Houston Options

[False Dude]

Houston culture seems to be there but harder to find than Austin. In Austin its jammed into your face every moment of the day while in Houston you have to actively seek it out or you won't find it.

[Hartmann]

houston culture is definitely there but theres a DEFINITE sense of it being "underground". when a lot of scenes cease being that way people typically complain that they suck. so i think thats a good thing but its EASY to stumble into.
1 question: how many of you houstonians that complain about it ever toured the theater/museum district? a field trip in 8th grade to the MFA doesnt count. its AMAZING. 3rd best in the country (arguably the 2nd)

i have made the trip from kw to first colony in under an hour at 7am several times. several times = every time i drove that trip. it was bumper to bumper once for less than 5 minutes around the medical district exit
(i dont have any traffic complaints about 59)

Uh that's because once you are south of downtown, everyone is going the opposite way (which I guess is why I am complaining about it).

I go to the Museum District whenever they have something interesting (pretty often), but it does get old. I also have to drive to get there. Would be awesome if I could hop on a train and get there, I'd probably go more.

It seems like you are trying to attack my "culture" which I don't understand. I appreciate culture and interesting things and off the wall things and go out of my way to find them. That's not my main complaint with Houston. My complaint is traffic and frivolous living in sprawling houses that are too big for people and the fact that we just keep building and building and building and then the buildings just stay empty (so much for that wonderful economy here).

The 5 million people # includes suburbs, the actual population within Houston proper is much lower. A few more years and Houston will be annexing the Woodlands and Kingwood, then people will just move further! Woo hoo! A Houston-Dallas-Austin metropolis!

Also, on your parks point, yeah, we have parks, but you have to drive to get to most of them. The closest park to my parent's house is at least a mile away. Now, most people would say that's tolerable, but no, not the people here. Everyday, the parking lot is full.

[impala454]

Also, testmonkey, during rush hour traffic, it is impossible to make it from Sugar Land to the loop in less than half an hour. Maybe the story is different on the northwest side, but I doubt it, so I have no idea how your dad drives that route that fast.

Well kingwood is more due N/NE area. And yeah it is definitely better. Anything N/NE/E/SE is 10x better traffic wise than the NW/W/SW areas. I-10 from the west loop all the way to the east side is wonderful. 290 is horrendous, as is 59 SW. I think you just got the short end of the stick by living over there

[impala454]

Here's the average traffic speeds for last year at 5:00-5:15 PM, notice 59 and 290 are the worst possible roads to be on. Also notice how nice the rest of town is. It's a simple matter of knowing the area and choosing a place to live that makes sense based on your own job and activities.

red = 0-20
orange = 20-29
yellow = 30-39
blue = 40-49
green = 50+

[Hartmann]

Well kingwood is more due N/NE area. And yeah it definitely is better. Anything N/NE/E/SE is 10x better traffic wise than the NW/W/SW areas. 290 is horrendous, as is 59 SW. I think you just got the short end of the stick by living over there

Yeah, I knew it was N/NE just had a brain fart and I agree that I am getting the short end of the stick considering I live on the busiest stretch of freeway in the U.S.

[Hartmann]

impala, that's 15 minutes. Stretch it.

I've sat on I-10 on the east side for the better half of an hour, just to get to the belt.

The big point that cupcake was making about buying stuff and "schlepping" was that in a big city, you buy what you need out of necessity, not out of excess. You'll never see someone in Boston carrying a 24 pack of toilet paper because it saves them $.30 or the industrial size cake batter.

[Testm0nkey]

kw was annexed like 10 years ago

i wasnt attacking anyone or mean to i was in jest and goodness

ive also driven the other way on 59, heading towards downtown at 7am and its fine. you have to live in good traffic areas

[False Dude]

I never drive on 59 during rush hour but it never seems that busy to me otherwise. Its usually slow where it meets 610 but to me that's expected.

[Oasis]

Just buy a flying car and you won't have a problem!

[Hartmann]

kw was annexed like 10 years ago

i wasnt attacking anyone or mean to i was in jest and goodness

ive also driven the other way on 59, heading towards downtown at 7am and its fine. you have to live in good traffic areas

At 7am yes, the traffic isn't bad, but wait till you're in the middle of rush hour (8-9am) then things get interesting.

Can you define a "good" traffic area? That befuddles me in Houston. Everywhere I go it seems like people are waiting to get on freeways. The SW Freeway at 610 was terrible on Saturday at 1pm (explain that one to me), there was no wreck and traffic was backed up to the Westpark Tollway.

Again, I am going to leave at 7:45am and see how long it takes me to go the 13 miles.

[Testm0nkey]

i am an unofficial tourguide of houston. you people need to give it a second, third or whatever number chance with someone that knows what they are doing!

(edit: i was using times loosely i would have been driving that route at 8amish because thats when kevin goes to work and i drive that going from his house to my parents)

[Hartmann]

i am an unofficial tourguide of houston. you people need to give it a second, third or whatever number chance with someone that knows what they are doing!

But what makes you more qualified than me? I've lived here now 23 years (minus time at school) and have been all around the town. It's not about giving it a second chance. I didn't like Dallas all that much but coming back to Houston has put a bad taste in my mouth.

[cupcake]

impala, that's 15 minutes. Stretch it.

I've sat on I-10 on the east side for the better half of an hour, just to get to the belt.

The big point that cupcake was making about buying stuff and "schlepping" was that in a big city, you buy what you need out of necessity, not out of excess. You'll never see someone in Boston carrying a 24 pack of toilet paper because it saves them $.30 or the industrial size cake batter.

exactly.

I never had groceries spoil there, but I admittedly have here in Dallas.

[Testm0nkey]

But what makes you more qualified than me? I've lived here now 23 years (minus time at school) and have been all around the town. It's not about giving it a second chance. I didn't like Dallas all that much but coming back to Houston has put a bad taste in my mouth.

i dont mean to be attacking but TO ME it just seems like you dont know certain areas or things to do. BUT this is biased because im thinking OMG how can he not like this city theres so much to offer?!

so in my mind youve just missed out on stuff but im willing to guess we have very different tastes

[impala454]

impala, that's 15 minutes. Stretch it.

it's the average speed over that time period so the time has no relevance, unless you want to see a different 15 minute time frame. if you want to play with it here's the link:
http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/hist/hi...?mapdate=173006

I've sat on I-10 on the east side for the better half of an hour, just to get to the belt.

I have driven I-10 from the west loop to the east loop every day for the past six months. Short of having some woman or truck in the left lane, I'm rarely under 80mph. It does choke up a little at the beltway, but that's why I then take the loop down to 225... if I want to go to the beltway from there it's extremely fast. Like I said it's just a simple matter of choosing the right route and knowing the area.

The big point that cupcake was making about buying stuff and "schlepping" was that in a big city, you buy what you need out of necessity, not out of excess. You'll never see someone in Boston carrying a 24 pack of toilet paper because it saves them $.30 or the industrial size cake batter.

I don't buy a large quantity of items because I'm worried about gas savings. I buy them because I don't wanna have to go back to the damn store 3-4 times a week just to pick up necessities. And the dude in boston doesn't buy the 24 pack of toilet paper because it won't fit in his f'n apartment, or on his dolly (lol).

My time is my most valuable posession, and spending it walking all over the city to five different places to pick up five different things and dollying them all over and sharing my personal bubble w/a buncha weirdos on the subway isn't my idea of a good way to spend it. I'm not dissing those cities or that way of living, I just don't see how that's the "correct" way.