I resent this statement. I'm a Native and I LOVE our heat. I also (usually) like your posts so there take that!!!
With regards to Crime, Houston was actually ranked the 2nd safest place to live in America eralier this year (behind Honolulu). Now if only i could find the dang link...im looking trust me
every list i have found on this shows Houston way down on the list somewhere in the 30's and even number 10 on one list under most dangerous. http://www.citymayors.com/society/uscities_safest.html
Oh, boy. To be clear, it is not the tax rate that has increased. In fact, council is close to approving a tax rate DECREASE. It is the cost of housing that has ON AVERAGE increased. In reality, we were well below the average in the state and the country. Most urban planners consider the cost increase an adjustment to the rest of the country. In addition, some areas have remained the same and others have gone down in cost, but certain areas - inner loop, for example - have increased exponentially due to the high cost of land in those areas as compared to the suburbs. Compared to NYC, Chicago and maybe Philly, definitely. Not close compared to LA. LA is a disaster area and it has little to do with fashion trends. If you are talking about urban living, most cities have struggled with the need for better urban planning over the past 10 years and Houston is among them. Truth is, part of the reason for the low cost of living and low property taxes is the lack of zoning which is also responsible for poor urban planning. The cities with the nicest and most well-organized urban areas are usually among the most expensive places to live. I'm not going to bother with the racial implications and I wish everyone would just leave that alone. droxford is digging himself a big enough hole as it is. But, I will say that most every study done on the effects of diversity on a community have found them to be increasingly positive both socially and economically. The range of diversity often extends to business providing a strong and stable base of economic growth and development. I think you'd need to cite some specific examples. Compared to the 70's and 80's when developers owned council and commissioners court, today is like the golden age. In many ways, our city government is problematic and flawed, but it has overseen dramatic changes in the city landscape in a very short period of time. In less than 20 years, Houston will have gone from a city dominated by sprawl and urban blight to one dominated by urban renewal and cleaner air. It's not perfect, but it is far from crappy. I can't remember the last time a bayou produced a dead body that wasn't part of a car wreck. Where the hell did you come up with that? As I've mentioned before, thanks to a city ordinance, those will be gone by 2007. I disagree. Memorial Park, Hermann Park, the view of the skyline...I mean it ain't the Rocky Mountains or the Pacific Ocean, but I would hardly say that there is NOTHING beautiful here. Again, some stats on this one please?
i think # 20 is related to the many other races.... Are you trying to say non americans cant drive droxford?
- High number of minorities is not bad. - High number of illegal immigrants who come to this country and use our resources but don't pay taxes is bad. Pros - Astros winning 12 in a row - Our fine gentlemen's clubs Cons - Astros playing sub- .500 ball for much of the summer
I'm not going to get into the racial hoopla here (I dig the cultural diversity in Houston), but I have been hit by FOUR uninsured drivers in Houston in the past two years.....and my insurance company didnt raise my rates. They said "Oh, if you are in a state along the border of Mexico, we expect uninsured motorists...its calculated in your rates already." However, I'd rather put up with some bad apples and pay the extra for insurance in order to have quality taquieras open 24-7. God Bless our neighbors in the south. However if you dont have uninsured motorist insurance in Texas, you are an IDIOT.
ugh.. the great droxford opens his fat mouth once again... Yes, I've obviously dug a hole for myself. Thanks, Jeff - I will now try to climb out. I will finish my 'racial' comments by stating that I don't consider myself prejudice or racist. I do not judge any type of person based solely on any quality, be it race, religion, sexual preference, or anything else. And I do not wish to derail this thread further. Regarding property taxes... If someone will provide me with their Houston Chronicle subscriber number, I'll dig through the archives to find the article which provided me with my info. Correction: I stated that Houston "is years behind other large cities (as far as metropolitan evolvement)". I meant to say "cosmopolitan". Gimme a break - I have a cold and have too much work to stay home. City government: Houston city government continues to dodge the major problems that ails the city such as suburban commuter system and mass flooding. An example is the rail system: it's going to be extended to Gulfgate mall. Why? Because the people driving and pushing the rail system own Gulfgate mall and will profit from the traffic. Again, I don't intend to debate, but this is just one example. Dead bodies in the bayous: Dead body found in Brays Bayou 5 days ago Dead body found in Brays Bayou 15 days ago Dead body found in Buffalo Bayou 23 days ago Dead body found in Halls Bayou last month ... ask any cop. The bayous are dead body repositories. The reason you haven't heard about 'em is 'cause they don't make the headlines any more - it's just a common occurrance. Billboards If the billboards are gone by 2007, it may reviatlize my hope for city government. Geography Okay, yeah. The parks we have are okay. I shouldn't say there's NOTHING beautiful here. Stats for number 20 Can't give you any. You can either believe that I spend hours each day stopping drivers and asking 'em if they have a license and insurance, or you can believe that I was talking out my ass on that one. ... probably the latter. Some background: As I sat in traffic court one day waiting my turn, this is what the judge was saying,"NEXT....Juan Ramirez, you are charged with exceeding the speed limit, no drivers license and no proof of insurance. How do you plead? 'Guilty' Pay your fine.... NEXT.... Raul Gutierrez you are charged with exceeding the speed limit, no drivers license and no proof of insurance. How do you plead?" 'Guilty' "Pay your fine.... NEXT...." The End Now, will you guys please stop making me justify myself. Go pick on... on... i dunno.. somebody else. I'm going to go cower into a fetal position. VooDooPope: a native who loves our heat? You prove me wrong. And thanks, also for the compliment. Please know that I occasionally accidentally dig holes for myself (obviously)... eh... oh well... I'm good at heart. To end on a positive note: Two more PROs for Houston: We actually have very good fine arts and museums. -- droxford
Never been there, but i heard Dallas is a much better place to live than Houston....more civilized, less humid, less billboards, better restaurants/museums/parks, yada yada yada. Can anyone confirm this?
I think the city of Houston puts donkey testicles in it's mouth. Some day droxford, and that day may never come, I would like to call upon you to do me a service in return. Edit: Geez. Nevermind. It looks like pippendagimp already beat me to it.
See! Look! Look at what m_cable said!! Let's pick on him! m_cable, you're a racist pig!!!! ... (thanks, man. I owe you one) -- droxford
for there were a few things that made me love my time in Houston 1. Downtown 2. Food 3. Sports team and the most important thing 4. The people
Without turning this into yet another Houston vs. Dallas debate : "More civilized" - Not sure what that means. "Less humid" - on average, yes "Less billboards" - seems to be true "better restaurants" - debatable; I personally like Houston's variety more. For example, there is no true chinatown in Dallas. And in Dallas it seems like the same cluster of 4 or 5 restaurants are everywhere (Chili's, On the Border, etc.). The biggest exception to this is the Addison area. There's quite a bit of variety there. "better museums" - not sure as I don't frequent museums. "better parks"- eh, Dallas has parks, lakes, etc. so does Houston What I find interesting about this thread are the people talking about Houston suburbs. Does Houston really have a suburbs? I swear it's just one big huge mass of humanity. In my opinion the burbs in Houston are rare - it's congested.
Found it http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030303.wrank0303/BNStory/International Ranked on public safety alone, Canada's cities are the safest in North America, the study says, "due to strict law enforcement and low crime rates." All five cities tied for 25th in the world on this measure. In the U.S., Honolulu, Houston and San Francisco were the safest, tying for 40th place worldwide. Washington, D.C., was North America's most dangerous city, ranking 107th.
Droxford, I feel your pain. It's tough to live in a place all your life and not understand the changes that are taking place in your city. It's tough to grow up with certain expectations and customs and see them being challenged by people who want their place in society with their own role in shaping the community. I truly sympathize with you on one level. But you also need to own up to what you said. You listed having a high minority population as being a con and then you accused many of them of being in Houston illegally and linked them with the larger deteroration of our society. It is clear from latter comments you made that you were not basing your assessment on some kind of disinterested and unbiased look at statistics, studies and surveys. You were reacting out of fear, frustration and ignorance. You can spin and shuck and jive all you want- what you said is a racist comment. That's your perrogative, obviously, but as Dr. Melfi on the Sopranos (a galdurn Eye-talian!) said recently to Tony Soprano, "own your feelings!" The new PC is people being too timid to call a spade a spade. Back to the thread: I miss home, but I always knew Houston had good qualities and issues. Where you live is ultimately about the people you care about who also live there, so I think Houston has as much going for it as a lot of places. I used to always hate how provincial many Houstonians were until I met people from New York, or San Francisco. Sheesh! I figured out that it is simply natural to think that where you live kicks more ass than anyplace else. Houston pro's -Food- the diversity and quality are superb -Sports -Cheap housing -Cheap entertainment- pick your poison -Big-city ammenities without big-city attitude -Rice University -Downtown skyline -The Orange Show! -The Art Car Parade -Ron Stone/Dave Ward/Sylvan Rodriquez/The Eyes of Texas and old school Texas news -Mark Berman Houston con's -Inferority complex and Houston-can-do-anything boosterism -Urban sprawl -The weather and lack of footpaths encourages people to be lazy -The pollution and refineries of my native east side of town -The giant middle finger extended to HISD and poorer school districts by the state of Texas -The Houston Chronicle/Steve Wasserman -Mattress Mac
Sorry. I'm actually a Yao Only Fan that desparately yearns for Yao to sign with the Lakers. There you go droxford. You shouldn't be getting anymore attention in this thread. Seriously though. I actually hate the Lakers because this town fawns over them so much it makes me sick. I can't even listen to local sports radio because of all the idiots. And don't even get me started on the whole Shaq/Kobe thing. I'm sure you guys are tired of that stuff, but imagine living in their city. It's insane. And I usually shy away from the YOF label because of it's negative connotations, so droxford owes me big time.
