re: The DFW metroplex is fascinating to me

DFW completely lacks in history, culture, and charm. It makes up for it in strip malls and tract housing though!

I can't stand DFW. It's the closest city/airport, so I have to go even though it makes me cringe.

I used to drive down 75 past Sherman and there was a break. Van Alstyne, Melissa, Anna--small towns with easy highway access to get fuel or whatever and then continue to Dallas. Now it's urban sprawl and basically from Sherman all the way down.

I used to go to Uptown, stay at Le Meridien, eat at Nick & Sam's and make a little trip out of going to Dallas. Now it's a straight trip to DFW or Love Field then get the hell away.

quote:

---

For whatever reason I get an empty, desolate feeling in Dallas that I don’t get in Houston. I have no rational explanation for this

---

Greater Houston has a lot of similarities to DFW but one difference I’ve noticed is that Houston proper is massively larger than Dallas or FW Proper.

Houston is a more urbanized area while Dallas is more of a suburbanized area. There’s way more Dallas suburbs than there are Houston suburbs. The city of Houston just kept taking over areas that would have otherwise been their own city. Dallas doesn’t do that.

Houston is also much more of an international city. Especially within 610. Way more international influence in Houston than there is in Dallas. At least in my experience

quote:

---

Houston is a more urbanized area while Dallas is more of a suburbanized area. There’s way more Dallas suburbs than there are Houston suburbs. The city of Houston just kept taking over areas that would have otherwise been their own city. Dallas doesn’t do that.

Houston is also much more of an international city. Especially within 610. Way more international influence in Houston than there is in Dallas. At least in my experience

---

Houston is boring too but it does have a slightly more unique identity than Dallas. The weather is awful though.

Summers in both cities can be brutal.

I’ve lived in both cities and I prefer Houston overall but I get the appeal of the DFW area for families wanting to live in suburbia.

Honestly I would recommend any kid just out of college to move to DFW or Houston due to the job opportunities, great cost of living and good night life.

I fly to DFW a lot for work. I love how there is so many things to do, plenty of opportunities, reasonable winters, solid highway infrastructure, and a very good airport. The food is very solid and you can find almost anything there except interesting typography.

I prefer Chicago having spent time there, but it’s far from perfect. And having grown up near Baton Rouge… Houston always feels more like home than Dallas. But I don’t dislike DFW at all.

My beef with the area is how it fits with my lifestyle and goals.

1. Housing costs in DFW are higher than I like, and most of the neighborhoods don’t feel like real communities to me. This is not unique to DFW either. But it’s a problem in a lot of it’s neighborhoods. DFW is actually not too crazy for a metro it’s size, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a real problem.

2. Property taxes are higher than I’d like. These can’t be easily controlled or circumvented either. They can be really steep in parts of Texas. If you have a lot of kids and use public schools, it’s not really too big of a deal…but if you have 1-2 kids, the value those taxes provide isn’t as easy to exploit.

3. I prefer areas where I can more easily save and cut personal spending while building wealth under the radar. We are all human, and we influence each other. There is less “keeping up with Joneses” in places like Memphis, Baton Rouge, Tulsa, OKC, or even Houston or some upper midwest cities. I can easily find good neighborhoods where my driving a Toyota or wearing Wal Mart clothes won't stand out. Ft Worth isn’t too bad, but Dallas feels very deep in the consumption lifestyle that I like to avoid as my kids get into school and I reach middle age/peak earnings. Sounds crazy, but it’s easier for me to be a cheap bastard in other places.

quote:

---

Now it sounds like you're just making things up. My kids were ahead of every other kid when we moved from Allen to Lafayette. They were slightly above average in Allen. Our school in Lafayette has an A rating too so it's not a hoodrat school by any means.

---

So you found a worst school in Lafayette - congrats? Our ISD there was ranked #1 and yet taught near zero science and was far behind in math, at least up to the 8th grade (when we left). It was such a fraud.

Dallas proper is still superior to the surrounding burbs, as much as Collin County wants to be Orange County,

The traffic is far better on the residential and side streets, superior restaurants and entertainment, and the Katy Trail/uptown area will never be matched by the burbs.

Granted you can live in Frisco and McKinney and live a happy life, never having to go to Dallas, if that’s your thing.

Interesting that there is some farmland in the Southlake area among the tony subdivisions.

Many years ago, I was the radio play-by-play voice for Evangel Christian football. We drove to Southlake Carroll for a huge butt-whooping.