Why Dallas? (residential, county, town)

[Dallas native]

Originally Posted by gokctx

Yes the city is in the Bible belt so there are a lot of people here who are into Christianity but we don't mind that too much since we are Christian also. The one negative with it is many here equate Christianity with right wing politics. The pastor at Prestonwood, a big Baptist church here we used to attend made the phrase, "either you are for communism or for America" in referring to the recent elections. My friend (who still attended) got fed up with all the politicking in church at that point and got up and left, but 98% of the folks seemed to feed off it and ready to chop off the head of anyone advocating a tax cut for the middle class. Anyway, you will encounter such stuff like that but you can of course choose to ignore it if you want.

Yes, I find the politicking ingrained in some religious institutions to be obnoxious, offensive and dangerous to democracy. IMO, when a pastor, bishop, grand poohbah or whatever tells their customers how to vote it is time for that church to lose its tax exempt status and become a political action committee. Separation of church and state is a good thing.

Fortunately, Prestonwood Baptist is not representative of the city of Dallas since it isn't even in Dallas. It's in Plano (Collin County) and they have another one in Prosper. As I alluded in my post earlier in this thread, the city of Dallas is very different in character and politics from many of its suburbs. It is regretable that so many people use "Dallas" as a catchall term when they are really speaking of their experiences in Collin County, Tarrant County or wherever. It perpetuates stereotypes.

[gokctx]

Let me correct myself. You are right Lakewoody, Spring is the best season in Dallas. It can start in Feb and continue through part of May. The weather is usually real nice then with just a few severe storms, which can be a pretty awesome site. The wildflowers are pretty nice.

The fall season is the one I miss most in that you do not get the changing of the colors like you do in other parts of the country. Yes the trees do drop their leaves but the fall season seems to slide from summer into this pseudo winter like season when it is cold one day and warm the next.

In regards to traffic congestion, sorry Lakewooder to break the news to you but Dallas ranks ahead of San Fran, Houston, Boston, Seattle and Atlanta in congestion. Only LA, NY, Chicago, and DC have worse traffic. This is according to INRIX which is the nations premier company that measures traffic congestion. These are quantitative results, not some subjective opinion. Let's see, 635, 75, 35, the mix-master -- just about every major highway has some nasty bottlenecks.

Sprawl? My gosh man due to the inexhaustible supply of flat prarie land Dallas is expanding North South East and West. It can take an hour and a half to drive from one side of the city to the next.

Finally in regards to character this is a subjective opinion but Dallas just cannot boast the ethnic diversity and character that a well established city can boast. Boston, New Orleans, Chicago, DC, Baltimore, Philly, Seattle, and San Diego all are a bit more charasmatic simply because they have a lot more history around them and are not as transient as Dallas. When I think of other cities with about the same amount of character Atlanta comes to mind. If I were to compare Dallas to a city I would compare it to a chain restaurant like Chilis or Olive Garden. Predicatable quality but nothing extraordinary. Anyway just my opinion and you are welcome to disagree.

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

I never see traffic and sprawl. Lots of character where I live.

What do you mean Spring is too short? It can start in February and go until the end of May!

[mysterymachinebl]

Originally Posted by staywarm2

George Bush

Are people in Dallas really into liking our President, Mr. Bush? I know he is moving there soon. Is Dallas a Bush town? If you're a Democrat, are you a total outsider?

I personally don't know anyone that likes Mr. Bush. The neighborhood he is moving into is definitely a conservative leaning area, so he will be surrounded by fans. However, Dallas county voted democratic the last two elections, so no....you won't be an outsider by any means. Even in the more conservative suburbs I saw plenty of Obama bumper stickers.

[gokctx]

Hi Dallas Native,

I did not mean to contradict your previous thread. I should have said the greater Dallas metropolitan area. There are some areas in Dallas proper like Deep Elum and the inner city and along Greenville that are not nearly as conservative and right wing as Plano. However, I do believe no one would argue that the greater Dallas metropolitan area as a whole is conservative and right wing. Democrat, liberal, progressive, if you go by any of those terms you would be considered a minority.

It is unfortunate that a few big profile churches within a 30 mile radius of the city do mix too much right wing politics into their services. IMHO it really detracts from the service and is divisive. If you hunt you can find non-political churches however.

While there are not as many Bush believers now as there were a few years back (back then folks here thought Bush was the second coming of Christ) I cannot really think of another US city that would be more amenable to Bush except maybe Houston.

Originally Posted by Dallas native

Yes, I find the politicking ingrained in some religious institutions to be obnoxious, offensive and dangerous to democracy. IMO, when a pastor, bishop, grand poohbah or whatever tells their customers how to vote it is time for that church to lose its tax exempt status and become a political action committee. Separation of church and state is a good thing.

Fortunately, Prestonwood Baptist is not representative of the city of Dallas since it isn't even in Dallas. It's in Plano (Collin County) and they have another one in Prosper. As I alluded in my post earlier in this thread, the city of Dallas is very different in character and politics from many of its suburbs. It is regretable that so many people use "Dallas" as a catchall term when they are really speaking of their experiences in Collin County, Tarrant County or wherever. It perpetuates stereotypes.

[CGGirl]

The COL is definitely a plus although it seems that although housing is way cheaper here, other things are much more expensive than in other places where I've lived where I paid twice the rent.

As for crazy drivers, I don't drive, but as a pedestrian, I feel I've come much closer to getting hit while crossing the street than I ever did in NYC or DC! I wish they would pass a law preventing drivers from talking on their cells unless they have a headset!

As a liberal, I thought I would be scared of Dallas. I was very pleased to find out that Dallas is much less conservative than the rest of the state.

[Dallas native]

Originally Posted by staywarm2

George Bush

Are people in Dallas really into liking our President, Mr. Bush? I know he is moving there soon. Is Dallas a Bush town? If you're a Democrat, are you a total outsider?

Oh, hell no! There's not much to like IMO although I do commend him on his skill at ducking shoes as they are being thrown at him. Dallas County voted 57% for Obama. I haven't found out how the city of Dallas voted, but I can guarantee it would be more left leaning than the county. There are those rich people and/or right wing types who support Bush or, at least, don't hate him (although many of them are embarassed by his performance as president). But, they are far from a majority. The rich ones will enjoy partying with him in Preston Hollow and the Park Cities just because he will be an ex-president. The religious fanatics will be cast aside since he no longer needs them. Dallas in general is NOT Bush country. If you get out into some of the 'burbs and then further out into the sticks, there are probably a lot of people who still think he was a good president. That's another reason I stay inside the city limits.

[CGGirl]

I think the city of Dallas was just a little over 60 percent for Obama. Don't quote me on that b/c I'm not sure if I'm confusing my precinct with the city.

On Election Day, I felt bad for the one sole volunteer who had a Republican sign at my Uptown voting location and was ignored while several of us who had Obama and other Dem signs got honked at and thumbs up

[Exult.Q36]

Originally Posted by CGGirl

I think the city of Dallas was just a little over 60 percent for Obama. Don't quote me on that b/c I'm not sure if I'm confusing my precinct with the city.

On Election Day, I felt bad for the one sole volunteer who had a Republican sign at my Uptown voting location and was ignored while several of us who had Obama and other Dem signs got honked at and thumbs up

I do not feel bad for them. Do you see what type of mess the republican party has put us in.

[Dallas native]

Originally Posted by CGGirl

I think the city of Dallas was just a little over 60 percent for Obama. Don't quote me on that b/c I'm not sure if I'm confusing my precinct with the city.

On Election Day, I felt bad for the one sole volunteer who had a Republican sign at my Uptown voting location and was ignored while several of us who had Obama and other Dem signs got honked at and thumbs up

I've been looking for the statistic for the city as a whole and I can't find it. www.dalcoelections.org breaks it down by precinct, but I can't find an overall percentage just for the city of Dallas. I know it is out there somewhere, but who has time to add up all the Dallas precincts? 60% or higher for Obama sounds more than plausible, but I am just curious as to how high it went. That's so sweet that you felt sad for the lonely Republican volunteer in a sea of Democrats in Uptown Gotta admire them for standing up for what they believe in!

[Dallas native]

Originally Posted by gokctx

I did not mean to contradict your previous thread. I should have said the greater Dallas metropolitan area. There are some areas in Dallas proper like Deep Elum and the inner city and along Greenville that are not nearly as conservative and right wing as Plano. However, I do believe no one would argue that the greater Dallas metropolitan area as a whole is conservative and right wing. Democrat, liberal, progressive, if you go by any of those terms you would be considered a minority.

Our reward is that we get to be classified as not nearly as conservative and right wing as Plano? How about far left of Plano? If you rely on voting as a defining factor for whether a region is left, right or in the middle, then you could safely classify much more of Dallas than just Deep Ellum, Lower Greenville and inner city Dallas as NOT conservative and NOT right wing. Dallas County (about 2.4 million population) voted 57% Democrat in the recent election. Collin County was quite the opposite. I would argue that the greater Dallas metro area is fairly moderate when you consider that the heart of the metro votes left and the smaller surrounding counties vote right.