Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I mean I think the issue with alot of Texas suburbs (or just suburbs in general) is while you arn't sharing a wall with someone, you aren't surround by much open area around you and there are a ton of rules about what you can and cant do.
You don't get the full benefits of living in a city or rual area in a suburb. You won't get urban Walkability but also don't get the benefits of living in a rural area or small town. Those benefits being Personal freedom, some open land around you, little to no traffic etc.
A Karen will call the HOA if you park your RV in the wrong place or paint your house an unapproved color or if you have backyard chickens.
Alot of these rules, laws, HOAs etc are based on a history of racism, classism and xenophobia. They enforce, though an overreach of the law, WASP sensibilities and make behaviors WASPs associate with poor people or minorities illegal.
Example: Plano still doesn't allow backyard chickens though Dallas and Fort Worth do. The fact that as of last i heard this was a "hotly debated issue" shows how deep rooted these outdated and racist ideas really are with upper middle class people. In a lot of ways and in alot of cases you have more personal freedom in either a city or in a rural area.
I mean you have to be incredibly silly to oppose chickens.
So while your neighbors aren't literally on top of you in a suburb, you don't have alot of space and you don't have alot of freedom to use the space you do have the way you might want to.
Plus, I mean look at the houses in Frisco or McKinney or almost any newer suburb on google maps....the back yards are tiny. You have big houses on small lots...so even if they are not on top of eachother you don't really have that much space they sure look silly with a huge home on a small lot.
Oh, yes, I totally agree on these huge McMansions built so closely together, in many cases out in the middle of nowhere. They're a laughingstock. That's why I call them McMansions instead of mansions. How that concept ever made it into American culture I'll never know. Yet here we have people falling over themselves to plunk down close to $1M+ for them.
I'd hate living somewhere I felt so isolated, and I hate maintenance and yard noise, so I'm not going to complain about tiny lots.
I don't know about chickens, but get me an HOA with a decent home that also prohibits dogs, and I'll be first in line to buy.
While I didn't do NYC-Dallas-NYC, I moved from the Boston area to Dallas, stayed for 10 years, and then moved to NYC. Since I'm not originally from either place, I'll try to give an outsiders perspective on the differences, which as you can imagine are quite vast.
- The summer heat will take some getting used to for sure, but you likely already know this. I eventually adjusted my running/workout schedules to morning or evening, or just straight up indoors at the gym. For me, it wasn't as much about how hot it got, but for how long the hot period lasted. But, I found the other seasons to be quite nice. Even winter, while certainly not Florida or CA, will be a breeze coming from the northeast. It will ice from time to time (in my 10 years there, we never had anything like they did this past winter), but then it will be in the 60's a few days later and all will be forgotten.
- Lots of transplants in the Dallas area, so pretty easy to meet people. My group of friends consisted of both native Texans and fellow transplants. Everyone was pretty friendly.
- If you want to escape for the weekend, you have limited options by car. Austin/Hill Country, Ouachita "mountains", etc. No beaches close by if you're into that (I mention that since I believe you said you were in NJ? Since my wife & I moved up there we've become beach people and go all the time). Flights of course are plentiful and you're mid-continent so can get most places relatively quickly. But for pure weekend trips, NYC area has a significant advantage over Dallas
- While certainly lower cost & lower tax than NYC/NJ, the perception of cheapness exceeds the reality.
- Dallas has a great restaurant scene, and always changing/evolving - casual/tacos/fine dining/bars. Makes sense given that it is a big city, but wanted to explicitly call it out in case you think it's some backwards cowtown. While NYC is obviously much stronger/more diverse here, if you live in the suburbs of NYC vs. Dallas, the dining & nightlife in Dallas is more accessible for a night out given how easy it is to drive in.
- Speaking of suburbs, I'll take the suburbs of NYC all day, every day and twice on Sundays over the Dallas suburbs. To me, the ever expanding sprawlsville radiating out in every direction has no appeal, with mostly planned developments plopped onto the prairie in what appears from the air to be concentric loops. Large-format shopping centers are uniformly sprinkled in, mostly on the highway feeder roads. While you know this already, many of the NYC suburbs are small, woodsy villages with town centers, train stations, and an assortment of local restaurants, bars, & "stuff" in the village centers. Dallas has no analog to Bronxville, Scarsdale, Larchmont, Ridgewood, Summit, Westport, Manhasset, etc. Granted, you pay mightily for that privilege.
The punchline (for me) is that I really enjoyed my time in Dallas and could have happily stayed there for a few more years. I also have really enjoyed being up in NYC and don't have any plans to leave (especially now that we have kids). I had a "thing" against the suburbs in Dallas as you can see from my last bullet, but would have stayed in Lakewood had we remained in the area. But obviously LOTS of people like the Dallas suburbs because they've been booming for 30 years so it's probably a "me" thing.
I mean I think the issue with alot of Texas suburbs (or just suburbs in general) is while you arn't sharing a wall with someone, you aren't surround by much open area around you and there are a ton of rules about what you can and cant do.
You don't get the full benefits of living in a city or rual area in a suburb. You won't get urban Walkability but also don't get the benefits of living in a rural area or small town. Those benefits being Personal freedom, some open land around you, little to no traffic etc.
A Karen will call the HOA if you park your RV in the wrong place or paint your house an unapproved color or if you have backyard chickens.
Alot of these rules, laws, HOAs etc are based on a history of racism, classism and xenophobia. They enforce, though an overreach of the law, WASP sensibilities and make behaviors WASPs associate with poor people or minorities illegal.
Example: Plano still doesn't allow backyard chickens though Dallas and Fort Worth do. The fact that as of last i heard this was a "hotly debated issue" shows how deep rooted these outdated and racist ideas really are with upper middle class people. In a lot of ways and in alot of cases you have more personal freedom in either a city or in a rural area.
I mean you have to be incredibly silly to oppose chickens.
So while your neighbors aren't literally on top of you in a suburb, you don't have alot of space and you don't have alot of freedom to use the space you do have the way you might want to.
Plus, I mean look at the houses in Frisco or McKinney or almost any newer suburb on google maps....the back yards are tiny. You have big houses on small lots...so even if they are not on top of eachother you don't really have that much space they sure look silly with a huge home on a small lot.
Not all suburbs are like that. I used to live on 3/4 of an acre in the middle of DFW in a rural feeling neighborhood where my neighbor down the street had cattle and horses. Residents ride their horses down the streets and I'm sure someone, where I lived, had chickens. I also lived 10 minutes from a SuperTarget and some great locally owned ethnic restaurants. You fail to recognize the diversity of the DFW suburban experience. Not all of them are ticky tacky houses all in a row.
Not all suburbs are like that. I used to live on 3/4 of an acre in the middle of DFW in a rural feeling neighborhood where my neighbor down the street had cattle and horses. Residents ride their horses down the streets and I'm sure someone, where I lived, had chickens. I also lived 10 minutes from a SuperTarget and some great locally owned ethnic restaurants. You fail to recognize the diversity of the DFW suburban experience. Not all of them are ticky tacky houses all in a row.
I mean, I never said they were all like that. The new ones sure are though, and lots of the old ones too.
I live in a suburb in the middle of Dallas too. I'm on only 1/4th of an acre but since the house is a 1500ish 1950s home, the back yard is decent sized.
I'm 5-10 min from all sorts of great restaurants as well...some of the best Indian in the States.
Irving Allows Chickens, although it didn't used to. It was a fairly recent (but good) change.
So yeah, needless to say I don't think the whole metroplex is Frisco...but alot of it is.
Suburbs certainly have diversified...alot. I see that as a good thing. However, lots of new suburbs still use outdated laws and regulations that are based on racism and classism.
Historically in urban areas (and for this purpose of this discussion the suburbs are urban) people including homeowners didn't have a whole bunch of space around them. That concept was an aberration of the 1950s-1970s. I totally agree with most suburban subdivisions lacking many things that make more traditional urban living appealing (walkability etc.). But "living on top of each other" or "like ants"? Such an opinion is utterly ridiculous. So ridiculous, in fact, that it is no longer an opinion but a lie. The CityData fact-checker says to that claim, "Pants on Fire!" That is even true of California subdivisions, which have even smaller lots and open yards. They are not living on top of each other either. Even SF, with detached homes that have no side yards. Same thing. Unless you're living in a stacked situation, the "living on top of each other" claim has zero basis.
Ok so do you have a problem with the phrase "Packed in Like Sardines" ? I feel like for alot of neighborhoods thats pretty accurate...there isn't much land to roam over, just small, well defined, closed in land.
Ok so do you have a problem with the phrase "Packed in Like Sardines" ? I feel like for alot of neighborhoods thats pretty accurate...there isn't much land to roam over, just small, well defined, closed in land.
You could say they are somewhat dense single family areas (this applies to TX, AZ, CA...). But look, compared to Europe or many cities around the world (including suburbs around the world), no, "packed in like sardines" is totally not applicable.
We moved from Manhattan to Dallas a few years ago and we are still here and no intention of moving back
I have a friend who moved to Dallas from New Jersey at around the same time as we did, but ended up moving back just two years later. A few reasons for her, but mainly work-related. She moved to Dallas because she got a very good work opportunity, and they thought her husband would easily find a job here. Turned out not so. Her husband never found a job (in finance). Then her work here turned out not to be as great as she thought, she found another job in Boston, and her family moved back to that area or New Jersey (with her commuting once a week or something like that). She's in pharma and her husband in finance, so the Northeast is the best region for them.
They had no complaints about Dallas. They have a young child, and during the time they were in Dallas, the child didn't get sick much at all in daycare, and after they moved back to the Northeast, the child got sick in daycare all the time. I talk to the mom regularly and she still thinks Dallas is a very kid-friendly place.
I feel like for alot of neighborhoods thats pretty accurate...there isn't much land to roam over, just small, well defined, closed in land.
I don't. DFW has endless amounts of empty open land, even adjacent to downtown. All the suburbs are the same. I agree lots of the suburban design plans are really dumb, like the setbacks from arterial roads while the houses have really small yards, like this on at the corner of 15th and Booker Lane in Plano. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Pl...!4d-96.6988856
But these are due to stupid city building and zoning rules, not an actual lack of space.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
