Ugly Houston??? (Kirby, West, Howe: buyers, school, income)

[mpope409]

Originally Posted by crbcrbrgv

Wow you sure hit Miami right on the head. The beautiful parts of Miami are more beautiful than the beautiful parts of Houston, but the bad parts of Miami are significantly worse than the bad parts of Houston. I feel safe all over Houston, but I never felt safe anywhere in Miami.

Comparing the beauty in Miami to be the beauty in Houston is pretty much apples and oranges. Miami's good looks lie on the beaches and the ocean, while Houston's good looks are its timber forests and green backdrop.

[mpope409]

Originally Posted by RocketSci

One problem which I have seen in Houston more than in many other areas is a "so what" attitude toward ugliness than any effort to try and improve things. It has gotten much better in the last 5 years or so, mainly because of the Super Bowl, and I hope an attitude toward improvement prevails. I think we can thank our current mayor for this one.

I agree, but can you really blame those with a "so what" attitude? I mean, people do have better stuff to worry about.

[houguy1087]

I agree with mpope too. Most people I know do not visit/move to Houston because it's beautiful. (There are beautiful parts though.) Houston's focus lie elsewhere right now because there are so many other things Houston is trying to fix--thus the "so what" attitude.

[RocketSci]

Yes, I can blame any culture that does not take enough pride in its surroundings to keep things clean and tidy, care for common property, and seek to improve its environment. I have better stuff to worry about also, but that doesn't keep me from grooming myself and maintaining my property. It's called respect for youself, your property, your neighbors, and your city. In almost every area Texans never settle for "good enough" in anything except, for some reason, in the physical surroundings which we all must share. Its "good enough" to lock yourself behing a landscaped gate in Sugarland, but it is OK for some reason to drive thru Baghdad on the way to downtown.

[houguy1087]

Originally Posted by RocketSci

Yes, I can blame any culture that does not take enough pride in its surroundings to keep things clean and tidy, care for common property, and seek to improve its environment. I have better stuff to worry about also, but that doesn't keep me from grooming myself and maintaining my property. It's called respect for youself, your property, your neighbors, and your city. In almost every area Texans never settle for "good enough" in anything except, for some reason, in the physical surroundings which we all must share. Its "good enough" to lock yourself behing a landscaped gate in Sugarland, but it is OK for some reason to drive thru Baghdad on the way to downtown.

Did you not read the lasts 2 posts? Sometimes people (and cities) are limited in the amount of tasks they can take on at one time, for many reasons.

[mpope409]

Originally Posted by RocketSci

Yes, I can blame any culture that does not take enough pride in its surroundings to keep things clean and tidy, care for common property, and seek to improve its environment. I have better stuff to worry about also, but that doesn't keep me from grooming myself and maintaining my property. It's called respect for youself, your property, your neighbors, and your city. In almost every area Texans never settle for "good enough" in anything except, for some reason, in the physical surroundings which we all must share. Its "good enough" to lock yourself behing a landscaped gate in Sugarland, but it is OK for some reason to drive thru Baghdad on the way to downtown.

It's not that Houstonians don't recognize the problems and that they aren't interested in fixing those problems. It's that these things are not their priority. It's really not that big of a deal. The world does not stop because Houston has a few abandoned buildings and some tacky developments.

This, however, does not apply to those individuals whose job is to build up Houston. There's no excuse for mediocrity. Developers, planners, architects, city leaders...they all need to team up and start making better ideas. Either that, or we need to tell those talentless people to move on. Mess up some other city.

[tstone]

Originally Posted by RocketSci

Its "good enough" to lock yourself behing a landscaped gate in Sugarland, but it is OK for some reason to drive thru Baghdad on the way to downtown.

Houston has many pockets which are nice places to be, but huge chunks of the surrounding areas are mediocre at best and can be downright 3rd-world-ghetto. And there are a ton of people straight out the 3rd world living in this city, first time in America. Hence the 'lack of care' for appearance. Many people who are making decent money are also more concerned with their cars than their homes. You can get a feel for this when you see "Rent N Roll" places for rent to own rims. Crappy homes, decked-out nice rides.

Just drive through and explore the vast SW side down 59 from Fountain View all the way out to West Airport to get a taste of it. The city streets branching in all directions from 59 include miles and miles of yuck, and is quite populated. Hwy 6 from Bissonnet to Westheimer has decayed before my eyes. Alt-90 from Reliant down to Missouri City is mostly undesirable - more SW crap. The S side down 610 from 288 to 45 is pretty bad, going down 45 from UofH to Fuqua (including Hobby airport area) can also be pretty rough in many spots. The outer south side between 610 and 8 is more rural, but still junky. That's pretty much the entire inner & middle SE side right there. I-10, on the other hand, is pretty good for the most part downtown to Hwy 6. There - I just pretty much described the whole south half of the city. And I realize that all the areas have pockets of good places to be. But that's all they are - pockets. They're still surrounded, hence the reasonable housing costs. Location location location!

I can't really speak for the north side but it's probably not far behind.

But being that these undesirable corridors are downright huge in square mileage compared to the nice pockets tucked in between all this, people who are looking around tend to label our city "ugly." Can't say I blame them.

[mpope409]

Originally Posted by tstone

Houston has many pockets which are nice places to be, but huge chunks of the surrounding areas are mediocre at best and can be downright 3rd-world-ghetto. And there are a ton of people straight out the 3rd world living in this city, first time in America. Hence the 'lack of care' for appearance. Many people who are making decent money are also more concerned with their cars than their homes. You can get a feel for this when you see "Rent N Roll" places for rent to own rims. Crappy homes, decked-out nice rides.

Just drive through and explore the vast SW side down 59 from Fountain View all the way out to West Airport to get a taste of it. The city streets branching in all directions from 59 include miles and miles of yuck, and is quite populated. Hwy 6 from Bissonnet to Westheimer has decayed before my eyes. Alt-90 from Reliant down to Missouri City is mostly undesirable - more SW crap. The S side down 610 from 288 to 45 is pretty bad, going down 45 from UofH to Fuqua (including Hobby airport area) can also be pretty rough in many spots. The outer south side between 610 and 8 is more rural, but still junky. That's pretty much the entire inner & middle SE side right there. I-10, on the other hand, is pretty good for the most part downtown to Hwy 6. There - I just pretty much described the whole south half of the city. And I realize that all the areas have pockets of good places to be. But that's all they are - pockets. They're still surrounded, hence the reasonable housing costs. Location location location!

I can't really speak for the north side but it's probably not far behind.

But being that these undesirable corridors are downright huge in square mileage compared to the nice pockets tucked in between all this, people who are looking around tend to label our city "ugly." Can't say I blame them.

The only thing about North Houston that people might consider ugly is the no-zoning, and some of the run down areas. Other than that, North Houston looks like a Southeastern area.

[tstone]

The northeast side is about as far south as the 'piney woods' goes. You can follow the fringe from the NE side to the Woodlands. NE is also the least populated area in town if I'm not mistaken, and it gets 'redneck' pretty quick.

I just know I-45 from 610 to BW 8 is a furniture-store eyesore, and Greenspoint/IAH definitely has it's areas to pass through and leave ASAP. (Nice impression for the tourists, no doubt) I Didn't come from that side of town, never really explored much.

[person]

Originally Posted by mpope409

Comparing the beauty in Miami to be the beauty in Houston is pretty much apples and oranges. Miami's good looks lie on the beaches and the ocean, while Houston's good looks are its timber forests and green backdrop.

This is what I am talking about again. Sneaky this time, trying to play up Houston by association. You say its comparing apples and oranges, but proceed to associated them together anyway. 'Miami's good looks lie in ... while Houston's good looks lie in...'

I hope you were not trying to pass them off as equally good, because Miami's beaches are top notched, world recognized, always in some list, while our trees and Sam Houston forest is, well, not, or anywhere near that kind of class. Putting a sentence together like that can mislead someone to think both have the same wow factor.