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That would be an embarrassment. Wouldn't want that city to be the first thing that comes to mind when people think of the US.
How exactly would it be bad? I don't see why LA or NYC are better? Seriously. It may never happen but if it did what would be bad about it versus those?
Largest medical center in the world (with a daytime population that is the size of many small to medium sized cities - around 250k)
Home to NASA and our space programs.
Home to many of the largest companies in the US, second to NYC only.
Home to the second largest community college in the US (Austin has bot only the largest university but also Austin community college - HCC is 2nd).
Home to Rice University, which is a very prestigious private university.
Multiple sports teams.
A large museum district
Very multi cultural city: One of the largest Vietnamese districts in the US, large Chinatown, 2nd largest Hispanic population in US (L.A. is #1), etc...
The only major city in the US which still doesn't have official zoning laws, which creates a very unique skyline - there are as many as 15-20 distinct visible skylines across the vast panoramic expanse of the Houston horizon. The major ones are obviously downtown, uptown, midtown, greenway plaza area, and the meducal center. But there are a ay least another dozen throughout the sprawling metro region. It's very pretty and extremely unique.
Why would it be "bad"? Yea it has bad traffic and smog. So does L.A. and NYC. It goes with the territory. But it has many many great things. Don't see why you would call it embarrassing or bad. All 3 places have great things about them. And some bad stuff too. But I don't see how Houston is some ugly step child of the 3?
Here's the thing that most non-Houstonians can't grasp...Houston is destined to be a monster! Yes...an urban city-loving type monster..it is happening. Forget the suburbs...I'm talking about the Inner Loop + Uptown.
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So, I've done extensive research on the actual development of New York City. Not an exact apples to apples comparison but NYC was created in 1624 and Houston in 1836. Houston, at age 181 is light years ahead of where NYC was, in terms of the built environment, in the same age (1805). Central Park was still 60+ years away, most of the land around it anyway was underdeveloped sprawl wasteland and obviously the great mass transit system was WAYS off. Europeans routinely wrote articles how dumpy NYC was and that it would NEVER match the charm of European cities. See the ironic similarities.
Let's say we look at NYC at age around age 250...There were still major areas of Manhattan where living conditions were so third-world like that they would have to be condemned..i.e. Five Points. The Five Points was nothing more than a district built on top of a dumping pond that had been filled in anyway...what's wrong with that..right?
Let's look at NYC at around age 275-300, again today's infrastructure was just starting but NYC had areas that were extremely sub-standard. The living conditions in the dumbbell tenements was so dangerous that it forced entire building codes to change.
So, do we really want to take a snap shot of where Houston is today, or do we want to acknowledge that perhaps Houston and Chicago (I'd add Miami also) are among the fastest growing developed cities the world has ever seen. Their growth has been nothing short of miraculous.
Here's the thing that most non-Houstonians can't grasp...Houston is destined to be a monster! Yes...an urban city-loving type monster..it is happening. Forget the suburbs...I'm talking about the Inner Loop + Uptown.
Every single day, it continues to add density and urbanize. Downtown is adding residential towers at such an alarming clip that even I have lost count. I've been watching it with my own 2 eyes.
Come on down...I'd be happy to give you a tour.
We just hosted the Super Bowl and I heard many out of town media members (people who spend their whole lives traveling) say that downtown Houston reminded them of Chicago. Their words....That's the impression modern day Houston is leaving. Sure we've done things wrong in the past but the more I research other cities growth patterns , the more I appreciate what has happened here in Houston, Texas and how far ahead they are of every single major city, at their age, except for Chicago!
You can't compare 17th century America to the 21st century. The largest "city" in those days probably had 10,000 people. Obviously it's not going to grow as fast as a modern city could.
How exactly would it be bad? I don't see why LA or NYC are better? Seriously. It may never happen but if it did what would be bad about it versus those?
Largest medical center in the world (with a daytime population that is the size of many small to medium sized cities - around 250k)
Home to NASA and our space programs.
Home to many of the largest companies in the US, second to NYC only.
Home to the second largest community college in the US (Austin has bot only the largest university but also Austin community college - HCC is 2nd).
Home to Rice University, which is a very prestigious private university.
Multiple sports teams.
A large museum district
Very multi cultural city: One of the largest Vietnamese districts in the US, large Chinatown, 2nd largest Hispanic population in US (L.A. is #1), etc...
The only major city in the US which still doesn't have official zoning laws, which creates a very unique skyline - there are as many as 15-20 distinct visible skylines across the vast panoramic expanse of the Houston horizon. The major ones are obviously downtown, uptown, midtown, greenway plaza area, and the meducal center. But there are a ay least another dozen throughout the sprawling metro region. It's very pretty and extremely unique.
Why would it be "bad"? Yea it has bad traffic and smog. So does L.A. and NYC. It goes with the territory. But it has many many great things. Don't see why you would call it embarrassing or bad. All 3 places have great things about them. And some bad stuff too. But I don't see how Houston is some ugly step child of the 3?
Keep on preaching. LA and NYC only wish it has what Houston has to offer. I would be proud if Houston were our alpha city. Houston, Tokyo, Paris, London, Johannesburg, Beijing. Yes.
Houston is twice the city NYC is and only took half the time to get there. Only thing is, Houston's citizens are much more modest and grounded than New Yorkers.
Keep on preaching. LA and NYC only wish it has what Houston has to offer. I would be proud if Houston were our alpha city. Houston, Tokyo, Paris, London, Johannesburg, Beijing. Yes.
Houston is twice the city NYC is and only took half the time to get there. Only thing is, Houston's citizens are much more modest and grounded than New Yorkers.
My friend just returned from Houston for the first time (he lives in Austin) and he said Houston was really dirty and full of homeless and illegal immigrants etc. He said Austin was much nicer. How do you respond to that?
My friend just returned from Houston for the first time (he lives in Austin) and he said Houston was really dirty and full of homeless and illegal immigrants etc. He said Austin was much nicer. How do you respond to that?
I'd say your friend has fallen for the media's love fest with Austin and he sounds like an Austinite trying to pump up his city. Austin probably has more illegals per capita than Houston and it definitely caters to the homeless, as they built a homeless shelter right downtown.
Austin also doesn't have a Montrose or River Oaks and it's party district is minuscule compared to Houston's.
More miraculous than Hong Kong, who grew from a small fishing village to a 7+ million mega city in under 30 years? Or Singapore, Shenzhen etc?
Also, you can't compare 17th century America to the 21st century. The largest "city" in those days probably had 10,000 people. Obviously it's not going to grow as fast as a modern city could.
The point is that most of the features that we praise NYC for having were still decades, if not a century away, when NYC was Houston's age.
And on your examples....
...Hong Kong was created in 221 BC. It today has a population of 7.25 million. That's almost 2,400 years later unless you are trying to say that they had a population of 7 million plus by year 0?
Singapore was created in the 1200s...
Shenzhen in the 1400s...so nice try.
Houston had virtually no residents in the early 1800s...by 1836, it was created to be the capitol of a nation, The Republic of Texas. It's a honor it shares with only one other American City, Washington DC- the only two cities in the US that were created to be national capitols.
The point is that most of the features that we praise NYC for having were still decades, if not a century away, when NYC was Houston's age.
And on your examples....
...Hong Kong was created in 221 BC. It today has a population of 7.25 million. That's almost 2,400 years later unless you are trying to say that they had a population of 7 million plus by year 0?
Singapore was created in the 1200s...
Shenzhen in the 1400s...so nice try.
Houston had virtually no residents in the early 1800s...by 1836, it was created to be the capitol of a nation, The Republic of Texas. It's a honor it shares with only one other American City, Washington DC- the only two cities in the US that were created to be national capitols.
Right on. Though, I live in DC and it has nothing on Houston. Some peeps can't stand a rising star. To me, Houston has already surpassed Chicago. LA, see you next census.
Keep on preaching. LA and NYC only wish it has what Houston has to offer. I would be proud if Houston were our alpha city. Houston, Tokyo, Paris, London, Johannesburg, Beijing. Yes.
Houston is twice the city NYC is and only took half the time to get there. Only thing is, Houston's citizens are much more modest and grounded than New Yorkers.
You are joking, I hope. Houston is nice-ish, but it is nothing compared to LA or NY (or SF, Chicago, or DC, for that matter.) Also, you're not very modest.
All this talk of Houston beating LA by annexation ignores the possibility of LA annexing too. If LA annexed everything else in LA county, excluding separate areas like the Santa Clarita Valley, Pomona Valley, and Antelope Valley, LA would have 9-million people. Add in Orange County and you reach 12 million. Houston can't win.
PS. Nobody in NY or LA is scared of Houston, nor do very many people even think of Houston as a city. It just isn't on most people's radars.
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