Dallas or Seattle...Convince me! (Fort Worth: mortgage, how much, job market)

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by pwright1

All metropolitan areas have sprawl. But at least in Seattle we, including myself can live in an urban city and not drive. In sprawling Dallas you have no choice and yes you'd better have your a/c on down there or head to your local mall which you have plenty of. Speaking of a/c most homes in Seattle don't have a/c which is really nice.

Do you have a mechanical device tht compensates for the unending atmospheric gloom?

In Uptown Dallas, you also are pretty car-free... but it is an American standard of behavior (and increasingl part of the third world's behavior) to own a car and drive where you want to go... how does Seattle stack up under those conditions?

[whitechocolate86]

Six good things about Seattle: Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Queensryche, Mudhoney, and whatever other good bands there are from that city...other than that...DALLAS BABY!!!!

[pwright1]

Originally Posted by aceplace

Do you have a mechanical device tht compensates for the unending atmospheric gloom?

In Uptown Dallas, you also are pretty car-free... but it is an American standard of behavior (and increasingl part of the third world's behavior) to own a car and drive where you want to go... how does Seattle stack up under those conditions?

Wow you are a Dallasite. Of course its an american standard of behavior and many Seattleites own cars but many walk and catch public transportation. It is not built like Dallas with 350 square miles. Seattle is only 88 square miles almost surrounded by 2 huge bodies of water so it is so much easier to get around without an automobile.

[pwright1]

Originally Posted by aceplace

When I read these horrible rants about Seattle, I find that the people are divided into two groups.

The first one says that the people of Seattle are passive-aggressive introverted nerds who have no interest in normal socialization.

The second says that the people of Seattle are such bozos that they are not worth talking to, or even acknowledging the existence of.

Come on now stop hating. You know you love our city.

[whitechocolate86]

I think all you Seattle types need to quit pretending like it's the early ninetees when everyone cared about the city because of all the great bands that came out of the area...yeah...when even people in California and the south were wearing longjohns...quit being full of yourselves...you ain't got nothing on good ole' dallas...jk...I like Seattle...just not as much as my native north texas!

[pwright1]

Originally Posted by whitechocolate86

I think all you Seattle types need to quit pretending like it's the early ninetees when everyone cared about the city because of all the great bands that came out of the area...yeah...when even people in California and the south were wearing longjohns...quit being full of yourselves...you ain't got nothing on good ole' dallas...jk...I like Seattle...just not as much as my native north texas!

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by pwright1

All metropolitan areas have sprawl. But at least in Seattle we, including myself can live in an urban city and not drive. In sprawling Dallas you have no choice and yes you'd better have your a/c on down there or head to your local mall which you have plenty of. Speaking of a/c most homes in Seattle don't have a/c which is really nice.

Dallas also has urban places where you don't have to drive. In addition, Dallas has rail transit. I don't know why Seattle missed out on the use of rail, whereas Portland, another Northwest city, invested so heavily in it.

Complaining about how some other city is sprawled is a bad debating tactic, since anyone can retort that your own city is sprawled. There is no good definition of sprawl, it's one of those classic I-know-it-when-I-see-it type things, but somehow every American city has it.

[rb4browns]

Originally Posted by aceplace

One complaint that I see over and over about Seattle also applies to Portland, Oregon. People are clannish and unwelcoming to strangers and transplants. Dallas has the opposite attitude... we want you to come live in our city... it confirms how wonderful Dallas is that it attracts so many people.

My aunt and also my uncle and his wife live in Lake Oswego, a Portland suburb. I have also spent quite a bit of time there in addition to Seattle and I would agree with this assesment. I think it is partly just the location of being up in the corner of the country, along with friendliness and welcoming just not being cultural values in that area which makes the PNW's residents not a friendly bunch. Yes this is a generality I know, there are friendly people in Seattle/Portland and unfriendly people here in Dallas. But on the whole Seattle and Portland have a "go away and leave us alone" attitude in my experience. Both cities are great places to visit as I pointed out, and McMenamins beer is reason enough alone to visit Portland, but as places to live and raise a family? Not for me.

[rb4browns]

Originally Posted by pwright1

Come on now stop hating. You know you love our city.

I don't hate Seattle, in fact when it is not gray and drizzly it's a gorgeous city with alot of neat things to do. On a day when you can see the mountain it is glorious, but those days don't happen a whole lot. I just would not want to live there. People on the whole are not very friendly, the weather sucks and as much as it tries to pretend it doesn't have the same ills that plague every other major American big city it still does.

[aceplace]

I tried an experiment, doing a google search of various city names followed by the word "sucks", as in Atlanta sucks, Dallas sucks, Denver sucks, San Francisco sucks, etc. Got a hit on every one. So I guess that many cities might have some disgruntled ex-citizens.