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No but seriously, you have to have a REALLY open mind to understand Houston.
I think you have to be more open-minded than the average New Yorker. But I wouldn't get too worked up about it. If you think they're saying bad things about Houston, wait till you hear what they have to say about New Jersey. Or Brooklyn. Staten Island. Or the Bronx. People who live in those other areas are, of course, equally partisan about their areas, and equally dismissive of other areas.
It seems like the biggest problem for me is that Houston is so undefined unlike NYC, here I can tell you stay out of the bronx, upper part of harlem/yonkers. That is easy to do, but in Houston it seems hard to tell where the shady neighborhood ends and good one begins. For example we drove by Nippon Daiddo and kept following the main street... reminded me a bit of long island so I thought let's see how this area looks. We drove and seen homeless, and some other weird characters on the side streets. Kept driving for a while longer until I seen schools and then shadowbriar mansions where we parked and it seemed like a really nice private neighborhood behind them... lot of dead ends. We walk into the place and ask to see the apartments. They look nice inside but the first things I notice is that people have placed cameras at their own expense to see who is outside of their doors. This is inside of the hallways where no one but residents should have access to. I looked at the reviews online and it said that there are nothing but roaches, robberies and weed smoking pit bull owners around. Again I was confused.
Yes, I am picky but am not looking for a replacement to New York. I do feel that my family should be safe, and live in a nice environment. The point of moving out of a dense populated city is to live in a safe and quiet neighborhood right? Otherwise what is the point. I don't take the negative comments seriously as most new yorkers who never went anywhere else will talk up this city so high that even I fall off halfway through the conversation. I also don't understand why everyone avoids my questions on crime in Houston. It is close to New Orleans so I can see how after Katrina a lot of the hood rats had families and friends who they ran to but has it really made that much of a difference?
It seems that the woodlands do seem safe, nice and without all these homeless bums lurking around. Now it's just a questions can I find that closer to the center of the city as driving from the woodlands to a lot of locations is quite a trip.
Everything in America outside of NYC is pretty much suburban in the eyes of a New Yorker. Even Queens is considered suburban to a Manhattanite, although Queens has a larger population and Brooklyn an even larger one. Compare inner/outer loop in Houston, but the comparisons are hard to keep apples and oranges when going from the Northeast to the South.
In 2000 Nassau County, New York had a population density of 4,652/mi² and I don't figure it's changed too much since then. Let's say it's 5K now. Houston is approaching 4K in the city limits, but that includes a lot of annexed outer suburban fringe of the metro which would drive that figure down in much of the city limits. In the inner core of the city is denser, more like 5-6K and possibly more in a few spots. That's a lot for the Sun Belt, but in NYC it's more on the level of a "suburban" community as you'd see on Long Island. That's the change you're looking at here.
You can live close in and do something closer to NYC, and you'll probably have more space even then than you would there. The transit system is primitive compared to NYC but if you find work near home and stay inside or near the loop it's a little easier. You can get to entertainment, the farmer's markets, retail - if you can live without Wal-Mart and gigantic shopping malls you'll survive. With a little work you can make it without a car. There's airport commuter services to get you on a plane out of here when you need it.
If you're doing the suburban, big yard thing, then there's no way around it. You're going to be driving. A lot. Around crazy people. And if we want to get down to it, that's where the difference in "danger" between NYC and Houston is. I'm less scared walking down the street as I am driving down it. I can punch a bum in the face downtown and probably never hear about it from anyone but I can't do a damned thing about the bimbo weaving in and out of lanes while she's on her phone and putting on makeup. If I were you, and you decide to do this, I'd rent something first because you don't want to buy and then decide six months later when summer rolls around that it's not for you.
I think you have to be more open-minded than the average New Yorker. But I wouldn't get too worked up about it. If you think they're saying bad things about Houston, wait till you hear what they have to say about New Jersey. Or Brooklyn. Staten Island. Or the Bronx. People who live in those other areas are, of course, equally partisan about their areas, and equally dismissive of other areas.
I'm not offended and understand him completely. I just feel when coming from New York; be prepared for much more than you'll realize.
The natives anyplace don't like it when you criticize their home. New York's combination of arrogance and defensiveness is legendary.
No, I do it all the time. If there's something that sucks in my hometown, then I'll say so. There's nothing wrong with being picky. I am very picky too when it comes to the place/city I live in.
It seems like the biggest problem for me is that Houston is so undefined unlike NYC, here I can tell you stay out of the bronx, upper part of harlem/yonkers. That is easy to do, but in Houston it seems hard to tell where the shady neighborhood ends and good one begins. For example we drove by Nippon Daiddo and kept following the main street... reminded me a bit of long island so I thought let's see how this area looks. We drove and seen homeless, and some other weird characters on the side streets. Kept driving for a while longer until I seen schools and then shadowbriar mansions where we parked and it seemed like a really nice private neighborhood behind them... lot of dead ends. We walk into the place and ask to see the apartments. They look nice inside but the first things I notice is that people have placed cameras at their own expense to see who is outside of their doors. This is inside of the hallways where no one but residents should have access to. I looked at the reviews online and it said that there are nothing but roaches, robberies and weed smoking pit bull owners around. Again I was confused.
Yes, I am picky but am not looking for a replacement to New York. I do feel that my family should be safe, and live in a nice environment. The point of moving out of a dense populated city is to live in a safe and quiet neighborhood right? Otherwise what is the point. I don't take the negative comments seriously as most new yorkers who never went anywhere else will talk up this city so high that even I fall off halfway through the conversation. I also don't understand why everyone avoids my questions on crime in Houston. It is close to New Orleans so I can see how after Katrina a lot of the hood rats had families and friends who they ran to but has it really made that much of a difference?
It seems that the woodlands do seem safe, nice and without all these homeless bums lurking around. Now it's just a questions can I find that closer to the center of the city as driving from the woodlands to a lot of locations is quite a trip.
I just don't know where you went that it was so bad. I live here. I live in West Houston. I don't see homeless people around my neighborhood. There are people walking and waiting on the bus on Westheimer, but for heaven's sake, that's the biggest street in town and you'd expect that. We don't see homeless in my neighborhood. When a crime does occur here, people freak.
My sister lived in Sugar Land (New Territory) when she lived here, and theirs was a beautiful, planned community with elegant homes and no crime to speak of (teenagers goofing off, mostly).
Houston has no zoning, so you're going to see a "Zone d'Erotica" store directly next to the Galleria, the best shopping area in town. There's an auto repair place right down the street. I know of one great italian restaurant directly next to a foreign car repair shop; near my neighborhood, there's an adult book store directly next to a Mattress Firm store (ironical, eh?). The no-zoning is good and bad, look through the threads for explanations.
You cannot replicate NYC here. It is apples and oranges. If I moved to Seattle, I wouldn't try to replicate Houston there; they're just too different. Same with Denver or Chicago. When I lived in NYC, I knew a couple that had planned their retirement to Florida; they were lifelong New Yorkers and were "sick of the city" and wanted to move. They sold their co-op, moved to Florida---and six months later they moved back to the City. They hated it in Florida. It's just hard to pick up and change your life.
I guess my response to you would be, give it a shot and if you don't like it, you don't like it.
Yeah, I'm a little baffled by all the worry about the "homeless bums." You see them downtown near the bus stations, and panhandling at highway underpasses, but that's about it. Where was this guy hanging out while in Houston?
You went to the crappy parts of town. No one lives on the East side of Houston. Stick with West (katy), South (Sugarland) or North. That would be like me visiting New York and going to Harlem and then coming home and saying, New York sucks
Ahh .. the question on Katrina evacuees who relocated to Houston and the crime rate raises a lot of heated responses from these forums with those who think yes - it changed everything and those who think totally opposite that no - it didn't make that much of a dent. My personal thoughts - I've been a lifelong Houstonian and I think our new residents forever changed this city and not in a positive way except in a few cases. I think crime increased dramatically in certain areas -- particularly those with blocks and blocks of affordable apartments. Now that being said - many residents from New Orleans moved here, bettered their lives, started over because everything they had in New Orleans had been destroyed and were welcomed here with open arms and have fit in well as new residents. The problems arose from the fact that New Orleans conveniently lost track of the jails and prisons that they emptied and put on buses during that storm so in addition to the hard working citizens of NOLA that relocated we also got their junk or what they deemed to be junk -- that they don't want back. They refuse to build affordable and public housing for the poor and impoverished. The police in NOLA were afraid of their criminals so they let those projects fester with crime terrorizing the decent who lived there and Katrina was a convenient disaster for them to conveniently lose as many of their undesirables as possible to another city. In contrast, Galveston which also had a large amount of public housing devastated by a hurricane plans to rebuild theirs - they want their citizen to know they can come back home -- which says something positive about the way Texas cities treat their residents in the base case.
As far as crime in general -- you'll get a wide spectrum of views on this as well. My personal thoughts again - I think crime has dramatically increased over the past few years .... heavy in some areas and sporadic and random in others. What I do think is that it is much more brazen and violent than previously and I don't think it is the economy -- "the what else can I do to feed my family" ........ If you are a decent, moral person to begin with - poverty or lack of a job won't make a person turn to violence unless he or she has that natural tendency in the base case. Most people in Houston do not feel unsafe - they move to nice areas where everything is available within a 5 or 10 minute walk or drive. They only feel unsafe in certain areas known as high pockets of crime and once someone is a resident here - they quickly learn where those areas are. That is just one Houstonian's perspective on crime ..... and because it is only opinion .... you'll get tons of others who strongly disagree and those who also agree.
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