America's Dirtiest Cities

[Fringe]

No. 10 Houston

This oil town could stand a green makeover, according to AFC voters. Its cleanliness score worsened by four spots since last year. The general vibe left AFC voters wanting, too. They ranked Houston near the bottom for its parks and weather. The city’s collective ego can take great pride in one thing: it topped the AFC charts for its juicy (and no doubt messy) burgers.

Well at least they acknowledged we have great burgers.

Travel & Leisure Magazine

[Simbha]

Hard to comment on quality of parks (which these voters probably consider more than acreage) but I'll point out that Houston doesn't shame in the acreage department: 13.7% of land area taken up by parkland (9th of the largest 25 cities by population) and 22.58 acres per 1,000 persons (7th of the largest 25 cities). Of course, this includes George Bush - but I know many other cities have very large municipal parks which are on the outskirts.

Source: http://cloud.tpl.org...s_Data_2010.pdf

I also find it funny that this same magazine (Travel+Leisure) declared Discovery Green one of the country's best city parks.

[Simbha]

Here are some interesting notes. In the survey which generated that list...

• ... visitors rated Houston's parks at 3.58, while residents rated them at 4.02. The difference (+0.44) is the greatest difference among cities surveyed.
• ... visitors rated Houston's weather at 3.26, while residents rated it at 3.6. The difference (+0.34) is the third-greatest difference among cities surveyed.
• ... visitors rated Houston's cleanliness at 3.57, while residents rated it at 4.07. The difference (+0.50) is the greatest difference among cities surveyed.

So, are Houstonians delusional? Or, do they know something that visitors to the city simply don't see? I'll go with the latter because it seems that this is not limited to the category 'Quality of Life' (e.g., Culture -- Visitors (4.09) vs Residents (4.47) for a difference of +0.38 - third-highest among cities).

I think when it comes to 'cleanliness', people may see Houston as an 'oil city' (also referenced in the caption) - which gives it the perception of being 'dirty'.

[skwatra]

I think its a matter of first impressions and stereotypes. Every person I know that has limited visits to Houston, especially those that didn't know locals, have a very bad impression and didn't like the city at all. It always takes some time and know where to go and what to do.

Weather: you come for a few days in July it'll be sweltering, in March it could be pouring, in December freezing and snowing. If you live here you know that most of the fall/winter/spring will be pretty nice, but it would be easy to see the worst of it any time of the year. And we are known as the hot and humid city, even though we have a very similar weather profile to Orlando which is a tourist destination and people just deal with the heat and don't complain.

Cleanliness: a visitors impression is based on driving on the freeways, seeing billboards and strip malls everywhere. This may not have anything to do with how clean the actual city is, but it gives it a 'dirty' feel. Walking around downtown or the galleria, i wouldn't say the city is dirty especially compared to NYC or Chicago. But I would have to say San Diego, SF, and Orlando feel much cleaner than Houston.

Next year I say we shoot for #1, who cares. We know what we have.

[Fringe]

We obviously get used to our weather.

First time visitors coming in from IAH I'm sure are not impressed. Our freeways are horribly ugly.

[Highway6]

Our freeways are horribly ugly.

I think visitors would see our freeways as horribly massive... but ugly?

All new freeway work the past decade has put significantly more thought into the aesthetics -

Ribbed sides and signage columns along 610.. painted columns and painted star emblems the length of 10.. sunken 59 and its greenery along the sides.

And there has also been a huge effort to replanting trees along reworked feeders and exchanges.

The older one's are still ugly.. but it used to be much worse and will get better as segments are rebuilt.

[Nate99]

I think visitors would see our freeways as horribly massive... but ugly?

All new freeway work the past decade has put significantly more thought into the aesthetics -

Ribbed sides and signage columns along 610.. painted columns and painted star emblems the length of 10.. sunken 59 and its greenery along the sides.

And there has also been a huge effort to replanting trees along reworked feeders and exchanges.

The older one's are still ugly.. but it used to be much worse and will get better as segments are rebuilt.

I've always found the feeder roads with cheap strip center real estate to be, for the most part, unsightly. But at least you have you pick of adult bookstores at every exit between the loop and beltway.

I'd not expect Houston to rank too high on any list put out by "Travel & Leisure". Neither of those are our specialty. As long as we beat Camden, NJ, I'll call it fair.

[Highway6]

I've always found the feeder roads with cheap strip center real estate to be, for the most part, unsightly. But at least you have you pick of adult bookstores at every exit between the loop and beltway.

But that's a byproduct of being one of the first cities to fully utilize feeders along every freeway. TXDOT can do nothing about adjacent development.. and having driven in LA, Charlotte, Chicago, among others.. i think adjacent development is a not unfair price to pay for the access and wayfinding advantages our feeder system has.

But for stuff TXDOT can control... all their freeway improvements the past decade have taken enormous steps in fighting the ugly.

[Nate99]

But that's a byproduct of being one of the first cities to fully utilize feeders along every freeway. TXDOT can do nothing about adjacent development.. and having driven in LA, Charlotte, Chicago, among others.. i think adjacent development is a not unfair price to pay for the access and wayfinding advantages our feeder system has.

But for stuff TXDOT can control... all their freeway improvements the past decade have taken enormous steps in fighting the ugly.

Agreed. I'm not too fussed over the ugliness in any case.

[trymahjong]

We obviously get used to our weather.

First time visitors coming in from IAH I'm sure are not impressed. Our freeways are horribly ugly.

so what happened to Texas Highway beautification--is there a program that still plants wildfowers? That might be a start. . . . . . . . .

[Simbha]

What happened to the proposition - I think, under White's administration - to get rid of the billboards? I know it died. I think it was because of a court ruling. Could someone provide a summary?

[Simbha]

I found the 2010 rankings, in case anyone's interested.

I've placed the Top 20 from 2010 below, alongside the 2011 rankings (for which there were 20 reported in the actual article). The biggest movements were New York (from #1 to #5) and Houston (#14 to #10). Did NYC really get that much cleaner and Houston get that much dirtier (at least, by comparison)? I know it's subjective polling; I'm being rhetorical. (I tried to find the rhetorical font.)

Perhaps of note: Two cities that appeared in the Top 10 last year - Cleveland (#8) and St. Louis (#10) - do not appear in the Top 20 this year. Did these cities get really clean virtually overnight, or were they removed from consideration? Hmm...

City--2011--2010

New Orleans--1--2

Philadelphia--2--4

Los Angeles--3--3

Memphis--4--N/A

New York City--5--1

Baltimore--6--N/A

Las Vegas--7--5

Miami--8--7

Atlanta--9--6

Houston--10--14

San Juan--11--N/A

San Francisco--12--9

Dallas--13--11

Boston--14--12

Washington--15--13

San Antonio--16--16

Orlando--17--17

Chicago--18--15

Kansas City--19--N/A

Anchorage--20--N/A

Cleveland--N/A--8

St. Louis--N/A--10

Providence--N/A--18

Phoenix--N/A--19

Nashville--N/A--20

[swtsig]

What happened to the proposition - I think, under White's administration - to get rid of the billboards? I know it died. I think it was because of a court ruling. Could someone provide a summary?

to hell with the court ruling, that proposition NEEDS to happen... i jsut stated in another thread how much of a travesty it is the first impression many visitors to Houston get is I-45 between the north belt and north loop. remove ALL billboards, unsightly signage, etc and plant as many trees and natural vegetation along the freeways... that would do wonders for our image.

i apologize if i come off a little agitated... i just returned from San Francisco and it blows my mind how gorgeous that city is in comparison to ours. granted their natural geogrpahic landscape helps tremendously, but that is a city that actually cares what their landscape looks like. Houstonians just generally don't give a damn, and that's a crying shame.

[RedScare]

Well, get to work, dude! Why doo you get a pass from doing it? Houstonians may not care, but as a Houstonian, what have YOU done to elevate yourself above the rest of us...other than complain on a forum?

[pderry11]

so what happened to Texas Highway beautification--is there a program that still plants wildfowers? That might be a start. . . . . . . . .

They got rid of all the ivy they planted along the improved segment of US-75 in Dallas several years back when the last recession hit since maintenance costs were too high. I wouldn't be too surprised if beautification right now isn't having to take a serious backseat again.

[pderry11]

to hell with the court ruling, that proposition NEEDS to happen... i jsut stated in another thread how much of a travesty it is the first impression many visitors to Houston get is I-45 between the north belt and north loop. remove ALL billboards, unsightly signage, etc and plant as many trees and natural vegetation along the freeways... that would do wonders for our image.

i apologize if i come off a little agitated... i just returned from San Francisco and it blows my mind how gorgeous that city is in comparison to ours. granted their natural geogrpahic landscape helps tremendously, but that is a city that actually cares what their landscape looks like. Houstonians just generally don't give a damn, and that's a crying shame.

The segment of 45 from the Hardy interchange to downtown is probably one of the ugliest stretches of highway in the state. There's broken, faded, or missing signage all over the place that could easily be replaced. The billboards definitely need to go as they're a distraction enough as it is. If I was willing to spend the money, I'd just take the Hardy instead (for looks), at least there'd be some trees. But even then, parts of that aren't too hot either.

[Nate99]

i just returned from San Francisco and it blows my mind how gorgeous that city is in comparison to ours. granted their natural geogrpahic landscape helps tremendously, but that is a city that actually cares what their landscape looks like. Houstonians just generally don't give a damn, and that's a crying shame.

If we worried about our visual image as much as SF, we wouldn't be Houston. I choose to see that as a good thing. Nothing comes for free.

[Hugh Stone]

SF ranked as the No.12 dirtiest city in America. The same survey ranked Houston as No.10.

I guess that means that Houston is only slightly dirtier than S.F. For a city that cares so much about it's landscape (SF) and one that doesn't (Hou) they sure are close in the dirty rankings.

[KinkaidAlum]

SF is a different kind of dirty... the trustafarian kids need to collectively be hosed down.