Aah the sprawl! (Houston, Howe: neighborhoods, tax, living in)

[H-Town#]

Sup, I'm a Houston resident for about 14 years, and the only complaint I have for this city is that it's too spread out, suburbs for miles and miles, and you need a car to get around! Will all this sprawl ever be undone/reversed? Are people ever going to be moving back into the city?

[dv1033]

Yea... you haven't actually been in Houston have you?

[H-Town#]

Well Ive been living in NW Houston suburbs for a while now, visited downtown a lot of times, this is just something I've always been wondering

[blkgiraffe]

Originally Posted by H-Town#

Well Ive been living in NW Houston suburbs for a while now, visited downtown a lot of times, this is just something I've always been wondering

Well it's kind of your fault you live that far. It's plenty of places you can live where the car isn't needed.

[City Love]

Houston isn't really 1 big city. It's more like dozens of mini-cities within the city. It's up to each person to live near (or not) their work.

Many people are moving to the inner city, but the suburbs don't seem any less crowded.

[modster]

are people ever moving back into the city? Are they ever.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by H-Town#

Are people ever going to be moving back into the city?

Well dude, why don't you do it and start a trend or something.

[dcoolbro]

Originally Posted by H-Town#

Well Ive been living in NW Houston suburbs for a while now, visited downtown a lot of times, this is just something I've always been wondering

So you complain about the sprawl, yet you're contributing to it? Why did you choose to live in the 'burbs instead of the city?

[HookTheBrotherUp]

The urban sprawl cannot be sustained indefinitely if you think about it; there will come a time when fuel will be too expensive, the city will be too large without enough people to support it, therefore it will be expensive to provide services and infrastructure. Highways and roads will become too expensive to build, and maintain down the road as people shift to electric cars, which will deprive governments of tax revenue on gasoline.

There are lots of scenarios to consider as life evolves, but I don't think it will be soon where you see a shift towards people moving into the big city in Texas as land is so cheap. However, things are starting to change. The governments realize now that they are loosing revenue from gasoline tax, which is mainly used to build and maintain roads and bridges. Some states are now testing GPS systems to be able to tax you on your mileage rather than a gasoline tax as we move to hybrid cars. Once the tax burden becomes too great, people will move closer to their jobs so they don't have to commute.

It would be interesting to see how things are in 30-50 years though!

[EasilyAmused]

Originally Posted by modster

are people ever moving back into the city? Are they ever.

Lots and lots. Just think of all the city neighborhoods that have gone back to "nice" in the past ten years.

You're complaining about sprawl, yet contributing to it.