Need information on the Beaumont area

[1Patois]

Originally Posted by southeasttexas

Lumberton and Kountze are "apples and oranges". Very different. Kountze is a smaller, impoverished rural community, and Lumberton is larger, growing, somewhat affluent bedroom community just north of Beaumont. Kountze would have little retail, Lumberton would have quite a lot. Very few Beaumont people would travel to Kountze or Lumberton to shop, so you would not likely encounter the Beaumont street environment there at all.

I would easily choose Lumberton for a quality of life location vs. Kountze. South of Beaumont, Nederland and Port Neches-Groves are good, as are Sour Lake and Hamshire Fannett to the west. Its noteworthy that even the formerly desired "west end" of Beaumont has become afflicted with crime. A Beaumont homeowner there was recently gunned down by a teenager, unprovoked.

No. Lumberton has it's own Walmart but other retail is nonexistent

[1Patois]

Originally Posted by southeasttexas

The first response is right on. There is no issue with "smells" in Beaumont. Thats a myth that is still perpetuated without reason, usually by some enviro types wanting to make a political statement. The heat and humidity would necessitate running the A/C about 9 months of the year. The Beaumont schools are a wreck, due to a superintendent and his criminal friends that literally stole millions from the district. However, there are fine smaller schools all around Beaumont. So called "air pollution" is the least of worries in the city of Beaumont. Street drugs-crime-gangs are the issue, and most respectable people have already moved out to the suburbs to find a better life. There, great places to live can be found in abundance.

Also not true. My Ma always had an issue with the air quality there...locals notice the odor when it rains

[SuzieQ]

Originally Posted by 1Patois

No. Lumberton has it's own Walmart but other retail is nonexistent

1Patois, I could not agree with you more!

We actually drove across the country last year to see this great area of Lumberton we'd read about on City-Data because my husband was considering a job in the area. We were so disappointed! It was the day I learned that everything is relative when it comes to City-Data posts.

The doughnut shop in Lumberton was the highlight. Seriously.

I guess "affluent" is a relative term, but I do not see how anyone could say that Lumberton has "quite a lot" of retail. Not at all.

Lumberton looked to be a bunch of cookie cutter neighborhoods thrown up with houses very close together. There were a few strips with some small stores. To me, that does not a "community" make.

If you want to buy anything other than at Wal-Mart, you would have to go to Beaumont and experience the "street environment" anyway.

One more thing. When I went into the H-E-B grocery store in Lumberton, I nearly cried at the thought that that's where I would shop for groceries if we lived there. It was just awful. Small, dark, and dingy. Not quite third world country (because they don't have grocery stores), but that's what came to mind.

Just my opinion.

[detachable arm]

Beaumont stinks no matter what part of town you're in, or what direction the wind is blowing. There's a polyethylene plant to the west, rubber plant to the southwest, a big 100+ year old oil refinery to the east (also referred to as ''downtown'') and another chemical plant on the southeast outskirts near Nederland. I know at least two of those are undergoing expansions right now.

I'm sorry but Beaumont is a ghetto, and those who boost Beaumont by dumping on Port Arthur are asinine. Yes Port Arthur is terrible but it has relatively decent neighborhoods just like Beaumont, and you can see equally drug-infested, 3rd world areas in both towns. However Beaumont does have a neat & well-restored downtown (if dead), while Port Arthur's looks like something out of a horror movie. It is clear from the architecture Beaumont is where the Old South meets Texas, which is very unique for Texas and they have a lot to be proud of.

The rest of the towns north and east of Beaumont or in "Mid county" are pretty much all the same-- podunk towns loosely intertwined. People there like to distance themselves from the principle cities but they are all from the same cut of cloth as far as I'm concerned.

There are still race issues in that whole region but there are also many living, breathing stereotypes there and I can understand exactly why. People there are simply victims of the area they've stayed in and known their whole lives.

However, I must say the 3 people I went to college with who were from this area were the smartest people I've ever met... and of course they all moved to Houston. The many people I've met in my career who live there have an extreme amount of common sense and are easily some of the most generous & likable people in the entire US. They might seem dumb/silly, formally uneducated and come from low class upbringings, but regardless of race they are genuinely much happier than most people in the big cities.

As long as they didn't come from the prison environment. Every time I go back there the "diversification" of industry via prison people makes industry more and more like a prison. It is obvious they've seen and experienced some ****..........