Dallas is like Houston without trees. And you Austin snobs shouldn't talk. That place is looking more and more like Houston every time I go up there.
isn't that the truth, anytime I got to anything at the AAC, I have to prepare myself for the wave of pretention that meets me at the doors
Houston needs a lot of work. - encourage residential growth inside the loop as well as in and around downtown - discourage strip mall shopping centers, massive parking lots, etc - enact zoning laws preventing "big box" stores like Home Depot from building wherever they want - plant trees, improve greenery along freeways to hide the access road from the highway (no treeline currently) - extend the light rail out to the airport ASAP - eliminate billboards and tacky ads along the freeway - start an urban growth boundary preventing the city's outward sprawl
lol. no kidding. i dont get it. Its like when i pack to go visit some of my family i feel i have to impress or something. I go to a "relaxed" pub and feel the eyes grading what im working with. strange b/c i never get that feeling and really i dont care. theres no room. and downtown has had major changes the last 10 years. this is america right..this is everywhere. You cant have growth and not have parking/stores. again. this is everywhere. houston is laxed on regulations but thats not necessarily a bad thing. my bro in law does commerical development up in dallas and he's put up several "big box" stores over the last several years. dallas saying houston needs to plant trees? screw the airport. make a real rail (not just light) estend to katy, sugarland, clearlake, etc. want to eliminate freeway signs too? what view are those hiding? people move out b/c they want a nice house and at a much cheaper place. No different than all the northern growth of dallas...which is also growing very rapidly.
The weirdest thing about Houston is that I can't seem to grasp the idea that 2 million people live here.
Donkey, I've never lived in Dallas, nor do I really like it there. As far as urban development, there is tons of land inside the loop that needs to be developed instead of expanding out to Sugar Land, Kingwood, etc. Zoning certain areas for commercial, residential, and office space can go a long way to making the city look better. Also, residential areas should be planned to encourage more pedestrian activity. One of the reasons people in Texas are so fat is that people throw down a plate of enchiladas, get in their Tahoe, and drive up to their office, then sit at their desk for the next 5 hours. Along those same lines, Houston needs to build more parks as well. Also, 45 and 59 are an embarassment to the city. Do something like rip down the large ads and billboards to hide the frontage road from the highway (kind of like Atlanta does for instance).
Have you guys seen North Dallas and beyond (Addison, Plano, Frisco, McKinney, etc.)? I live in that area and it's not the Dallas you speak of. Granted, I tell people I'm from Dallas, but I tell them I'm 45 minutes away from that crap.
right, there are open areas.. but why pay twice as much for a home 1/2 as big/nice? zoning can also go a long way to detur perfectly good ideas b/c they dont "fit" what the city thinks is right. pedestrian acticity? thats an individual choice...not a matter of the city. also you contradict yourself...you say you want more parks...but want more people inside the loop? rip down billboards to look at what? exactly. i agree houston needs work but some of your ideas are misplaced/misguided. also, a lot of those same ideas//critiques can be applied to most cities...especially a city thats what? 3rd largest in the country now?
very true. north dallas is pretty nice. But sugarland, etc arent the houston he is speaking of either.
My favorite bar is in a strip mall. And color me shocked the last time I visted Austin and visited Major's coffee shop (one of the top 5 places to visit in Austin according to CNN Headline News) only to find out that was in a strip mall as well.
