Pros and cons to living in Texas (Houston, Dallas: neighborhoods, tax)

[rynetwo]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

What else can you expect when cities like Dallas and Houston lack the natural landscape and overall cultural atmosphere that doesn't revolve around mixed development town center shopping. Your job is your mark in life, your salary and what you can accumulate. It's more keeping up with the joneses than anything.

WTF?

If someone thinks Texas has no culture then you don't know want the word means.

Polish, German, and Mexican culture are alive and thriving.

Is being wealthy or having live music culture? #ATx

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by rynetwo

WTF?

If someone thinks Texas has no culture then you don't know want the word means.

Polish, German, and Mexican culture are alive and thriving.

Is being wealthy or having live music culture? #ATx

Texas does have a lot of culture but what I meant that it doesn't have the level of culture to please a hipster or a yuppie used to things in SF, NYC or LA.

Texas is a very practical State with pockets of the types of things the "creative class" (real term coined by yuppies to describe themselves) are used to in other major cities.

I go to Fredericksburg and am wowed by not only the scenery but the German culture. It reminds me of Solvang in California, a small cute Danish town.

San Antonio has a vibrant Mexican American culture that reminds me of East Los Angeles, rich with history and unabashed ethnic pride.

Inner Loop Houston is a cultural mecca with big city amenities that while aren't yet as grand as in cities like LA, Chicago or NYC, will very much soon be.

Austin, I can't say it enough. Is just a great city, nuff said.

So I'm not trying to knock Texas at all, just that the State isn't trying to be a world class cultural mecca that caters to this creative class of young urban professionals. The Woodlands, Sugar Land, Highland Village, Highland Park in Dallas, Round Rock, Leander, etc, etc...they're aren't there for anyone except the upwardly mobile middle class. Every town is not a Georgetown, TX like it is in California where nearly every town up the central coast til ya hit SF is a little eclectic creative zone. This is not a negative slight against Texas though. It's doing the right thing by not pushing for this grand world class status in the same vein as the other top cities.

[Transplanted99]

The discussion needs to separate urban from rural, and metropolis from city. Each has its own "culture".

I have a sense that the discussion seems to be focused more on urban metropolis. Addressing that...the fact is that people live in a neighborhood and work in another location. That is where they spend the majority of their time. Their "free time" is when the "cultural" aspects come into play the most.

Different people define "culture" different ways. For some, their standard may require a Philharmonic Orchestra as signifying that culture. Others may be the variety of ethnic restaurants. Still others may count the number of major league sports teams, or the number of A list popular musicians/bands that play there in a year.

Until we define/agree on what we are talking about when we say "culture", I doubt we can ever have a satisfying discussion about what area has more or less of it.

[cBach]

Well a con is definitely the lack of public space. Let me guess, the mod will delete this post just like the last post on the derth of public space was deleted...

[doctorjef]

A con for me is how long it can take to get places. As I've grown older, I hate long road trips; a couple of hours is long enough for me unless going through some very sustained good scenery. Driving from, say, Austin to South Padre is excruciating to me. As a result we'd fly down to Harlingen and rent a car. Back in my student days at UT, the drive between UT and Lubbock, where my parents lived at the time, found my car regularly breaking down for one reason or another (student=driving older hand-me-down car). Even the drive between Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth, or somewhat worse, up to Denton (the last place my mother lived before her death) was daunting. And needless to say, it takes a lot longer to fly from anywhere in Texas to East Coast cities that I've long enjoyed, or to Europe for that matter. Also, there's no good train service in Texas. Spouse and I regularly take the train between Wilmington, Delaware and NYC or DC, and less frequently up to Boston. You really can't do that for trips of similar distance in Texas. Admittedly, it's only a problem if you dislike long drives or want to get easily and fairly quickly to places in eastern Canada and the US East Coast.

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by doctorjef

A con for me is how long it can take to get places. As I've grown older, I hate long road trips; a couple of hours is long enough for me unless going through some very sustained good scenery. Driving from, say, Austin to South Padre is excruciating to me. As a result we'd fly down to Harlingen and rent a car. Back in my student days at UT, the drive between UT and Lubbock, where my parents lived at the time, found my car regularly breaking down for one reason or another (student=driving older hand-me-down car). Even the drive between Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth, or somewhat worse, up to Denton (the last place my mother lived before her death) was daunting. And needless to say, it takes a lot longer to fly from anywhere in Texas to East Coast cities that I've long enjoyed, or to Europe for that matter. Also, there's no good train service in Texas. Spouse and I regularly take the train between Wilmington, Delaware and NYC or DC, and less frequently up to Boston. You really can't do that for trips of similar distance in Texas. Admittedly, it's only a problem if you dislike long drives or want to get easily and fairly quickly to places in eastern Canada and the US East Coast.

I guess it takes a bit longer, but, for instance - it takes us 6 hours to get to England and 8 hours to get to Frankfurt (a bit less to get to Paris). Five hours to get to Virginia Beach. Five to get to Pittsburg or Ohio (where we have family). Five or so to get to Vegas and about the same to Colorado Springs (more family for us). By the way, the flights to Germany and England are non stop out of Dallas.

I can definitely live with that.

For us, South Padre is as far as Gulf Shores, Alabama - and I wouldn't drive to either place again. I'm flying. Same with New Orleans - my driving down to Nawlins days are OVER. But it's a two hour flight.

From northeast Texas, the drive to Houston and Galveston isn't so bad (three to four hours). It's two hours to Dallas and a little under three to Fort Worth. An hour and a half to Shreveport, and five hours to Austin. Personally, I'm fine with those commute times but I guess they're onerous to some people.

[radiolibre99]

Driving from Austin to Houston or San Antonio is easy, 3-4 hours tops. But anywhere else and it's just a pain in the butt. I'll drive to kemah or Galveston but that's it. I couldn't imagine being stuck in the same state year round unless I have the money to fly.

Big con!

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

Driving from Austin to Houston or San Antonio is easy, 3-4 hours tops. But anywhere else and it's just a pain in the butt. I'll drive to kemah or Galveston but that's it. I couldn't imagine being stuck in the same state year round unless I have the money to fly.

Big con!

I have to ask - how is it different living in, say, Louisiana, and visiting Tennessee or Alabama? Texas has such different regions and "looks" that - just like most other regions of the US - you can drive a few hours and be in totally different terrain, with different cultural elements. Five hours away is five hours away - you can really see a change in that sort of distance, regardless of whether you're in the same state or not.

For instance, I can drive 9 hours and still be in Texas and be at South Padre. Or I can drive 9 hours and be in Gulf Shores, Alabama - passing through Louisiana and Mississippi in the process. Or I can drive 9 hours and in Branson, MO or somewhere in Oklahoma, or Nashville, TN - but regardless of where I am, it's going to look and feel a lot different from northeast Texas. I really don't care whether it's in the same state or not.

[blkgiraffe]

Originally Posted by KathrynAragon

I have to ask - how is it different living in, say, Louisiana, and visiting Tennessee or Alabama? Texas has such different regions and "looks" that - just like most other regions of the US - you can drive a few hours and be in totally different terrain, with different cultural elements. Five hours away is five hours away - you can really see a change in that sort of distance, regardless of whether you're in the same state or not.

For instance, I can drive 9 hours and still be in Texas and be at South Padre. Or I can drive 9 hours and be in Gulf Shores, Alabama - passing through Louisiana and Mississippi in the process. Or I can drive 9 hours and in Branson, MO or somewhere in Oklahoma, or Nashville, TN - but regardless of where I am, it's going to look and feel a lot different from northeast Texas. I really don't care whether it's in the same state or not.

RIGHT LOL

People complain about the silliest things.

"Geez this 15 hour drive across the state of Texas would be so much more entertaining if the state wasn't so big"

[radiolibre99]

C'mon guys! The hours long trips across the state can be grueling. It's not like there are miles and miles of stretches of coastal bliss like driving down from MA to NY or going down the the PCH in CA.