Is the Houston Metro "Beautiful?" (El Paso, Galveston: neighborhood, beach)

[crono_clone]

Originally Posted by MK92

Sorry to butt into this fascinating discussion about on and off ramps, but I am considering moving to Houston for a job (from Minnesota) and have a few questions about the general city environment and figured this thread would be the best place to ask.

1. Being from Minnesota I grew up with a lot of lakes, water, and green spaces. This was my favorite part about about MN and I would really like to have that in the city I move to. My stereotype of TX was hot, dry and dusty but it seems like Houston is an exception to that rule. driving around on Google street view it looks like the area gets a good amount of rain. Are things green pretty much year round? Is there enough rain to keep your lawn green or do you need to water? What about parks and running trails, are there many of them and are they well maintained?

2. How clean is Houston? The roads seem to be in good shape (a very nice contrast to MN where our road conditions are comparable to somalia/pakistan/kenya/insert other third world country here) but is there a lot of litter and junk lying around? Of course there will be in poorer areas but what about in typical suburban middle class communities?

3. When you turn on the tap water in your house and move the faucet to the coldest setting, is the water actually cold? Strange question I know but I visited Phoenix recently and the water was either warm or hot, kind of weird to know the only way to get cold water is to put it in the fridge.

4. Is there a fall season in houston? Do the leaves come off the trees or are they on all through the winter? This is the best part about living in the upper midwest, our falls are beautiful (although short). It would be a bummer if there was no fall.

5. Is it reasonable to expect to find a nice 1BR apartment (nice apartment, safe and well-kept area) within 30 minutes of downtown for say ~700 a month?

6. Is there a city sales or income tax like there is in Minneapolis? Since there's no state income tax () where does funding for schools, etc. come from? all federal?

7. How many of the homes around Houston have basements?


I dont think I would mind the heat too much--its 95 degrees and humid in Minneapolis right now. but for 8 months of that every year? hmm...

1. It's green year-round, even in winter. Hot, dry and dusty mostly only applies to west Texas closer to the desert. Houston is muggy, with swampland and lots of forest. You'll still have to water your lawn because it doesn't rain often enough not to, but it's definitely not desert over here.

2. It's clean except in the not-so-affluent areas. The suburbs will be fine. Some roads are in bad shape, but it just depends on where in the city. In general they're fine.

3. No, that only happens to us in the summer when it's 100 degrees out. Otherwise it gets plenty cold.

4. Not really. Some trees shed their leaves and turn colors, but it mostly stays green year-round.

5. Within 30 minutes? Yes

6. No. Funding for schools come from property taxes.

7. Very few that I know of (we flood).

It's only hot and humid in Houston for 3 and a half months a year, yeesh. Next you're gonna ask us if we all ride horses to work. Where do you people get these ideas? :P

[Houstonlover]

I think Houston Metro is Beautiful , but not at all .
Here is an Houston metro picture

[Glucorious]

Originally Posted by Houstonlover

I think Houston Metro is Beautiful , but not at all .
Here is an Houston metro picture

The last time I rode the train was last year.. the water was dirty and it smelled a lot. The sidewalks were dirty, too. Lots of trash.
They need to clean it up.

[Mezter]

Originally Posted by Houstonlover

I think Houston Metro is Beautiful , but not at all .
Here is an Houston metro picture

Just wondering, but is the water just for show or does it have a purpose?

[Spacecityroller]

Originally Posted by Mezter

Just wondering, but is the water just for show or does it have a purpose?

Its fountains. They spray water. Here is a video showing them working.


Houston lightrail fountains - YouTube

[Texyn]

Flat it may be, but the plentiful coastal Deep South evergreens make for a highly pleasant landscape in this city. There's very high diversity in flora here, more than many realize, both naturally and in what can be cultivated.

And it's all thanks to the subtropical climate. The version in the US isn't as ideal as that in other parts of the world (mainly from winter cold threat, but also a bit of the heat in summer), but extremes are infrequent enough to allow these vegetative benefits of the climate to come into fruition.

The planning and execution of the built environment is really where the city suffers aesthetically. The sprawl obviously is negative in replacing the greenery with large swaths of concrete. But that built form also has the effect of reducing the amount of people that get exposed to natural feature. And then you have land use practices on top of it all, with all that dirty industry placed along lower Buffalo Bayou and Galveston Bay, two otherwise fantastic features. Just an all round unholy combination of lay of the built land and limited access that prevents people from perceiving beauty here.

But nevertheless, it's a pleasant landscape here, all thanks to a climate that also affords several well-documented benefits in recreation, agriculture, lifestyle, and other aspects of QOL. So I have zero doubt that the setting here can contribute in allowing Houston to be one of the exciting that people love to visit, just as long as the built environment is taken care of.

[Texyn]

With the exception of some towns along Galveston Bay, as well as Galveston itself, everything outside of 610 is an architectural disaster. Honestly, much of it is better off being wiped out, and left for green-space/flood retention, especially that SW/W area around Barker and on through Gulfton.

The Inner Loop isn't much better with some of it's infill, but the downtown skyline is starting to shape up nicely on view from the north along the bayou. Perhaps the best angle for downtown, as it takes focus away from the ugliest, boxiest 70s/80s buildings, while retaining focus on the more distinctive ones. Not only that, it affords great view of both the more creative, newer architecture along with the oldest downtown buildings to give great sense of how the city evolved:

[Texyn]

Originally Posted by Cowboys fan in Houston

That's man made and manicured beauty. I was talking about natural beauty.

I do agree those are great and very nice looking areas.

To be honest, I'd consider parks and vegetation of any kind to be natural beauty. For even when man does the planting, it's through nature that the vegetation is able to attain the true grace.

There's a little park in SF that fronts the Pacific. The entire area was barren sand dune until some big time 19th century landscapers rolled through, and filled it all with eucalyptus, redwood, and other coastal flora. One can only imagine what they could have done had they set foot on Houston...

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Most people don't move to Houston for the scenic beauty. Most people move to Houston for one or more of the following reasons:

(A) for a job,
(B) they have family there,
(C) they prefer a warmer/mild winter climate
(D) less than an hour drive to the Gulf Of Mexico.

Back when the Rustbelt was in a constant state of boom for several decades, people didn't move there for the climate or scenic beauty. They moved there for many of the same reasons people moved to Houston, for a job or family.

Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Louisville, St. Louis, their landscapes aren't anymore scenic than the Houston landscape is.

[Texyn]

Originally Posted by Ivory Lee Spurlock

Most people don't move to Houston for the scenic beauty. Most people move to Houston for one or more of the following reasons:

(A) for a job,
(B) they have family there,
(C) they prefer a warmer/mild winter climate
(D) less than an hour drive to the Gulf Of Mexico.

Back when the Rustbelt was in a constant state of boom for several decades, people didn't move there for the climate or scenic beauty. They moved there for many of the same reasons people moved to Houston, for a job or family.

Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Louisville, St. Louis, their landscapes aren't anymore scenic than the Houston landscape is.

And again, it all comes down to how the built environment/planning complements the landscape. Houston really missed out on those big 19th/early 20th century movements that granted great beauty to many of the old big cities. On the other hand, those Midwest cities that are on the Great Lakes often earn praise over Houston for scenic beauty, but would all just be cornfields had their founders and planners not been savvy enough to recognize the features they had.