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Of course it is true that London as a national capital and world financial center, as well as a more populous metro, is stronger than DFW. No one said otherwise. The same is true for Paris.
But one poster thinks that they need mountains and beaches.
in the opinion of Nunusguy, London, Paris and DFW have something in common; they are all equally dull and worthless, since they do not have those aforesaid mountains and beaches.
I've been to Brussels. It cannot compare to DFW in terms of size or offerings. It just doesn't have the population.
But back to the question. Is nunusguy correct? Do you evaluate a city based on mountains and beaches? Or do you judge it by its degree of urban offerings?
I love Dallas and I love living here, but there is simply no way you can put it on the same level as London or Paris. No way at all.
Brussels is a great city. I take it as a complement if someone compares Dallas to it.
But I think the best comparisson to a city in Europe is Frankfurt. I mentioned why in a past post.
I agree LAnative - it is getting a little silly here but I wanted to make a comment on the broader idea of happiness and geography.
Getmeoutofhere
I totally empathize with you and don't think you are inherently flawed or immature for not liking Texas. I don't think every place is for everyone and that is okay. I think there is a lot about Texas/DFW to like and I choose to really focus on those things while I am here but I don't see it as a forever fit. I transplanted a couple years ago and for me, the struggles have been exacerbated by choosing the wrong pocket/suburb within DFW coupled with being home sick. I am not big into organized religion and in the pocket I chose, it is ultra conservative and very religious. My view of the world is very different from those around me and I think that can be pretty isolating. For me, I left a home with the mountains and they offered more than something pretty to look at, I hiked three or four times a week with my dog and spent many hours in the mountains. It took 20 minutes from my house and I was completely in a different world. My kids were learning to ski and do all kinds of other outdoor recreation. It has been a huge change in lifestyle to not have that. For somebody that isn't into organized religion, the mountains were my spiritual centering and I guess you could say, my church. Dallas/Fort Worth offers so much in regards to shopping, cultural attractions, diversity, has a wonderful economy but for me with young kids, I am not visiting museums every week so the day to day value is not being utilized. For people that love the cosmopolitan life, Dallas has a lot to offer but we all find value in different things and I think it is okay realize a certain place is not a good fit for various reasons. Of course you are going to get a negative reaction on this forum. Generally speaking, people are loyal to their homes and they should be.
I have a hard time imagining aceplace being happy in San Francisco and Dallas suits him just fine - that is totally okay.
I just read a great book by an NPR correspondent Eric Weiner that I would recommend to anyone contemplating what makes us happy and how does the geography around us affect our happiness. The book was pretty liberating for me because I think since I moved here two years ago, I have thought I was somehow inferior to not be able to "adapt" and just be happy anywhere. Anyway, here are a couple questions he answers about the book in an interview about happiness and geography that reminded me of this thread. So it's a book about happy people? In a way. But it's really a book about happy places. There are many books out there that focus on the question "What is happiness?" I attempt to answer the question "Where is happiness?" I've always believed that we are creatures of geography, of place. By "place" I mean physical place, yes, but also cultural place. Culture is the sea we swim in. It matters a lot more than we think.
But can't we be happy anywhere?
No, I don't think so. Not any more than we could be happy married to just anyone. And that is one of the great shortcomings of the "self-help industrial complex." We're told, again and again, to look inward when much of our happiness depends on our environment. Change your environment and you can change your life. This isn't running away from your problems but simply recognizing that where we are affects who we are.
Good luck to you getmeouthere - just wanted you to know that you are not totally alone and no, you are not immature for not liking Texas. However, why be so harsh?
Because there is this overriding arrogance / ignorance about Texas, an almost religious belief that it is the only state worth a damn. Go look around the other forums, no place else has this level of blind devotion.
Any one that doesn't fall in to lockstep is...well, see above.
I refuse to play along. Texas is fine and dandy, but it is not this mecca that so many want to pretend it is.
I know people are prone to glossing over the faults of something they truly love, but look at just this thread. It's laughable. People are comparing Dallas to London, Paris, Berlin...it's so absurd, it's sad.
I don't think every place is for everyone and that is okay. I think there is a lot about Texas/DFW to like and I choose to really focus on those things while I am here but I don't see it as a forever fit. I transplanted a couple years ago and for me, the struggles have been exacerbated by choosing the wrong pocket/suburb within DFW coupled with being home sick. I am not big into organized religion and in the pocket I chose, it is ultra conservative and very religious. My view of the world is very different from those around me and I think that can be pretty isolating. For me, I left a home with the mountains and they offered more than something pretty to look at, I hiked three or four times a week with my dog and spent many hours in the mountains. It took 20 minutes from my house and I was completely in a different world. My kids were learning to ski and do all kinds of other outdoor recreation. It has been a huge change in lifestyle to not have that. For somebody that isn't into organized religion, the mountains were my spiritual centering and I guess you could say, my church. Dallas/Fort Worth offers so much in regards to shopping, cultural attractions, diversity, has a wonderful economy but for me with young kids, I am not visiting museums every week so the day to day value is not being utilized. For people that love the cosmopolitan life, Dallas has a lot to offer but we all find value in different things and I think it is okay realize a certain place is not a good fit for various reasons. Of course you are going to get a negative reaction on this forum. Generally speaking, people are loyal to their homes and they should be.
I have a hard time imagining aceplace being happy in San Francisco and Dallas suits him just fine - that is totally okay.
You are absolutely right. Not every place is for everyone.
Like you Im not into organized religion. Fortunately I live in Dallas and not in the suburbs. There are still alot of churches here, but Ive never had one person ask me a religion related question.
Dallas isnt perfect. We dont have the beautiful scenery that I grew up with in California. But if you know where to look, you can still find things of beauty. I love White Rock Lake and the area around Cedar Hill. I could just focus on the fact that theyre arent mountians or beaches here, but why make myself homesick? I left LA for a reason. I dont want to spend my time here wishing I was back there. So I focus on why I came.
I came to Dallas because:
1) the cost of living and the economy. We feel like we have more opprotunties here.
2) my family moved here years ago. We wanted to be closer
3) we wanted to live some place that was still an international and diverse city. Dallas isnt LA in that regard, but its still has alot to offer.
4) we wanted to buy a house
So instead of staring at the open field full of cattle thats next to my office building and wishing I had mountians to look at again, I remember why Im here and as strange as it sounds, Im starting to find beauty in the simple prarie lands surrounding the ciy.
I refuse to play along. Texas is fine and dandy, but it is not this mecca that so many want to pretend it is.
One of the reasons Texas in general and N.Texas in particular is getting positive press right now is that the economy in the region is in pretty good
shape comparitvley speaking when you look at other areas which have so much more challenging economic problems like the SouthWest & FLA. But I'm sure I'm not the only one here old enough to remember the mess in Texas in the '80s with real estate and the savings & loan industry.
Every geographic area goes thru it's economic cycles.
Because there is this overriding arrogance / ignorance about Texas, an almost religious belief that it is the only state worth a damn. Go look around the other forums, no place else has this level of blind devotion.
Any one that doesn't fall in to lockstep is...well, see above.
I refuse to play along. Texas is fine and dandy, but it is not this mecca that so many want to pretend it is.
I know people are prone to glossing over the faults of something they truly love, but look at just this thread. It's laughable. People are comparing Dallas to London, Paris, Berlin...it's so absurd, it's sad.
No, I don't see any extreme devotion to Texas happening on this forum. If anyone is extreme, it's you... and in the opposite direction.
Nunusguy is consistent with DFW being just as good as London, since he judges cities based on their beaches and mountains. Now there are a lot of boats on the Thames river, but I don't knowof any beaches. And no mountains, either. So in Nunusguy's system of criteria, Dallas and London are equally worthless.
Getmeoutofhere
I totally empathize with you and don't think you are inherently flawed or immature for not liking Texas.
GetMe is not flawed because he dislikes something... his behavior is irrational because he can't stop complaining, griping and whining about it to anyone who will listen. That behavior is compulsive, pathological and useless to the individual. It simply reinforces and perpetuates his discontent and misery.
What would be a more normal behavior pattern? If you dislike where you are, you leave and find someplace better.
There are many places I don't want to be, and some I actively dislike. I don't waste my psychic energy, however, in telling people, over and over, how rotten their city or state is. Why not? It's insane, and I'm not.
Also, if they happen to like their city, state or country, and I don't agree with them, I don't feel it's any of my business to "correct" their thinking, set them straight, teach them the "error" of their ways.
I love Dallas and I love living here, but there is simply no way you can put it on the same level as London or Paris. No way at all.
You missed the point, LAnative... the idea is that London, Paris and Dallas, although they differ in many ways, are equally flawed due to their absence of mountains and beaches. I don't agree with that idea, by the way.
You might think so, however. You mentioned that you can swim in SoCal in the morning and snow ski in the afternoon. If that's your criterion, you should find Los Angeles to be superior to London or Paris.
Quote:
Brussels is a great city. I take it as a complement if someone compares Dallas to it.
But I think the best comparisson to a city in Europe is Frankfurt. I mentioned why in a past post.
Well, it may be great in some ways, but it does not have the same level of urban attractions that we find in DFW. I don't know about Frankfurt, never been there, but its metro population may be too small in comparison to DFW to support the level of urban goods and services that DFW can offer. What about comparing DFW to the Dortmund-Duisburg conurbation.
The idea is that the things you can buy, visit and entertain yourself with in a metro are proportional to the population. You have to match urban areas by their population in order to see some equivalence. In that respect, DFW has 2/3 of what metro Chicago has, because it has 2/3 the population.
Interesting seeing all the posts but I agree with some of the others. Dallas should in no way, shape or form be mentioned in the same sentence comparing it with London or Paris. It's like comparing apples with screwdrivers.
I've lived in Dallas before as well as many other cities in the USA and spend a lot of time traveling around the world. I've been in Paris and London many many times as well as most of Europe. Dallas can't even be in the same sentence as those cities.
Here is my perspective on Dallas.
It's a fairly boring place to live if you've lived in other more glamorous and exciting cities. There isn't too much to do as far as outdoor activity, considering most of the mainstream population doesn't hunt and fish.
There are no mountains and although there is a Lake there in Lewisville it's nothing too exciting. Most people don't have boats there. There aren't any oceans or anything too beautiful in Dallas.
Crime is fairly low in decent parts of town like the Park Cities and the suburbs. It's a safe place to live.
The public transportation system when I lived there wasn't too good but it's improving with the Dart system. But generally you MUST have a car there to get around.
The people there are extremely friendly. I lived there many years and the people are as friendly as they come. The cost of living is fairly good for a big city. Real estate in the suburbs is fairly affordable. Besides the Park Cities which is expensive, you can go to areas like Plano and get a monster house for not too much money compared to other cities.
There is no state income tax which was wonderful! Although the property taxes and sales tax are high if you spend a lot.
Speaking of which, the shopping is probably some of the best in the world. I spend a lot of time shopping around the world and really Dallas offers some fabulous shopping between all the malls there at Northpark, Galleria, Stonebridge, Willow Bend, boutiques in Highland Park and other malls. It's really great.
Great restaurants and great food choices all across the Metroplex. Great grocery stores and options for stores (Target, Home Depot, Walmart, etc. all over the place).
There are great schools in the Park Cities, Plano and other areas. I didn't have kids when I lived there so don't know first hand but had many friends that did and they raved about the schools.
I didn't notice any big racial problems or tension like other cities in the USA. Maybe I'm wrong but I certainly didn't see it.
Dallas is really pro-business. The economy is fairly stable and corruption seemed to be controlled for the most part.
Again, it's not a glamorous city but many others aren't either. While I'd say it's much better than cities like Oklahoma City..it's far from being able to compare to to really gorgeous cities with a lot of history like London and Paris.
I can't say if it's underrated or overrated but I think much depends on what you are looking for. It's no California in terms of beautiful landscapes but then again I've found the people are more genuine and real.
Granted when I lived there I was a bachelor and almost all the girls I met had some sort of plastic surgery (fake boobs, etc) but not more so than in California. I found many people were transplanted from other areas in the USA. For single people moving to Dallas I'd say it's a bit tougher in Dallas to meet other single people. You have to make more of an effort at it. I wasn't one to like going out to bars too much so you have to meet other people through mutual friends, co-workers, gym, church, etc. I guess you could call me a "serial dater" as I dated many girls and didn't have any problems there meeting girls. And I would assume girls don't have too many problems meeting guys. I found the girl to guy ratio fairly good for those of you single. I'm not sure how the bar scene there is now but I probably wouldn't be hitting that scene to find any meaningful relationships.
I spend lots of time in California and I find people there tend to be more fake or plastic. In Dallas the people are friendlier, warmer and more genuine.
The summers are brutally hot and you don't want to spend much time outside for the most part. You go from your air-conditioned house to your AC'ed car to your AC'ed office and vice versa.
It's not the most beautiful city in the world but the people are friendly and it's safe and a good quality of life. Also, your odds of finding a decent job are much higher in Dallas than in other parts of the country.
I think living in Dallas is a trade off. You have to look at what is important to you and what type of quality of life you want. Look at places like Orange County where most people are fake. Look at episodes of the Real Housewives of Orange County and all the problems they have trying to keep up with the Jones. I've found cities in California have more of those types of issues.
In Dallas they do as well but I've found mostly in the Park Cities areas. In the suburbs it's mostly people with families that are looking for good schools and a good quality of life.
Last edited by earlyretirement; 03-02-2010 at 08:45 AM..
"So instead of staring at the open field full of cattle thats next to my office building and wishing I had mountians to look at again, I remember why Im here and as strange as it sounds, Im starting to find beauty in the simple prarie lands surrounding the ciy."
LANative I totally get your list for why Dallas works for you and respect it. I think for those reasons I would never say DFW was over-rated. I would only say it isn't for everyone like we have discussed. I also so wholeheartedly agree about finding beauty in simple things. I am always on the lookout for wonderful nature preserves, biking paths because exercise and nature is so important to us. I absolutely love the Texas longhorns. I had never seen them before moving to Texas and I find them to be absolutely exotic and very charming. Each time we encounter them on a bike path, I stop and am in awe of them while my husband laughs and calls me a "cow lover." We love kayaking on Lake Worth (Fort Worth Nature Refuge) and will actively seek out fun outings and pretty places. Each weekend we go exploring new places to connect to if that makes sense. I am not one to waste my life away not appreciating the great things in life but let's just say, I have had to at times do a little cognitive therapy on myself to make sure I am finding those smalll things to appreciate. At the same time, when my 8 year old son is begging for a bebe gun and all his friends are getting real guns from Santa to go hunting, I am just aware of our differences in regards to general interests of our community. I am actually not particularly anti-hunting or guns but just would rather him ask for a mountain bike/skiis. There are the mountains which yes, are pretty to look at but I miss the passions and hobbies that go around that lifestyle just as much. The ride your bike to work if you can mentality vs. drive your car. My tummy has surely felt the effects on not having the mountains around if you catch my drift. I feel like I need to fly home for a weekend just to run up and down some mountains.
Aceplace - I totally get your point too in regards to hearing futile complaining - doesn't feel productive. However, I think when people feel trapped in a place or can't leave for whatever reason (job/economic reason), it may result in frustration and helplessness. These forums sometimes end up being an anonymous venting outlet for these frustrations. Get meoutofhere is probably not going to find a lot of sympathy or validation in this loyal to Dallas crew - kind of like me looking for fellow Jon Stewart fans in my neighborhood. I do know for me when I am feeling extreme, it helps balance it out by talking to others with differing viewpoints.
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