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I grew up in the Dallas-Ft Worth area and although I've lived in other parts of the country since then, I have yet to find a place with the same livability trifecta: vibrant economy, low cost of living, and friendly people.
It feels good to finally be back in the lone star state.
Ehhh...perhaps, but in my many forays into the DFW area, i don't see it. What i see is sprawl, strip malls, shopping malls, cookie cutter houses, chain restaurants, and bad traffic...though it's not NEARLY as bad as Atlanta. Not to mention that DFW is the home of the 30k a year "millionaire." I've never seen so many people faking it anywhere else i've ever been...including California. There is a reason why so many Texans hate people from Dallas.
Gotta admit though..the food out there is pretty good. Not Louisiana good, but good enough.
Last edited by desertdetroiter; 11-01-2010 at 09:09 AM..
Declining sales tax receipts and the recession:
State lawmakers write a budget based on an educated guess of how much money will be available to spend during the period for which they're writing a budget. For example, in 2009, lawmakers wrote a budget for 2010-2011. State government gets about 60% of its revenue from sales taxes, so when there's a dramatic drop in state revenues, or collections, there's less money to spend. During the economic recession of 2008-2009, Texas saw a drop in state revenues for 14 straight months.
Structural deficit:
Some budget watchers say lawmakers created a "structural" deficit in 2005 when lawmakers cut school property taxes by one-third, and expanded the business tax to make up the difference. However, the business tax brings in billions less each year than the property tax did, meaning with every new budget, lawmakers must find more and more extra money to make up the difference. The structure of the revenue system creates deficits each year.
Ehhh...perhaps, but in my many forays into the DFW area, i don't see it. What i see is sprawl, strip malls, shopping malls, cookie cutter houses, chain restaurants, and bad traffic...though it's not NEARLY as bad as Atlanta. Not to mention that DFW is the home of the 30k a year "millionaire." I've never seen so many people faking it anywhere else i've ever been...including California. There is a reason why so many Texans hate people from Dallas.
Gotta admit though..the food out there is pretty good. Not Louisiana good, but good enough.
It's funny you should mention Atlanta. I lived there for five of the worst years of my life. Don't get me started.
As for your criticisms of the DFW area all I can say is that you've got to take the good with the bad. No city is perfect. When you find one that is let me know.
It's funny you should mention Atlanta. I lived there for five of the worst years of my life. Don't get me started.
As for your criticisms of the DFW area all I can say is that you've got to take the good with the bad. No city is perfect. When you find one that is let me know.
True, nowhere is perfect. But DFW is a cultural wasteland. I could live in 2 dozen cities in this country and there would be absolutely no difference from DFW. Me personally, i prefer to live somewhere that doesn't consider Applebee's and Olive Garden to be fine dining and i don't have to hit my garage door opener to remember which house i live in. Not to mention the same lame strip malls with the same tired stores every 5 miles. Bed, Bath, and Beyond anybody? Ugggghhhhh!
Hit me over the head with a 2x4 if you want, but i'll take New Orleans, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, or even Austin (if i just HAD to live in Texas) over DFW.
True, nowhere is perfect. But DFW is a cultural wasteland. I could live in 2 dozen cities in this country and there would be absolutely no difference from DFW. Me personally, i prefer to live somewhere that doesn't consider Applebee's and Olive Garden to be fine dining and i don't have to hit my garage door opener to remember which house i live in. Not to mention the same lame strip malls with the same tired stores every 5 miles. Bed, Bath, and Beyond anybody? Ugggghhhhh!
Hit me over the head with a 2x4 if you want, but i'll take New Orleans, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, or even Austin (if i just HAD to live in Texas) over DFW.
You remind me of a guy that I worked with at Delta Airlines. He was from Colorado and always called DFW a cultural wasteland. And, to be quite honest, in a lot of ways it probably is. I agree with you about the cities that you mentioned. Each one is, in its own way, probably more exciting than the DFW area. However, the problem is (with the possible exception of New Orleans) that those cities are also more expensive to live in. DFW on the other hand is one of those increasingly rare places where a working stiff like me can afford a nice home in a nice area, and still have enough money left over to drive a nice car (oops... that must be the 30K millionare in me rearing its ugly head!). If I want culture I'll let my girlfriend drag me to an opera.
You remind me of a guy that I worked with at Delta Airlines. He was from Colorado and always called DFW a cultural wasteland. And, to be quite honest, in a lot of ways it probably is. I agree with you about the cities that you mentioned. Each one is, in its own way, probably more exciting than the DFW area. However, the problem is (with the possible exception of New Orleans) that those cities are also more expensive to live in. DFW on the other hand is one of those increasingly rare places where a working stiff like me can afford a nice home in a nice area, and still have enough money left over to drive a nice car (oops... that must be the 30K millionare in me rearing its ugly head!). If I want culture I'll let my girlfriend drag me to an opera.
LOL...no doubt my brother. I understand what you're saying. DFW is quite affordable and does offer a lot in terms of sporting events, affordable housing, good schools, shopping, and an abundance of clean suburban neighborhoods. Plus, as i said before, if you go deep enough into the "hoods" so to speak (i've got a ghetto pass, but not everyone does), you can find some great food at some of the more seedier greasy spoons.
I guess at this point in my life, i'm just looking for more than that. I'd love it if my wife would agree to sell our house and move to a city...preferrably a downtown somewhere in a nice apartment and experience an urban environment for the rest of our lives. But she's not ready yet.
Texas has like one-tenth the deficit of California... not only that the California budget is full of HorseS***... they "assume" the best revenue collection and unrealistically minimize the "losses" of other spending AND they cut HUGE amounts of spending just to get their fiscal budget to pass... meaning they are one step to chaos... Texas is nowhere close to California, what liberals forget is to actually start telling the truth... the biggest deficits are more or less in the most liberal states... weird considering they have the largest population to tax upon and the largest tax rates and have the highest amount of income from workers there....
Texas is the biggest job creator in the country. Austin is #1 percentwise in job growth from Sept 2009 to Sept 2010. (Job rankings for 100 biggest markets | Business First (http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/job-rankings-for-100-biggest-markets.html - broken link))
True, nowhere is perfect. But DFW is a cultural wasteland. I could live in 2 dozen cities in this country and there would be absolutely no difference from DFW. Me personally, i prefer to live somewhere that doesn't consider Applebee's and Olive Garden to be fine dining and i don't have to hit my garage door opener to remember which house i live in. Not to mention the same lame strip malls with the same tired stores every 5 miles. Bed, Bath, and Beyond anybody? Ugggghhhhh!
Hit me over the head with a 2x4 if you want, but i'll take New Orleans, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, or even Austin (if i just HAD to live in Texas) over DFW.
ATL is mostly as boring as DFW. Austin or NOLA any day here. (NY and Chicago are great but too cold to live in!)
Texas has like one-tenth the deficit of California... not only that the California budget is full of HorseS***... they "assume" the best revenue collection and unrealistically minimize the "losses" of other spending AND they cut HUGE amounts of spending just to get their fiscal budget to pass... meaning they are one step to chaos... Texas is nowhere close to California, what liberals forget is to actually start telling the truth... the biggest deficits are more or less in the most liberal states... weird considering they have the largest population to tax upon and the largest tax rates and have the highest amount of income from workers there....
The most liberal states among the largest states so it makes sense that California and Illinois both have a high deficit.
Last edited by chitown85; 11-05-2010 at 09:14 PM..
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