What do you love/hate most about San Antonio? (Dallas: apartments, lease)

[Tone]

i love everything. i was born and raised here. love the food, music, gurls, my family, and all the fun times ive had so far. im still very young so i got a lot more of those fun times ahead of me. great eventy, partys, adventures, whatever u want to call em....great people also. (i cant get a long with everybody, but who can?) and with the way our city is advancing, building and trying to become overall an even better place, i think i will enjoy my home town even more in the future. i understand this city is not for everybody, but its definately for me. some guy earlier said its not for young people or something along those lines. i dont know were that came from. but i love it. ok, thats all...deuce's

[SanAntoQT]

I'm a native San Antonian and absolutely LOVE my hometown and, after having to deal with San Diego traffic for a year, I'll never complain about SA traffic. It's a cakewalk, as far as I'm concerned! I'm coming home for Christmas and will have two glorious weeks to soak up enough SA flavor to last until Fiesta Week, when I return for another visit.

[01Snake]

The traffic down Blanco outside 1604. I often feel like killing people when I'm sitting in traffic.

[TexasTeq]

Originally Posted by wCat

LOVE the history! (does that surprise anyone?)

Love the convenience of where I'm located to just about anywhere in town within 20 minutes or less.

Love the food, the people, the sense of community (and yes, the fanatical loyalty to the Spurs helps unite many in this city with a positive common interest.)

Love the food.

Love the rustic beauty of the hill country and real working ranches within a short drive of town.

Shopping is so so.....no love or hate there....average....but make shopping out of town more FUN!

Travel from here is long to just about anywhere....but airfare is resonable.

Hate the increasing traffic congestion (shades of DFW coming ...EEK!!)

Hate the dating scene for us voluptous women in the "pink" category. (Austin isn't any better.)

Are you sure you live in SA. Where is it possible to live in SA and be anywhere in 20 minutes? I live out by 151 and it takes me 20 minutes to get out of the neighborhood, because of all the construction!

I'd say my biggest dislikes (hate is a strong word), would be the traffic, who fell asleep in our local government that couldn't see all this development coming.

Next would be the high taxes and absolute lack of oversight for the various ISD in the area. They spend money like drunken sailors!

Lack of a pro football team here, this is not Cowboy Country, no matter what Jerry Jones would have you believe. We need our own team to rally behind.

Other then that I'm very happy living in SA. I just hope and pray that all the folks relocating here (I was one), can help us straighten SA out and make it even better.

[AnthonySA]

The west side has terrible traffic, not so much in the Tri-cities.

[KeepSanAntonioLame]

Love:

The fact that SA has a sense of history and establishment. I noticed when I was in Phoenix this sumer (an awful time to be there) that since Phoenix has grown so quickly that everyone there is basically transplanted from somewhere else, so no one has any real sense of community. Or maybe im just biased because I hate Phoenix. w/e

I also love downtown. People keep saying we don't have enough skyscrapers. Big deal. One reason for that I think is that a lot of the land downtown is historic, therefore you can't tear those buildings down and put in skyscrapers. SA has one of the best downtown's around, for both locals and tourists.

I also love the Spurs, the people, the lack of ice and snow, and we have some good museums.

I don't like how poorly TXDoT has planned highways and construction in the area, and the weather can irksome sometimes, but nothing to seriously complain about when I look at the weather map and it's 15 below zero in the midwest.

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by knittingguy

"Hate the drivers here. They drive way too damn fast all the time."????!!! May I ask just how slow do you drive? 10 miles per hour???

That was my thought exactly when I read this post!!!
I love San Antonio, am a native, and have defended it here on other threads. But the drivers in this city.....a friend of mine calls them sheep. I think of them as cattle. I don't get it. When a light turns green, GO! Don't sit there for a few seconds, then slowely roll you car forward across the intersection taking the same amount of time 5 cars would take to cross that same intersection. You don't need to bring your car to a complete stop on a major street to make a right turn. You don't need all three or four lanes to be empty on a road before you pull out into it, pull out to the closest lane and merge to the left if you need to.

I could go on and on. I should say that I live in SA, but travel to and drive in other cities every single week for work. And I don't want to make this a blanket statement, it's not all drivers in SA who do these things, just an inordinate number of drivers who do compared to other cities. For many people here, it's like they are unaware that there are other drivers on the road behind them.

[samom02]

Well, I've lived in SA for a little over 8 years and here's my list:

Likes-
The rich culture/history, the mexican food, Spurs (it does unite the community), the trees, hill country, being able to drive across Texas to major cities within four hours, being 20 minutes (from where I live) away from most parts of the city, housing prices, shopping, the outlying areas of 1604 on the northside, the sense of community

Dislikes-
Property taxes, only one major grocery store to choose from (HEB), slow/incompetent drivers (I absolutely agree that if the slow drivers would move to the right on the freeways we would not have a traffic jam problem), lack of 4 seasons, property taxes, going to a store and being spoken to in Spanish, lack of professional opportunities (This is from experience! Do not move here if you are right out of college and looking for your first professional opportunity), low paying jobs, poverty levels are too high, poor city management (although it has improved since I moved here), property taxes, you've got to know someone that knows someone to get ahead, 410 seems to have never ending construction, 1604 is definitely a joke (and why would they have stop lights on a loop?)

[Insomniac]

Originally Posted by samom02

This is from experience! Do not move here if you are right out of college and looking for your first professional opportunity

I basically did that and did it with ease. I guess from my experience I could said the exact opposite with many more exclamation points. As well as a few of my transplant friends.

poverty levels are too high

They're lower than most other metro areas in this country (Miami, Chicago, Denver, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, LA, Atlanta, etc)

1604 is definitely a joke (and why would they have stop lights on a loop?)

Because it was an FM road prior to being designated a freeway. Construction has yet to keep up with growth.

[crystalblue]

Originally Posted by knittingguy

I just moved here with my wife from upstate NY. We moved here mainly because of my wife. She is a Texan and she has family members living in San Antonio.

1) Hate the "friendliness".
As far as I am concerned, "being friendly" is just a nicer way to say that someone who is nosy and talks too much. Is it too difficult for people to just mind their own business?
2) Hate the slow turners!!!
I don't understand why people have to take forever to make a turn. Just turn!!! How difficult can it be????!!!!
3) Hate the slow drivers!!!
Just step on the gas pedal!! In my not so humble opinion, the 99% of the so called "traffic jams" will disappear if those slow drivers who are causing the traffic jams would just simply drive faster!!! At least, that's my experience. Whenever I am on 1604 or 410, as soon as the slow moron drivers move away, the traffic jams are gone.
4) Idiot turners!!
Come on, you have your own lane!! Just make your turn. Why do people have to wait till absolutely no cars before they can go?!?! They have their own lane!!!!! Plus, if you have enough space, just go; can people drive a little more aggressively please???!!!!
5) San Antonio is extremely slow-paced!!! To me, San Antonio is like a retirement community, where people are just enjoying their slow-paced lifestyles. I am only in my early 30's. I am at the age where I want to and should be competing with others. When I am at my retiring age, I may think about living in San Antonio; but for now, this is not the place where I want to live in. As fas as I am concerned, those people who tell people to slow down are just people who have no skills to compete with others and just try to come up with excuses to comfort themselves!

I am glad that my wife is loving her life in San Antonio. I want my wife to be happy. But I am going insane every second living in San Antonio. I probably need professional help before I go crazy here, or at least, before I do anything stupid that may harm myself or others. I cannot take it anymore!!!!

you may need some therapy...