Is Dallas a "Glamorous" City or not?

[CollegePalooza]

I think Dallas is in general an upscale city. Definitely so in comparison to any other large city in Texas. Since Dallas seems to be very consumer/shopping experience driven, there are a lot of expensive shopping centers and store to suit any taste.

[codytravers]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

Tyler/Jacksonville/Longview are growing at a steady pace while the Golden Triangle has remained stagnant and/or lost population. Northeast Texas is the place to be right now. Our economy is doing great. We have 2 universities (UT Tyler & Texas College), one of the oldest community colleges (Tyler Junior College) in the nation, & a slew of medical facilities. We also have a new 14 story high rise condo on the west side of town overlooking a championship golf course.

Tyler & Longview also share the same media; TV stations, radios stations & what not. We already are like one large metro known as Greater East Texas. People commute to Tyler from Longview for work everyday & vice versa...40 miles isn't that far especially when its smooth sailing interstate the whole way.

Moderator cut: rude
By the way, Houston can have its transsexual mayor. That's a plus? Lol

[R1070]

Originally Posted by codytravers

Moderator cut: rude
By the way, Houston can have its transsexual mayor. That's a plus? Lol

This comment is unnecessary, the mayor of Houston is lesbian not transsexual. It is a plus because it shows those in Houston who elected her thought of her as a human being and not judging her based upon her sexual orientation which I think some here can take a good lesson from.

[Expert Opinion]

Cody just gave us a glimpse into the sophistication level of the typical Dallasite. He doesn't even know the difference between a transexual and a lesbian and is totally insensitive on the issue. How glamorous can dallas be when it is predominantly occupied by such backwards, narrow-minded thinking. Have no doubts Dallas is not glamorous. The posters here think that just because dallas has a lot of strip malls, walmarts and family dollar stores it is glamorous. Dallasites make me laugh. It's like listening to a bunch of truck drivers talk about sophistication, art and glamor. Listening to Dallasites talk about glamour is utterly ridiculous and they have absolutely NO CREDIBILITY whatsoever.

[codytravers]

Haha sorry.. I know the difference, just wasn't aware she was a LESBIAN instead of a TRANSSEXUAL. Just for the record, I don't care about sexual orientation, as a transsexual cuts my hair. However, I don't put them on a pedestal like you Houston people do either.

By the way, HOUSTON is the city full of strip malls and trailer trash. You guys have no zoning, so right next to your "affluent" suburbs, you have Jiffy Lubes and liquor stores.

Oh yeah, you can have your Hillary Clinton wannabe lookalike mayor, we'll keep our mayor who brings in good business like Houston brings lung cancer.

(PS Look at how smoggy the skyline is behind her, must be all the pollution)

[Expert Opinion]

The smog in Dallas is downright TOXIC. Glamorous? I don't think so. Dallas is too ugly to be glamorous. And the people are WAY too close minded, prejudice and segregated. Dallas is not a progressive town now and never has been.

[codytravers]

Dude that's fog, not smog. Dallas is the cleanest city in the nation according to many studies.

[getmeoutofhere]

Originally Posted by codytravers

Dude that's fog, not smog. Dallas is the cleanest city in the nation according to many studies.

So that explains the constant "orange" air pollution warnings.

[Mister Nifty]

Originally Posted by mrichmiles

Hi,
I have lived in Dallas Chicago, Miami, and am now in Boston (for the 3rd time.) Based on my experience...Dallas, to me, is most similar to Chicago, from a mindset basis. People in Chi and Dal mutually seem to have a "can do" attitude, which makes both areas entrepreneurial. Both are friendly areas where people are generally nice and helpful, and both GENERALLY have the "Midwest morality/Southern Bible-belt" mentality toward dealings with other people and life. Doing the "right" thing really means something in both Chicago and Dallas. Boston has a harder "edge." (From a topography basis, Boston and Chicago are similar... although the weather is actually BETTER in Chicago!)

In Boston, people tend to keep to themselves more, and you will rarely have a conversation in the grocery store check-out line unless instigated by a Southerner. In Boston you can go years without speaking to your neighbors... with no argument or basis for not talking. People just tend to do their own thing in Boston. That said, Bostonians are very proactive politically, and as a social consciousness. I have had people drive a wet dog (in the backseat of their car) home during a rainstorm, because it was obvious the dog was lost and apt to wander into major traffic areas. I have seen perfect strangers walk up to a car to make sure the man inside talking to a 10 year old girl on a bike was her dad. (Her Dad appreciated it very much, BTW!) I live in Newton, and that is the way it is in our town.

Every major city mentioned has its Highland Park/University Park (TX), Wilmette/Winetka/Lake Forest (IL), Newton/Wellesley/Weston (MA) areas, and life there is very similar between the various cities. We have good schools, a safe environment, and responsive city services. There are also towns that are less affluent in all three states, and I am sure they also share similarities. I think every major SMSA will have similar pockets to other SMSAs' and it is hard to generalize across the various towns within an area.

Is Dallas more wealthy? Where specifically? Yes, certain parts are wealthy, and certain parts are not. Chicago has major industry and advertising, and stock exchanges (CBOE/CBOT). Boston is a high-tech, and banking and educational center. The Forbes 500 show more millionaires in Boston than Chicago. (That said, George Soros just built a huge property on Lakeshore Drive in Winnetka.) Maybe numerically there are more, but not necessarily more dollars. There are a huge number of millionaires in Texas, but probably more toward the oil industry, and computer industry in Austin. There is money everywhere!

As far as the houses being bigger in Dallas, that is not a function of more money available, as much as it is a function of the construction costs. Dallas houses are, first off, generally built on a slab (due in part to the clay soil). Boston and Chicago homes have deep foundations, generally with full basements. Thus, there is a whole level of house you don't pay for in Dallas. Also, the labor is cheap in Dallas. Most brickwork is done by Mexicans (this may have changed, but I build in Plano in the 1990's, and that was the case there, then). Also the labor in TX is generally non-Union, whereas in MA it is mostly Unionized. Without getting into the pros or cons, that DOES affect the cost of building. A house in Southlake, TX, with 5000 square feet, will cost 1/2 (at least, maybe closer to 1/4 in some areas) of what the same square footage will cost in Boston, or Chicago.

Just some thoughts...

To understand what Dallas has become, one has to ignore its bling bling and revisit it altogether. Start off with Highland Park Shopping Village, then head north to Preston Center, then over along Loop 12 towards the east to Northpark, and then back north to the Galleria Dallas. Those places where you just visitied are unique to Dallas, perhaps not so much to Chicago, but certainly to any other place in the southwest and in the south. See, the first store you visited is frequented by customers from twenty-two surrounding states while the other three are stand alone commercial shopping districts. Compared to a business district with significant commerical, with Uptown / Galleria in Houston being an example of this, a commercial shopping district has a significant amount of office space, hotels and condominiums while the shopping remains the primary focus of that particular district. The Houston market is large enough to support substantial shopping, but not large enough to support stand alone commercial shopping districts. Not realized, the market of Dallas - Fort Worth has about three stores to Houston's two, three hotel rooms to Houston's two. It is a market that takes in not only the surrounding Southwest, but as the metropolitan area continues to expand it will take in more and more of the whole south.

[Canine*Castle]

Originally Posted by codytravers

Dude that's fog, not smog. Dallas is the cleanest city in the nation according to many studies.

Link please?

Here is a link for you rating the DFW area as having the 7th worst air pollution ... ozone, otherwise known as smog.


State of the Air - Air Pollution Report Card Results - The Daily Green