Houston the next mega city? (Galveston, Bellaire: daycare, magnet schools, tax)

[kpoeppel]

Originally Posted by tstone

First and foremost, people move here to work. The attraction is being able to live in a bigger & nicer place than one could get in any of the top 10 largest cities. This could also translate to roughing it to send more money back home to the family. It's a supply & demand balance and that is frankly boring, not amazing. Being a sexy, trendy, touristy city is likely never going to happen. And that's a positive thing, too; here you have more down to earth people, no LA-wannabe types. Let's keep it that way.

Amen to that. I hope to goodness Texas doesn't become overrun with Californians that try to turn Houston into LA or San Fransicko.

[robertsd247]

If Houston keeps expanding and illegally annexing every city and town, it will reach megacity status, because people are not moving into Houston because of the great weather and glorious "opportunities". The only reason Houston has positive population growth is illegal aliens from Mexico, which is a REAL problem in the east part and south east part of the city. The only white people in Pasadena are the mayor and his administration, and the retirees who picked the bad luck of the draw.

Houston is on its way to becoming the capital of Mexico.

[BrooklynTx]

Originally Posted by robertsd247

If Houston keeps expanding and illegally annexing every city and town, it will reach megacity status, because people are not moving into Houston because of the great weather and glorious "opportunities". The only reason Houston has positive population growth is illegal aliens from Mexico, which is a REAL problem in the east part and south east part of the city. The only white people in Pasadena are the mayor and his administration, and the retirees who picked the bad luck of the draw.

Houston is on its way to becoming the capital of Mexico.

No more than the NYC metro area which has an estimated 3/4 million undocumented immigrants. I guess that makes NYC capital of Central America.

Oh, studies have shown over and over again that crime committed by undocumented immigrants is no more than the regular population.

I certainly smell some xenophobia. If this person lived in the NE in the late 20th century, he would be saying the same about the Irish, Italians and Jews.

[davidt1]

Originally Posted by robertsd247

If Houston keeps expanding and illegally annexing every city and town, it will reach megacity status, because people are not moving into Houston because of the great weather and glorious "opportunities". The only reason Houston has positive population growth is illegal aliens from Mexico, which is a REAL problem in the east part and south east part of the city. The only white people in Pasadena are the mayor and his administration, and the retirees who picked the bad luck of the draw.

Houston is on its way to becoming the capital of Mexico.

I am moving to the SE part of the city. Should I be worried?

[davidt1]

Originally Posted by BrooklynTx

No more than the NYC metro area which has an estimated 3/4 million undocumented immigrants. I guess that makes NYC capital of Central America.

I certainly smell some xenophobia. If this person lived in the NE in the late 20th century, he would be saying the same about the Irish, Italians and Jews.

I don't want to turn this into an immigration thing, but the groups you mentioned came legally in much smaller numbers, assimilated and became Americans.

[tstone]

Originally Posted by davidt1

I am moving to the SE part of the city. Should I be worried?

No, there is nothing to worry about. Somehow the vast majority of us are still doing well. The SE side of town has plenty of middle-class, Hispanic AMERICANS who have been rooted here for at least a couple of generations.

Originally Posted by robertsd247

...people are not moving into Houston because of the great weather and glorious "opportunities". The only reason Houston has positive population growth is illegal aliens from Mexico...

What are they here for, to sit and twiddle their thumbs? No, because of the opportunity which is glorious compared to what they're used to. Did I incorrectly believe that the undocumented people weren't counted in the census?

[BrooklynTx]

Originally Posted by davidt1

I don't want to turn this into an immigration thing, but the groups you mentioned came legally in much smaller numbers, assimilated and became Americans.

You're right. They changed the laws which previously prevented these people from coming and thus made it legal. Immigration laws have changed dramatically over the years. Usually manipulated by the powers at be for their financial benefit.

Right at the height of the industrial revolution, the upper class in the Northeast needed laborers, maids, servants and factory workers and all these people were a perfect group of candidates. Quite arguably, the IR wouldn't have happened to the degree that it did without the cheap immigrant labor.

Oh, and the North previously needed more solders during the civil war, because they were getting their rear ends kicked. The Irish certainly filled that growing void and need.

Chinese were not legally allowed immigration into the US between 1882-1943. Perfectly timed and enacted right after the transcontinental railroads were completed and then the ban stopped because the US needed more workers during WWII.

And if they fully assimilated, why do we still have Italian restaurants, Jewish deli's and Irish bars?

And are you suggesting that Mexican American families who have been in Texas since 1822 never assimilated? Ironic, given it was their country and the Whites were the ones who never 'assimilated'.

[wayne2k33]

Originally Posted by DFWMike

Yea, thats definately not true. The area inside 610 is more dense with high rises, but outside of that I can't agree. Look at the aldine up to westfield and over to cypress. There are large portions of treed areas, and neighborhoods have the look of deep east texas in many areas inside the beltway 8 area. Then once you head south toward Pearland it has large open tracts of land. Dallas is pretty much all filled in north to the george bush tollway, except for the trinity river areas, it is fairly filled into the south with the notable exception of I45 south.


I don't think it's bad there are large tracts of trees left, but to term it more urban wouldn't exactly be true, particularly with the lax coding/zoning guidelines Houston is famous for, making for a redneck dream inside city limits complete with chickens, dirt driveways, cows and lots of beat up cars on blocks.

Btw, I wasn't previously aware of this about Houston, I've been working in neighborhoods around Houston for my employer for the past few weeks and it has been eye opening, get off the freeway and look around if you dont believe me.

I will give you the diversity and the port. Btw, kudos to The Woodlands for finding a way to keep Houston from swallowing up yet another suburb.

We're kind of comparing Red and Green Apples here.

Both cities have sprawl galore, and great urban cores. Houston's development is different because of the annexation, but the end result is the same, whether one is Houston proper, or broken into mega burbs like Plano, Irving, Carrollton, Garland or any other around.

My kudos to both cities for making great strides at densification. I haven't been in Dallas since early '05, but from what I see in pictures the city is really looking great. Houston is equally impressive, with the boom of activity downtown, and inner loop becoming more pedestrian-friendly every day.

[wayne2k33]

Originally Posted by robertsd247

If Houston keeps expanding and illegally annexing every city and town, it will reach megacity status, because people are not moving into Houston because of the great weather and glorious "opportunities". The only reason Houston has positive population growth is illegal aliens from Mexico, which is a REAL problem in the east part and south east part of the city. The only white people in Pasadena are the mayor and his administration, and the retirees who picked the bad luck of the draw.

Houston is on its way to becoming the capital of Mexico.

since when does being foreign born or a minority equal being a criminal????????? I must not have gotten this memo at birth.

[_Charles_]

One of the wisest things Houston ever did was annex land to circumvent suburban encirclement. Older cites encircled by suburbs have huge problems - directly for that reason. They loose their tax base to pay for infrastructure and schools and decline follows.