Houston- Ugly sceneary

59 North-North Houston before you hit 610-Ugly bland sceneary

I think the fact that most traffic coming into Houston comes from the north and not the south is where the "Houston is ugly" stems from. And I think Houston should work on those areas alot better esp. the area around G.Bush airport. People coming from out of town that could be there first impression. and it's still some rural parts mixed in with subdivisions around that area. Atleast DFW is out there kind of on it's own. But with all that said still doesn't give ppl a right to generalize not saying anybody has done that in here but ppl tend to do it when speaking on Houston's image