In DC, we need a metro

[Slick Vik]

I was in Long Island City last year. The hotel I was at was a 15 minute walk to a subway station, 5-7 minute walk to some restaurants, and there was not much else around. The nearest grocery store had to be at least 20 minutes by walking from where I was. Just a bunch of row houses otherwise. I was looking right at the Queensboro Bridge and Manhattan. I don't know how you translate your fantasy land to all of NYC, but don't be dishonest, Slick. That said, just because that appeals to you doesn't mean it appeals to everyone. Perhaps Houston can develop in its way whilst New York develops in its own way. It's called variety. That old saying "different strokes for different folks" comes to mind.

I'm guessing you were staying by queensboro. That being said I should have stated my theory applies for residential neighborhoods, excluding business districts and housing projects.

[Slick Vik]

I rarely need to go into the center of the city because where I'm at we've got full size grocery stores (HEB, Kroger, Randall's, Fiesta, Phoenecia, Hong Kong, My Hoa, Viet Hoa, the list goes on) 2 walmarts, 2 targets, enough restaurants that you can eat in a different one each day and it would take many years to hit them all, a couple of hospitals, too many pharmacies, banks, stores of all nature. All well within 20 minutes, most within 5 to 10 minutes.

As the crow files, it's only about 3 miles from Astoria to Rockefeller Center. If I lived only 3 miles from the center of the city, I could be there within 20 minutes at any time, day or night, and still have a larger place to live and a far greater selection of necessities and niceties.

You could not get from Astoria to Times Square in a car in 20 minutes, ever.

Also I guess if you have zero interest in baseball, basketball, or theater yes then there is no reason to go to the city center for you. But ironic as you stated its dull to stay within your radius

[Slick Vik]

That sounds like an Aldi's. Not bad if all you want are the basics in life. No wonder New York and New Jersey rank number 2 and number 1, respectively, in states people move away from.

Not really. C town is basic, trade fair has ethnic groceries, and Broadway natural has organic. New York City is also the number one city people move to as well, and the highest populated city and financial capital of the country. There's a reason.

[august948]

Not really. C town is basic, trade fair has ethnic groceries, and Broadway natural has organic. New York City is also the number one city people move to as well, and the highest populated city and financial capital of the country. There's a reason.

 

Walmart is basic, Viet Hoa and Phoenicia have ethnic groceries and Sprouts has organic.

 

Uh...no. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/10/top-cities-people-moving-to_n_4762327.html

 

http://nypost.com/2013/10/31/fleeing-the-nightmarish-northeast/

 

If you're in finance and make the big bucks to afford living in NYC, then I guess being in the financial capital of the country makes sense.  For the rest of us, not so much.

[august948]

You could not get from Astoria to Times Square in a car in 20 minutes, ever.

Also I guess if you have zero interest in baseball, basketball, or theater yes then there is no reason to go to the city center for you. But ironic as you stated its dull to stay within your radius

 

So much the worse for NYC residents, then.  What happens when there's a strike?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_New_York_City_transit_strike

 

Let me know the next time you hear about Houston roads going on strike.

 

I go to games and the theater from time to time and am at various locations inside the loop several times a week, but I go to the nearby grocery stores, other stores, and to restaurants nearly every day.  Better to live close to the things you need on a daily basis and drive a little further for the occasional things than vice-versa.  Besides, I can be inside the loop in less than 30 minutes and almost anywhere in Houston in 40 to 45 minutes or less.  With the wife and kids in tow.  And have room to bring back whatever we decide to buy. 

 

And I don't have to deal with panhandlers or being mugged at a station.

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/daily-news-analysis-reveals-crime-rankings-city-subway-system-article-1.1836918

[IronTiger]

So much the worse for NYC residents, then.  What happens when there's a strike?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_New_York_City_transit_strike

 

Let me know the next time you hear about Houston roads going on strike.

Well, the Sam Houston Tollway has usually demands higher payment (*rimshot*)

[august948]

Well, the Sam Houston Tollway has usually demands higher payment (*rimshot*)

 

Fortunately, I rarely take the Sam Houston Tollway, and then most of the times it's been because I wasn't paying attention and took the wrong exit off I-10 west bound.

 

[Slick Vik]

Walmart is basic, Viet Hoa and Phoenicia have ethnic groceries and Sprouts has organic.

Uh...no.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/10/top-cities-people-moving-to_n_4762327.html

http://nypost.com/2013/10/31/fleeing-the-nightmarish-northeast/

If you're in finance and make the big bucks to afford living in NYC, then I guess being in the financial capital of the country makes sense. For the rest of us, not so much.

People move out I'll agree but New York also has the highest number of arriving people year in and year out also.

So much the worse for NYC residents, then. What happens when there's a strike?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_New_York_City_transit_strike

Let me know the next time you hear about Houston roads going on strike.

I go to games and the theater from time to time and am at various locations inside the loop several times a week, but I go to the nearby grocery stores, other stores, and to restaurants nearly every day. Better to live close to the things you need on a daily basis and drive a little further for the occasional things than vice-versa. Besides, I can be inside the loop in less than 30 minutes and almost anywhere in Houston in 40 to 45 minutes or less. With the wife and kids in tow. And have room to bring back whatever we decide to buy.

And I don't have to deal with panhandlers or being mugged at a station.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/daily-news-analysis-reveals-crime-rankings-city-subway-system-article-1.1836918

Houston has a higher crime rate than New York. New York is the safest big city in the country and has been for some time.

Also are those grocery stores a 2 minute walk from you?

[august948]

People move out I'll agree but New York also has the highest number of arriving people year in and year out also.

Houston has a higher crime rate than New York. New York is the safest big city in the country and has been for some time.

Also are those grocery stores a 2 minute walk from you?

 

Two minute walk, two minute drive...what's the difference?  Oh, wait, I know...I can haul 10 bags of groceries in my car.  Plus other sundry large items.  And get a better selection.  And get better prices.

 

How does the crime rate you are exposed to while riding the NYC subway compare to the crime rate I'm exposed to while driving down Westheimer?

 

[Slick Vik]

Two minute walk, two minute drive...what's the difference? Oh, wait, I know...I can haul 10 bags of groceries in my car. Plus other sundry large items. And get a better selection. And get better prices.

How does the crime rate you are exposed to while riding the NYC subway compare to the crime rate I'm exposed to while driving down Westheimer?

I didn't experience any crime. There is a huge presence of police. Your chances of having a crime committed against you are higher in Houston.

There's a big difference between walking and driving. And also if the store is 2 minutes away you can buy things as needed instead of hauling loads.

[august948]

I didn't experience any crime. There is a huge presence of police. Your chances of having a crime committed against you are higher in Houston.

There's a big difference between walking and driving. And also if the store is 2 minutes away you can buy things as needed instead of hauling loads.

 

Good for you.  I haven't experienced any crime either living in Houston since I moved here 15 years ago.  Call us back when you've taken the subway day in and day out for 15 years in NYC and we'll compare notes.

 

Wait a minute...there's a Walmart and a SuperTarget within a 2 minute walk? 

 

We typically buy 3 to 4 gallons of milk, 24 packs of toilet paper, several pounds of meat, plus frozen, dry and can goods and other stuff in a single trip.  That must take forever to do walking back and forth to the store there.  Is it typical of NYC residents that their day is work, forage, sleep, repeat?

 

[KinkaidAlum]

Who cares if you are in a two minute walk of C Town or Trade Fair?

 

Read the yelp reviews. They are toxic. Everything from they sold me rotten chicken to the seafood is questionable to the bread was moldy to the employees are rude to the aisles are dirty and the store has a horrible selection of the things you need.

 

By comparison, I read the yelp reviews to my two neighborhood stores in Houston. I had to search to see a bad review and it was a lone comment about the pizza changed and the dude liked the old style pizza better. 

[cloud713]

Lol.. Why is Slick Vic still here? If you love nyc so much move there already and stop complaining that Houston isn't New York..

[Slick Vik]

Good for you. I haven't experienced any crime either living in Houston since I moved here 15 years ago. Call us back when you've taken the subway day in and day out for 15 years in NYC and we'll compare notes.

Wait a minute...there's a Walmart and a SuperTarget within a 2 minute walk?

We typically buy 3 to 4 gallons of milk, 24 packs of toilet paper, several pounds of meat, plus frozen, dry and can goods and other stuff in a single trip. That must take forever to do walking back and forth to the store there. Is it typical of NYC residents that their day is work, forage, sleep, repeat?

Not everyone buys a uhaul full of groceries every time they go to the store.

[Slick Vik]

Who cares if you are in a two minute walk of C Town or Trade Fair?

Read the yelp reviews. They are toxic. Everything from they sold me rotten chicken to the seafood is questionable to the bread was moldy to the employees are rude to the aisles are dirty and the store has a horrible selection of the things you need.

By comparison, I read the yelp reviews to my two neighborhood stores in Houston. I had to search to see a bad review and it was a lone comment about the pizza changed and the dude liked the old style pizza better.

Broadway natural gets 4 stars on yelp and Green Bay marketplace gets 3.5. What's your point?

Lol.. Why is Slick Vic still here? If you love nyc so much move there already and stop complaining that Houston isn't New York..

This is the problem. Other than one post in this thread nobody can even appreciate the advantages of the New York lifestyle. Instead it's no my way is better and I can't even see from the other perspective.

[KinkaidAlum]

My point is simple, your two true grocery stores SUCK. They are described as expensive, dirty, full of rude employees, and full of bad practices (selling expired goods/rotten chicken/broken eggs).

 

If you are going to brag on a place, you might want to understand how the internet works first.

 

 

 

 

[Slick Vik]

My point is simple, your two true grocery stores SUCK. They are described as expensive, dirty, full of rude employees, and full of bad practices (selling expired goods/rotten chicken/broken eggs).

If you are going to brag on a place, you might want to understand how the internet works first.

Your point is what you want it to be. You said the things I mentioned were there, well that wasn't possible. Then you used the excuse of saying well they aren't good. Then I gave you two others and you ignored them. But keep winning in your own mind.

As I said before

Broadway natural gets 4 stars on yelp and Green Bay marketplace gets 3.5. What's your point?

[Sparrow]

If your going to Manhattan, ride the subway. It's not the 1980s any more. You won't get mugged every other day as some here want you to believe. It's not super clean like the DC metro is, but within Manhattan it is absolutely the quickest and cheapest way to get around. NYC operates at a different wavelength than Houston does. My God do those people know how to power walk. It's not like living in the Houston metro region where we complain if there's not a parking space right at the door to where we're going. Walking a few blocks in NYC is "close". A couple of blocks (or parking too far from the door) in Houston is considered a workout.

 

But that's what's great about what we're doing here in Houston. A more urban walkable lifestyle that can provide the close couple of blocks walk to get things to make dinner is coming to Downtown/Midtown. At the same time if you enjoy buying two weeks of groceries at time and piling it all into your Expedition you can do that too. Not everyone wants this way or that way, Houston has something for everyone.

 

 

[august948]

Not everyone buys a uhaul full of groceries every time they go to the store.

 

And not everyone can or wants to get by on a loaf of bread and a chunk of cheese.  Possibly both moldy given the reviews.

 

[august948]

Broadway natural gets 4 stars on yelp and Green Bay marketplace gets 3.5. What's your point?

This is the problem. Other than one post in this thread nobody can even appreciate the advantages of the New York lifestyle. Instead it's no my way is better and I can't even see from the other perspective.

 

I'm sure the NYC lifestyle works for some.  Particularly if you are wealthy and single.  And can have whatever you need delivered to your door. 

 

I'm not so sure on the advantages, though, for the rest of us.  If you take away the unique cultural institutions and just focus on day to day living, how is it a great advantage to pay much more for far less living space and daily necessities? 

 

[august948]

If your going to Manhattan, ride the subway. It's not the 1980s any more. You won't get mugged every other day as some here want you to believe. It's not super clean like the DC metro is, but within Manhattan it is absolutely the quickest and cheapest way to get around. NYC operates at a different wavelength than Houston does. My God do those people know how to power walk. It's not like living in the Houston metro region where we complain if there's not a parking space right at the door to where we're going. Walking a few blocks in NYC is "close". A couple of blocks (or parking too far from the door) in Houston is considered a workout.

 

But that's what's great about what we're doing here in Houston. A more urban walkable lifestyle that can provide the close couple of blocks walk to get things to make dinner is coming to Downtown/Midtown. At the same time if you enjoy buying two weeks of groceries at time and piling it all into your Expedition you can do that too. Not everyone wants this way or that way, Houston has something for everyone.

 

I may differ from a lot of my fellow Houstonians in that I also consider a few blocks "close".  Particularly if on a bicycle.  If you look around the city a bit, you can already find areas outside the loop and outside the beltway (even...gasp...in Cinco Ranch) where you can live within walking distance of groceries, restaurants, cafes, etc.

 

[mfastx]

Going to be living in DC starting this summer.  The Metro there is absolutely amazing.  So fast, so efficient.. it has the 2nd highest ridership in the nation only after New York, and what's crazy to think is that it was built totally from scratch starting in the 70s... absolutely no heavy rail infrastructure existed there before that.  

 

Back in the 70's lots of people there were opposed.. Georgetown University even prohibited a stop from being near their campus.  Now, it's a huge asset to the city, it's spurred so much development especially in Virginia, and they're expanding it to Dulles Airport by around 2020.  

 

I really wish Houston had gone DC's route starting in the early 80s when heavy rail was proposed, the government was just handing out money to cities building rapid transit systems.. now we have to jump through a million hoops just to get a few hundred million for a paltry light rail line.   It's really too bad that we missed the boat on this. 

 

Since we didn't get a head start, we will just have to spend much, much more later.  Like LA. 

[IronTiger]

I really think that the "look how much is nearby" is a really subjective and easily distortable. You could probably make a case for Rinky-Dink, Texas about how there's a Walmart, a Brookshire Bros., a barber shop, and a church all within a quarter mile of your house. Dry cleaners and dentists are another thing (you probably pass by a few dental places on the way to yours, and the closest dry cleaners is not your favorite), because you're not Sims who will go to the nearest service.

The important thing is accessibility, that's what drives people to big cities in the first place. And if it takes you 15 minutes on the subway or the road to get decent groceries, what's the difference, really? You'll either have to pay attention on the road or sit next to smelly/loud people. ("The subway is cheaper" is not a good answer, because your costs of living are far higher)

[KinkaidAlum]

The average rent for a STUDIO apartment in Astoria is now $1,000. For a f'in studio. In Queens. With a an apparently nice juice bar and two horrible grocery stores that sell rotten chicken and expired milk. 

 

Yep, NYC is the bomb.

[Slick Vik]

The average rent for a STUDIO apartment in Astoria is now $1,000. For a f'in studio. In Queens. With a an apparently nice juice bar and two horrible grocery stores that sell rotten chicken and expired milk.

Yep, NYC is the bomb.

It's actually a fun neighborhood. That's why it costs so much. That's why people are willing to pay that amount to live there. There is a massive demand. But keep talking from the outside looking in.

[Ross]

It's actually a fun neighborhood. That's why it costs so much. That's why people are willing to pay that amount to live there. There is a massive demand. But keep talking from the outside looking in.

 

To each their own. You generally forget that not everyone thinks like you, and most have little interest in a NYC life style. I don't - I like the way Houston works far more. I did notice that for a supposedly walkable place, Astoria seems to be chock-a-block with cars, and places to park them.

 

[IronTiger]

It's actually a fun neighborhood. That's why it costs so much. That's why people are willing to pay that amount to live there. There is a massive demand. But keep talking from the outside looking in.

 

But that's like saying an apartment in a run-down San Francisco neighborhood is "better" than a significantly larger apartment in a significantly better Houston neighborhood. 

 

Actually, "massive demand" is also false, because unless it's fixed somehow (rent control!) it's based on supply and demand. The supply of housing in New York and San Francisco is generally short, seeing how everything is super-dense and there's no drive-through restaurants, houses with yards larger than a postage stamp*, or grocery stores with parking lots. (San Francisco has a little bit more space, but not by much—there are in fact supermarkets with parking in "the City")

 

 

 

* hyperbole in case you didn't notice

[Slick Vik]

But that's like saying an apartment in a run-down San Francisco neighborhood is "better" than a significantly larger apartment in a significantly better Houston neighborhood.

Actually, "massive demand" is also false, because unless it's fixed somehow (rent control!) it's based on supply and demand. The supply of housing in New York and San Francisco is generally short, seeing how everything is super-dense and there's no drive-through restaurants, houses with yards larger than a postage stamp*, or grocery stores with parking lots. (San Francisco has a little bit more space, but not by much—there are in fact supermarkets with parking in "the City")

* hyperbole in case you didn't notice

Astoria isn't run down.

[IronTiger]

Astoria isn't run down.

Didn't say that, my point was that it's inaccurate to say "it's expensive because of massive demand" and I would say "supply" figures into that as well. It's the reason why a bungalow in the Heights is so expensive these days, is because not just because of demand, but these things are being snapped up or demolished outright.

Look, if Astoria works for you and you have the money to live there, great. I still fail to see how "most neighborhoods" have things nearby, or how all this makes it a superior city somehow (actually, just so I don't open a can of worms, there are legitimate arguments about NYC being the superior city, but this ain't one of them).

[Slick Vik]

Didn't say that, my point was that it's inaccurate to say "it's expensive because of massive demand" and I would say "supply" figures into that as well. It's the reason why a bungalow in the Heights is so expensive these days, is because not just because of demand, but these things are being snapped up or demolished outright.

Look, if Astoria works for you and you have the money to live there, great. I still fail to see how "most neighborhoods" have things nearby, or how all this makes it a superior city somehow (actually, just so I don't open a can of worms, there are legitimate arguments about NYC being the superior city, but this ain't one of them).

For the amount of people that live there already where would the additional supply come from? If it was that bad the population would've dropped like say Detroit.