Houston or Dallas for African Americans (San Antonio, Arlington: apartments, renting, credit)

[AlGreen]

Originally Posted by 30236

I will look into that. Cedarhill sounds like it will be the place we will consider if we move to the Dallas area. BTW, I wonder why Houston isn't helping. My thread was locked. I hope that is not a sign.

Lol, no it's not. Houstonians are actually very helpful. Another poster came into your thread looking to instigate a heated discussion that's taken place in these threads numerous times, and so I'm assuming that's why it was closed. You might try creating another thread (obviously not exactly like the old one).

[UTHORNS96]

Either one is far superior than Austin is when it comes to African-American cultural experiences. I envy you, LOL.

[lovely40]

This thread has been extremely helpful for me. I too, have decided on Dallas versus Atlanta. Primarily, because of the industry in which I work (oil & gas). Otherwise, hands down it would be Atlanta for me. I do have plans to explore Houston once I'm on TX soil. Though, I've never been there, I've heard great things about the place from a professional, as well as social standpoint. Looking forward to my Texas move early next year.

[Dark Serge]

Originally Posted by AlGreen

Personally, I'd take a look at Addison. It's a younger, more diverse, and more "happening" suburb that's immediately north of Dallas. Commute to central Dallas is generally around 30-45 minutes, and you're right down the street from the Galleria.

I second that opinion. Addison is a professional city with a fair bit of nightlife that you will be practically right on top of location-wise. It's an inner suburb, so you will be within a short drive of Dallas. If not Addison, check out Richardson as well. Fair number of black professionals in both cities and very close to Dallas proper.

Also, unlike places such as Cedar Hill, Lancaster, Frisco, etc Addison and Richardson have good transit service with local buses, direct-to-Dallas express bus (Addison) and light rail (Richardson), for them occasions when you don't feel like driving everywhere.

[AlGreen]

Originally Posted by Dark Serge

I second that opinion. Addison is a professional city with a fair bit of nightlife that you will be practically right on top of location-wise. It's an inner suburb, so you will be within a short drive of Dallas. If not Addison, check out Richardson as well. Fair number of black professionals in both cities and very close to Dallas proper.

Also, unlike places such as Cedar Hill, Lancaster, Frisco, etc Addison and Richardson have good transit service with local buses, direct-to-Dallas express bus (Addison) and light rail (Richardson), for them occasions when you don't feel like driving everywhere.

Some people feel that Addison is too cramped and commercialized, but I thought it would be a good suggestion for a family looking to be close to the activity. Only thing I might be worried about is the schools. Some of the high schools in the area don't have the best reputation, I guess; but that's something someone else will have to expand on.

[Dark Serge]

Originally Posted by AlGreen

Some people feel that Addison is too cramped and commercialized, but I thought it would be a good suggestion for a family looking to be close to the activity. Only thing I might be worried about is the schools. Some of the high schools in the area don't have the best reputation, I guess; but that's something someone else will have to expand on.

Yeah, the high population density of Addison is why I included Richardson, also. While I am not a big fan of suburbia in general--if it wasn't for my attending UT Dallas I would probably be living in Fair Park or Oak Cliff--I find that Richardson is a pretty dang respectable city, and allows one to have a good sized house and yard while having a fair bit of activities nearby. It's a suburb that has less of a sprawl factor as, say, Frisco. You can still be near the action here. Also, from what I've heard, Richardon has very good schools.

[Bideshi]

Originally Posted by kdogg817

As far as I am concerned DFW offers just as much as Houston.

I'm from Fort Worth. From my probably biased perspective, I don't see any real advantage to Houston other than proximity to the ocean. For me it would be Dallas over Houston by a mile. When I think of Houston, I think of urban scrawl and rush hour hell on earth. Dallas admitedly is almost as bad nowadays in that respect. You'll do fine in either megapolis. Good luck! (For me, I'm headed for Colorado...)

[Eric Fred Norris]

have lived in both DFW and houston, several years each. this is as honest and blunt an assessment that i can give.

weather: pick your poison. the winters in dallas are worse than houston, we do get ice and snow up here. it may be a handful of times per season at most, but no one here knows how to drive on the stuff so either shuts down the whole metro area. summers are the dealbreaker, though. its far worse in houston, its both scorching hot and muggy there. highs well into the 100s with constant high humidty and severe thunderstorms. you have to be far more aware of how much heat stress your body is being put through and how much water you're taking in. houston is much more prone to flooding as well.

the heat here is consistently drier without the constant threat of severe thunderstorms. you can actually function outdoors here.

race: dallas is a very segregated city compared to the other major cities in texas, unfortunately. racial tension has always been the number one barrier to progress here in terms of county government and city government. the southern half of the city, which is predominately black, hispanic and democrat, has largely been neglected in terms of development the past 50 years that has gone to the northern half of the city, which is predominately white and predominately republican. are high concentrations of asian and arab populations are in the northern half as well.

corruption at the local government level has served to only deepen the racial divide. two unrelated, public and messy bribery scandals involving black city council members being sent to the federal pen have further eroded trust between the two sides of town the past decade - one scandal was for a respected councilman accepting bribes for votes and the other for a mayor pro tem participating in a public housing money laundering scheme.

you dont see this kind of pervasive, persistent racial tension in the governments of houston, austin, san antonio or fort worth. houston and san antonio in particular are so much more multicultural, with different people living next to each other, as opposed to the white flight here to the highly zoned and vanilla burbs to the north of town. in houston's case, the lack of zoning laws and reliance on deed restrictions helps. in san antonio's case, the historically high hispanic population and it having a high concentration of military installations helps.

almost every issue at the local level in dallas boils down to race and north half of the city v. south half of the city. it's embarrassing, that's why i moved to fort worth.

[AlGreen]

I've never understood why summers in Houston are seen as WAY worse than it's peer cities (namely Dallas and Atlanta). From my personal perspective, Houston is worse, but by no major margin whatsoever. Georgia's summers are shorter than here in Texas, so I guess they get a pass, but Dallas records higher average temps in summer than Houston. And yes it can and does get humid up there.

Hot is hot, to me, and neither of these three cities are at all comfortable during the height of summer.

[First24]

^ I agree to a point; hot is hot. Hot and humid compared to hot and less humid creates a big difference in comfort level for me. When I'm in SE Texas, I'm definately more uncomfortable in the heat than in North Texas. I'll take 101 in Dallas over 97 in Houston any day.

Topic: Toss up. Go where the money is better.