Lol. I love you Houston, but I'm so glad I live in austin. Htown is a concrete jungle if there ever was one
I don't understand this Houston not being Green thing. Pick any sky scraper. You don't even have to pick the tall ones downtown. I see nothing but green in lot's of places. I'm calling it. Tomorrow, when everyone gets back on, this will turn into a war of my city is better than your city thread. Don't think we had one of those in a while.
Keeps things cheap and more thoroughly integrated. Other big cities with aggressive zoning restrict housing and retail in specific areas, makes for more racial and economic stratification. Being able to own property for less than $100k or rent for less than $1000 with halfway decent freeway access and a fairly thorough bus system in a top five city is a pretty good deal.
I think he's saying Houston is impervious to a permanent Rust-belt type bust. I don't know if the other big port cities are too green or what, but no-one else cares as much about energy in all its forms as we do. And thank goodness Enron helped expand the futures and power trading market, then got all the banks to come down here after they collapsed.
It depends. If the op is from Houston, then it is kind of spread out based out on the dispersion of sam's clubs and heb's. If the op is from somewhere else, gtfo!
It's home. It has it's faults, but I wouldn't live anywhere else. Please stay there. Austin is a joke compared to what it once was and what it could have been, especially when it comes to live music. The "Live Music Capitol of the World" is a working musician's nightmare nowadays.
Everyone knows Austin isn't nearly as weird as it used to be. Every time I go there, I see road construction, strip malls, car dealerships, and Applebees-type restaurants on every corner. The hill country is BEAUTIFUL, but the actual city of Austin ain't all that anymore.
Pick a neighborhood that you like, move there, and stfu. Seriously, Houston has plenty of really nice, liveable, walkable, safe neighborhoods... and plenty of really crappy, unsafe, mobility impaired neighborhoods... something for everyone. Point is, if you're upset about where you live, the problem is with you, not with Houston, because you obviously didn't pick the right part of it to live in.
Is there a new hipster haven that has sprung up yet? Austin is getting too big for its diaper to be the "it" town anymore.
The problem is that you moved somewhere that you need to drive 20-30 minutes to get "anywhere". People move out to BFE, and then complain that they have to travel, it blows my mind.
As far as Austin goes, the part of the city boxed in by 183-Mopac-I35-71 is very easy to get around. I used to live off South Congress when I lived there - loved running the trail around the river - so much tail out there. Also liked the fact that I could walk down the street to get Freebird's, Homeslice, Guero's etc. Or walk about a half mile and be on 5th Street.
I don't live in Houston, but visit 2-3 times a year. It seems like the majority of people/development is outside of the loop. But even within the loop, it's difficult to get anywhere without driving.
If you're smart when you're choosing where to live, you can be within walking distance of plenty of things. If your priorities lead you elsewhere, then you have no right to complain about having to travel. You can't just throw a dart at a map and expect wherever you land to be a walkers paradise. Relative to the size of the actual city limits, yes, Houston is more spread out than a town like Austin, but that's the nature of the beast when it comes to growth, as Austin is finding out rapidly. Both towns have their commuter and pedestrian friendly areas: http://www.walkscore.com/TX/Austin/Downtown/austin-tx http://www.walkscore.com/TX/Houston/Downtown/houston-tx Montrose, the Heights, Downtown, Midtown, Washington, the Galleria, West U/Kirby are all very walkable places. If you move to Houston and you're upset with the need to drive everywhere, then you did it wrong. It's as silly as me moving out to West Austin and complaining about having to drive.
Baqui99's obsession with how crappy he believes Houston to be is one of the most tired things on this bbs. I cannot tell you how unsurprised I am that he has the most posts in this thread. For someone that lives in one of the most beautiful cities in the country thousands of miles away, he sure does a lot of hand-wringing over us poor denizens of the 4th largest city.
