For you folks that are living in Houston or lived there in the past 10 years, I have two questions:


1. In reviewing the city, someone wrote: quote (It?s not uncommon to see roads leading to a freeway having a posted limit of around 50mph until about half a mile from the freeway, where it will suddenly plummet to 30mph. Did the scenery change? No. Are you suddenly in a residential area? No, in fact you came from a residential area, and are now in a commercial area. Then why the sudden decrease in the posted limit? The natural tendency of a driver is to speed up as they approach the highway, and the cops know this, so they purposely decrease the limits at these points. Welcome to the Houston Speed Trap, one of the city?s most popular tourist attractions. Be sure to keep a pen in the glove box, because the police officer will be asking you to sign the city?s official guestbook. If you miss this particular type of speed trap, don?t worry. They have many variations of it strategically placed throughout the Greater Houston area. Odds are you?ll run into one sooner or later) unquote

What do you guys think about these comments?

2. What about this one: quote (Everyone I bumped into in the malls, at work, and on the streets was refreshingly rude and inconsiderate. It was just like being in a cold, unfeeling metropolis like New York or Los Angeles. Bravo, Houston for adopting that ?big city? attitude!) unquote

I read that Houstonians are very friendly. It was a complete shock to me to see the above statement in the review.

I know that some Houstonians don?t want to say good things about their city so outsiders will not flock down to live there and threaten the good things about the city. Or worse, some will spread negative information. Please give me honest opinion.

Thanks in advance!

You had, like, a bazillion responses to your orignial post so you were bound to get some inaccuracies or in the very least exaggerations. Out of all those responses THESE are the two issues you select to confirm?
These are non-issues.
I am sure there are speed traps in/around Houston... just like everywhere else. I go to Houston often and have not noticed anything out of the ordinary. You do need to be aware of posted speed limits outside of any major Texas city. My town, Sachse, is notorious for tickets as is the town I work in, Southlake.
People are very friendly in Houston. Period.

I don?t want to offend anybody with my questions. If I did then I apologize.

One person did mention in the original post that Houstonians were very friendly. This is great. I look at that as a bonus! However last night I was reading some city reviews and read about this guy?s experience which totally shocked me. Also the issue with tickets and cops is important to me. I believe that cops should spend more time patrolling neighborhoods and worrying about crimes than hide to speed trap people. This is something big here in Yankee land (a fact of life). It is also one thing that I don?t like about this area. If it turns out to be true in Houston, oh well. It is not a huge thing. I still like Houston and this will not change my opinion too much. It is just nice to know in advance what to expect from people who live there. I don?t want too many surprises when it comes time to move.

I agree that there are speed traps in many cities nationwide, just as there are some rude people in any city nationwide.

My personal experience after living in Houston all my life until nearly 12 years ago is that these are just a few people's opinions, and you know how that old saying regarding opinions goes?

I still visit Houston yearly and have family there and I have found that speed limits will vary in different areas due to many reasons, but I wouldn't think that would dictate someone's reason for moving or not moving there.

As far as the attitude of Houstonians, I have always found the vast majority of people in Houston to be nice, helpful and friendly and I think others would agree.

Personally, I think the main lesson from this, Falafel, is that you have to read so-called "unbiased" reviews with a very critical eye.

Ever been to TripAdvisor and read some of those so-called "unbiased" reviews as they are the perfect example of reviews that are anything BUT "unbiased."

Why? because like the "perceptions" about Houston, everyone has their own way of looking at things such as the comment that people were "rude"....as defined how? Because they didn't fall all over themselves when the writer walked by or entered the room?

Take all the written stuff for what it is worth and no more..wasting too much time and energy on it is foolish in my opinion.

Hey, Falafel -

I stil love that name. It's making me hungry.

Anyway, to answer your first question, I've lived in houston 20+ years and I honestly don't know what the freeway speed trap rant is about. The speed limit on the freeways is 50-60. The further you go from the center of town, the higher the speed limit. On the frontage roads, it's generally 40. There may be a few spots around the city where it's a little slower, but that would be surprising. Residences generally do not lie right along the freeways - it's freeway, frontage road, and then residences. The frontage roads are a sort of buffer. Of course, you do need to slow down when exiting the freeway and you'll see signs posted to slow to about 30, but then you get on the frontage road and it's faster there. The rule is that traffic exiting or entering the freeway has the right-of-way. I don't mind telling you that I NEVER slow down all the way to 30 and I have NEVER gotten a ticket in my entire life. I've never had a single one.

The street leading into my neighborhood comes directly off of the Sam Houston Tollway, where it's common practice to drive 75-80 MPH. There's a cop that parks right at the entrance to the nieghborhood and he does a brisk business writing speeding tickets. But that's a different scenario because it is a residential neighborhood and by the time you get to the point where the cop likes to park, you should be well under 50 MPH. So there are traps set, but if you obey the posted limits, you'll be just fine.

And BTW, it is very much accepted that you will drive 5 MPH above the posted speed limit. The only time you should really be concerned about strictly obeying the speed limit is when you see a sign that says, "Radar enforced" or "Radar controlled." Then you know they mean business!

The only thing I can say about cops is that there are several different types - City of Houston cops, Metro cops, each school district has cops. There's plenty of them out there and they all have authority to write tickets. But like I said, I've lived her 20+ years and never gotten a ticket.

Did I just jinx myself???

As for the unfriendliness issue, it's simply not true. Friendliness is something all Texans pride themselves on, especially here in Houston. In fact, there's a commercial on TV lately about how friendly we are. To be perfectly honest, since Houston is an international city, we get a lot of "transplants" from other less friendly parts of the world. If anything's to blame for people here not being friendly, I would say that's it. They're not native.

Hope this all helps you make a decision!!

Hopefully you did not jinx yourself tx_girl!

I remember spending a lot of time in DFW area back in 97 or 98 and I hardly saw a cop! I drove so much in that area and did not see even a single cop giving a ticket in a course of 3 days. But when I drove down to Galveston, passing through Houston, I remember seeing at least 4 cops giving tickets on the I-45 and another freeway (I can't remember). When I saw that, it reminded me of Yankee land!


Speaking of falafel,
Yeah, I am a big fan of falafel, hummus and other middle-eastern foods. I am sure Houston has tons of middle-eastern restaurants. Actually I just thought about another question, which area I can find the most middle-eastern restaurants in? Or is it all over the city?

The number of speed traps kind of depend of politics. City and county finances, who's major, who's running the county constable offices, etc... I've lived in Houston 88-92, 95-99, 03-now; and in my opinion, it's not too bad right now.

But keep in mind that there are many overlapping jurisdiction in Texas. So, the TX DPS Ranger, a Houston City Police, a Harris County Sheriff, a Metro (i.e. bus/transit) police (and others) can all be setting up speed traps at the same location. And all can write you a speeding ticket.

At least where I'm living (SW Houston), it's the County Sheriff/Constables that are most active. But on the freeways, it's usually Houston Police. And Gulf Freeway (I-45 to Galveston) has been well known for years for having lots of police presence. One reason is that it goes through many smaller towns, and each one would use its stretch of I-45 as a revenue generator.

In my opinion, the worst I've seen in Texas in terms of speed traps is I-45 approaching Dallas. I-45 is 2-lane and 70mph limit for most of the way from Houston to Dallas, but after Corsicana, it's been widened to 3 lanes. Yet, speed limit drops to 65, and then 60, through the towns of Palmer, Ferris, Wilmer & Hutchins. During my recent trips to Dallas, 3 out of 4 times I've seen 3-5 cops working the Northbound lanes of I-45 in that stretch.

Oh, and to answer Q1. That's not common. In fact, the only situation that's similar is TX249 (West Mt. Houston) going eastbound, just before I-45. That road is 55 all the way from Tomball, but about 1/2 mile from I-45, it drops to 45mph. It's clearly posted, and it's not a trap. Many people are changing lanes there as they approach I-45, and the speed limit should go down, in my opinion.

And if you think speed limit is low now, it's actually been raised in many places across town in the past decade or so. Most feeder roads were 35mph when I first moved to Houston; but now most are 45 and some 50. And of course the freeways themselves have gone up from 55 to 60/65 (70 in some stretches of HOVs).

Hi there,

I haven't been to the board in a while, so I didn't see your original post. But, to answer the questions you pose here, I just moved to Houston from New York City last month and the change in attitude is remarkable. Now, I loved New York--the restaurants, the culture, the pace and feel of the city. It is truly a wonderful place. But the people in Houston, so far at least, are much more open and friendly than those in New York.

In New York, you learn to look straight ahead, avoid eye contact and never open up to strangers. I lived on the same floor of an apartment building for years and never met my neighbors.

In Houston, people say hello to strangers on the street and strike up conversations in elevators, online at stores, at the gas station etc etc. I'm not sure what experiences other people have had, but in my mind, there's no question that the people in Houston are friendly, with very little "big city attitude."

Oh, and about the speed traps, I have experienced nothing like what was described in your message.

Hope that helps!
Shannon

TxTrvlPro,
You're from Sachse?

Please tell me you aren't the guy who stole the ball from the little kid at the Rangers game.

We lived in Conroe, N of Houston for 4 years. I found the Houston people to be nice but always busy which is what I expected of a big city. Another thing that might influence it is that Houston has a big oil community & they are subject to being moved around. This tends to stop people from putting down the deeper roots that some smaller southern towns do.

The traffic around Houston can be scary. It amazed me when we first moved to the area to see signs on I-45 saying "Drive Friendly". My advice is be prepared by knowing where you're going before you get on the road & get plenty of Ben-Gay for the neck pain you might get from trying to be alert. That's no different from my advice to people trying to negotiate Atlanta's interstate.

We were advised to always donate to those "support your police, constable, etc" drives where they send you a sticker to put on your car. Seems like that must be a TX good luck charm.

Yes, I think overall Houston has pretty bad speed traps, but they get to be easier to avoid over time. I drive a lot, and haven't gotten a ticket (other than for expired inspection) in 3 and a half or four and a half years. How fairly you get treated depends on the race of the cop. I am white, so I don't have a chip on my shoulder, but I find the black and hispanic cops very respectful and professional, almost all the time. With the white cops, it is a 50/50 proposition, some are good, but the rest are good ole boys who get a power high from sporting a badge and a gun. Like everyone said, there are several different policing authorities: Houston Police, Metro Police, State Troopers, Harris County Sheriff, and Harris County Constables. The first four agencies are all fairly professional, but Harris County Constables are 100% white boys with badges and guns. It is where people who couldn't get into HPD or HCSD go. The truth is, Constables don't really have a right to do the enforcement that they do. Their jusidiction completely overlaps the sheriff's department. The constables were originally chartered to act as court bailiffs, execute warrants, be process servers. They expanded their functions without a mandate from the county so they could get more funding.

An upside to all the police forces, though. They rarely show up for court dates, so usually you can get your case dismissed.

Thanks for the eye-opener on the constables, reefmonkey.
Ain't it the truth!
I get so irritated at those guys.
They get on the tollway here and drive EXACTLY the speed limit blocking up all the traffic behind them. It's like they antagonize people here...
Most other cops go a little over, like all the rest of us.

Ryan, say it isn't so... was that jerk from my little town?
Damn.

Falafel, since no one has answered your ?s about Middle Eastern food, let me give my 2-cents' worth. I don't think there's just one Middle Eastern area like a Chinatown (we have 2 of those by the way). There are Middle Eastern restaurants all over. On Hillcroft at Hwy 59 is the Indian/ Pakistani area, with at least 1 Middle Eastern (Iranian) restaurant there as well. My faves for Middle Eastern are Droubi's on Hillcroft, and DiMassi's on Richmond.

Bunch? Is that you in a middle eastern disguise?

I left Houston a couple years ago, still miss the restaurants - one of the best parts of living in Houston is that you can get virtually any type of food, usually at a decent price in a casual environment- including DiMassi's middle eastern cafeteria and Droubi's incredibly delicious hummus and schwarma (sp?)

Falafel,

I have lived in the Houston area for nearly 30 years. I have gotten one ticket in Houston in that time, but several in the suburbs. I have seen police officers radaring the traffic exiting the freeway where you have to slow from 65-70 to 45. I don't think Houston's speed traps are that bad, particularly compared to some of the suburbs and outlying towns.
Houstonians are notoriously friendly but they don't suffer fools gladly. I suspect both of these comments are the result of a bad experience of the writers own making. i.e got a speeding ticket (probably deserved) or acted innapropriate and those unfriendly Houstonians didn't appreciate it.

P.S. I would find the job first and then look for a place to live. There are certain places I try to avoid driving and would never, ever live or work there (Galleria area, 1960 area, Katy freeway between 0600-1000 inbound or 1430-1830 outbound).

Hi, Falafel. Just wanted to let you know that I don't know why this commenter had this impression of Houston, but I honestly think he's wrong on both accounts. I've lived in Houston for over 18 years and drive A LOT all around the city (especially now that I have kids in 2 different schools, I work downtown, and I have one child who plays in a competitive soccer league with games in many outlying areas), and I have never gotten a ticket. (Hope I didn't jinx myself either!)

Yes, there are police with radar guns here and there, but I usually find them out during the morning hours in school zones (never on an approach to a freeway). I don't know what he's talking about.

Also, I have lived in Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Washington, DC and New Orleans and have never met consistently friendly people than here in Houston. It was really odd at first having people strike up conversations with me in an elevator or waiting in line at the grocery store, but now I find I do it all the time. It's contagious!

Everyone has different opinions. Come see for yourself.

Also, as to Middle Eastern restaurants, I agree with Droubis and Dimassis. I also like Fadi's. There's some others that are good, but I forget the names right now. I'll post again when I think of them.

Susan

Okay, it didn't take long -- the other Middle Eastern restaurants I was thinking of are Cafe Lili on Westheimer in the Galleria area, Yildizlar on Kirby (great vegetarian platter) and Al Basha on Richmond.

Susan