Leaving Houston this week - Honest assessment of Houston for newbies (West: city hall, to buy)

[sxrckr]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

Downtown I could slightly agree with. Same with Montrose, LoWe. Other than that the city is pretty much Dallas with a bit of an edge. Its still dynamic though. I mean jeez seriously does Houston really look like a world class city to a lot of you guys? The city still has a long way to go. The inner loop is about as close as it gets.

Well that's the real Houston, isn't it? In the Loop. I know city limits technically extend past that and there are some other notable areas.... but I always think of the "real" Houston as in the Loop 610.

I don't understand why the city doesn't release or sell off a bunch of the far-out ETJ to other cities and let them deal with it. Then it could concentrate on the inner/central areas more. Especially with that Super Bowl host city they won approaching.

[annals]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

Downtown I could slightly agree with. Same with Montrose, LoWe. Other than that the city is pretty much Dallas with a bit of an edge. Its still dynamic though. I mean jeez seriously does Houston really look like a world class city to a lot of you guys? The city still has a long way to go. The inner loop is about as close as it gets.

I was thinking about your question as I drove to work tonight. Houston certainly has most of the ingredients of a true world city. But something kept bothering me about this question. Would I like my adopted city to be another Chicago, San Francisco, New York? And the answer in my gut is no. With a recognized status as a world city comes an arrogant attitude. This is something Houston does not have. I would hate Houston to get all hoity-toity, hip and contemptuous. Why doesn't it stay the way it is -- a world-class city that is a well-kept secret. I don't want Houston to change!!!

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by annals

I was thinking about your question as I drove to work tonight. Houston certainly has most of the ingredients of a true world city. But something kept bothering me about this question. Would I like my adopted city to be another Chicago, San Francisco, New York? And the answer in my gut is no. With a recognized status as a world city comes an arrogant attitude. This is something Houston does not have. I would hate Houston to get all hoity-toity, hip and contemptuous. Why doesn't it stay the way it is -- a world-class city that is a well-kept secret. I don't want Houston to change!!!

Hey I agree with you 100%. Houston needs to improve the quality of life but it does NOT need to turn into some Mecca for any more pretentious people.

One thing I dislike about the world class cities is the "world class" people. They're not the most pleasant. Houston has a world class amenities without the flack of world class pretentiousness. That's golden!

[Truth713]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

Hey I agree with you 100%. Houston needs to improve the quality of life but it does NOT need to turn into some Mecca for any more pretentious people.

One thing I dislike about the world class cities is the "world class" people. They're not the most pleasant. Houston has a world class amenities without the flack of world class pretentiousness. That's golden!

This I can agree with, people think that living in a world class city makes them worldly.. No till you speak mulit lanagauges.,till you follow events outside of the US with a decent understanding of them, till you expand your knowledge of the world.. you are just someone who stays in a city with a lot of foerigners.

sadly most people think being worldly is knowing where a good greek restraunt is

[radiolibre99]

They also think being "worldly" is looking down on people. People who move to cities like NYC and LA think acting NYC or LA means acting like House MD. Cities like those two and DC, Boston and San Fran tend to attract what the Atlantic Magazine has hilariously titled, "the creative class", which is another word for saying pretentious douche who think way too highly of themselves.

Surprisingly Houston is a burgeoning world class city that doesn't have a lot of those types. Houston does have douches don't get me wrong but they're more of "guido" meathead variety rather than the insufferable gloats and yuppies that populate most world class cities.

Its funny how Houston's professional class lacks that off putting vibe and pretentious attitude, for the most part.

[IBANK]

Originally Posted by bealtlebones&smokinstones

well, this is my last week in houston. I moved here in 2008. I like many others, i moved down from the nyc area. I took a new job in on the west coast. Overall i thought houston was an ok place to live. Not great, but not horrible either. After four years of the heat and humidity that last 10 months of the year (six of them being brutal) i decided i will be happier in a cooler climate that is also more diverse outdoors wise - mountains, forest, streams with a more pedestrian friendly city.

For people looking to move here, i will give an honest assessment of houston. One thing i noticed about the houston threads is that there are two extremes. 1) the people who hated houston so much they just bash it over and over again even when it's not relevant to the topic. 2) the houstonians who want everyone to believe that houston is like napa valley, key west, lake tahoe, cape cod and aspen colorado all mixed together. Both groups are just delusional.

Here are the negatives. Again, some of this is subjective. Weather for example is always subjective.

negatives:

1)heat and humidity is overkill. Take the hottest day of the year in most places and that is the weather pretty much everyday from april to early november. Even when your not in this timeframe it does not cool down much. There will be the occasional freeze in jan or february that will just be enough to kill your garden and it is right back up to 80 the next week. The humidity is just brutal. It actually makes it difficult to breath.
2) crime. While houston does not have large ghettos like philadelphia, baltimore or l.a., crime is definitely an issue. Prior to living in houston, i lived in nyc for eight years and was never a victim of any crime. Within my first two years in houston, my apartment was burglarized twice and my wife and i each had our cars broken into. One was at the galleria and the other vehicle was at the medical center. We lived off of woodway which was supposed to be a good area, but break ins occurred weekly at our complex and we were paying $1100 per month. The crime in houston does spill over into the higher income areas. It is by no means contained to the "ghetto areas". There is also a ton a gang activity in houston as more and more crap comes up from the border. Houston is starting to look like a third world city. I hate to say that, but it is. I do believe diversity is a good thing, but not when alot of crime in houston is committed by illegal aliens. I am not saying legal houstonians are to blame for the border situation, but dealing illegal alien crime and latin american gangs is a major problem in houston.
3) lack of scenery and outdoor activities. houston is flat and pretty boring. There really is no natural beauty outside memorial park and some areas around rice university. After that it is just strip malls, apartment complexes and eventually oil refineries. Don't move to houston expecting the scenery of seattle, denver, boston or portland.
4) traffic and drivers. horrendous traffic due the lack of mass transit. Houston for some reason is stuck in the stone age when it comes to mass transit. The drivers are horrible, many don't even have a license and they do not believe in blinkers in houston. It is a foreign concept.

Ok, that is enough complaining. Here is the positives.

positives

: 1) food. houston has amazing food. Some of the best, if not the best in the country. The only area it lacks is pizza. Some places are ok, but nothing compared to the nyc area. Houston's asian and mexican food is second to none. Indian and middle eastern also are amazing. Of course the bbq is out of this world. Baker's ribs on s.voss is to die for.
2) great shopping, both for casual and high end. Galleria and all up and down westheimer is great. You can get anything you want. Meyerland plaza and the woodlands mall is also great.
3) great sports town. Houston texans give the best nfl experience in the entire league in my opinion. Great tailgating and a true football team. None of their players are getting arrested for trunk fulls of coke. The astros always make for a fun day and the rockets really a great experience for nba fans. The new dynamo stadium makes houston a top soccer city.
4) sunshine. Despite my complaints about the heat and humidity, houston is sunny. Very sunny.
5) politics- the politics in houston is very reasonable. While it is no longer "good ole boy country" it is far from berkley, ca or other whackado liberal havens.
6) people - the people here are alright. I made some great friends here. While, i feel a large sector of houstonians are rude and obnoxious, i did meet some great people here. They maybe hard to come by, but when you find them you will know what i mean.

Overall, on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the best, i will give my experience in houston a 6. Again, that is just my experience. The next two guys could give it a 3 and a 9. I am happy and excited for my move to the northwest, but i am a little sad to leave.

I did my best to give the fairest assessment possible. I hope most agree.

i totally agree with your assessment. Have fun on the west coast...you are literally soooooo lucky

[IBANK]

Originally Posted by portlanderinOC

Houston sunny? Explains why it's the 6th wettest city (in precipitation amounts) in the US. I remember having thunderstorms A LOT while living there.

Dang. You left too? I would leave if my finances were different.

[IBANK]

Originally Posted by modster

Some things are fair, no Houston is not Miami Beach nor does it offer the urban experiences of places like NY, Chicago or Boston. As for crime, I would challenge that, I think if you have experienced crime in the last 2 or 3 years, that is due to the economy. Crime is up here and everywhere due to a bad economy.

The thing about Houston is it is what you make of it. There are liberal places and conservative places, there are new places and old, whatever you want, you can find it if you know where to look. The biggest plus of Houston is you actually have some options, versus having those choices made for you by price constraints, and that is not something to be marginalized.

Modster, you know dang well if you had $100 million you would not live in Houston.

[Jack Lance]

Originally Posted by IBANK

Nope he is right and you are wrong. Houston sucks and you know it. You are only down here for financial reasons just like the other 99% of the H-Town population

How many people aren't in any city for financial reasons ? The whole purpose of "cities" are economic and not leisure. You seem to lack understanding of basic human nature.

Houston does not suck, at least not any more than most other big cities, but you may suck, I don't know. If there is a lot of sucking going on in your life, it may be your own fault, and not the fault of others.

Think about it !

[TVC15]

Originally Posted by IBANK

Modster, you know dang well if you had $100 million you would not live in Houston.

Do you know how many millionaire's live in Houston?

Get this...many people actually enjoy living in Houston.

I wonder what your real motive is in joining CD and coming to the Houston thread only to offer your negative snippy opinion's?