honestruerealman

I agree with you about Houston and its area between downtown and the medical center, that would be midtown and the museum district, and also I think you could include the equally impressive area that has numerous park trails along the bayous between downtown and the Galleria/Post Oak business district, which meander along Allen Parkway and Memorial Drive up to and through Memorial Park. To match those classic areas, Dallas has Turtle Creek and the White Rock Lake areas. I think with a little effort, Dallas could once again revive Oak Cliff to its former beauty. It is still impressive when you consider that it is thought to be a poorer part of the community. Houston's biggest problems, along with no zoning, are its elevated freeways which slice through its neighborhoods and stunt development.

The metro train line in Dallas makes that city very intimate. Each station is unique and modeled after the history of the neighborhood--something like mini museums. Houston has not successfully sold its metro rail to its public in this way. In regards to where the lines go in Dallas, it has been said that if downtown is the brains of Dallas then Central Expressway is its spine. The rail line in Dallas enhances Central Expressway and gives that whole area around it greater depth and more of an urban feel.

Dallas has been working hard for the last 30 years to create uptown, by doing things like burying the freeway below grade so that their exists a continuous flow between it and downtown. The city also wisely developed its art's district to where it is the centerpiece right smack dab between the two areas. Now they plan on covering that freeway between the two areas with a park. And the freeway will one day continue on over the Trinity River by way of a new suspension bridge and open another artery into the urban area from Oak Cliff. The outsider doesn't know the differences between uptown and downtown and the whole urban area is an awesome sight to behold.