Houston's Image & Perception

[C2H]

Hey everyone. I'm sorry to start such a miscellaneous question but i'm curious.

I was speaking with this young couple who just left Denver and is still in the process of moving to Houston within the next 2 weeks for a job transfer. The wife states that she is so depressed about moving to Houston and wishes she could stay in Denver. I asked her why. She replied, "It's so biggg!" I told her, "The last time i checked, Denver was big too!" The lady went on further to say that Houston is congested, raggedy and etc.... She seemed to have a very negative image of the city, even when i told her to visit Uptown/Galleria area. She said that's where she works and STILL didn't seem very impressed.

The last time that i was in Houston, it looked like they have made alot of improvements and several beautification projects were under way. The city really seemed to be shaping up to be a decent looking city. I was somewhat disappointed to find that this person still has that negative impression of Houston. I love Houston so much and want for it to be recognized as a great place to live and visit. So that brings me to my question, Do you all think Houston's image has improved, gotten worse, or stayed the same over the last few years. From the Superbowl, NBA All Star game, Essence 2006, MB All Star Game, Astros World Series and Etc. I'm not taking the opinion of just this one person, i'm talking overall.

Please share your thoughts.

[musicman]

very subjective. some things have improved and worsened like anywhere. hard to guess what her opinion was based on. what time period was she here?

I work with about 60 people down in clr lake. only 3 of us live in the beltway. i can tell you one person who was here 2 yrs and had only been to "houston" once, and that was on his way to moving here. he just stays in clear lake for everything.

some people just want to stay in their little worlds and and be sheltered. anything "urban" is bad. so they stay in the burbs all of their lives.

[Pumapayam]

Not directly related, but our image is getting worse.

Simple as that. . .

[C2H]

very subjective. some things have improved and worsened like anywhere. hard to guess what her opinion was based on. what time period was she here?

I work with about 60 people down in clr lake. only 3 of us live in the beltway. i can tell you one person who was here 2 yrs and had only been to "houston" once, and that was on his way to moving here. he just stays in clear lake for everything.

some people just want to stay in their little worlds and and be sheltered. anything "urban" is bad. so they stay in the burbs all of their lives.

I think you're right, people are generally just afraid of change from their own world. For the most part, Denver is newer than Houston and is very urban downtown. She could've been talking as someone from the suburbs. She said they had been living down there for a few weeks and were just back in Colorado getting some more of their things. They may have been from the Denver suburbs and just probably ended up in the wrong part of Houston.

I'm just surprised that her being an employee of the Uptown/ Galleria area, that didn't help enhance her image of the city a little bit. I know the traffic is bad in that area but it's great as far as aesthetics.

[Guest Marty]

We have too many litter bugs in this County. I pickup fast food bags, beer cans etc. every day from my front yard.

[feufoma]

I've spent time in Denver and like the city. She's right to some degree: Houston dwarfs Denver! Denver's DT is really nice, but the city is really pretty small overall. Once you're a few miles north on 25, for example, you're in the country again.

The cities are just different. There's just as much (if not more) urban living in Houston. I'm somewhat confused with her impression about Uptown. Denver doesn't have anything like it (Tech Center? Come on..._)

I know that Houston has to grow on some people. I have a few friends that hated moving to Houston but really enjoy it now.

[musicman]

I think you're right, people are generally just afraid of change from their own world. For the most part, Denver is newer than Houston and is very urban downtown. She could've been talking as someone from the suburbs. She said they had been living down there for a few weeks and were just back in Colorado getting some more of their things. They may have been from the Denver suburbs and just probably ended up in the wrong part of Houston.

I'm just surprised that her being an employee of the Uptown/ Galleria area, that didn't help enhance her image of the city a little bit. I know the traffic is bad in that area but it's great as far as aesthetics.

I know the last time i went to denver, the thing i remember the most was the pollution. only because i didn't expect that. a first impression isn't always the best one. i know my Atlanta/St. Louis impression was how divided the cities were racially.

[H-Town Man]

I think you're right, people are generally just afraid of change from their own world. For the most part, Denver is newer than Houston and is very urban downtown. She could've been talking as someone from the suburbs. She said they had been living down there for a few weeks and were just back in Colorado getting some more of their things. They may have been from the Denver suburbs and just probably ended up in the wrong part of Houston.

I'm just surprised that her being an employee of the Uptown/ Galleria area, that didn't help enhance her image of the city a little bit. I know the traffic is bad in that area but it's great as far as aesthetics.

I think not having that mountain backdrop anymore takes some adjusting. First time visitors to Houston often get a bad impression because of our freeways - the fact that we have frontage road means that all of our junk is out there to see, kind of like certain front yards in certain rural areas. In six months, I bet she'll like it a lot more.

[C2H]

I've spent time in Denver and like the city. She's right to some degree: Houston dwarfs Denver! Denver's DT is really nice, but the city is really pretty small overall. Once you're a few miles north on 25, for example, you're in the country again.

The cities are just different. There's just as much (if not more) urban living in Houston. I'm somewhat confused with her impression about Uptown. Denver doesn't have anything like it (Tech Center? Come on..._)

I know that Houston has to grow on some people. I have a few friends that hated moving to Houston but really enjoy it now.

I currently live about an hour from Denver, so i'm up there quite often. There is pollution but it has improved since the 90s. The lightrail system has been expanding like crazy. I'm hoping to move to Houston because i just love the ethnic diversity and the "free" way of living. Plus my girlfriend goes to TSU!

Musicman, when was the last time you were in Denver ?

[Parrothead]

Anytime you have people coming from the mountains of Colorado, there's going to be apprehension on their part. Once anyone gets here though, they really love the people. That's what I hear the most. You don't hear that about Dallas!

[musicman]

Musicman, when was the last time you were in Denver ?

i was going to say not long ago but this is 2007. i think it was 2000 or so.

[C2H]

I've spent time in Denver and like the city. She's right to some degree: Houston dwarfs Denver!

Did you know that Houston/Galveston metro has more people in it than the entire state of Colorado? Denver metro alone acounts for half of the state's population.

2006 Consensus

Colorado State population: 4.6 million

Houston/Sugarland/Baytown: 5.3 million

Denver/Aurora/Lakewood/Boulder 2.7 million

Colorado Springs: 550,000

[The Great Hizzy!]

So what you're saying is that Colorado is more sprawled than the Greater Houston Metropolitan Area?

[C2H]

So what you're saying is that Colorado is more sprawled than the Greater Houston Metropolitan Area?

basically! But then again hopefully a metro region wouldn't sprawl as much as a state as big as Colorado.

[CDeb]

So what you're saying is that Colorado is more sprawled than the Greater Houston Metropolitan Area?

Yeah, with all those suburbanites sucking off of Denver because they have to have a huge house with a mountain range in their backyard

[MidtownCoog]

Houston's Image & Perception

Who cares! Be yourself and it will all come naturally.

That's all you can do.

[texas911]

We actually live in a pretty clean city. You want dirty, go to the north east. Its like an art form over there. But I do see trash in our street, and I blame it on the illegals that think the are still in Mexico. Hey man, welcome to the US where we don't treat our cities like an open garbage can.

[musicman]

We actually live in a pretty clean city. You want dirty, go to the north east. Its like an art form over there. But I do see trash in our street, and I blame it on the illegals that think the are still in Mexico. Hey man, welcome to the US where we don't treat our cities like an open garbage can.

i don't only blame it on that. just about everyday i see people throw cigarette butts out of their window as well.

[bachanon]

who cares what others think of houston. the less media hype, and the less good vibrations the rest of the country has about houston, the longer we can enjoy it for what it is. "inside the loop" is already suffering from a growing "smug cloud". do we really need more smug from austin and san francisco? enjoy our simple, diverse, educated (yes, educated) inner (non-snobby) loop while we have it. the more "accepted" houston is (i fear) the less "cool" we will become. who cares what denver thinks of houston. who cares what nyc thinks of houston.

[PureAuteur]

I don't think we should be worried about Houston becoming less "cool". Houston is just by nature not a cool city. It serves a purpose, which is to provide lots and lots of people with employment and low cost of living. I think the massive growth of the surrounding suburbs over the last 5 years has really hurt its vibrancy. I remember in the late 90s, Houston still had a perceivable identity, and I felt comfortable with everything as it was. Now it just feels chaotic and segregated, with all the white people living in their suburban utopias while the city itself starts to decay, and on top of that all the clear cutting and strip center development both in the city and in the suburbs, which makes the city look very disorganized and losing the character it once had.

[The Great Hizzy!]

Besides, "cool" is a term used today be a group of self-important yuppies who want first dibs on the first coffee house within walking distance of their overpriced box.

NTTAWWT.

But it's as subjective as you can get.

As for Houston and "trash"... it seems pretty average to me. I've seen some cities (Detroit, Cleveland, parts of Chicago and St. Louis, as well as Jacksonville, Miami and Atlanta) that really take your breath. Philadelphia is pretty bad, too. New York used to be, IMO, the nation's dirtiest city but they've done a better job of controling litter and general filth. Parts of LA are filthy, especially south and east of DT LA. Fort Worth was surprisingly litter-filled my last couple of visits, as was San Antonio. Dallas is immaculate north of DT but pretty filthy south of I-30 (though, not all over).

Seattle, Denver and Minneapolis are three of the cleanest cities I've ever visited but I admit to not traveling throughout as much as I have other places.

Houston's three biggest problems, IMO: grassy medians that go through either heavily concentrated retail corridors or low income apartment complexes (Fondren South along Bellfort, for example), bus stops where there are newspaper stands and areas around utility stations (Reliant, Centerpoint, etc).

[houstonfella]

I too thought Houston was getting really "raggety (sp??) around the edges" until I spent some time in the SF Bay Area. Their freeways were dirty like ours. Signage. Yes. Same ol' American crap. When will the United States of America spend money to clean up and look good? I guess when George is out of office and we stop all the spending to protect our 'interests'???? This is not to mention rights for gay Americans. Jeez, wasn't America discovered for freedom for all its people? OK, I've vented. I'll stop. Peace!

[Vertigo58]

Not directly related, but our image is getting worse.

Simple as that. . .

Correct and hate to say it but Katrina only added insult to injury. That I can assure is a nationwide sentiment not mine. Ouch!

We won't ever get past the hillbilly image either. Most people still think we all live on farms, chop cotton, bale hay, wear 10 galllons, listen & worship country music, chew skoal, live for the rodeo, etc. Movies fuel the stereotype every time we turn around. Oh and we all have a deep southern draw. Howdeeeee!!!!

[2fatcats]

I too thought Houston was getting really "raggety (sp??) around the edges" until I spent some time in the SF Bay Area. Their freeways were dirty like ours. Signage. Yes. Same ol' American crap. When will the United States of America spend money to clean up and look good? <<houstonfella

I guess what people don't realize sometimes is that it costs a lot of money to run a city of this size and sometimes beautification projects take a back seat to things like roads and drainage ditches. We also have those lax zoning laws which sometimes put residential and commercial all in one block so that doesn't help much either. I believe as some others have noted, that one's perception of Houston is sometimes limited to the areas you travel, live or work in. The thing to do is get out and drive around. See the whole city, explore it. You would be surprised at some of the things you might find.

[Subdude]

We won't ever get past the hillbilly image either. Most people still think we all live on farms, chop cotton, bale hay, wear 10 galllons, listen & worship country music, chew skoal, live for the rodeo, etc. Movies fuel the stereotype every time we turn around. Oh and we all have a deep southern draw. Howdeeeee!!!!

I don't thing Houston has a hillbilly image at all! Why would you think that was the case? People recognize it is a big city.

[GovernorAggie]

I think that Houston needs to know what kind of community Houston wants to identify itself as first, before marketing itself out as something to MTV and APA and everyone else.

For the longest, Houston could just let things run along becoause people came here just to work. Now, in this day and time, people are starting to look more at places that they like and then find a job there.

Sometimes images can come as an accident. Who would've thought that Miami would be viewed as it is today? If you told a 1982 Miamian that in 2007 (25 years later) Miami would be a hot, international, tropical city with over 100 skyscrapers planned or u/c, has the current NBA champion, an NHL champion, TWO baseball champions, and is viewed as a place where "the beautiful" want to see and be seen? Miami was a cesspool on its way to being Detroit South until they took practical (a very Houston-ish word, btw) steps to change their city. The basics like, fighting crime and police corruption.

Today Miami is "uber" popular with the expense to match, unfortunately. It still has crime issues and terrible poverty issues and is getting a rep as a playground for the rich (Miami's current residents won't be living in those shiny new condos), but it is well-regarded around the world...and it started with practical solutions, and charting a course for its future. Miami Vice didn't hurt things, either (as dumb as that sounds, it's true--it was referred to on an INHD special about the city).

The Houston of 2030 is going to be drastically different than the Houston of today. Sure there are plans and guidances and so on. But Houston will get an image improvement with practical solutions like improving transit options, steadily closing off open ditches, cleaning the bayous, continuing a decrease in crime, and so on.

Miami's gov't leaders didn't "make" the city into what it currently is. They may have set the table, but they didn't really do the feeding. I think Houston is now doing the same.

I hope that the Houston of 2030 becomes more known as the gleaming but humble metropolis that it is--one that people ignore but then are then are impressed with when they visit (most likely on business).

[ricco67]

I don't thing Houston has a hillbilly image at all! Why would you think that was the case? People recognize it is a big city.

You would be amazed to see how people's preconception of Houston really is that. Many are VERY unaware how big the city is in population, culture, size, and climate. One of the biggest surprises is how GREEN Houston actually is. I gently remind people that we're in a semi-tropical climate that is about the same as Miami sans the refreshing ocean breezes. Another is how FRIENDLY we are here and how we (Natives and visitors) can generally find who are the natives and who are the transplants by simply watching their interactive behavior.

I think that Houston needs to know what kind of community Houston wants to identify itself as first, before marketing itself out as something to MTV and APA and everyone else.

For the longest, Houston could just let things run along becoause people came here just to work. Now, in this day and time, people are starting to look more at places that they like and then find a job there.

Sometimes images can come as an accident. Who would've thought that Miami would be viewed as it is today? If you told a 1982 Miamian that in 2007 (25 years later) Miami would be a hot, international, tropical city with over 100 skyscrapers planned or u/c, has the current NBA champion, an NHL champion, TWO baseball champions, and is viewed as a place where "the beautiful" want to see and be seen? Miami was a cesspool on its way to being Detroit South until they took practical (a very Houston-ish word, btw) steps to change their city. The basics like, fighting crime and police corruption.

I hope that the Houston of 2030 becomes more known as the gleaming but humble metropolis that it is--one that people ignore but then are then are impressed with when they visit (most likely on business).

Houston will forever be known as an underestimated city. The only ones that will truly appreciate Houston are World and Business travelers, and the students that attend the various colleges around the city. I think that's a good thing, Houston isn't frivolous; we have a work ethic. We are a polite society (for the most part) that happens to have a few places that can accommodate the different cultural and entertainment preferences for a wide variety of people if they are intrepid enough to find it or the ability to think outside the box.

[ricco67]

A point was made while I was watching "Future Cars" on the Discovery Channel. it gave TWO nano researchers over at Rice University. They didn't give the name of the city, but be assured, students that may be interested in this technology will come to the university and then discover Houston.

[houstonfella]

This may be tired and whatever... but I found Houston to be an oasis for me. First, jobwise, had no problem making money here; second, I liked the beach, bay and fresh water lakes that Houston has within an hour of your location. Third, 90+ languages are spoken here making this a diverse and cool place to live. Yeah, we are flat and humid in the summer, but winters are totally EZ. Houston is great. I'll die here or move back home to North Louisiana where it is cold in the winter and I hate that. Let us love Houston for what it is: a great, great big Texas city.

[Guest danax]

This may be tired and whatever... but I found Houston to be an oasis for me. First, jobwise, had no problem making money here; second, I liked the beach, bay and fresh water lakes that Houston has within an hour of your location. Third, 90+ languages are spoken here making this a diverse and cool place to live. Yeah, we are flat and humid in the summer, but winters are totally EZ. Houston is great. I'll die here or move back home to North Louisiana where it is cold in the winter and I hate that. Let us love Houston for what it is: a great, great big Texas city.

Well said and I agree but I had to find out first hand, and I think a lot of us did who came from elsewhere.

People just don't know. I was talking to someone from Chicago a couple of days ago. She was sick and said it was due to snow, then wind, then rain, then snow.....I told her it was 70 outside here and she said, "yeah, but Texas..isn't it.....like, beige all the time?" I had to explain that we get steady rain year round and it was green. Then she says, "Oh, I'll have to come visit!"