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I got a good chuckle off your post sounds like Houston is paradise to you. More than likely the huge towers scattered throughout the town, lack of zoning, and the 600 square miles city limits got you sold. Go down there periodically and see if your feelings change. I guarantee you the aw factor will go away when you really get to know the place and you will calm the rhetoric of Houston being the greatest city in the south. I can see how Houston can have you amazed coming from a bipolar metro area like DFW that doesn't revolve around one city, has zoning, and not huge on building commercial skyscrapers like Houston. The south is the only region without a clear cut top city. The northeast has NYC, Midwest has Chicago, and the West coast has LA. If southerners were to vote the majority would vote for Atlanta because it is considered the cultural capital and the it city in the southeast. I've been to Houston plenty of times and I definitely didn't feel what you felt and nothing about the town made me jealous by any stretch of the imagination. If you felt that highly of the town it may be time for you to relocate.
Houston is definitely not an ugly city. I really don't understand how people think it's such an eyesore. Sure it has it's areas, and it's not really appealing from the freeway, but Houston is in a very pretty location.
IMHO, I think most people that say that did exactly as I did before. Pretty much saw it from the freeway and spent majority of there time inside/outside the beltway. I've only been twice before and both times were staying near Sam Houston Pkwy in a nice residential area. It was ugly. The lack of zoning just caused the area I spent majority of my time to look ugly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kdogg817
I got a good chuckle off your post sounds like Houston is paradise to you. More than likely the huge towers scattered throughout the town, lack of zoning, and the 600 square miles city limits got you sold. Go down there periodically and see if your feelings change. I guarantee you the aw factor will go away when you really get to know the place and you will calm the rhetoric of Houston being the greatest city in the south. I can see how Houston can have you amazed coming from a bipolar metro area like DFW that doesn't revolve around one city, has zoning, and not huge on building commercial skyscrapers like Houston. The south is the only region without a clear cut top city. The northeast has NYC, Midwest has Chicago, and the West coast has LA. If southerners were to vote the majority would vote for Atlanta because it is considered the cultural capital and the it city in the southeast. I've been to Houston plenty of times and I definitely didn't feel what you felt and nothing about the town made me jealous by any stretch of the imagination. If you felt that highly of the town it may be time for you to relocate.
No, not paradise. San Diego and SoCal are paradise I still think its best in the cultural south. I'm not considering MIA. I've never been to N.O. I think most ppl would vote atl bc its visited more frequently than Hou. If they have, they must spend a day or two within the inner loop. If you don't experience the inner loop, you'll have a warped view of Houston. Honestly, what has me sold is some of what you said. I love the diversity. There's never a part of the city I go to that makes me feel like I don't belong. The biggest thing is that I'm a beach person through and through. I grew up going often. Some times I don't even have to get into the water. I'd just like to sit on the shore and collect my thoughts. Houston allows you to take a less than an hour drive to the gulf. Houston has palm trees that also take me back to a happier time. There's better seafood too. The people in Houston also seemed to have that laid back beach mentality. I can see how ppl say DFW residents come off as more shallow. My only disclaimer and it should be worth mentioning is I've never been to Houston in the Summer or Spring. It's always around November/December when I visit so if the heat is much worst than DFW, I wouldn't know. I'd love to relocate to Houston if given the opportunity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thedirtypirate
It fascinates me how many votes Houston has compared to Dallas. Never been to either except for the Dallas Airport, but I definitely grew up with the impression that Dallas was a bigger "city".
Houston is definitely the bigger city. DFW is the bigger metro. I'd still say Dallas downtown skyline is better looking than Houston's downtown skyline. I've always known this but it's an unfair comparison since Houston spreads skyline love to different areas. Dallas feels as urban as Houston in some areas but lacks culture. Dallas is uglier than Houston. DFW metro is really nice but like kdogg said, its just too bipolar. I love that I can use the fireplace in the winter time. Another thing: I may be over analyzing but if everyone is so money driven and sales tax goes to the local municipality is it too far fetched to believe that one huge city (Houston) would trump a collection of cities (DFW). Local politicians wouldn't be so compelled to compete with neighboring municipalities. Dallas built a city owned Omni hotel. A year later, FW has a city owned Omni hotel. There's Dallas zoo then there's Fort Worth zoo. I know the cities don't own these entities but they encourage the development of them with tax incentives to lure people into there city and away from others. Arlington wants to spruce up it's downtown. I heard the mayor say, we don't want people leaving our city to go to Dallas or FW's downtowns, they can enjoy downtown Arlington instead. Maybe this type of competition is an advantage or disadvantage for DFW. Houston doesn't have to feel compelled to encourage an expansion of its skyline in downtown to lure people into their city and away from a neighboring city. Another example is dart rail in Dallas. It has to meet approval of every city outside of Dallas before they can operate in that city. Houston doesn't have to jump through those hoops while planning development. Dart is still pretty good despite the loops it has to jump through
Nah... all of them suck except Austin. J/K of course.
Here's a more recent picture I took of Austin.
Lol,,, yea,, Austin is beautiful. No denying that at all. Most beautiful big city in TX. I think Houston is nice but you have to find it's beauty.
Houston is like that cute girl that gets more beautiful every time you see her. Like you have to really check her out to notice.
Austin is like that beautiful girl that walks in the room and all the guys (and girls) stops what they're doing to take notice.
TX is a great place to live though. There's some great options all over the state. A lot of people are catching on too. TX is gaining more residents per year than any other state.
Well look at the densities of each city. Houston has a much higher population AND population density. So in other words, not only is Houston denser but the higher density comprises more area.
Having been to both A LOT, New Orleans feels dense in the French Quarter area but soon as you leave that area it doesn't feel dense at all.
That is the average density, when you take the urban area density New Orleans surpass it. Miami has the largest and densest UA in the South. New Orleans has the 2nd densest while DFW has the second largest. Houston is denser than DFW but has less people.
Urban density 2010 in people per sq mile:
Miami 4442
New Orleans 3578
Houston 2978
San Antonio 2944
DFW 2878
Austin 2604
Tampa 2551
Memphis 2131
Jacksonville 2008
Richmond 1937
Nashville 1720
Atlanta 1706
Charlotte 1685
And your second paragraph is wholly and totally untrue.
This never made sense to me. Miami is in the south, period. It's not stereotypically southern in culture but it's in the south. New Orleans is just as unique but would never be called anything but southern.
New Orleans is located in what most people consider a quintessentially southern state. Miami is not.
New Orleans is located in what most people consider a quintessentially southern state. Miami is not.
Florida has always been southern. In fact 100 years ago New Orleans had far more foreign characteristics than Miami.
Both Louisiana and Miami were Spanish, both were french. New Orleans was a secondary french capital with Quebec and it was for a time the capital of Spanish america.
100 years ago New Orleans was more the oddball city than Miami is today. The US changed to match New Orleans, just like it will change to match Miami
Florida has always been southern. In fact 100 years ago New Orleans had far more foreign characteristics than Miami.
Both Louisiana and Miami were Spanish, both were french. New Orleans was a secondary french capital with Quebec and it was for a time the capital of Spanish america.
100 years ago New Orleans was more the oddball city than Miami is today. The US changed to match New Orleans, just like it will change to match Miami
I was explaining to annie why that perception of Miami exists. I was not saying that I agreed with it.
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