How is it trashy or dirty. It's not either where I live, or where my friends live which is where I spend my time.
he thinks Houston is trashy and dirty...so he's moving to San Antonio... okay...riiiiigghhhhtt. got it. good luck, pal.
Besides my extreme maniacal passion for the city's sports teams (current and past), yes Houston does in fact suck.
Well, he does have a point about billboards & drainage ditches (my biggest pet peeve about Houston next to mass transit). But wouldn't a nice letter to the Chronicle's or Houston Press's Editorial Boards be just as effective (& cheaper)?
Its a joke, by the way. However, some of the things the guy says are true. Property taxes and homeowners insurance cost more than my mortgage. The mayor is HORRIBLE. The guys has wasted every bit of money that this city has. He was an OK police cheif, but he sucks as mayor. The problem is that I don't think anybody is going to run that is better than he is. Anyways, San Antonio is much trashier than Houston, so he's in for a surprise there. I agree with what he says about the mold issue and lawyers. That's why nobody can afford homeowner's insurance right now.
I'm always curious where all these people who say "Houston sucks" live. I know if I lived in Sugarland/Kingwood/the Westside or whatever other far flung cookie cutter suburb, I'd hate it too. I know, I grew up in west Houston. Since moving back from Austin 7 years ago, I've lived inside the loop & have no plans on leaving any time soon. In fact, I've gone weeks at a time without venturing outside the loop. Tons of parks Lots of trees and good neighborhoods for walking/biking Close to downtown (which hopefully will be accessible soon) Sports, sports, sports Great restaurants Lots of cool, friendly people (and yes, Rez, hot chicks) Decent live music Good places to hang out That being said, if I could move all the people out of central Austin and relocate the entire population of Inner Loop Houston there, I'd live in Austin again. Beautiful city. Don't care too much for the people (my friends up there excluded ).
I didn't want to take up space by quoting Bucks entire post but I agree with every single word. I grew up in the Willowbrook area and didn't care too much for Houston (besides the sports teams). Last year I moved to The Heights and my opinion did a complete 180. Inside the loop is the only way to go IMO. I'll never live anywhere else again.
How has Brown wasted $$? And on what? Not disagreeing, just interested to read your points. IMHO, as bad as Brown has been, he's still accomplished more than Lanier did. Houston hasn't had a truly good mayor (nevermind a GREAT one) in YEARS (if ever). Houston thrives because of a direction-less populace, hence the hap-hazard development & "incompleteness" of the city.
Ditto with what Buck and Drummer2K said. I lived in NW Houston (Champions area) growing up, and didnt really like it all that much because us High Schoolers never had anything to do. When I moved back (and have since relocated back to Austin ) I lived Inner Loop and LOVED it. Tons of awesome restaurants, every type of bar you could imagine, Memorial Park, Galleria, walking distance to The Summit, etc. etc. It just felt like a REAL city to me. Austin feels like a small town to me which is ok sometimes, but I will always be a big city boy.
Here is my opinion of Lee Brown. I don't think he's a bad person. I think he's a good guy, and I think he was a pretty decent Police Cheif. I just get the impression that he doesn't really know how to manage a city, or solve a problem. H.I.S.D. spends more money on their students than any other District in state, yet has some of the worst results. I don't know the numbers now, but when I was a senior in high school, I read an article about how HISD spend about $5,000 per student, per semester. Klein, Cy-Fair, Fort Bend, ect. all spent about $1,200 per student and had much better results. I don't think the problem in the schools is money, yet Brown thinks he can throw money at it and make it go away. Transportation is a problem in the city...Brown thinks you should throw money at it. Poor people? Build them public housing, but don't actually help out or educate or train the people how to get a job and maintain those houses. It just seems like Brown's solution to everything is to throw money at it and leave it alone. There doesn't seem to be any management, plan, solution, or direction. I disagree with you about Lanier. I think he had a direction and he was the one that started revitalizing downtown, and getting people to start to live in Houston again...Brown just seems like he has no direction. That is not to mention that the guy is ALWAYS in some other part of the country or around the world. He spends tons on travel, and huge staff of people that do nothing more than follow him around...and he's doing all this while laying off city workers. Lee Brown is NOT a horrible person...he is just not made for the job he has. I think this city needs somebody with a business plan. Somebody needs to do a serious SWOT analysis on this city and they need to cut the costs, marginalize the weaknesses and capitalize on the strengths. Brown has not capitalized on the strengths of this city and I think there are tons of opporunities out there that have been not taken advantage of by anybody. Houston needs a good, SUCCESSFUL, businessman (or woman, I don't care) to be the mayor...not a career politician, or somebody that is voted in just because they are black, or just because they are hispanic. I don't care if they are black, hispanic, white, asian, whatever...as long as they can MANAGE something. Stop the waste, lower the costs, grab at opportunities. Houston has the raw resources, the infrastructure, the businesses, the people, and the location to be a WORLD contender as far as cities go. It is already one of the best kept secrets around...there is so much money and opportunity in this city, its ridiculous. We need somebody that can mobilize the population, and turn this city around. Look at what Rudy did for New York. For a while, it was freaking scary, dirty, and horrible to be in Times Square. I went back not to long ago after being gone for 12 years and the change was AMAZING. That place rocks, and so can Houston....maybe not as big, but it can rock nonetheless. P.S. I also grew up in the Champions area and was kind of bored in high school. But now that I'm married and have a job, I love living out here. I live by a golf course, have a nice house, and all that kidn of stuff that I could not have had inside the loop. It is a nice place to live for family life. However, I'm sure it would be a blast to live in the loop around all the happening places.
Supermac34, points taken. IMHO, neither Lanier nor Brown has\had much of a plan. I just don't see how you can say Lanier had a plan & Brown doesn't when Brown's plan is basically to continue what Lanier started. But at least under Brown, Houston is starting to seriously think about rail\mass transit options. (What's the point of attracting people into the city if you don't have the infrastructure to support them? Chicken -> infrastructue, development, etc. to attract people; Egg -> more people moving into the city, more demands on infrastructure, development, etc.; or both?) Brown is also trying to address flood control (thanks to Allison, eventhough Houston has had a flood control problem for years). And when you add in the addition of the Texans\keeping the Rockets, etc., Brown has accomplished a little bit more than Lanier. But let me make myself perfectly clear, since they both did half-assed jobs as mayor, a Brown-Lanier comparison is the equivalent of a Turd-judging contest. Its all about crap in the end. (BA-BOOM BOOM) I'll be here all week.
this reminds me of blaming the president for a bad economy or giving him credit for a good economy. silly. 1. mass transit -- that's metro's baby. brown has not been overly vocal about rail. come to think of it, brown hasn't been overly vocal about anything. does he support rail? yes...but who cares? he isn't a lanier-type mayor who swings public opinion like that. he's just not. brown didn't run on a "i'm for rail so vote for me" ticket...in fact, he was mostly silent about rail while campaigning the first time. 2. the texans?? we voted that stadium in during lanier's administration. more importantly, bob mcnair paid for the texans. 3. addressing flood control? really?? where?? i don't see it being addressed at all. Brown is a joke, in my opinion. A nightmare. Lanier was at least a leader...he was at least coherent. Brown is neither of those.
You just described Bill White. Read up on the guy, very impressive credentials (much moreso than assclowns like Sanchez, Turner & Berry) and good ideas for how to improve life in the city, which should be the main goal of any city's government. Oh, I absolutely agree, and understand why family guys like you & MadMax like living way the hell out there. Unless you make serious $$$, living inside the loop & raising a family is becoming more & more cost-prohibitive. But I'm single, so phooooooey to the 'burbs.
I've lived in Houston all of my life and it is the best place in the world... Yeah its hot and humid, potential for hurricanes and yes, Galveston has the dirtiest beaches in America...but... Like the guys said...Hot chicks, great sports, even better food & hot chicks... I never realized how great Houston is until I moved to the "Butt Crack" of America...Albuquerque, NM...Talk about a place that sucks...no hot chicks, food sucks and the only sport worth mentioning is a AAA affiliate to the Marlins...enough said... Now Austin, Dallas & San Antonio are nice, but there not Houston and never will be...
We had that leader once in Prof. Kathy Whitmire. She rallied for light rail, mass transit back in the late 80's. Everyone ignored her.
