What do people in El Paso think of other Texas cities? (Houston: home, schools)

[Neo45]

I went through El Paso and was laughing at people who got big eyes and asked a bunch of questions when I said I was from Houston. What do people there think of TX cities?


As far as what other cities think of El Paso...nobody really knows anything or talks about it becsuse its so far from everyone.

[mistabinks]

Originally Posted by Neo45

I went through El Paso and was laughing at people who got big eyes and asked a bunch of questions when I said I was from Houston. What do people there think of TX cities?

I think you are projecting what you wanted to hear and/or putting too much stock into what a tiny amount of people said to you. Houston, DFW, SA, and Austin are awesome beautiful metros but aren't unattainable 'big cities' to the average El Pasoan. UTEP pumps out a lot of quality graduates and many move to those metros to work in their field.

[joqua]

Originally Posted by mistabinks

Houston, DFW, SA, and Austin are awesome beautiful metros but aren't unattainable 'big cities' to the average El Pasoan.

People who are living in El Paso and plan to stay there long term better hope El Paso NEVER gets to be like those much larger metro areas with nothing but urban sprawl and related gridlock situations. Makes El Paso's traffic problems seem like kids play, IMO. I speak from experience, having lived in all five locales at one time or another.

And I would never refer to the other four as "awesome beautiful metros." Huge and sprawling are more apt, IMO. Unless one believes that city skylines are somehow "beautiful." Give me the dominance of Mt. Franklin any day over those other four flatter places.

[Bron_Brodir]

With the surge in Military, and it seems other people, I am assuming from Mexico moving here to escape the violence Jurez, traffic is already getting into grid lock. El Paso is also land locked it can only get so big. It has a National border to 2 sides of it, and a State border to the other, and then Military and on the other. So it will never become a Houston, or Dallas Fort Worth type of city, I don't even think it would become a Austins San Antonio with its small stretch of land between them type town, even though if you consider Las Cruces and El Paso, that is the most similar example.

I find beauty in each town I travel through, and could see living in each of them. Sure I also see faults... but most faults of a city are due to its political process and the people who run things more than the city its self.

Houston, is an interesting place, huge, and there are parts of it that are wonderful, and others that are dress right dress all the same and uniform. I like the green of the area, and the downtown is pretty amazing the first time your in the middle of it. I prefer Galveston though and would live there in a heart beat if I could.

Dallas I was ever impressed with, the highways there are just maddening and crazy. You better know how to be aggressive in your driving or your never gonna change lanes.

San Antonio I lived in as a kid, I remember it being hot and humid, with lots of bugs.. and its schools designed like small prisons with no windows. But I also remember the zoo and it was awesome. We had a empty field near out home with a bunch of trees, we would play army in that patch... so I have fond memories of it. I have been there a few times as I have family there.. its still hot and humid with lots of bugs, but really green and I liked that.

I prefer Austin, it is Texas answer to Seattle, and I think Texas does it better. I plan to move there at some point.

Corpus Christi is a prime example of poor leadership, but the city its self I enjoy a lot. Its beaches and its attractions are great, I just wish they could get the streets cleaned up and repaired. Corpus has so much great potential, it just seems they don't want to grow.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by Neo45

I went through El Paso and was laughing at people who got big eyes and asked a bunch of questions when I said I was from Houston. What do people there think of TX cities?


As far as what other cities think of El Paso...nobody really knows anything or talks about it becsuse its so far from everyone.

I don't know why people would have gotten big eyes --- El Paso has become a very large city especially when you consider we're part of the same metroplex as Juarez. Traffic here has become horrendous. In the morning traffic crawls at about 5 mph if it's moving at all.

The only advantage we now have over those other highly populated big cities is we have better weather.

[joqua]

Originally Posted by malamute

Traffic here has become horrendous. In the morning traffic crawls at about 5 mph if it's moving at all.

One person's "horrendous" is another person's "tolerable." I would rate El Paso rush hour traffic as "tolerable" when thinking in terms of what goes on in Austin, DFW and Houston. San Antonio I'd also rate as "tolerable." But from tolerable it's not a big step to horrendous and I hope El Paso remains tolerable for a long time yet. El Paso at least has route choices other than the interstate for those who don't mind the traffic lights. In Austin, if you get stopped by a light, you're usually so far back in the line that the light changes MANY times before it's your turn.

[Neo45]

Malamute, El Paso is tiny compared to Houston. I'm not sure how you're determing that its a very large city! I did notice people drive extremely slow there. I got pulled over for going 65 when you have cops passing you when you're going 75 here!

[Neo45]

Originally Posted by mistabinks

I think you are projecting what you wanted to hear and/or putting too much stock into what a tiny amount of people said to you. Houston, DFW, SA, and Austin are awesome beautiful metros but aren't unattainable 'big cities' to the average El Pasoan. UTEP pumps out a lot of quality graduates and many move to those metros to work in their field.

Not sure why you're getting defensive lol. I had about 10 people get like that. El Paso is good for older people or a family. I can't imagine a young person wanting to stay there over any major city.

[Chelito23]

I just moved to EP from Socal...so I can speak to this regarding my impressions coming from a large urban area. First of all, El Paso is an emerging big city....obviously it isn't in the same ball park as Houston which is the 4th largest city in the country. I think EP is number 19. Regardless, there is a heavy rush hour traffic here and to act like it's no big deal seems like some odd, self-denial. Anyways. This is coming from a former driver in Socal. I have also lived in Dallas...and their freeways have huge volumes of vehicles and are much wider than EP's...but traffic flows better in Dallas overall. In EP on the other hand, the infrastructure hasn't kept up with the growth. And that's just volume issues, if there is an accident here, it gets ugly, fast. Not too many alternates. Try driving from the west side to the east side during rush hour and you will see why people are questioning the OP's premise altogether.

From what I have seen, many young people in EP want to move away and become independent and the most logical choices are other cities in the same state due to residency issues, cultural ties, etc. There are plenty of people in EP that have relatives in SA or Houston and who have visited those places...the sentiment seems to be that they are nice, more liberal and bigger...but that's about it. No amazement or disbelief from what I have seen.

So to answer the original question, El Pasoans run the gammit from respectful to desinterested to interested in other TX cities. I suppose if you run into X person at a freeway offramp gas station it may seem to you that "everyone" in EP is that way...but imagine if people made isolated random jusgements about the people of Houston based on an interaction during their airport layover lol. And the fact that people tried to explain these subtlties the OP and he had the audacity to say they were being defensive? I can imagine why he probably got wide eye stares-hint: running into a gas station in EP and announcing that one had just arrived from the metropolis of Houston lol. Too funny.

[Neo45]

Gas stations? Don't even know what to say to that one. More like going clubbing and to some bars.