I think poor people should be banned. That or the government should print out more money to give to them. Then they will be happy.
I keep telling my mother in law that but she still thinks I dragged her daughter to the most dangerous city in the world. But then again, she watches a lot of Fox News, so she's been brainwashed with fear of terrorists.
From my understanding, in terms of per capita, Houston is one of the safest metropolitans in the entire country. It's a misperception that Houston is 'crime-ridden'. It's certainly smog-ridden and humid as hell, but it's not really crime-ridden.
I remember when a dollar was worth a dollar, gas got in the low 20's during gas wars (as in cents), and in my lower-middle class neighborhood in SE Houston, where I grew up, the overwhelming majority of mothers stayed at home with their kids. Doors were left unlocked, the housewives had coffee in the afternoons together, and helped keep an eye on each other's kids. My elderly neighbor that lived across the street from us smacked my bottom when I was about 4, when I'd run into the street without looking, and was nearly hit by a car. My Mom thanked her. Life was unbelievably different. We didn't have all the tech toys... we just had a great time. Of course, I was lucky. My Dad was a professor in technology, and we had one of the first color televisions in town. It almost burned the house down, but that's another story! Think Leave It to Beaver, without the money. Eventually, we moved to a solidly middle class neighborhood in the same part of town, but I was a teenager by then, and Dad was a department chair at the university. Souped-up '56 Chevy's, getting malts in a big glass at Prince's Drive-in, or the Ranger, (which was better... dip-fries!), chattin' up the girls who waited on you, while you sat in your car. Good times. I'm glad I moved to Austin 25 years ago, however. Keep D&D Civil.
The stats were based on just the downtown area for quite awhile. Back when downtown was empty at night and the weekends it padded our "safe" statistics. My wife says, more and more now, it's Katrina related. More evacuees committing crimes and more evacuees having crimes committed on them.
when i'm back in houston there are certainly more than a few areas where i don't feel safe walking at night. in austin i can't say there are really any areas where i would feel scared to walk during the night.
I don't deny that NOLA had a high crime rate before but the increase in Houston's crime rate can't be totally blamed on NOLA evacuees when in the very article that started this thread it says not once but twice that the trends were present before the first Katrina evacuee arrived. IMO many seem to want to scapegoat an existing problem on the evacuees. No one should be committing crimes rich or poor but the truth is that the poor commit crimes more than the rich or middle class and in turn are victims of crime more. Logically it makes sense that when you add a lot more poor people into a place that already had an increasing crime rate you're going to get a spike in crime.
I'm not sure I'd make this same claim. First off, Austin is f'ing tiny compared to Houston. Secondly, I wouldn't feel safe walking down parts of Austin during the day due to the high number of beggars/drugged up people in places like the drag and congress, and third, I'm guessing you wouldn't dare venture anywhere east of 35...
You should relax, texxx. Chill. Flex those pythons. East Austin, close to downtown, is really starting to take off. Lots of people buying the old, run-down homes, and renovating them. Property values are going up. Not a bad place to invest, and safer than it used to be. As for the Drag, and Congress and Third, there has been tremendous change as well. There are at least 6 to 8 high-rise condo towers going up in the next year and a half, most over 30 stories, and one of 42, in the Downtown area, close to the new city hall, and the Whole Foods headquarters. Lots of change. You could get mugged anywhere. Keep D&D Civil.
lots of cities are tiny compared to houston's sprawl. it pisses me off everytime i come back to see more cookie cutter sprawl where i grew up. i'm not too sure how much time you've spent in austin, but the only crimes the bums commit are smelling bad and being vagrants. that being said austin is finally starting to clean them up and they aren't allowing them to panhandle after either 7pm or 9pm, i forgot what time exactly. plus they made ordinances so they aren't sleeping on the sidewalks anymore. i think the ordinance actually outlaws sitting on the sidewalk, but don't quote me on it. i walk on the drag at night and day all the time and i can't remember an incident of a bum committing a major crime or assault or anything. congress is pretty safe too i walk my dog there all the time. i go east of 35 all the time too. there are good restaurants over there. a lot of those neighborhoods are poor but its not like you are going to get mugged or shot over there. i'm used to being the only white person around since my gf is latin, so it's not a big deal to me. it's just not that bad.
Lubbock was significantly worse than Houston, especially given that it was such a small town (around 200k people live there, overall).
Houston thugs are being terrorized by NO thugs. My barbershop is like the CNN newscenter for the hood. They physically carry guns (legally) into their shop because of the robberies by NO gang members. Even for the hardest of hard to rob the neighborhood barbershop is against their code of criminal conduct, and yet the NO accent is something that concerns the employees in these places. A racial tone does exist, and I can't come to their defense.
Sweet memories, we must be about the same age, I had a '55 chevy Austin was really awesome 25 yrs ago, hung out there alot- flapjack canyon and beyond...
