HOUCAJUN

Brijonmang I agree completely with everything you just said.  I am a native Dallasite but I could never see myself degrading Houston to the extent some people bash dallas or vice versa.  I like Houston and I truly believe that it holds a bright future. 

Houcajun I can't understand how you can completly stereotype a city with such a quick visit.  All cities have their bad parts and you seem to have visted some of the least attractive places in the area.  I recommend you visit the uptown area of the city the next time you're in town and then see what you think.  I'm sure you'd enjoy it.

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I visited Dallas alot growing up, but haven't visited it that much since i moved here. i really didn't notice or care about the things i reported in my post until i became a member of this forum.... whether it's good or bad, i don't know. I've noticed that when people describe Dallas as pretty or cleaner , they are usually refering to areas way north and out of the city limits like Plano,frisco, etc.... plano is nice, but so is the Woodlands and kingwood.Look, Houston is far from perfect, but even my family and friends who live their admit that it isn't as pretty as some people somehow believe. there was an R.V. park off of I35, just minutes from downtown Dallas.AN R.V. PARK. peace out.

any word on when the official groundbreaking will be, if it hasn't happened already?

wonder if they're on schedule...

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Unfortunately i visited Dallas this past weekend for a funeral. we stayed at the Marriott suites hotel in the Market Center area. During my stay, i noticed that Dallas isn't as beautiful as some people say it is. they have as much of a litter problem as Houston does and in my opinion, a more of a graffiti problem. I thought that I35 reminded me of I10 on the east side and I45 north. The road was bad and needed much need of fixing.We also visited the suburbs of Duncanville, Desoto, Grand Prairie, and garland.... all of which were not very pretty.on our way to check in at the hotel, we passed the American Airlines Center. unfortunately i couldn't really see the arena because of a hideous looking train blocking my view.While at the hotel, i took an occasional peek out of the window to see how that part of the city looked from the 11th floor. i was disapointed. I believe that downtown Dallas has one of the best skylines at night, but during the day is a total different story. it really looked rundown. i do have to say that once we got on 635 ( near the galleria), i was much more impressed. Too bad it was the only part of town i liked.

my mother lives there and despite the extensive renovations, the quality of residents has gotten much worse.

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It has.

Ok, I'm new here and I have a few questions.

I live in Houston and love it, but travel to Dallas / Ft. Worth a lot for business (I also love DFW).

It appears that there is a ton of hostility on this forum between DFW and Houston...why?

Both places are great cities in Texas, what's all the fuss about?

Facts from my well traveled eyes and ears:

Right now DFW is winning the overall growth war.

The new arts district 300 million grant will make the downtown/uptown area of Dallas one of the largest in the nation.  There will be a park that covers the highway dividing downtown and uptown (sorry, I can never remeber the name of that highway).

The multi billion dollar trinity river project along with the multi-multi-million dollar Victory project will easily make the downtown Dallas area the largest and most active in the state and again, probably one of the most active in the country.

Houston has a lot of great projects going on as well.  The new stadium, convention center, and aquarium downtown are all great.  Right now I think we are beating Dallas in downtown (not including Dallas' Deep Ellum) entertainment and number of restaurants.

Houston has more fortune 500 companies

With my expense account I get to eat out a lot in Dallas and Houston and I have to give the nod to DFW for the restaurants...they have a number of nationally known chefs and it just seems to be a much more affluent culture overall.

I think Houston vs Dallas (just Dallas), Houston seems and is a LOT bigger.  DFW vs Houston metro, well DFW seems bigger and is bigger.

Dallas vs Houston rail system...well, DFW's is probably 5 times larger and the expansion plans are also larger.  After all of the people getting hit in Houston I'm starting to get concerned about the layout. 

In the end, both cities have great things going on.  Houston is one massive city with fewer suburbs to retire to.  Dallas/Ft. Worth offers a bunch of diverse neighborhoods that offers a lot of options on the type of place you want to live in.  I think overall DFW will win the population war and the downtown/uptown growth (probably because there's a lot more money and the infrastructure is better).

Houston and DFW both rock.

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here we go again. i totally disagree with you.let's talk about other things and leave this subject alone and move on. these dallas vs houston topics are wearing me out.

I'm headed there today. Will fill you all in later.

I can't wait,Galveston will soon be the weekend destination once again.

Oh sorry guess I was just stupid.  But it still brings up the point will there be enough seats.

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The Toyota Center(considering how well we did for the Super Bowl) is the reason why we got it.

Arent you against sprawl? I know I am. By visiting these establishments you encourage more and more sprawl.

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maybe visiting these developments will encourage other developers to do the same thing in the city limits.your stament was the most insane i've ever heard in this forum.

has construction started?

That's why they have subways.  Something this city could use more of, except using freeways to escape to the sprawly suburbs.

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shouldn't the roads be smoother since they have a great subway system? lesser drivers on the road, right?boston has no excuse for bad roads.

. . .and you think that's a good thing for Houston?  That's Houston's problem.  It's too spread out.  That is one of the reasons its population numbers are high.  It just keeps acquiring land.  Geographically, Houston doesn't know where it wants to end. I know because I used to live in Houston for over 10 years during the 70's and 80's (Love Ya Blue) and a couple in the 90's.  Also, unlike your sporadic visits to Dallas (5 times a year), I travel between Houston and Dallas at least every other week (was there on Tuesday 2-15 and will be there again for three days starting on Sunday 2-20).

Houston needs to centralize more of its development inside the inner loop (610) as opposed to the sprawl that it is experiencing.  If Dallas, or New York for that matter, annexed all of the surrounding areas/suburbs until those cities had the same amount of square miles as Houston, then their populations would soar far past their current numbers.  Bottom line is, Houston's population numbers are directly tied to its geographic size.  Unlike geographically smaller cities, but with larger populations (New York, Chicago), Houston will never have that urban feel because it is just too damn spread out and hardley any of its communities are connected (except for those along the new rail line).

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70's? How old are you anyway? Aren't you the one i swipe all the time on 45 for going 25mph in the fast lane? yep, it is you. Shouldn't you be getting your bed pan changed,right about now.

So does anyone actually know anything? Is there anyone here in HAIF that knows who they could call at city hall to find out? Does anyone have a legit connection?

That's what we need. If this were Lake Charles, I could get any info you wanted. While with the fire department there, I got tasked to work with the GIS division of the city. They shared a floor with Planning & Development. It was niiiiiiiice. Sadly, we're not in Lake Charles anymore. But of the 300 or so HAIF members, you're telling me no one here, even among the lurkers, is connected??

Come On... Share what you know...

Glen

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I've been trying to figure out how I would describe how I felt about mega-churches, and I think you hit it on the head with it being "impersonal". With a church that has more than one morning worship service, how do you even get to know your church family - if you only get to see half of them?

Houcajun - calm down...you're way too defensive over all this church talk..Some people just aren't comfortable with mass production religon. Some of us like to know everyone we go to church with, and some of us are okay without having an ice rink/basketball court/concert hall/3 ring circus in our sanctuary. Besides, it's God's house, not yours. He demands a place of reverence - not rowdiness.

Glen

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i'm still waiting for midtown to answer the questions from my previous posts.

no, they only offered that at rice.

anyways, i find mega-churches with ice rinks and basketball courts...odd.

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Super Sized religion fits in nicely with today's Super Sized attitudes.  If you feel the need to worship in a Mega Church, more power to you.

Why Super Sized and not regular?

Is it the flash and cash, or the baseketball courts, etc.?

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ithink the building looks good. you're from NYC. i love the place,but it could use a bottle of bleach and fixing up.

the retail center is almost finish.any idea what stores are going there and what are they are building behind it?

As long as people get the good message about Christ, and what good He has done, I am fine from these big megachurches with 25,000 people, or the small ones with 150 people.

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EXACTLY!

"The road to heaven is paved with money".

THAT is what I am talking about!  Church for trendoids.

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how do you assume it's about money for everbody? look, when you are living the right way and being obedient to God, he blesses you in every area of your life.in the area of finances, marriage,etc...only a fool would deny blessings from God.so you think that the more poverty you're in makes you a better Christian?Christ wasn't poor and God definitely isn't. so, idon't understand your position on mega churches. are you supposed to turn people away when they want to become a member of your church, so that it looks better to people like you who feel that a church shouldn't prosper doing the Lord's will? your position on this is pointless and outdated. i guess it's ok for us to build multi million dollar state of the art stadiums where we cheer,clap, and glorify players who are just as human as we are. why can't we do that for God without question?

None.

That's not a church you describe.  It's a ZOO!

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velvetj, could you elaborate more on the race park you mentioned in your last post.

I'm talking about membership when it comes to TD Jakes and sise when it comes to Creflo Dollar. TD jakes membership is over 55,000 members strong. Building wise, the old Western Forem which is a church now has over 16,000 seats. Plus the video never said it will be the largest, it said it will be one of the largest. Get that fact strait.

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look, i don't know the exact number of members lakewood has,but joel osteen has been on TBN , DAYSTAR, and ABC and all of those stations report that lakewwod has the largest church (members)in the country.what better reference do you need?

yeah, you're right. my bad.