Houston Smell? Murder? (Austin, Pasadena, Port Arthur: crime, live, air quality)

[texasboi]

What exactly is this stench I keep hearing about and how bad is it? Is it just when it rains? All over Houston or by certain things/areas? What does it smell like and why does it smell when it rains?

Is crime really bad in Houston? Compared to NY?

[travelguy_73]

Sorry, sort of an odd question (re, the smell). Are you referring to the refinery smell? That's primary an east side thing...I'm just outside downtown and I can't say that I smell anything...perhaps if the wind is just right. Not sure rain would have anything to do with it. Perhaps the smell of humidity ?

Take everything you read on here with a grain of salt .

As for crime...well, this is a large city and there is crime. There are certain pockets of town you need to be more aware of than others, but petty stuff can happen anywhere.

[texas7]

Houston has issues with air quality and pollution. There may be a random day here and there when you'll go out and it smells weird but the majority of days it is fine (unless you live near the interchange of 225/610 where most of the chemical plants are) but there isn't much desirable residential right there anyway, so I seriously doubt you'd be looking there.

[tstone]

Last week we had a pretty bad ozone day. I thought I was getting a cold and had the same symptoms but w/o a fever. On days like this it still doesn't stink. The east side is where the rotten eggs smell is at (among others).

I don't know what this stink after a rain was all about.

And apparently Austin-SA had several ozone watch days this summer, or my Weatherbug was lying to me.

[Poltracker]

Houston is a big city, there are lots of people who drive lots of cars. Like any big city, it does have an odor as a result of this. Most folks do not notice it at all and it is not usually a problem for other folks coming from big cities but may bother a newbie from a small town when they first get here. Houston also has an industrial base which can add to the odor from time to time. Folks always accuse the east side of smelling, though that was true years ago, especially when the Pasadena papermill was active, it is really not the case now on a general basis. The east side occassionally gets odors but nothing like it was in the past.

[houstoner]

The title of this thread made me LOL. I was wondering if Houston smelled like murder, what murder smelled like in Houston, as opposed to other places, and what kind of murder we were talking about... LOL

Originally Posted by Poltracker

Houston is a big city, there are lots of people who drive lots of cars. Like any big city, it does have an odor as a result of this. Most folks do not notice it at all and it is not usually a problem for other folks coming from big cities but may bother a newbie from a small town when they first get here. Houston also has an industrial base which can add to the odor from time to time. Folks always accuse the east side of smelling, though that was true years ago, especially when the Pasadena papermill was active, it is really not the case now on a general basis. The east side occassionally gets odors but nothing like it was in the past.

Stinkadena! (Just joking. )

[tstone]

Originally Posted by Poltracker

The east side occassionally gets odors but nothing like it was in the past.

I drive Clear Lake to Port Arthur 5 days a week. The east beltway to I-10 out in the morning and 99 Grand Pkwy to 146 over the huge bridge and Bay Area Blvd in the evenings. I guarantee that every day I drive both routes, there are portions where the air smells very bad. Sometimes it's bad enough the car's recirculate doesn't filter 100% of it out. Since I work in that environment now it doesn't really bother me anymore. However, I'd rather not inhale money's fumes if I don't have to. But that said, it must have been completely horrible in the past.

[Poltracker]

Originally Posted by tstone

I drive Clear Lake to Port Arthur 5 days a week. The east beltway to I-10 out in the morning and 99 Grand Pkwy to 146 over the huge bridge and Bay Area Blvd in the evenings. I guarantee that every day I drive both routes, there are portions where the air smells very bad. Sometimes it's bad enough the car's recirculate doesn't filter 100% of it out. Since I work in that environment now it doesn't really bother me anymore. However, I'd rather not inhale money's fumes if I don't have to. But that said, it must have been completely horrible in the past.

I was really referring more to the residential areas. On Bay Area Blvd, you are driving right through the heart of the industry (and past a couple of wastewater plants) and there are always odors right next to the plants but not necessarily in the areas a little further away. 225 is not that bad anymore but occassionally you get odors. The area around I-10 and Haden Rd. (by Sams) can get pretty whiffy because it does not take much of that mercaptan they make over there to get a big stink.

[Wysiwyg]

yes, the "bayous" smell like fart. this is the bayou city.

[tstone]

Actually they DO smell like murder these days...

Body Found Floating In Buffalo Bayou - Houston News Story - KPRC Houston (http://www.click2houston.com/news/17705020/detail.html - broken link)