San Antonio needs to step their game up (Houston, Center: condos, tenants)

[AK123]

Originally Posted by sapphire

Is there some reason you live here rather than there? I just moved from the Baytown area east of Houston, and I couldn't be happier. Houston has definite smog problems with all of the factories, refineries, etc. and the traffic problems are 10 times worse than ours. The outlying areas are nice, yes, but there is almost too much growth, IMO. San Antonio is coming along nicely--I'm glad to be back home!

Baytown is not Houston!! Thankfully.

I've only lived in the western areas of Houston and never noticed refineries/smog.

[AK123]

Originally Posted by LivingLikeAGradStudent

The area near the Galleria and Montrose/Westheimer is interesting, but much of Houston proper (not the self-contained suburban cities) is unmanaged and unmanageable. For as many people as live there, the area is unsophisticated and not that relevant outside the state. There's a reason (or 20) why San Antonio is much more sought as a tourist destination.

Houston is indeed sophisticated (excluding the industrial east side I suppose) and relevant outside the state, most people are just ignorant of it. Top-notch culture/arts, gets traveling exhibits like the Dead Sea Scrolls and others from overseas that come to just a handful of U.S. cities, fabulous shopping and restaurants, a theatre district second in size only to NYC's Broadway, tons of Fortune 500 companies, lots of diversity and an international population, a huge port, the largest grouping of hospitals/medical research in the world (Texas Medical Center), NASA... I could go on but won't. Point being is it's all there, people just don't know about it (or forget).

That being said, why would San Antonio (and Austin for that matter) feel they need to be a Houston or Dallas? They're just more laid-back cities and have a different feel. I think they should keep it that way. Those who feel SA and/or Austin are too small or unsophisticated can go to Houston/Dallas, and those in Houston/Dallas tired of the big city lifestyle can go to SA/Austin or elsewhere.

[LivingLikeAGradStudent]

People can't be aware of Houston's relevance but forget about it. It just doesn't mean much outside the state. The sports teams are not national, nor are the colleges (Rice is a small exception, but it is not perceived on a high tier outside Texas). There is little national talk about the city. That doesn't make it bad per se, but it does say something about its reach. Austin and San Antonio generate much more discussion outside the state.

[sapphire]

Originally Posted by JJP

Baytown is not Houston!! Thankfully.

I've only lived in the western areas of Houston and never noticed refineries/smog.

How can you live in Houston and not notice the smog? And I said the Baytown area EAST of Houston. God knows I would never insult Houston that way.

[sapphire]

Originally Posted by LivingLikeAGradStudent

People can't be aware of Houston's relevance but forget about it. It just doesn't mean much outside the state. The sports teams are not national, nor are the colleges (Rice is a small exception, but it is not perceived on a high tier outside Texas). There is little national talk about the city. That doesn't make it bad per se, but it does say something about its reach. Austin and San Antonio generate much more discussion outside the state.

Actually, the sports teams ARE national, they're just not very good. Well, the 'stros made it to the World Series last year, so I guess they were pretty good, but the Texans football team is 4 and 10. The Rockets are 15 and 9, but it's early in the season yet!

There are probably other sports teams in Houston, but those are the only 3 I am interested in at all.

Charles Barkley called San Antonio "po-dunk", Texas on national TV when TNT was covering the playoffs a couple of years ago. He also dogged us for having a lot of fat, ugly women. He knows nothing.

[Insomniac]

In Barkley's defense that was back in 2001 I believe. I wasn't living in San Antonio then but I did watch the Spurs playoffs back then when they were still in the Dome, that series were Barkley ignorantly dis SA was shown on TNT.

[Robert123]

I agree with novemberhawk and googie2525. I do think that it comes down to white-collarness and money. But to get that you have to have a culture that can support those people with more sophisticated tastes (those who do not think that quality of life is simply reflective of how close they live to the Petsmart, or whatever). I was just in the San Francisco airport today. I stood among the people and took a deep breath. I was surrounded by crisp, bright-eyed humans. It was awesome. I often have that experience when I leave SA, and wonder why SA will never get there.

As a non-Texan who is new to all Texas cities, I agree that Houston has a much better looking downtown. For me, this is because it has many glass towers. All of the buildings in downtown SA that are over three stories are BROWN brick. This gives everything a very dated look to me. I mean, a dull BROWN/beige stadium? A BROWN space needle? Most beautiful US skylines have glass reflecting blue, black-painted steel, gray, a combination. (I do like the charm of some parts of downtown, however--the smaller structures that pre-dated the 1960s and 70s brown yuckos).

I do also agree that SA needs to step it up generally. Locals speak of the "world class" medical center. This makes me chuckle. San Antonio's medical center is not even listed in the top TEN in any area of specialty, at least according to U.S. News and World Report. Now, I would love to be wrong here, so please write in with a published, RETRIEVEABLE, international (or at least non-Texan) source that ranks any SA hospital as being "world class" or that lists SA as being a top ranked medical center compared to other US or world hospitals (not just in Texas!!).

[n0vemberHAWK]

San Antonio's downtown is garbage.

I would love for San Antonio to have a beautiful skyline but the city leaders in the past have seemingly wanted to hold San ntonio back from becoming a major metro and wanted to keep us as a big city with a small town charm.

Yea, well, that small town charm must be synonymous for lack of highways and very poor people.

This city has a lot of potential, but people need to stop holding on to the dream of this being a large city with small town charm.

Things are what they are and if it takes away some uniqeness to get us more pro sports teams, more national coverage, better freeways and a population that actually has money, then so be it.

[AK123]

Originally Posted by LivingLikeAGradStudent

People can't be aware of Houston's relevance but forget about it. It just doesn't mean much outside the state. The sports teams are not national, nor are the colleges (Rice is a small exception, but it is not perceived on a high tier outside Texas). There is little national talk about the city. That doesn't make it bad per se, but it does say something about its reach. Austin and San Antonio generate much more discussion outside the state.

What I meant is people will hear a little blip about some big medical breakthrough at M. D. Anderson or something, or something about the arts, or the astronauts returning home (NASA mission control is in Houston) ... but then forget about those things.

Not sure what you mean by the teams aren't "national"

[AK123]

Originally Posted by sapphire

Actually, the sports teams ARE national, they're just not very good. Well, the 'stros made it to the World Series last year, so I guess they were pretty good, but the Texans football team is 4 and 10. The Rockets are 15 and 9, but it's early in the season yet!

There are probably other sports teams in Houston, but those are the only 3 I am interested in at all.

Charles Barkley called San Antonio "po-dunk", Texas on national TV when TNT was covering the playoffs a couple of years ago. He also dogged us for having a lot of fat, ugly women. He knows nothing.

Astros are good

Rockets are okay, of course they won national championships in '94 and '95 I believe

The MLS team (Dynamite) recently won the national championship

So the only team that's not any good is the Texans, but they're still so new so we'll see what happens later.