Why is Houston the most attacked city in Texas? By other Texas cities? (Dallas: sales, sales tax)

[mikeyyc]

Originally Posted by KerrTown

BTW I saw a documentary about Angola's king adopting Catholicism in 1491 (pre-Reformation, 1517 was 26 years away!!!). Wow, this makes it the first or at least one of the oldest Christian countries in Africa.

Ethiopia was a Catholic country in the fourth century. About 1100 years before Angola.

[turf3]

Attacked? Tell me more! I've missed it.

Which direction did the invading forces come from? Did they soften up Houston's resistance first with aerial bombardment and an artillery barrage, or was it more of a lightning blitzkrieg offensive with tanks at high speed and air cover just preceding the tanks?

How about the alliance of the other cities? Who were the allies? Did the alliance hold up? How did they resolve the question of joint command vs. coordination of separate commands?

Here I thought the state of Texas was pretty well settled, and this morning I find out it's turned into a set of warring city-states like Italy before Garibaldi!

[AcresHomes44]

Originally Posted by War Beagle

The question the OP asked is why the rest of the state dumps on Houston, and they do. I personally can't stand Austin and the Dallas side of DFW is pretty annoying. But there is no doubt that most of the state thinks of Houston as a dump on the carcinogen coast.

As a transplant of 11 years, I view Houston as lacking much personality as a city. What personality it has is largely negative, in terms of it being trashy from lack of zoning or dirty from a higher share of industry than the other big cities have. It does have a good amount of history though.

I get that people who are born and raised in houston won't agree with me. And I know that there are transplants that genuinely love it. But I mostly work with people from other parts of the state, and they almost all dislike Houston.

Truth be told, I'm fine with people disliking Houston, Houston hasn't been, nor will it ever be everyone's cup of tea and that's all good.

[DabOnEm]

Originally Posted by War Beagle

I suspect if most Texans could choose where to live in Texas, Houston wouldn't be at the top of the list. By and large, it's a lot dumpier than DFW. It doesn't have the culture or history that San Antonio does. It doesn't have the hipster/music/tech scene that Austin has. A lot of people think the weather is worse in Houston than the other cities, and there isn't much to say about it's natural aesthetics either.

I view Houston primarily as a place to work. It's not much of a destination otherwise. Certainly not in the way other parts of Texas are.

Houston definitely does not look as put together as DFW. If it had a lot of zoned suburbs, even if the city was still not zoned, it'd be overall more attractive. Houston has better scenery overall. You have beaches, lakes, prairies, pine forests, and hills as you go north into Montgomery County or parts of Fort Bend. The hills in SW Dallas County are pretty nice and the Houston region doesn't have elevation changes as quickly as those. I think the rise in domestic migrants to Houston and the big events the city has hosted over the last 15 years has helped its appearance. More effort is put into aesthetics in Houston nowadays.

It doesn't have the strong Hispanic culture and history of SA but it's not devoid of it either. Plus there's many more cultures present that SA has none of. SA does it's one thing really well but that's it.

Originally Posted by texas7

Not a myth on Galveston. It was initially thought to be the major port city but the storm changes those plans and port and business growth moved inland.

Those businesses were already moving inland. People make it seem like Galveston was a gigantic city much larger than Houston at the time when actually, Houston was already a big city on the rise. The cities were very close in population. The immediate surrounding area (basically Montrose, Heights, East End) was larger than Galveston too. This was BEFORE the hurricane. Galveston's peak in population decades after the storm. If anything, the hurricane stopped Galveston from being a duel city to Houston similar to Fort Worth (though smaller since the Island is small geographically) or maybe a West Palm Beach to Miami.

[kwr]

This thread is comical. As an outsider (non-native), I like Houston much more than the other Texas cities. Materially, there isn’t anything you can get in the other Texas cities that you can’t get in Houston. Dallas feels like Atlanta minus the trees and blackness. ‘Everyone’ I know who relocates from Austin hints that it is an overrated small town with bad traffic that aspires to offer the big city amenities that already exist in Houston. Ever tried finding a $200K+ job in San Antonio. Not much to offer outside of the River Walk.

Certainly, each of the four cities has its own merits that attract people to it. Overall, Houston has more to offer and that’s why people continue to relocate. I, like millions of other people refuse to live in a city I don’t like just for a job. Life is too short to compromise. Find out what works for you and make the best of it.

I am so glad I relocated from Boston to Houston with an open mind.

[DabOnEm]

Originally Posted by War Beagle

I get that people who are born and raised in houston won't agree with me. And I know that there are transplants that genuinely love it. But I mostly work with people from other parts of the state, and they almost all dislike Houston.

It's almost like the rest of the economic state of Texas (the I-35 corridor) band together to put Houston down. Though I don't hear as much bashing from SA residents (mostly Austin and DFW). Those cities all have federal/state funding that are pumping their local economies more so than Houston. If Houston had a major state flagship public university in Midtown (Austin), or multiple military bases (SA and DFW), or the capital, or a Federal Reserve branch (DFW), maybe it would have grown a little differently. Or perhaps city leaders 100 years ago should have relaxed on the massive annexations and allowed the suburbs to have more local control. After Harvey, there's been more talk about just how massive the unincorporated areas are and how they're hindered and can't do things such as create ordinances since Texas counties weren't designed this way. Harris County is stretched extremely thin.

It's actually kind of amazing how Houston has grown the way it is off the backs of just a handful of major industries, with the majority coming from energy. The economies in the other major cities in Texas (tech/IT, banking, education, finance, distribution) could easily be done in Houston. Whereas the economy of Houston would be much harder to replicate.

[timtemtym]

I was listening to the Houston Chronicle's "Looped In" podcast last night. There was an episode from early July where they were interviewing an editor who had been at the chronicle for a few years and was leaving to go back to the East Coast. He gave his impressions of Houston (and made comparisons to Los Angeles; both cities I have lived in for years).

He managed to throw out every bad trope about both Houston and LA. He said he was shocked by Houston's violent crime, income inequality, and segregation (He grew up in Philly and DC which I think are both worse than Houston on these issues). He admitted he rarely left the Montrose to Downtown bubble.

He had some good points too, especially about the missed opportunity of the UT-Houston tech hub... but the long-winded misidentifications of both Houston and LA (of course he used the terms car culture and sprawling) were pretty annoying and not the cities I know and love.

[DabOnEm]

Yeah the UT-Houston tech hub thing was absolutely short-sighted by Houston city leaders. Literally no vision.

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by DabOnEm

Yeah the UT-Houston tech hub thing was absolutely short-sighted by Houston city leaders. Literally no vision.

The City didn't kill it, UH did, along with State leaders who were pissed that UT didn't get approval first.

[westsidewolf1989]

It's humid as hell (worst summer in the state by far of any major city), it's the only major city in the state that is affected by hurricanes, it's sprawling and not the most aesthetically pleasing city and cost of living has finally creeped up to the population ranking of the city nationwide. I like Houston, but, as with every city, there are negatives