The freeway infrastructure in Houston was in place BEFORE most of the major suburban development, which meant that brought in tons of cheaper land as an option for development in Houston. You could get outside the city to the burbs reasoably quickly and there was lots of land to build on...developers and builders had a supply of land that drove down most of the costs. You can still buy a nice, new 3500 sq ft home in a nice burb for about half of major California or NE cities because there is so much property available...and that property is only 5-10 minutes away from a major artery of Houston that can take you downtown (or anywhere in town) in a reasonable amount of time. For all of its traffic issues, I still think you can go further in this city faster than most other cities.
PROS 1. cheap housing 2. Big city with no state income tax 3. Thre pro sports franchises with 3 new excellent stadiums 4. Top notch medical area 5. Great food and restaurants 6. No snow to shovel 7. Good lookin' chicks 8. Crime rate is actually pretty low for a city of this size 9. Freeways are well laid out 10. People here are somewhat friendlier CONS 1. HISD schools are absolutely aweful 2. property taxes (they've increased 73% over the past 5 years) 3. large city is years behind other large cities (as far as metropolitan evolvement) 4. Very high minority count with an immense number of illegal aliens 5. one of the top smog places in the U.S. 6. Long, hot, humid summers, short wet winters with no snow for fun, almost no spring or fall 7. Weather is not conducive to oudoor activity, so you spend a lot of time indoors (eating, watching TV, playing video games, and getting fat) 8. Freeways are overcrowded - trafiic is really bad 9. City government doesn't give a damn about what's best for the city 10. The only suburban commuter mass transit system is bus 11. Floods all the time. Extreme floods every 5 years 12. Mosquitos, mosquitos, mosquitos 13. Giant cockroaches that fly at you. 14. The bayous stink, are bug infested, and produce dead bodies all the time. 15. Trucks everywhere you look, causing lots of harm and damage to other drivers and roads 16. Billboards as far as the eye can see 17. Flat city, built on swamp land. Nothing beautiful here. 18. No zoning laws 19. Smoking is allowed in public places (unlike California and New York) 20. Most of the people on the road have no driver's license or insurance. -- droxford
I would point out that the cost of living is generally lower in the South than elsewhere in the country as well.
There's a reason for the low cost of living. Actually, there's about 20 of 'em (I listed them above). -- droxford
Please explain. ummm, is that bad? I thought my house was the only one. I had this one roach fly at me in the kitchen, I stomp it with my shoe hard, I then walk away to my bedroom and here comes the roach. He runs up the wall next to me and drops on my head. After I hit him off my head on to the floor, he then charged me untill I stomp him a few more tmes. forgot something. diversity (second only to NYC) Restaurants Cost of Living No real winter beautiful women (second to NONE)
agreed 100% I only wear pants to special occasions and if the temp drops below 32° - fortunately I work somewhere where I can wear shorts.
What's with this Houston's the second most diverse city in America business. I live in LA and I take exception to that. And I'm going to need a pretty reputable link in order to believe otherwise. So get cracking Houstonians.
The fasions we have are the same as California's fasions from two years ago. We're just now re-vitalizing downtown, whereas other cities have had thriving downtown areas for quite a while. Our laws are still small-town (blue law still exists and prevents car dealerships from having their doors open on Sat. AND Sun., it's illegal to sell anything but ice cream on the sidewalks, It's still legal to smoke in public places, etc.) I've lived in Houston my whole life. Diversity is overrated. I'm sick of diversity. And the huge flood of illegal immigrants destroys our goverrnment and social structure at local, state and national levels. America won't realize the damage it's causing until it's too late. (which it already is). -- droxford
Well....I'm the one who first said it, so I'll go ahead and admit that I pulled that straight out of my ass. Nevertheless, I imagine you didn't post any figures to back up your argument because it's not real easy to do. Census figures seem to be based more on skin color (white, black, hispanic, asian, etc.) rather than actual ethnicities. I have seen in a recent study examining the impact of immigrant, gay/lesbian and artistic populations on technological innovation, LA was cited as the "most diverse" city in the U.S., so I apologize for offending you--obviously, your city is getting it's fair share of kudos in this area. Nevertheless, Houston sure seems to have the widest range of differing ethnicities making this place their home--in my opinion--second only to NYC. then again, though I've been to most major US cities--including your own--I'm obviously not as big of an expert on them as I am on my own, hence my apology.
Geez, you didn't have go all like that. I wasn't offended or anything, and was half joking when I posted that. I've never been to Houston and for all I would know, maybe they are THAT diverse. But it's just that there are so many distinct ethnic communities in Los Angeles, including some less popular ones from Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Central/South America that I found it kind of hard to believe. That's all. No biggie.
Without making this a D&D thread... I disagree with your initial statement. Let's take away the illegal immigrant part. To then say there is too much diversity and "very high minority count" is definitely racist. My point in saying this is that many people find the diversity to be a huge, huge, HUGE PRO. Along with the favorable entrepreneurial conditions, these two things lead to Houston being a great city. As I've had someone else point out, there are no "Chinatowns" or "Little Indias" which exist here as a known, touristy destination in Houston. That's because people come here and integrate and become part of the community. droxford - I usually like your posts, but in this instance.. Wow, if you're unwilling to accept the neighbors around you because you're uncomfortable with the "minority count", then you don't know and love Houston. I suggest Nebraska.
To say that Houston has a high minority count is not racist. It's a statistic. It's numbers collected from the census (http://www.census.gov). I'm just sick of diversity. Over many years, I've met many people of many different cultures in Houston. Some good. Some bad. I'm just tired of being surrounded by people who are so different than me. I don't find it refreshing. I'm sick of it. I now find it refreshing when I leave Houston and visit places where there are many people who have things in common with me, socially and culturally. I'd be willing to bet that most people who enjoy Houston's diversity aren't originally from Houston. It's like Houston's heat: If you grew up in the snow, you're gonna love Houston's heat. If you grew up with it, you're gonna hate it and want to get away from it. And, in the years that I've posted here, you're the first person to ever say that they like my posts. Thank you! (not being sarcastic) -- droxford
I kinda felt that way too. i was like is he calling us a negative part of houstong. but hes got his opinion, so that can be a negative thing for him.... byw a major PRO GALLRY FURNITURe SAVES YOU MONEYYYYY
Without turning this into a debate... first, lets speak not of racism, but of prejudice (racism is a type of prejudice). ... to prefer or like being with someone of your own kind (racially, religiously, culturally, or socially) does not make one prejudice. Jews may enjoy being with each other and congregating, but that doesn't make them prejudice against non-jews. Overweight women might enjoy the company of other overweight women with whom they can relate and find commonalities, but that doesn't mean that they are prejudice against anyone else. Black men may have a group of other black men that are friends and with whom they prefer to be around, but that doesn't mean they are prejudice against whites. I don't enjoy cultural diversity in Houston. I also don't like squash. It's not prejudice. It's preference. -- droxford
It should be mentioned that the strip clubs in Houston are the best in the country. Not that I waste my money there anymore. Whether thats a pro or a con is up to personal opinion.
So who are you prejudice against? You didn't say that you didn't enjoy being with people not like you, you said that it was a negative (con) for the city of Houston to have a "high minority count". These are 2 VERY different things. If that's the way you feel I'm cool with it, but don't camouflage your opinion, embrace it! However, I wouldn't recommend you sharing that view outside of your "circle", it could cause significant problems among the minorities... ...squash anyone?
so you don't prefer or enjoy the company of other races? anyways... PROS: ROCKETS TEXANS best city in Texas CONS: traffic construction (for the better ) you can always live in the subs
