Butt Ugly (Houston, Paris, Bridgeport: live, zoning, shopping centers)

[detachable arm]

Originally Posted by utche96

I have lived in Houston for 43 years. Lets be honest. It is a butt ugly city with a few nice spots. Its basically a flat urban jungle with a complete lack of city planning. People don't move to Houston for the scenery or natural beauty.

That suburban NYC douche was talking about downtown being butt ugly. I am a native, and have traveled to 31 states and multiple countries. Houston is certainly in the lower quartile when it comes to aesthetics, and that's putting it nicely. However I find downtown to be pretty clean. Yeah it's a bit boring (but getting better) and the architecture is a bit plain, but that's just the product of an era-- I wouldn't call it ugly. Remember though- this is Texas, one of the top 3 most hated states in the US.

[atadytic19]

Originally Posted by SanJac

NYC is a concrete jungle.

And it is just as flat.
Most cities are flat.

The problem with Houston is that most people only see it from the highways and Houston's highway beautification projects only started in earnest about 10 years ago so the trees are not mature.

Give it another 10 years and the difference will be more noticeable. The spots with bigger trees already look much better.

Another thing that's changing is new construction along major thoroughfares, such as Richmond and Westheimer are getting rid of street front parking.

The suburban style strip malls type developments with the buildings set far back on the lot and parking upfront, utility wires everywhere, huge billboards... all give an untidy baby-bomer look. Thankfully all of that is going away.

This:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZiCxAvysYLgvgfRv5

Looks much better than this:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/xGXyuSoT3ubTirp89

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by atadytic19

And it is just as flat.
Most cities are flat.

The problem with Houston is that most people only see it from the highways and Houston's highway beautification projects only started in earnest about 10 years ago so the trees are not mature.

Give it another 10 years and the difference will be more noticeable. The spots with bigger trees already look much better.

Another thing that's changing is new construction along major thoroughfares, such as Richmond and Westheimer are getting rid of street front parking.

The suburban style strip malls type developments with the buildings set far back on the lot and parking upfront, utility wires everywhere, huge billboards... all give an untidy baby-bomer look. Thankfully all of that is going away.

This:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZiCxAvysYLgvgfRv5

Looks much better than this:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/xGXyuSoT3ubTirp89

The utility wires aren't going anywhere unless property owners are willing to pay for them to be moved.

[Jeohnny]

Downtown Houston is not ugly at all. Maybe a bit bland in parts but not ugly. I actually find it to be quite beautiful at certain angles etc.

[Jack Lance]

Originally Posted by atadytic19

all give an untidy baby-bomer look. Thankfully all of that is going away

What the hell is a baby boomer look? That ugly laissez faire pattern of development predated "Baby Boomers: by at least a half century if not more.

Originally Posted by Jeohnny

Downtown Houston is not ugly at all. Maybe a bit bland in parts but not ugly. I actually find it to be quite beautiful at certain angles etc.

Houston's skyline is impressive from most angles. Of course, what is going on at street level I think is what the Governor was talking about and as has been noted a million times in various internet forums and threads sunbelt cities in general tend to have less vibrant downtowns than most eastern cities.

[Houston Area Man]

Houston is the most diverse city now. Melting pot of the world.

[atadytic19]

Vibrance and looks are two different things. Houston's downtown looks good at ground level, idk what you talking about, but the street level looks much better than most vibrant cities. No one calls cities that are not vibrant butt ugly, you have meanings confused.

And boomers are from the 60s. That ugly street mall type development is what they grew up with

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by utche96

Its basically a flat urban jungle with a complete lack of city planning.

Exactly,
There’s gotta be 100 streets/roads in Houston that end in one place and then you look 100 feet away and the road continues
But those 2 sections are not connected

[txdad99]

While I don’t think downtown is ugly, I do think a lot of Houston could be called just that. Way to many 8 lane roads with run down shopping centers on both sides with no tree in sight. Think 1960, 529/Spencer, Airline, etc. Our lack of zoning is made clear in the aesthetics.

[atadytic19]

Originally Posted by Dopo

Exactly,
There’s gotta be 100 streets/roads in Houston that end in one place and then you look 100 feet away and the road continues
But those 2 sections are not connected

A lot of that is because Houston is a patch-work of annexed cities which operated on their own grid which didn't necessarily line up with Houston's grid.

But I do agree that the city has poor planning and those should be fixed by now. They should have been burying power lines ages ago and mandating less suburban building styles.

Way back in the day when Montrose became part of the city, Wheeler just dead ended instead of going with Richmond. It took them a while before they made the wonky connection.

Originally Posted by txdad99

While I don’t think downtown is ugly, I do think a lot of Houston could be called just that. Way to many 8 lane roads with run down shopping centers on both sides with no tree in sight. Think 1960, 529/Spencer, Airline, etc. Our lack of zoning is made clear in the aesthetics.

Although I agree with you, you chose examples that are outside the city. That arc of highway 6 is almost all outside the city. It and Spencer Road are in un-incorporated Harris County and most of Airline is in Aldine.

Houston bit off more than it could chew. The city limits alone is more than it can handle so forget about it handling outside the city limits. It annexed tiny strips of land along highways and waterways so it will be planting along trees along those. But passed that is either unincorporated or another city so they on their own.

The city of Bellaire and West U do better jobs of planting than other places. Have you noticed that middle class down hate trees but the upper class neighborhoods are filled with trees? Look at the Museum District, The more expensive areas of the Heights and Montrose, River Oaks, Broad Acres.... when a lower middle-class person buys a house the first thing they do is cut down every tree on the lot.