Houston: Opportunity City

Didn't Dallas take in like 10% of what h-town did and ***** about it all the while? Maybe not, but that's how I remember it.

I did't hear any complaining in H-town about Katrina vics for like a year. Even then it was more or less muted.
 
As a Dallas resident I can honestly say I have no clue why Houston gets the bad rap that it does.

Ive ALWAYS like Houston, and that dates back to being a litte kid. Whenever Im there on Business or visit friends, I always end up having a good time.

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Part of the reason for the 'rivalry' (naturalized Texan here) is the large number of Cowboys fans in Houston. This used to go back to the fact that the NFL landed there first, but now, I can't explain it.

Anyway, I've lived here for more than 25 years, and I don't have anything against Dallas. I think Houston's a great place, but if I were there instead of here, I wouldn't think anything of it.
 
Let me say that you are going to have to pay me a great deal of money to live in either Houston or Dallas.
If you are going to compare Houston to NYC, see that is your problem right there. It may just be me, but I spent some time in NYC. Not much time, but there isn't much need to spend time in that concrete crap hole. Broadway shows & food are the only reasons to go. Maybe to see Lady Liberty.

Houston and Dallas are the same. I am NOT from either, but they aren't that different. I actually think it is funny that people think they are.

Austin rocks. Austin is so far superior to Dallas AND Houston...

The largest metro area I have lived in was Chicago, for 3 years of grad school. To be fair I lived NORTH of Chicago proper in the northern burbs, so I lived in Chicagoland and not Chicago. We traveled into the city on a regular basis though. Sometimes driving, but often with mass transit (imagine).
Chicago has it all over Dallas and Houston. This coming from a guy who claims to bleed red, white, and blue with one star.
 
Wow, I could not disagree with THEU any more. **** the Rockets are making me sick tonight. Anyway NYC is the best city in the world bar none. You seem to have a problem with major cities in general which is sad in my opinion.

Look, I loved my time in Austin but Austin is a mid-sized city while Houston and Dallas are "major league". It is comparing apples and oranges.
 
I grew up and Houston and will support it to the day I die, but Houston has the same problem as every American city not named New York or Chicago. It is a bunch of interconnected suburbs. There is no urban core. I grew up in Houston and think fondly of it, and I always thought I would end up back there, but now I'm not so sure. It will be very hard to leave NYC. In comparison, Houston's not even a city. Nor is Dallas, Atlanta, or LA. They are groupings of low density communities in close proximity.

I realize nothing will approach Manhattan, but I don't see communities in Southern cities that even approach Queens, Brooklyn, or even Jersey City or Hoboken.

Still, F the Yankees and Knicks. I'll pull for any team that has Houston on their jerseys.
 
Iconoclast, this is why I compared Houston and Dallas to Chicago. Chicago has it all over both of those cities.

In Texas, I was comparing the other larger citiies. I do not disagree that it is apples and oranges in the size department, but it was meant to be apples to apples in the being in Texas department. I hope that clears it up. Also, I will agree with you that in general I prefer midsized cities. I would rather live in Austin or Ft. Worth than Dallas and Houston.
Also think of this, which will give you a size perspective. DFW as a whole is larger than the Houston metro area, but Chicago has twice the people the metroplex does in about the same land area. I love Chicago. I also love London. (I realise that is an entirely different animal there). My point being I don't think it is that I hate big cities, I just think when it comes to large cities Chicago is the bees knees.
 
Rama, I was talking about 'Chicagoland.' It might be a bit smaller, but it is roughly the same.
 
axle, maybe that's it, but they are very proud of it. I know what you mean though, everytime you talk to a Houstonian it's always "did you know Houston is as diverse a..." or "outside of NYC and LA, Houston has the best cuisine" or "it's not as hot as you think it is, avg yearly temperature is 69" and so on and so forth.

Honestly, I guess I don't hear that from natives of any large city. They're a bit quieter I guess.


And what is that picture in your profile all about?
 
I lived in Houston for 5 years. Recently I had to go there and spent a few days driving all over the city as part of my job. I saw many parts of the city that I had never seen during my 5 years of residence. I used to think that Houston was generally OK with the exception of some pockets of "bad" (5th ward, 3rd ward, refineries, etc), but it's really the other way around: it's for the most part a ******** with pockets of "good". Inside the beltway, the west side is OK. Most of the north, south, and east are an armpit. The perfectly flat landscape sucks, and so does the constantly muggy weather. Another thing that sucks is the mercenary culture there: most people are there only because of money. Very few live there because they love the city. I live in Austin because I like it, and I would take a pay cut if it meant I could stay here. The one thing I miss about Houston (the only thing, really) is the multitude of international restaurants in general and Indian in particular.
 
I just want to thank Brisket for an insightful and spot on first post.

As another native Houstonian, I thought this quote was most apt, from the first NYT article someone posted:

''If Houston were a dog, she'd be a mutt with three legs, one bad eye, fleas the size of corn nuts and buck teeth. Despite all that, she'd be the best dog you'll ever know.''

Houston certainly has its faults. But damn if there aren't some things about this city that make it great.
 
I used to complain when I moved back to Houston area after UT days (Kingwood) in the mid-90s. I think the shock of planned community living got to me. Once I got moved to the Memorial area and started teaching in southwest Houston, I changed my tune.

I taught at a high school that had over 50 nationalities represented. One of the ways I tried to relate to the students was through their traditional foods. I was introduced to empanadas, shishleek, pupusas, egusi, roti jala, kalaankal, etc. by kids bringing dishes to school (I, in turn, brought them Vietnamese food- spring rolls made on sight as well as banh minh sandwiches).

While there are many "pockets" in Houston, I loved southwest Houston and its diversity. It wasn't a lot to look at, crime was bad (Cholo, La Primera, MS-13; several of my students were shot/stabbed and one saw her brother blown away in front of her), the drop out rate is 40%, and 92% qualified for free and reduced lunch. But out of these bad stats came some amazing stories. The valedictorian was a Somalia (went to Harvard) and the third ranked student was a foster home kid who managed to get a full-ride academic scholarship to UVA. We had several of the "Lost Boys" of Sudan and one kid who escaped Angola and is now a professional soccer player (after receiving his degree from UAB).

I think a lot of people in Houston are GRATEFUL for the opportunity that the city provides for them. Yes, Houstonians get defensive about their city, but if you take the time to investigate one of the "pockets" of Houston, you will find lots of hard-working people who want their children to have better lives than them. To me, this is an admirable trait.

Now that I have moved back to Austin, I kind of miss Houston. I don't miss the traffic (it would take me an hour to get from Richmond/Hillcroft to Rice University during rush hour), the humidity, and the crime. I do miss the humility of the people in SW Houston and the diversity of culture there.
 
Softly, I need to clarify, when I said the Metroplex was larger than Houston metro, I meant population wise, not area.

Also, my memory on Chicago being about double that of Metroplex is probably a few years ago when I moved back to Texas from Chicago. Metroplex was about 5 million then, and 5 million, v. 9.5 is about double. That is all.
Also, Chicago still rocks the house over Dallas and Houston.
 
Every time I get down on Houston, me and a friend of mine go walk about 15 or 20 miles through some part of the city we don't know well and fall in love with the place all over again. We've walked about 160 miles of H-Town in the last year, including many of the "bad" areas. Those parts of town are easily the most interesting. Prosperous, WASP Houston is dull as watching a Sooner battle an Aggie in Scrabble.
 
Another thanks to Brisket for a wonderful post.

Out of college, I headed west to CA principally to avoid going to work in Houston. Off and on I had three sisters live in Dickenson, Sugarland, and off Willcrest, and formed my Houston views on visits to them and to work in Westchase. Mostly about traffic. I was able to stay out of Houston for 30 years.

I moved here a year ago from the SF east bay. People there spoke of us in funereal tones when discussing the move.

I don't know how Houston ranks vs other cities. I tend to like most everyplace. One thing the Mishtress and I agree on (she a Chicago native), we f'n love Houston. Surprise, surprise, surprise, as Gomer would have said. I pretty much agree with every positive statement made in this thread, though can understand the perspective of the negative ones. But, there is just so much goddam good here.

Let others enjoy their cities. We'll enjoy this one during our time here, and from now on, wherever we may be.
 
sorry, but Houston is not the NYC of the south. there is no NYC of the South. you could say that Dallas is the LA of the south, and you might have a little something..... but i tend to find Dallas and Houston very similar. if anything a more true statement would be Houston is the Dallas of south Texas or Dallas is the Houston of north Texas.

the cities are very similar.
 
sure there are differences, but compare Dallas to any other city in the nation and you will find more similarities, including size, demographics, urban office space, similar downtowns, similar mass transit, the list goes on and on.

there is only one d1 university in dallas, so i don't know where you are getting this college kid stuff. UH and RIce both reside in houston.
 
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