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When a person says a statment like "better now and forever" they should qualify it by saying they are making a personal value statement and also explain how they can foretell the future. I personally don't know anyone who can see into the future. Do you?
When a person says a statment like "better now and forever" they should qualify it by saying they are making a personal value statement and also explain how they can foretell the future. I personally don't know anyone who can see into the future. Do you?
Yeah, I think statements like that indicate insecurity.
I am a native of Gary, Indiana...a backyard of Chicago. Though I was born in Gary we immediately lived in Chicago for the next six years, then back to Gary for the last three.
I have not experienced those Lake Michigan blizzards since 1977. And I DON'T MISS 'EM!
Chicago had always been a place that creeped my childhood out for some reason. I don't know why. Even Buckingham Fountain had me hiding under a jacket when we drove by it.
I had returned to Chicago in 1986 and 1996. In '86, that "creepiness" was still with me as a teen. Although some deep dish pizza joint we went to in Des Plaines was fabulous.
In 1996, I was able to reconcile myself at last with Chi-town, and consider it as among the many big cities in the US and around the world I had been able to visit.
And truth is, Chicago is that great static city. Traditional. Something about it that's set in its ways, no matter how cosmopolitan.
Houston has so many angles, it's always re-inventing and developing...the only Sunbelt City that offers a downtown that has a Chicago vibe, even if smaller and not yet as endowed.
Yet we can sit out at a Persian diner at the corner of Fountain View and Westheimer and watch people come and go, listening to cars whiz by...walk to the vehicle and there's a grandma sitting on the pickup hatch explaining to some young adults sitting on the sidewalk about hard knocks on life. And that's that cool looking strip mall that has Indian, Japanese, wings and Cafe Europa.
That oddball energy is what I love about Houston. Strip malls that actually have some life (and good eats).
Chicago is all the same traditional type 'hoods as far as setting/streetscapes and stuff no matter how lively. It's cool but in Houston you have downtown style, Heights 19th St. style, Midtown style, Montrose style, Rice Village grid style, Kemah style, Old Town Spring style, Woodlands Market Street style, Uptown Galleria style (flashy if sterile)...Galveston...and as mentioned the Westheimer cross streets with lively strip malls! Everything different is here in Houston...new and old...and the stuff keeps-a-coming! I'll take that over relatively static Chi-town.
Houston's different type streetscapes are more interesting than the fairly UNIFORM streetscapes of Los Angeles and Chicago. It's like the same template for all the steets in those cities...never mind how packed or lively or diverse.
There's not a difference to me in Robertson, Colorado, Melrose, Santa Monica, Wilshire and so forth Blvds in L.A..., I don't care how well-stocked. The streetscapes are so much the same. The vibe is pretty much the same, Santa Monica or Pasadena. In fact downtown Santa Ana looks like Old Town Pasadena...just different demographics...but very similar streetscapes/parallel parking and all that.
I just love Houston's eccentric angles. It's not the traditional organized city if that's what anal urbanists are looking for. Even in a sprawl of strip malls...there are nuggets of enjoyment all around this town.
AMEN crbcrb... Chicago weather is the pits! It's so gloomy here that I spend half of the year in a state of depression Winter is roughly October-April and it’s NO FUN to be stuck in the house or sliding all over the expressway. I've been to Texas(not Houston, Dallas) and yes, it was hot but I would rather deal with the heat any day
Also, it's crazy expensive here to live..especially in the city. What makes it even worse is that it is very difficult to find a job.
And your right about the museums, they are VERY nice, but overrated. Once you've been oh 100x's(field trips as a child, trips with your family, trips with your own children) it gets old! Definitely not worth sticking around for.
Another thing that no one has mentioned is how segregated the city is. Sometimes I feel like we are in the deep south, especially when you (an African American), can't live in a place like Mount Greenwood or Bridgeport for fear of being attacked! Or Beverly where all the whites avoid moving on the east side of the tracks because of the number of African Americans there! Or the shameless gentrification that is taking place in places like Brronzeville and other south side areas along the lake.
Crappy schools, high crime, elitist attitudes, generally unfriendly people, crowded neighborhoods, traffic, traffic, traffic,, construction, expensive EVERYTHING I could go on and on.
I have lived here my entire 26 years on the earth and I can't wait to get out and move to Houston.
Chicago has it's good points but people let's be real, it is definitely has a long way to go. The person to argue my point will likely be a rich 30 y/o attorney living in Lincoln Park who really has never had to think about or experienced the horrible social disparities that are a problem for most of the other people living here.
God bless you for staying if it is your cup of tea, but we can't wait to leave.
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AMEN crbcrb... Chicago weather is the pits! It's so gloomy here that I spend half of the year in a state of depression Winter is roughly October-April and it’s NO FUN to be stuck in the house or sliding all over the expressway. I've been to Texas(not Houston, Dallas) and yes, it was hot but I would rather deal with the heat any day
Also, it's crazy expensive here to live..especially in the city. What makes it even worse is that it is very difficult to find a job.
And your right about the museums, they are VERY nice, but overrated. Once you've been oh 100x's(field trips as a child, trips with your family, trips with your own children) it gets old! Definitely not worth sticking around for.
Another thing that no one has mentioned is how segregated the city is. Sometimes I feel like we are in the deep south, especially when you (an African American), can't live in a place like Mount Greenwood or Bridgeport for fear of being attacked! Or Beverly where all the whites avoid moving on the east side of the tracks because of the number of African Americans there! Or the shameless gentrification that is taking place in places like Brronzeville and other south side areas along the lake.
Crappy schools, high crime, elitist attitudes, generally unfriendly people, crowded neighborhoods, traffic, traffic, traffic,, construction, expensive EVERYTHING I could go on and on.
I have lived here my entire 26 years on the earth and I can't wait to get out and move to Houston.
Chicago has it's good points but people let's be real, it is definitely has a long way to go. The person to argue my point will likely be a rich 30 y/o attorney living in Lincoln Park who really has never had to think about or experienced the horrible social disparities that are a problem for most of the other people living here.
God bless you for staying if it is your cup of tea, but we can't wait to leave.
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Well I grew up in Beverly(from the time I was 11) and it's a charming area. I wouldn't move East of the tracks either myself. Chicago is more segregated than Htown. That's probably the worst about the city really. I was fortunate enough to live in Beverly where it was more integrated. But I think Chicago is making a lot of strides. I think the gentrification that's going on through out the city is great. Who would of thought Starbucks and student housing would replace a huge housing project on 31st. and State? And Brownsville gives black yuppies a chance to live the good life on the South Side. I think you'll like Houston, but it's no eutopia. But it'll probably be a change that you probably need. But quality of life here isn't going to be that much better so don't get your hopes up. Quality of life has more to do with the individual than the city itself anyways. Oh winter from October to April in chicago is an exaggeration. That's just like me saying summer in houston is from April til November, though some here do believe that.
I grew up in Beverly as well( 1 block east of the tracks on Hale and I lived!) from age 5-22. Your perspective that it was "intergrated" is interesting. I refuse to even comment on the black yuppie comment.
By Halloween we are wearing heavy coats! AND it snowed on Easter, so don't sugar coat it our winters are unusually long. So what do you mean exaggerated! I've taken my children trick-or-treating and it has been chill you to your bones cold, nose running cold every year. But maybe it's warmer on the west side of the tracks
But you like Houston, hopefully I will too
Is there any kind of book out there on reasons to hate Houston? Then people can be justified in using lame excuses like it's flat and has no scenery or mountains.
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How stupid do you think we are?
Winter is roughly October-April and it’s NO FUN to be stuck in the house or sliding all over the expressway. I've been to Texas(not Houston, Dallas) and yes, it was hot but I would rather deal with the heat any day
