Why? Sincerely curious how you value a city. I've never been there or anywhere on the East Coast, unless you count Florida. I do prefer people from the deep south, specifically the Houston area, to people I meet from NYC and the East Coast. It's charm and sincerity vs no-nonsense get-out-of-my-way attitude. Not that the folks that I've met from NYC weren't good people, they were just a little too brash and crass for my tastes.
As far as the “people” aspect. I get along with people anywhere I go. And have made friends no matter where I’ve lived. I simply get tired of sitting in a car and sitting in traffic. I prefer to live somewhere with trains and or mass transit. On the other end of the spectrum I like being somewhere away from cities. Mountains/woods/ocean/ even rainforest where not too many people are around. I don’t really like the suburban type of atmosphere with the cookie cutter houses in a neighborhood. Some of my favorite places in Asia are Bangkok and Tokyo. And just the two countries in general. But in many ways they are very different. I respect both of their cultures though. I would have a hard time choosing where to live between those two countries if had to.
There is a slight misconception on the 'friendliness' of New Yorkers. Most people I've met are as kind and sincere as people from Houston. The difference is, in Houston, people you don't know will say hi to you as you pass by on the street; in New York, it's custom to generally ignore strangers. I don't mind this, I'm not a big fan of cordial greetings to random people for the sake of it.
Good points, @peleincubus and @Big MAK Traffic sucks hard. It's why I don't drive farther than five miles for income unless it's a special occasion. Good reason though. I've never lived next to good mass transit so I can't say I appreciate it. I do have on-demand ride shares now so it's nice to not have to drive when you don't have to (drinking). Agreed, people are nice everywhere. There are times during business that I appreciate East Coaster's to-the-point style. Sometimes there just isn't time to 'set a spell' and it's time to get things done. However, I do like the casual politeness of saying 'howdy' to random people.
I agree with OP that a shuttle belongs in Houston over NYC, I have always agreed. but “NYC is cursed” because of it and the rest of the thread is such a silly notion. I don’t live there anymore, and I don’t really miss it too much, but it’s incomparable and it doesn’t have anything to do with sports championships. My anecdotes are just as useless as anyone else’s
None of the three smell like flowers, that is for sure. NY just has so many people that garbage is a gigantic problem.
I lived in Manhattan for five yrs. A lot of nice things but I'll take Houston at this stage of my life.
I like NYC and Houston. I'd move there if I didn't have so many connections here. As to strip malls? I don't live by that many, and I live in Upper Kirby. I can walk most places and uber anywhere I don't want to walk. Where I live is dirt cheap for this area too. (I just found out the condos across the street START at 700k.)
Still no comparison to NYC. You probably know many people that live outside of Upper Kirby and therefore hanging out w/ them requires driving. In NYC chances are your entire social network can be a train ride away. It makes hanging out and socializing/dating so much easier.
