No Quarterback said:

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Krieg said:

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No Quarterback said:

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If Grapevine, Plano, or Highland Park is what you grew up with and what you think the zenith of life is, Waco probably does seem like a dump.

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I wouldn't move to any of those places for 5x what I make now unless you replaced all the people that live there as well. That's the problem with DFW and Austin, and it's demonstrated perfectly in your post.

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I wasn't trying to be snooty and I agree with the sentiment. I live in a smallish town myself and prefer that atmosphere. just stating the fact that a lot of people that move to Waco to attend Baylor are from wealthy suburbs. Totally different atmosphere in Waco. Case in point, there was a dude on this board complaining a few weeks ago about having to walk underneath the overpass to get to McLane Stadium because it was loud and dangerous.

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Lol fair point. I run under that highway all the time and it's fine to me!

I used to live in Austin and I just got back from Prosper. I've stopped marketing to Austin because of the people and shifted marketing to mid-sized cities instead. It's an amazing difference in the way the people treat you.

BayouCity said:

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Mods please move this to chit chat. Nobody's accomplishing anything here and it's nowhere near football related.

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Ok, Karen

TheStateofMediocrity said:

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Waco is Killeen but with more lanes and homeless people.

In other words, a dog's breakfast.

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Have you been to Killeen lately? It is the butthole of the state in many ways. None of the officers at Ft. Hood live in Killeen.

ZachTay said:

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BayouCity said:

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Mods please move this to chit chat. Nobody's accomplishing anything here and it's nowhere near football related.

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Ok, Karen

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For real, this is much more interesting than anything that's come out of discussing football this year.

Waco isn't much like Killeen. It's more like an overgrown Temple.

But growth and development aren't always such a great thing for a city. I'm seeing a lot of formerly great towns ruined. Life has become a cluster**** just about everywhere.

have any of y'all that hate Waco ever had to stay extensively in Freeport or Corpus Christi?? Those cities make Waco look like paradise. Like I said, a lot of people were born in gated neighborhoods with perfectly manicured lawns and have no clue how bad things can really be. I would be curious to see what cities yall view as ideal since Waco sucks so bad

BellCountyBear said:

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TheStateofMediocrity said:

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Waco is Killeen but with more lanes and homeless people.

In other words, a dog's breakfast.

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Have you been to Killeen lately? It is the butthole of the state in many ways. None of the officers at Ft. Hood live in Killeen.

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I live in Copperas Cove, so I spend more time than I'd like to admit in Killeen.

Still, I'm taking it over Waco any day.

No Quarterback said:

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have any of y'all that hate Waco ever had to stay extensively in Freeport or Corpus Christi?? Those cities make Waco look like paradise. Like I said, a lot of people were born in gated neighborhoods with perfectly manicured lawns and have no clue how bad things can really be. I would be curious to see what cities yall view as ideal since Waco sucks so bad

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Waco isn't the worst. It's no Odessa, Midland, or Houston, but it's not a city I would imagine living in for longer than necessary.

I'm sorry but lack of heavy traffic is a blessing for Waco. Houston, too much traffic.

Quote:

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OP summary:

I wouldn't mind living in Waco if would follow in Austin's footsteps and become attractive to industry

Austin is hell to live in because of all the traffic and people

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You move to Waco to get away from the big cities. Pretty sure the citizens don't want it to be just like Austin.

No Quarterback said:

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BigGameBaylorBear said:

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Bexar Pitts said:

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BEAR 45 said:

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Waco is 90 miles from both Austin and Dallas, too close for airline travel and a little too long for driving. If the high speed train ever does get built , Waco will grow faster, Commute possibilities and look at how easy it would be to attend Baylor sporting events . No longer need to book hotels for the entire weekend, with associated costs.

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Probably posting this on wrong thread, but Waco-Dallas passenger service by rail was booming in 1920...then the depression hit. https://wacohistory.org/items/show/117

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Seeing them old pics of downtown is heart breaking. Used to be so much life in that city

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I graduated in 2014. Wife and I went and walked around downtown this last spring, and I was honestly shocked at the progress that's been made in 9 years. Areas that were a ghost town my freshman year are now very yuppie

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And I graduated in 2006 and remember visiting downtown in 2014/15 and being shocked at how much it had changed from when I was in school. I guess it's all a matter of perspective. Regardless, Waco has made strides.

Mitch Henessey said:

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No Quarterback said:

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BigGameBaylorBear said:

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Bexar Pitts said:

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BEAR 45 said:

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Waco is 90 miles from both Austin and Dallas, too close for airline travel and a little too long for driving. If the high speed train ever does get built , Waco will grow faster, Commute possibilities and look at how easy it would be to attend Baylor sporting events . No longer need to book hotels for the entire weekend, with associated costs.

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Probably posting this on wrong thread, but Waco-Dallas passenger service by rail was booming in 1920...then the depression hit. https://wacohistory.org/items/show/117

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Seeing them old pics of downtown is heart breaking. Used to be so much life in that city

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I graduated in 2014. Wife and I went and walked around downtown this last spring, and I was honestly shocked at the progress that's been made in 9 years. Areas that were a ghost town my freshman year are now very yuppie

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And I graduated in 2006 and remember visiting downtown in 2014/15 and being shocked at how much it had changed from when I was in school. I guess it's all a matter of perspective. Regardless, Waco has made strides.

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Waco has excellent practices

At one time Galveston and then Waco were the largest cities in Texas. You can go back in history and see that the "leaders" in Waco did everything they could to make sure commerce went elsewhere. It has always been too conservative and let progressive cities expand around the area.

You can say too close to Dallas but Austin is closer to San Antonio, another sleepy city, and it didn't let geography interfere.

Branch Davians type appeal to Waco. Bikers too. CT is correct there are lost of lawyers, doctors and CPA's but there are no high tech to speak of. I would say College Station may expand much more rapidly than Waco because, like Austin, the Universities offer strong engineering, technical training for work force.

TSTC is a tremendous asset to Waco. It provides meaningful training in so many important areas that provides excellent employees to the workplace. When I owned my service business, TSTC was real important to my business.

Aliceinbubbleland said:

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At one time Galveston and then Waco were the largest cities in Texas. You can go back in history and see that the "leaders" in Waco did everything they could to make sure commerce went elsewhere. It has always been too conservative and let progressive cities expand around the area.

You can say too close to Dallas but Austin is closer to San Antonio, another sleepy city, and it didn't let geography interfere.

Branch Davians type appeal to Waco. Bikers too. CT is correct there are lost of lawyers, doctors and CPA's but there are no high tech to speak of. I would say College Station may expand much more rapidly than Waco because, like Austin, the Universities offer strong engineering, technical training for work force.

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Alice, I think for many years Waco had a relatively small concentration of wealth..Cotton picking, fowl plucking, and banking took center stage,,That has slowly been changing and evolving over the years as younger generations took over and responded to changing economic trends...Waco's location is simply an eventual "can't miss" scenario in that we will progress in spite of past accumen..Just too much to offer to be ignored..I won't be alive to see it, but I believe that Waco-Temple will eventually be a DFW type metro...Location is obviously the driver...

The Waco/Temple areas together had 750k people around 2020. I'm sure it is bigger now. I agree with Bexar Pitts if current trends continue.

Incidentally the current projections have in the next 25 years the ATX/SA area will be 8 million. Roughly the size of DFW currently. DFW is projected to be the largest urban area in the US by the end of this century, unseating NYC which has had that distinction throughout US history to this point.

TheStateofMediocrity said:

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No Quarterback said:

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have any of y'all that hate Waco ever had to stay extensively in Freeport or Corpus Christi?? Those cities make Waco look like paradise. Like I said, a lot of people were born in gated neighborhoods with perfectly manicured lawns and have no clue how bad things can really be. I would be curious to see what cities yall view as ideal since Waco sucks so bad

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Waco isn't the worst. It's no Odessa, Midland, or Houston, but it's not a city I would imagine living in for longer than necessary.

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So what do you view the ideal city? Copperas Cove? I don't see that as significantly better than Waco. Fairly high crime etc.

TinFoilHatPreacherBear said:

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Quote:

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OP summary:

I wouldn't mind living in Waco if would follow in Austin's footsteps and become attractive to industry

Austin is hell to live in because of all the traffic and people

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You move to Waco to get away from the big cities. Pretty sure the citizens don't want it to be just like Austin.

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I can assure Waco doesn't want to be like Austin.

And the amount of new industry and businesses moving to the Waco area contradicts you statement about attracting industry.

No Quarterback said:

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TheStateofMediocrity said:

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No Quarterback said:

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have any of y'all that hate Waco ever had to stay extensively in Freeport or Corpus Christi?? Those cities make Waco look like paradise. Like I said, a lot of people were born in gated neighborhoods with perfectly manicured lawns and have no clue how bad things can really be. I would be curious to see what cities yall view as ideal since Waco sucks so bad

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Waco isn't the worst. It's no Odessa, Midland, or Houston, but it's not a city I would imagine living in for longer than necessary.

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So what do you view the ideal city? Copperas Cove? I don't see that as significantly better than Waco. Fairly high crime etc.

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It depends on a variety of things that change over time: family or single, age and politics, cost of living and traffic, etc.

As of now, I see Dallas as pretty attractive as a young, single man with aims of snagging a white-collar job and climbing the corporate ladder. The financial epicenter of Texas, less expensive than Austin in terms of rent with a more diverse population, though traffic and crime are things to consider. Again, there's many variables and it's difficult for me to come to a decision considering that I won't be dropping my roots any time soon.

Smart Money - buy and hold as much land as you can in the rural areas surrounding Waco

Central Texas is going to be a growth engine for the next several decades. Waco is in a great position to grow as well but they need to continue to focus on their strengths. Chip and Jo, Baylor, downtown's proximity to 35, willingness to attract new employers.

For the record, I graduated in 13 and there was nothing to do downtown in 2009. Like you could tour the Dr. Pepper museum or go to Wild West. The city has grown a lot over just the past 10 years.

The main reason is…football had a 3-8 record, so who would want to live there with such a poor football program. Now this thread doesn't need to move to the chit chat board since I brought football into the conversation.

No Quarterback said:

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TheStateofMediocrity said:

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No Quarterback said:

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have any of y'all that hate Waco ever had to stay extensively in Freeport or Corpus Christi?? Those cities make Waco look like paradise. Like I said, a lot of people were born in gated neighborhoods with perfectly manicured lawns and have no clue how bad things can really be. I would be curious to see what cities yall view as ideal since Waco sucks so bad

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Waco isn't the worst. It's no Odessa, Midland, or Houston, but it's not a city I would imagine living in for longer than necessary.

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So what do you view the ideal city? Copperas Cove? I don't see that as significantly better than Waco. Fairly high crime etc.

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Cove is much worse and is declining. The higher ups from Hood live in Belton for a reason.

TheStateofMediocrity said:

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No Quarterback said:

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TheStateofMediocrity said:

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No Quarterback said:

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have any of y'all that hate Waco ever had to stay extensively in Freeport or Corpus Christi?? Those cities make Waco look like paradise. Like I said, a lot of people were born in gated neighborhoods with perfectly manicured lawns and have no clue how bad things can really be. I would be curious to see what cities yall view as ideal since Waco sucks so bad

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Waco isn't the worst. It's no Odessa, Midland, or Houston, but it's not a city I would imagine living in for longer than necessary.

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So what do you view the ideal city? Copperas Cove? I don't see that as significantly better than Waco. Fairly high crime etc.

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It depends on a variety of things that change over time: family or single, age and politics, cost of living and traffic, etc.

As of now, I see Dallas as pretty attractive as a young, single man with aims of snagging a white-collar job and climbing the corporate ladder. The financial epicenter of Texas, less expensive than Austin in terms of rent with a more diverse population, though traffic and crime are things to consider. Again, there's many variables and it's difficult for me to come to a decision considering that I won't be dropping my roots any time soon.

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In that window of life I agree with you, Waco wouldn't be great. Once you're married with kids Waco will grow on you.

Golden Helmet said:

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Waco is a dump.

Without Baylor it's a wasteland.

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this is not entirely true

the problem is that many of the areas immediately outside of the bubble were dumps

that's changed quite a bit over the past 20 years with development

there is a lot of waco and the surrounding area that is quite nice but students don't often venture out and

therefore, are unaware

No Quarterback said:

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Krieg said:

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No Quarterback said:

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If Grapevine, Plano, or Highland Park is what you grew up with and what you think the zenith of life is, Waco probably does seem like a dump.

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I wouldn't move to any of those places for 5x what I make now unless you replaced all the people that live there as well. That's the problem with DFW and Austin, and it's demonstrated perfectly in your post.

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I wasn't trying to be snooty and I agree with the sentiment. I live in a smallish town myself and prefer that atmosphere. just stating the fact that a lot of people that move to Waco to attend Baylor are from wealthy suburbs. Totally different atmosphere in Waco. Case in point, there was a dude on this board complaining a few weeks ago about having to walk underneath the overpass to get to McLane Stadium because it was loud and dangerous.

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No sane person wants to walk underneath a freeway to get to where they want to be.

Method Man said:

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No Quarterback said:

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Krieg said:

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No Quarterback said:

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If Grapevine, Plano, or Highland Park is what you grew up with and what you think the zenith of life is, Waco probably does seem like a dump.

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I wouldn't move to any of those places for 5x what I make now unless you replaced all the people that live there as well. That's the problem with DFW and Austin, and it's demonstrated perfectly in your post.

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I wasn't trying to be snooty and I agree with the sentiment. I live in a smallish town myself and prefer that atmosphere. just stating the fact that a lot of people that move to Waco to attend Baylor are from wealthy suburbs. Totally different atmosphere in Waco. Case in point, there was a dude on this board complaining a few weeks ago about having to walk underneath the overpass to get to McLane Stadium because it was loud and dangerous.

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No sane person wants to walk underneath a freeway to get to where they want to be.

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Would you rather walk across it?

Killing Floor said:

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Meth, industrial decay and lack of work force development and most of all the internet has helped people see the whole street and wise up to Chip and Jo updating a home between 2 obscured crack houses.

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For someone who just drove through Arkansas, Missouri, and Kentucky recently....Waco simply has no problems compared to middle America.

Driving through parts of the modern USA looks like we lost a major war.

Texas is shocking rich looking in comparison.

Aliceinbubbleland said:

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At one time Galveston and then Waco were the largest cities in Texas. You can go back in history and see that the "leaders" in Waco did everything they could to make sure commerce went elsewhere. It has always been too conservative and let progressive cities expand around the area.

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In 1950 Waco was already NOT in the top 10 of Texas cities in terms of population.


[1950 census: Houston, 596,1634 .2Dallas, 434,4624 .3San Antonio, 408,4424 .4Fort Worth, 278,7784 .5Austin132,459 .6El Paso, 130,4853 .7Corpus Christi108,287 .8Beaumont 94,014]

Historically Waco is no more conservative than Abilene, Amarillo, Beaumont, Tyler, Midland, Lubbock, etc.

Now there might be many reasons Waco did not grow fast compared to Dallas-Austin-Houston...but it was not just because it was somehow full of reactionary right-wingers.

Redbrickbear said:

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Aliceinbubbleland said:

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At one time Galveston and then Waco were the largest cities in Texas. You can go back in history and see that the "leaders" in Waco did everything they could to make sure commerce went elsewhere. It has always been too conservative and let progressive cities expand around the area.

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In 1950 Waco was already not in the top 10 of Texas cities in terms of population.


[1950 census: Houston, 596,1634 .2Dallas, 434,4624 .3San Antonio, 408,4424 .4Fort Worth, 278,7784 .5Austin132,4596El Paso, 130,4853 .7Corpus Christi108,287]

Historically Waco is no more conservative than Abilene, Amarillo, Beaumont, Tyler, Midland, Lubbock, etc.

There might be reasons Waco did not grow fast compared to Dallas-Austin-Houston...but it was not just because it was somehow full of reactionary right-wingers.

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Wacos population was 84,000 in 1950 just outside the top 10 and after the tornado our population growth was stagnant for decades we barely eclipsed 100,000 in 2000 I believe. Someone else posted on this thread that the tornado was overblown and is an excuse for why we stopped growing but I think it had a huge factor im sure some older posters on here can add to other reasons as to why. I am only 26 yrs old so I can only go off of what I read and what is told to me by grandparent etc

Also you'd be surprised at how many wacoans hate how much we have grown over the years they hate chip and jo and blame them for higher taxes they also blame Baylor for a lot as well which I don't get. You'd think for how small waco is Baylor would get get huge support from locals but a lot of them don't even know when games are etc.

Wacoraisedbear said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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Aliceinbubbleland said:

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At one time Galveston and then Waco were the largest cities in Texas. You can go back in history and see that the "leaders" in Waco did everything they could to make sure commerce went elsewhere. It has always been too conservative and let progressive cities expand around the area.

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In 1950 Waco was already not in the top 10 of Texas cities in terms of population.


[1950 census: Houston, 596,1634 .2Dallas, 434,4624 .3San Antonio, 408,4424 .4Fort Worth, 278,7784 .5Austin132,4596El Paso, 130,4853 .7Corpus Christi108,287]

Historically Waco is no more conservative than Abilene, Amarillo, Beaumont, Tyler, Midland, Lubbock, etc.

There might be reasons Waco did not grow fast compared to Dallas-Austin-Houston...but it was not just because it was somehow full of reactionary right-wingers.

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Wacos population was 84,000 in 1950 just outside the top 10 and after the tornado our population growth was stagnant for decades we barely eclipsed 100,000 in 2000 I believe. Someone else posted on this thread that the tornado was overblown and is an excuse for why we stopped growing but I think it had a huge factor im sure some older posters on here can add to other reasons as to why. I am only 26 yrs old so I can only go off of what I read and what is told to me by grandparent etc

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Lubbock's population in 1950 was 71,000...today its 267,000

While Port Arthur had a population of 67,000...today is 55,000

Lots of reasons why some Texas cities grow and some decline...I doubt political ideology has that much to do with it.

Unless we think Lubbock was filled with progressive open minded visionary leaders for most of the 20th century.

TheStateofMediocrity said:

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Waco is Killeen but with more lanes and homeless people.

In other words, a dog's breakfast.

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Having recently moved to Waco from Bell County I can say this is not true.

Killeen is a military town. Being a military town has its advantages and disadvantages, but they are unique.

I love living in Waco. It has a lot to offer. Also, I can drive 1.5 hours to do something in Austin or Dallas, but I don't have to deal with the crappy 1.5 hour or more commute daily.

BUBBFAN said:

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I live here and would just as soon it not grow and become an Austin, Dallas, or Houston, Thank you very much.

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A lot of people don't understand the beauty of mid-size cities. A lot of people who don't live in them anyway.

I grew up in the Metroplex and still visit frequently because everyone in my family and my wife's still lives there. But after spending the past 16-plus years in Abilene -- and the four years before that in Waco -- I'll never move back. I just prefer living in mid-sized cities without the stress and frustration of constant traffic and a seemingly endless parade route through soulless suburbs.

I don't begrudge those who prefer big cities. They're just not for me anymore.

Bexar Pitts said:

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Golden Helmet said:

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Waco is a dump.

Without Baylor it's a wasteland.

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As Bro. Dave Gardner once said.." If Gratitude is riches and complaint is poverty, then the worst I ever had was wonderful ! " I think Waco, as goes life, is what you make of it..

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This is true of most places. And why there are people who would swear by living in places other consider dumps.

For me, living in an overcrowded city like Dallas, Austin or Houston is hell. Others love it. To each their own. But I've had both and I wouldn't trade Abilene for DFW and would gladly move back to Waco if the right opportunity presented itself.

I'm more than content visiting major cities and living in a mid-sized one.