The state of Texas : Mexico can have it back

[Tosspot]

The photo threads of Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, et al that I see on Skyscraperpage really depict these strange barren places that the locals down there quaintly refer to as cities. Between these lumbering boils pockmarking the oil rich landscape, and that guy who knocked down a drive-thru bank canopy with the trailer he forgot was hitched to the back of his Dodge Ram, seems like if Mexico ever goes on the offensive to get the place back... we'll just let em have it.

[AllThingsKC]

Can we keep Colorado?

[DaveKCMO]

are you sending the katrina refugees back first?

[knucklehead]

Dallas is to big, but I can see how people could live there.

Houston is the pitts. The summers are unbearable. The traffic is terrible. The lack of zoning makes the whole city look crappy. The only way I would live in Houston is if I got at least a 30 percent premium on salary. 

San Antonio's downtown is depressing. One of the worse I have seen. Haven't seen much of suburban San Antonio.

[chrizow]

i am not anti-texas.  Austin rules, and for all its obvious flaws, Houston is supposed to actually be pretty hip.  Dallas strikes me as a more successful, much larger kansas city.  i also want to visit Marfa TX and some of the other weirdo, quasi-mystical places in the vast Texas plain...

[PumpkinStalker]

I was in San Antonio on vacation when I was about 13, and I remember it being very boring.  The most excitement I saw was Ripley's.  Even the Alamo didn't impress me, mainly the way it was executed/on display.  Didn't seem like there was much there.  I did however enjoy the riverwalk, but that was about it.  Downtown reminded me of St. Joe.

[kcmetro]

I was in San Antonio for the Final Four this past April. I thought the Riverwalk was pretty cool. Not sure what it would be like without a big event like the FF, but it was fun as long as I had margaritas pouring through my veins. I thought it was very well designed.

Everything else in that city was average from what I could tell.

[voltopt]

Austin is okay - its like a hotter, barren Columbia MO, with a Omaha sized downtown. 

[chrizow]

Austin is okay - its like a hotter, barren Columbia MO, with a Omaha sized downtown. 

i think Austin feels like a giant midtown KCMO (with all that entails), if midtown KCMO had an enormous college campus in the middle of it.  add 100,000 californians and other arty ne'er-do-wells and another 100,000 dot-com types and those who serve them, and you've got yourself a west coasty boomtown in the middle of texas.  put another way, it's like portland, texas-style.  it's also situated amongst some pretty great scenery. 

downtown austin is pretty lame - generic condos, fratty bars, some decent restaurants, but from my two weeks there it seems like the city shines in its neighborhoods.  there is a good vibe there, and a lot going on.  it doesn't have the history and depth of KC perhaps, but it has a very awesome present and bright future.  i don't get the "austin's fine if youre an undergrad" thing, austin seems to be home to a lot of genuine, cool folks, with lots of art, music, etc. going on. 

[KCPowercat]

not to mention that texan cocky attitude...that's what I can't stand.

most of their cities are fun for a weekend sports trip, but past that...no way.

[voltopt]

downtown austin is pretty lame - generic condos, fratty bars, some decent restaurants, but from my two weeks there it seems like the city shines in its neighborhoods.  there is a good vibe there, and a lot going on.  it doesn't have the history and depth of KC perhaps, but it has a very awesome present and bright future.  i don't get the "austin's fine if youre an undergrad" thing, austin seems to be home to a lot of genuine, cool folks, with lots of art, music, etc. going on. 

I liked the neighborhoods that I experienced, like South Congress, East Martin Luther King, and North on Guadalupe.  There was a nice cohesion to the flow of the city - its relatively young, and there seems to be a lot of potential.  I expected something greater than what we found - something akin to the promised land, from all the talk about how great Austin is.  The built environment felt exactly as I described in my earlier post - and the people seemed ubiquitious in their smugness.  I suppose if Wichita, Kansas City, and Topeka were the size of Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas, then maybe Lawrence would resemble Austin in scale and singular-ness.  But I cringe at the sameness of the people there - like Portland, it suffers from too much of one thing. 

[LenexatoKCMO]

Their statehood treaty actually gives them the right to seceed and become a republic again at any time - only state with such an option.  Perhaps we can convince them to exercise it someday. 

[voltopt]

I should spend more time in some of the neighborhoods - I think that would nice.  I barely scratched the surface, although I'm not much for the South or the Southwest anyway... the cobbled together Albuquerque by way of LA Story thing...

[chrizow]

i am increasingly in favor of certain areas of the southwest.  i'd like to spend some more time in towns in AZ (not phoenix), NM, TX, CO, etc.  i like Austin because it is a weird, fun place, though i have no doubt that the "Austin Rules!" pride becomes nauseating after a while - that is, if you can detect it under the crushing smugness of Longhorns fans, which out-douche KU fans 500:1 ("Hook 'Em!" -- BLAM!). 

of course, it feels nice to be in a place that people think is awesome, as opposed to our city where a lot of people seem to delight in belittling it at every turn.  "pride," particularly outsized pride, definitely gets old (see St. Louis), but it's also great to see people feel personally invested and connected to where they live. 

if KC had some more alluring scenery or a large university, my guess is that it would be pretty Austin-esque by now.  as it stands, it is a quietly cool city in a vacuum.

i cannot imagine choosing to live in san antonio or dallas, though, let alone ft. worth or secondary cities like lubbock, el paso, etc.  shoot me in the face!  i am reserving judgment on houston for now due to its reportedly burgeoning, crossroads-dwarfing art scene.

[LenexatoKCMO]

i am reserving judgment on houston for now due to its reportedly burgeoning, crossroads-dwarfing art scene.

They could relocate the Louvre to next door to the Houston Galleria and it wouldn't outway the overall shittiness and miserable climate associated with that worthless city. 

[eclair]

I have spent some time in Austin and loved it.  I went to some great Bars -- nightlife was excellent with tons of live music.  I ate some incredible food, especially Mexican, but also one of the best Italian meals I have ever had.  I like Lake Austin as well.  UT Austin is a fantastic school.  I would love to spend some time living there for a while.

[Highlander]

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[phuqueue]

Their statehood treaty actually gives them the right to seceed and become a republic again at any time - only state with such an option.  Perhaps we can convince them to exercise it someday. 

I've read that this is actually a myth.  However, the annexation treaty does allow for Texas to be split into five smaller states to maintain the balance between free and slave states, and although the slavery issue has been dead for 140 years, that clause remains in effect.  Then again, by acts of Congress and the legislature(s) of the state(s) in question, new states can be carved out of existing ones under Article IV of the Constitution, so it's kind of superfluous anyway.  Still fun to consider breaking Texas up though.

[DanCa]

I was in San Antonio for the Final Four this past April. I thought the Riverwalk was pretty cool. Not sure what it would be like without a big event like the FF, but it was fun as long as I had margaritas pouring through my veins. I thought it was very well designed.

Everything else in that city was average from what I could tell.

I lived in SA for a couple years and didn't think downtown was that bad.  It attracts a lot of tourists, so it's fairly lively and had some decent restaurants.  The rest of the city is typical Texas- heat, humidity, bugs and a beltway freeway lined with strip malls, car dealers, and blow-up gorillas. 

[rxlexi]

I've only been to Texas once, and that was to Austin, in late high-school, and I don't remember much of it (a LOT of free jungle juice etc. at UT) except it feeling like a progressive oasis in the midst of distinctly red-state surroundings...a feeling similar to Lawrence I suppose.  In that regard, I'm not qualified to judge Texas.

But something to keep in mind, is that Texas' growth has/is enabling to create a pretty impressive name for itself, and gives it the potential for a bright future.  They're building some pretty impressive stuff down there, and there is a pride in the people.  See Grid's "Austin grows up" thread, or the new Dallas Performing Arts Center (not to mention the Super Bowl), or LRT in both Dallas and Houston.  Austin may have a DT of similar scale to Omaha now, but what about 10-15 years from now?  I'm not saying that these things make a great city, but that the potential for future growth and development in a place like Austin is something worth thinking about.