Moving from Cleveland to Dallas-- what's to like? (to live in, suburbs)

[Dallas native]

Originally Posted by DWong

Just a quick info update:
Dallas County went Obama 57-41, not 66% like someone else quoted.

Also, Dallas County which is only about 1/4 of the entire metro - the other counties would have made the DFW metro RED, handily.
And until this Obama Frenzy came along, Dallas went RED every time except for 1964 - I would hate to think that it's become liberal. Obama carried the large african american vote by 95% which makes up 25% of the vote in Dallas.
Not that it's a bad thing - DFW is one last remaining conservative metros.... anywhere.

I said the CITY of Dallas went 66% for Obama. Dallas COUNTY voted 57% for Obama. BTW, Dallas County accounts for more than 1/4 of the MSA. The county has an estimated population of 2,366,511 which accounts for 38% of the entire MSA population of 6,300,006.

[lpepping]

Originally Posted by DWong

Just a quick info update:
Dallas County went Obama 57-41, not 66% like someone else quoted.

Also, Dallas County which is only about 1/4 of the entire metro - the other counties would have made the DFW metro RED, handily.
And until this Obama Frenzy came along, Dallas went RED every time except for 1964 - I would hate to think that it's become liberal. Obama carried the large african american vote by 95% which makes up 25% of the vote in Dallas.
Not that it's a bad thing - DFW is one last remaining conservative metros.... anywhere.

Dallas county went blue in 2006. I know that isn't a presidential election year but it does show a change in the way Dallas voted before Obama became popular.

[Dallas native]

Originally Posted by lpepping

Dallas county went blue in 2006. I know that isn't a presidential election year but it does show a change in the way Dallas voted before Obama became popular.

Good point. And, in 2004 Dallas County only went to Bush with 50.32% of the vote. I didn't look up the actual percentage, but, based on that, the City of Dallas inevitably went for Kerry. The red is fading over time and the demographics do not favor it making a comeback unless the Republican Party broadens its appeal.

[DWong]

Originally Posted by Dallas native

I said the CITY of Dallas went 66% for Obama. Dallas COUNTY voted 57% for Obama. BTW, Dallas County accounts for more than 1/4 of the MSA. The county has an estimated population of 2,366,511 which accounts for 38% of the entire MSA population of 6,300,006.

I stand corrected.... I was doing quick estimating math which was off by 13%.

[DWong]

Originally Posted by Dallas native

Good point. And, in 2004 Dallas County only went to Bush with 50.32% of the vote. I didn't look up the actual percentage, but, based on that, the City of Dallas inevitably went for Kerry. The red is fading over time and the demographics do not favor it making a comeback unless the Republican Party broadens its appeal.

Considering that it is a major metro... that's not saying much. Most major metros on either coast go 75-25.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Joannewebx

We're in our late 40s, kids away at college and my husband is thinking of accepting a job in Dallas. I've been reading tons of posts about Dallas and so far, in a nutshell--
Good Things: low cost of living, shopping, friendly people
Bad things: property taxes, hot in summer, ugly/flat/dry/brown landscape, not centered on culture or festival-type things, conservative, materialistic McMansion mentality, mold, termites, foundation problems, no basements for storage, not a "walking" city, and bad traffic.
Moving from the midwest, knowing nobody and reading all these posts, it actually sounds rather horrible. One thing for sure, it has to be a step up from Cleveland, but it's all relative. Luckily, I do like hot weather and can make the best of things. Please tell me something else to look forward to if we move! Thanks!

Well it isn't all that bad by anymeans. We moved there from the Washington DC area when we were about your age. We did have kids there, I will say that much..

My take: You say a negative is conservtism, isn't that a matter of opinion?? If you really do not like to be around conservatives, you may want to concentrate in living near SMU or one of the suburbs near the downtown area. They will be very diversified and the older areas, though somewhat pricey are certainly not ugly. They are very green, lots of nice trees, nice grass and great old homes. If you can get over the conservatism, there are some awesome suburbs like Hiighland Village and the older parts of No Dallas and Richardson that are anything but ugly.. There are other areas as well, I just mentioned a few.

Yes, it is hot and humid during the summers, that is the worst part of Dallas in my opinion, but heck if you live in the mid-west you are accustom to hot, humid summers.

Property taxes are very high, but there is no state income tax. For those in the higher brackets you probably come out better. For those living on small fixed incomes property taxes can kill you..

I do not think Dallas is any more materistic than any large city, of course you have your areas where money means a lot, this is part of America. I am sure you get the same thing in the mid west..

We lived there for 13 years, had no mold problems and almost no termites when we sold our house..You just have your house treated regularly. Heck we moved from NM to AR last spring and had some termiles.. They are everywhere in our country or almost everywhere..There are no more mold problems in Texas than in anyplace with high humidity..

You say it isn't a walking city, that depends on where you live. It is as much a walking city as most cities and no more foundation problems than anywhere. As for culture, there certainly is some, again, it isn't NYC but then how many want to live in NYC anyway? (no slam to those of you who like living there)

My point, Dallas has a lot to offer, you are concentrating on all the negatives you have read because you simply don't want to re-locate it sounds. You can continue to look for all the bad and be miserable or you can look for all the neat things about a new life experience and have lots of fun days ahead of you. Me, I would do the second..

Nita

[Lakewooder]

I think you mean live near downtown, not one of the suburbs near downtown. Actually SMU is fairly conservative - but most of the professors are not - they live mostly close to downtown.

[DWong]

Originally Posted by nmnita

Well it isn't all that bad by anymeans. We moved there from the Washington DC area when we were about your age. We did have kids there, I will say that much..

My take: You say a negative is conservtism, isn't that a matter of opinion?? If you really do not like to be around conservatives, you may want to concentrate in living near SMU or one of the suburbs near the downtown area. They will be very diversified and the older areas, though somewhat pricey are certainly not ugly. They are very green, lots of nice trees, nice grass and great old homes. If you can get over the conservatism, there are some awesome suburbs like Hiighland Village and the older parts of No Dallas and Richardson that are anything but ugly.. There are other areas as well, I just mentioned a few.

Yes, it is hot and humid during the summers, that is the worst part of Dallas in my opinion, but heck if you live in the mid-west you are accustom to hot, humid summers.

Property taxes are very high, but there is no state income tax. For those in the higher brackets you probably come out better. For those living on small fixed incomes property taxes can kill you..

I do not think Dallas is any more materistic than any large city, of course you have your areas where money means a lot, this is part of America. I am sure you get the same thing in the mid west..

We lived there for 13 years, had no mold problems and almost no termites when we sold our house..You just have your house treated regularly. Heck we moved from NM to AR last spring and had some termiles.. They are everywhere in our country or almost everywhere..There are no more mold problems in Texas than in anyplace with high humidity..

You say it isn't a walking city, that depends on where you live. It is as much a walking city as most cities and no more foundation problems than anywhere. As for culture, there certainly is some, again, it isn't NYC but then how many want to live in NYC anyway? (no slam to those of you who like living there)

My point, Dallas has a lot to offer, you are concentrating on all the negatives you have read because you simply don't want to re-locate it sounds. You can continue to look for all the bad and be miserable or you can look for all the neat things about a new life experience and have lots of fun days ahead of you. Me, I would do the second..

Nita

ACtually alot of people would like to live in NYC and not Dallas:
America's Most and Least Favorite Cities: Where Americans Do—and Don't—Want to Work and Live - BusinessWeek

[Dallas native]

Originally Posted by DWong

Considering that it is a major metro... that's not saying much. Most major metros on either coast go 75-25.

As I said, that statistic was from 2004. It was to reinforce the point made by another poster that the trend was blue before Obama was on the scene. As in most other major metros, the major city is bluer than the surrounding suburbs.

[DWong]

Originally Posted by Dallas native

As I said, that statistic was from 2004. It was to reinforce the point made by another poster that the trend was blue before Obama was on the scene. As in most other major metros, the major city is bluer than the surrounding suburbs.

yes, but other major metro's aren't even close.

LA County - 69-28
and they have a 9% african american population.

SF - 83-13
7% african american population....

OC County - 50-47 McCain
And that's in our conservative hotland of CA.
only 1.5% african american population

NOw that's liberal DFW

Hey conserative areas are the only places doing well in the economy now...
just ask Michigan