I have never heard anyone describe Houston's planning as even adequate, let alone "perfect"! One thing Houston and Atlanta have in common is that they are amongst the worst planned cities in the USA.
Great enthusiasm considering your selling points are the name of a place, its freeways and something every single city has called a subdivision. I commend you for getting me excited about it but I would like to take you to Paris and blow your mind at architecture, atmosphere. Heck even New Orleans has some decent architecture or even washington dc. I'm not knocking the way the galleria 'looks' but ultimately it's a mall and those silver ring things connected by a million wires are hideous over by post oak galleria area. I do give Houston credit for trying to become a little more prettier by adding ivy to the 59 freeway( yes I'm talking about Houston and freeways too) and generally trying to try. I mean Houston is not a craphole in that respect. I spent a long time working at Delta in atlanta and safe to say Houston is better than ATL. I lived in Dallas too and can say overall houston is better than New Orleans, ATL, Dallas, San Antonio. I like Miami for the women but would agree that would rather live in Houston than Miami if given a choice between the 2. Really the only other cities in US that are better or compete are San Diego,San Francisco, NY,DC, Chicago, maybe Denver. So from that point of view Houston is a top 10 city in USA. Also you can say there decent grub, and if anything I would say that Houston excels in the food dept related to many other US cities. I may be biased but probably only NY or Chicago may have more restaurants that are good but at the end of day the tex mex in houston alone is something that no one has. San antonio, dallas all try but not even close. Compared to many cities in USA like Boston , Milwaukee, San Diego, overall the women are much better looking in Houston. Even LA has it women, but still will take a southern hottie from houston over some dyed out kat von d weirdo skank from LA. no thanks.. The only places that may have better tail than houston besides college campuses will be places where you find your southern belle. So the south comes to mind and I would say from a fine ass southern tail point of view, New Orleans or FL might win.. but there are other reasons why FL and New Orleans suck.. so in that regard Houston competes. I'll take a country texan chick that likes to bone all day every day over LA/Portland granola skank. Plenty of those at the rodeo which is another thing about houston that makes it fun. great event. Best beef jerky, and that hideaway its like shooting skanks in a barrel. I highly recommend it.
you guys act like there are no tattooed hippie hipster chicks in H Town. you say how "nice" the people are but everyone else are "douchebags" I'm telling you it's the same everywhere you go. it's what you make of it.
per capita not as bad as LA, San Francisco,Seattle,Portland, Austin, San Diego sure Houston may make up for it in redneck trash and gangsta ghetto cholas.. but for the most part the 'douchebag' female population in Houston isn't as bad as other places.
What I like: Diversity Cheap Nice parks Inner city neighborhoods like Montrose What I dislike: Horrible transit system Lots of parking lots in the downtown area (downtown area always seems "dead") Having to drive everywhere Traffic (but that goes with the previous one) All in all, I love Houston. Currently I'm going to school in Boston (absolutely love it) but I'd definitely move back to Houston after school. Hopefully we continute to expand our METRORail system and the city continues to develop.
This in 100% true in the sense that your attitude is half the battle. Perception creates reality. I've always felt that I, and most Houstonians who pay attention, have a pretty good idea of what Houston is and what Houston isn't: it's a new city with its share of new-city problems: sprawl, traffic, congestion, pollution, and crime, but it's also incredibly diverse, both internationally and ethnically/racially, with excellent food, a huge variety of things to see and do, and it has a sense of philanthropy that many outside (and inside) of Houston just don't realize with regard to HGO, the ballet, the symphony, and HMNS and HMFA, which stems from (and continues to contribute to) the strong business opportunities/economic climate in Houston. Many people, again both in and out of town, don't recognize the importance or the prestige of the Texas Medical Center. We can b**** and argue all day long about one aspect or another re: healthcare in this country, but the TMC is absolutely top-notch, and it's all ours, right smack in the heart of Houston. I currently live in Austin, and I brought my girlfriend, who has called Austin home for the last 8 years but is from Dallas, to Houston with me last weekend. Like most people not from Houston, she'd been here "once or twice" many years ago and all she could remember was humidity and being stuck in traffic. As we were in town for a wedding, there was plenty left undone re: showing her around the city, but I made a point to drive down Memorial. I made sure she got a good view of downtown. We went to Memorial City Mall and were basically all over the West Houston area, and I tried to show off the best stuff I could think of as I was able to do so. She was surprised by one of my favorite Houston features to tout: the trees. It's all about perception and seeing what you want to see. I mean, sure: Houston's a swamp, and it's humid and hot as hell, but that equals lush greenery and great trees all over the city, greenery and trees that (for me, at least) results in blank stares when I tell people outside of Houston about those very things. People see what they want to see, and having someone enthusiastic and proud of their home who was also determined to dispel common misconceptions completely changed her perception of the town. I'm happy to say that she had a great time overall. We're coming back in mid-May for another wedding, but we're also going to see HGO put on Rossini's The Barber of Seville at Miller Outdoor Theater in Hermann Park and then go check out the symphony's production of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana at Jones Hall. She's excited, and so am I. I'll readily admit that I easily bristle at the amount of hate I hear aimed at Houston. I listen for it, whether I want to or not, and I'm willing to admit that it's my own issue. The ignorance really gets under my skin, and it's interfered at least somewhat with my ability to enjoy Austin, but there's no need to rant about that here. All in all, Houston is a great city in which to live, work, and play, and I'll always consider it home.
No one will ever accuse me of being an inner-loop hipster, but I have to say that going from Downtown to Waugh via Dallas every morning, The Montrose (which is also one of my favorite parts of town) is just being inundated with new condos. They are going up all over the place. And I hate it.
Houston would have more of a big city feel if we started to build upwards more the outwards... but we have the land and its cheap so we continue creating suburban sprawl
Great perspective. I agree what you said about Houston, it may be humid and hot but overall it's the best city. Like you said about beautiful greenery and trees, it makes Houston unique. There's no doubt that Texas Medical Center and businesses makes Houston an important city for people to live in. Houston is popular in medical research.
I love Houston because Houston is Houston. I was born there and although I was detached from it at a young age, it still feels like "my city", just as much as L.A. is now.
Houston is definitely not the best city. NY and Chicago are definitely better. Haven't been to San Fran but from the way people talk about that place, I'd venture to think it's also better.
Chicago is better as far as public transportation (rail is really good,the bus system kind of sucks),Arts and History. Also the weather during spring, summer and parts of fall is great. It's right on lake Michigan as well. They're not Houston when it comes to variety of food choices, but they're not lagging behind either. Of course the winters can suck as well as the prices for housing. A lot of people rent and right now there are bidding wars for really good apartments which sucks. I love Houston more than any place I've been to, but I'm not going to deny the better qualities of other cities.
NY and Chicago really just have a lot of things that make em better. The liveliness, the culture, the arts, the tourism, sports etc. It's just unmatched to me. I don't think you can even include Houston in that dept. I really don't want to compare Houston to those cities because it's kind of unfair. The one thing Houston and really the whole state of Texas has over them is food, at least IMO. I most definitely miss Texas food. Burgers, BBQ, Tex-Mex are things I love.
