Abilene, Tx: Worst city in Texas hands down!! (Tyler: living in, restaurants)
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I browse the forums as visitor but I've seen this thread and I really cannot believe the misinformation that was presented here by the OP. So, I decided to make an account and let everyone here know the TRUTH about Abilene from someone who moved there and currently lives there. The OP seemed to only focus on the negatives so I've decided to focus on the positives too.
I moved to Abilene back in 2007 from College Station for work. Back then, Abilene was not a place I really wanted to be..especially coming from College Station. The city streets were not in great shape with a lot of them having potholes big enough to bust tires. Crime was really high too with drugs being a really big issue here. Not much growth was taking shape back then neither and the city itself needed a revitalization from within. After living here awhile I've really seen a change in this city and the OP didn't even care to mention them.
The OP stated that there's no growth in Abilene and that it's stagnant. In fact, Abilene is growing faster than it ever has right now with growth all over the southside and northside. New subdivisions are going up every month especially in the Wylie, Buffalo Gap, Potosi, and Tuscola area. The distance between Buffalo Gap and Abilene is shrinking every month at a pretty fast pace. Existing neighborhoods are being rebuilt as well with Paramore square being one of them. New restaurants are opening up all the time and haven't closed.. Abilene has a Hooters that has managed to survive over a year. The downtown area is also growing as multiple new restaurants and breweries have opened up. Also, a new 8-10 story 4 star hotel is being built within a couple years to be connected with the convention center. Early plans are being developed to build a minor league baseball stadium in south downtown within 10 years. If it actually comes to be, it will be a very nice addition to that side of town. The northside along the interstate is beginning to grow as well with the addition of new apartment complexes, movie theaters, restaurants and hotels. TxDOT recently announced a feasibility study of converting I20 into 3 lane because of traffic concerns in the future due to growth beginning to take shape along I20.
The OP said crime was bad and that is somewhat true but not completely. Last year was a really bad year for crime here but this year is a different story. Child sex crimes and drugs are still a major issue here but that's pretty common a lot of places these days. Overall, crime is way down this year which is welcome news.
Abilene has invested millions into quality of life amenities over the last couple years. Splash pads were installed at multiple city parks throughout the city. A new city aquatics center was built with a lazy river, wave pool, and multiple water slides. The city has big plans for the water center with growth being planned over the next few years. The zoo has seen expansions and a lot of updates over the last couple years and is a really nice way to spend an afternoon. The fairgrounds are being completely overhauled with several new additions and updates being built currently which will make it a very nice venue for years to come. Another neat thing is the Cedar Creek Waterway. Once complete, will be a walking/bike trail along cedar creek straight through the city for several miles.
The OP said there's not jobs here. That's also incorrect as the unemployment rate stays around 3.1%-3.3% which is below the national average. First Financial Bank has it's HQ here which is one of the biggest banks in Texas and growing every year. As they grow, more and more jobs will become available with them. Dyess Air Force Base will receive the new B-21 Raider long range bomber and with it will come jobs and new infrastructure. Existing companies like Abimar Foods, Martin Sprocket, Tige Boats and Broadwind Towers are all doing very well and are always hiring. Also, new companies are coming too with the addition of Prairie Dog DogFood Co. and BrightFarms recently announced their intentions to build a Hydroponics greenhouse here by 2023 which will be the first of it's kind in Texas.
The medical field in Abilene is a major deal. The city does have two hospitals with Abilene Regional Med Center and Hendrick Hospital. Both of them have seen growth over the last few years with new services coming. Both of them are very adequate for a city like Abilene. The Texas Tech School of Pharmacy has seen new additions too over the last couple years which has tripled in size and keeps growing. Abilene Christian University has made the jump to D1 athletics and have built a new football stadium and several other campus additions. The area around ACU is growing with a new shopping center currently being built across from the school with more being planned.
I want the OP to know that these are just some of the positives coming from Abilene. The city is changing and has a vision for the future. I know Abilene has it's issues but other cities have issues too and it's very closed minded to just bash the city of Abilene without taking the time to look at the positives too. I'm from College Station but I plan to stay in Abilene for the rest of my life. It's not a big bad hole in the middle of nowhere.
You typed up an awful lot to basically say Abilene sucks.
I'm not sure if Abilene is the worst city in Texas. I wasn't impressed with Abilene when I stopped in Abilene to use the bathroom on a road trip. I realize that driving through a city and going to the bathroom isn't enough to fully form a reasonable opinion about a city. One poster made a good case about Abilene not being the worst place.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jkirkwood
The OP stated that there's no growth in Abilene and that it's stagnant. In fact, Abilene is growing faster than it ever has right now with growth all over the southside and northside. New subdivisions are going up every month especially in the Wylie, Buffalo Gap, Potosi, and Tuscola area. The distance between Buffalo Gap and Abilene is shrinking every month at a pretty fast pace. Existing neighborhoods are being rebuilt as well with Paramore square being one of them.
Generally, I have mixed feelings about growth. It isn't good for a city to shrink in size. Looking at the raw numbers, Abilene has grown from ~98,000 in 1980 to ~123,000 now. That represents 25% growth in 38 years. The United States has grown from ~226,000,000 in 1980 to ~327,000,000 in 2018. There's a 45% change in 38 years. Abilene's growth rate has been slower than the United States at large. It's not good to grow slower than the nation as a whole, but I could argue that the U.S. population has grown too much since 1980. Even in Texas, cities like Plano, McKinney, Allen, and Frisco have grown too much since 1980, 1990, or even 2000.
I don't think it can be argued that Abilene is dying, but there is a case to be made for relative stagnation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jkirkwood
Abilene has a Hooters that has managed to survive over a year.
It is good to see any business survive for a year. Businesses failing is not good, but there is an economic concept called creative destruction. Creative destruction entails businesses failing because market forces indicate that their business model isn't viable. Hooters as a franchise has been falling victim to a degree of creative destruction. In the 1980s, Hooters was innovative for having scantily clad waitresses serving chicken wings and other greasy bar food type bites. However, in the last 15 years or so, Hooters has fallen victim to some market forces. First off, chain casual dining has really been struggling in that time. Places like Chili's, Red Robin, and Applebee's have fallen on hard times. However, the category of breastaurants, which Hooters essentially innovated, has actually bucked the tide of failures in chain casual dining. However, Hooters has not been the main beneficiary of the success of the breastaurant category because their brand experience is stale. Twin Peaks has been one of the biggest beneficiaries, with their hunting lodge decor, even more scantily claid waitress (midriffs are shown), superior food offerings, and colder beer. Bone Daddy's, Ojos Locos, Tilted Kilt, and Redneck Heaven are breastaurant chains that have put their own spin on the breastaurant and found a niche within it.
Hooters and Abilene seem like a match, tired brands that aren't keeping up with the times.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jkirkwood
Abilene has invested millions into quality of life amenities over the last couple years. Splash pads were installed at multiple city parks throughout the city. A new city aquatics center was built with a lazy river, wave pool, and multiple water slides. The city has big plans for the water center with growth being planned over the next few years. The zoo has seen expansions and a lot of updates over the last couple years and is a really nice way to spend an afternoon. The fairgrounds are being completely overhauled with several new additions and updates being built currently which will make it a very nice venue for years to come. Another neat thing is the Cedar Creek Waterway. Once complete, will be a walking/bike trail along cedar creek straight through the city for several miles.
This has potential. Good recreation options are part of what makes a city a desirable place to live.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jkirkwood
The OP said there's not jobs here. That's also incorrect as the unemployment rate stays around 3.1%-3.3% which is below the national average. First Financial Bank has it's HQ here which is one of the biggest banks in Texas and growing every year. As they grow, more and more jobs will become available with them. Dyess Air Force Base will receive the new B-21 Raider long range bomber and with it will come jobs and new infrastructure. Existing companies like Abimar Foods, Martin Sprocket, Tige Boats and Broadwind Towers are all doing very well and are always hiring. Also, new companies are coming too with the addition of Prairie Dog DogFood Co. and BrightFarms recently announced their intentions to build a Hydroponics greenhouse here by 2023 which will be the first of it's kind in Texas.
The medical field in Abilene is a major deal. The city does have two hospitals with Abilene Regional Med Center and Hendrick Hospital. Both of them have seen growth over the last few years with new services coming. Both of them are very adequate for a city like Abilene. The Texas Tech School of Pharmacy has seen new additions too over the last couple years which has tripled in size and keeps growing. Abilene Christian University has made the jump to D1 athletics and have built a new football stadium and several other campus additions. The area around ACU is growing with a new shopping center currently being built across from the school with more being planned.
For a city of its size, there seems to be decent job options in Abilene but I'm not sure I want to fully commit to that statement. When I lived in Phoenix, AZ, I was underwhelmed with the quality of jobs relative to the size of Phoenix. Phoenix had few Fortune 500 HQs for a city of its size, which was a key reason for why I relocated to Dallas.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffDavisCSA
Correction. After living unfortunately in Dallas for 20 years, I can say confidently that dopey Dallas is the worst city in Texas.
There are many things not to like about Dallas, but it can't be argued in any fashion that it is the worst city in Texas.
I complete agree with OP, I’ve had to move to Abilene “aka” the **** hole of Texas, due to a bunch of personal crap I won’t get into, but I he’s to move here from Round Rock/Austin area, you want culture shock, try that move. I was used to perfectly paved streets, with a proper drainage system. (Abilene has no butter system, the streets ARE the drainage, so when it rains, it floods, no matter what) good luck trying to keep your car clean, anyone watering the grass too much, it makes little creeks in the streets. Holes in the roads, HAHA When I first got here 1 1/2 years ago, I busted the lower control arm on my truck driving down south 14th, now today I notice, all my lower back joints are blown AND one of my sway bar links, (I replaced both 7k miles ago) has also blown. I’m so ****ing mad about the city management, they gotta be pocketing the money, people who live here are lazy as hell when it comes to local politics, I am seriously thinking of running for city council, I bet with $50 worth of signs, I would win, cause with some catchy slogans, nobody in the backwards town would bother to even look up who I am. And I will get to the bottom of this city street problem, hell, they even let owners of shopping center let the parking lots go to hell, there HAS to be a city ordinance saying they must maintain the paved asphalt. Yep, Abilene is a dirty town, full of the worst roads I’ve ever driven in my entire life, and the people here for the most part, are scared of ANYTHING new, or ANY kind of change, and if I hear one more ******* say Abilene is “West Texas” I will blow my brains out. This is NORTH CENTRAL Texas, open up a ****ing map. There are a lot of nice people here, good people, but the majority are very low IQ, Hooked on drugs, or have a mentality that is stuck in 1975.
The only growth this town is seeing, is the big fancy homes far north, and far south, mostly people who grew up here, left and experienced more than the surrounding 50 miles, came back to retire on cheap land and go through a midlife crisis, or came back to take care of aging parents who don’t have much longer to live.
Also, this town has a curse, if you are born here, you are destine to return.
Ask anyone, it’s a damn fact, and a sad one. And I’m on my phone, killing my fingers so I’m ending this here.
Have a good night!
Last edited by TexaSean; 07-29-2019 at 08:52 PM..
Reason: Trying to edit on phone, if it isn’t changed will jump on of and try again.
I complete agree with OP, I’ve had to move to Abilene “aka” the **** hole of Texas, due to a bunch of personal crap I won’t get into, but I he’s to move here from Round Rock/Austin area, you want culture shock, try that move. I was used to perfectly paved streets, with a proper drainage system. (Abilene has no butter system, the streets ARE the drainage, so when it rains, it floods, no matter what) good luck trying to keep your car clean, anyone watering the grass too much, it makes little creeks in the streets. Holes in the roads, HAHA When I first got here 1 1/2 years ago, I busted the lower control arm on my truck driving down south 14th, now today I notice, all my lower back joints are blown AND one of my sway bar links, (I replaced both 7k miles ago) has also blown. I’m so ****ing mad about the city management, they gotta be pocketing the money, people who live here are lazy as hell when it comes to local politics, I am seriously thinking of running for city council, I bet with $50 worth of signs, I would win, cause with some catchy slogans, nobody in the backwards town would bother to even look up who I am. And I will get to the bottom of this city street problem, hell, they even let owners of shopping center let the parking lots go to hell, there HAS to be a city ordinance saying they must maintain the paved asphalt. Yep, Abilene is a dirty town, full of the worst roads I’ve ever driven in my entire life, and the people here for the most part, are scared of ANYTHING new, or ANY kind of change, and if I hear one more ******* say Abilene is “West Texas” I will blow my brains out. This is NORTH CENTRAL Texas, open up a ****ing map. There are a lot of nice people here, good people, but the majority are very low IQ, Hooked on drugs, or have a mentality that is stuck in 1975.
The only growth this town is seeing, is the big fancy homes far north, and far south, mostly people who grew up here, left and experienced more than the surrounding 50 miles, came back to retire on cheap land and go through a midlife crisis, or came back to take care of aging parents who don’t have much longer to live.
Also, this town has a curse, if you are born here, you are destine to return.
Ask anyone, it’s a damn fact, and a sad one. And I’m on my phone, killing my fingers so I’m ending this here.
Have a good night!
Hahahahaha yep! Abilene is absolutely TERRIBLE!! and you only scratched the surface! While I lived there, I had to replace a wheel and 2 tires all in a 3 month period. The city provided no compensation or explanation as to why the streets were in such disrepair. I’ve heard the streets have only gotten worse and the city refuses to do anything to fix it. I even heard they hired a consultant to study the streets and told the city council the streets were the worst they had seen in 30 years!!!. I refuse to ever go back there.. in fact, I will go out of my way 200 miles to avoid driving near it. Hopefully you can get your personal business settled and get out of Abilene ASAP because it’s a very dangerous place to be and only gets worse everyday.
Is Abilene anything like Lubbock or Amarillo? I’ve never been to Abilene but know the other two pretty well and somehow I always pictured it being a cross between the two. Am I way off base there?
Lubbock and Amarillo are both very nice compared to Abilene. Abilene is very rundown, dirty and full of crime. I think the city averages a homicide a month with sometimes 2 a month. The city is suffering from an economic downturn recently because of businesses leaving town so there’s a lot of unemployment there. Overall it’s just a very bad place in general.
Yes the smaller cities and towns in Texas are in significant decline. Weird because those people are convinced they are the cream of the crop and the best at capitalism!
Yes the smaller cities and towns in Texas are in significant decline. Weird because those people are convinced they are the cream of the crop and the best at capitalism!
I agree that most small cities in Texas are in rapid decline right now with the exception of Tyler and San Angelo. Tyler especially is growing at an extremely rapid pace with a number of corporations moving to Tyler from other cities. As for Abilene? Ask people who live there and they think their city is just wonderful when it’s actually the biggest dump in Texas and quite possibly the United States. That’s just the cold hard truth.
I moved to Abilene 6 months ago for work. I was told that Abilene was a small city that was growing and had a lot going for it. I get to town and I get the biggest rude awakening I could have ever dreamed of. After living in Tyler for 6 years I had grown accustomed to a well kept city with friendly people. Tyler had restaurants, night life, booming economy and nice scenery to look at. Within 5 minutes of arriving in Abilene I knew I had made a mistake.
Abilene is a filthy town with a lot of nothing surrounding it for miles. Trees? None. Booming economy? What economy? Night life? Ha! Everything closes at midnight. Entire neighborhoods lay mostly abandoned and most of the remaining homes should be demolished. The restaurants that Abilene has are just chain restaurants and many are closed down. Entire blocks are empty and filled with trash, abandoned cars and tall grass. Need to catch a flight? Good luck. Abilene has one air carrier and getting a flight will cost you $500 easily. Most of the streets are in terrible shape. Within 2 weeks I had already replaced a front wheel because of a pot hole the size of a moon crater!! Is Abilene a safe city? Nope! The entire city is overrun by violent crime which occupies the entire 10pm newscast. One good thing is that housing is pretty cheap but I can definitely see why. There’s no shopping and healthcare options seem a bit limited as well.
Needless to say I’ve requested my old position back in Tyler and will be leaving in 3 weeks. If anyone reading this is considering a move to Abilene, please think about it. Abilene isn’t a growing city for opportunity as they would like you to think. It’s a dying city that needs help.
Is it worse than Texarkana. Now that's a city with absolutely nothing going for it.
Is it worse than Texarkana. Now that's a city with absolutely nothing going for it.
Absolutely without a doubt. Texarkana doesn’t have the crime Abilene does and the city infrastructure is much better too. I’ve only been to Texarkana once and I agree it wasn’t great but I did see a lot of new homes being built and new businesses so that indicates some type of good growth. The moment you arrive in Abilene, you’ll see business and after business closed. Entire neighborhoods almost completely abandoned and most of the streetlights don’t work at night because the city can’t afford to keep them on. Texarkana to my knowledge Atleast doesn’t have these issues.
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