What's wrong with Corpus Christi/Padre?

[Nebu]

I need help from you TX folk.  I'm considering a move to the Corpus Christi/Padre area of Texas and want to know what the downside of those areas are.  Seems like you can live on the gulf pretty cheap and the weather is great for water sports when not in hurricane season. 

Give me 5 reasons why moving there is a terrible idea given that:
- I know it's the south, it's Texas, and all that.
- I don't have children to put in school.
- I'd have money/work

Thanks.

[Pennilenko]

It is a terrible idea because:

Hurricanes
100 + degrees before the sun comes up for most of the year. 
Hail that can crush your soul.
The other people that live in Texas.

[Paelos]

1 - You'd be in the shitty Texas tourist trap akin to Pensacola FL. It turns into idiot central at Spring Break in SPI.
2 - You're soooooooooooooooooooooooo close to Mexico, and not in a good way. The cops there are really aggressive because crime is a problem.
3 - Traffic is a disaster in summer. And the heat is up there. 85+ in the damn dark.
4 - Did I mention tourists? You will hate them. Drunken morons.
5 - It's windy as fuck. Hurricanes and shit.
6 - You like humid? You better like it.
7 - The city governments will sell their souls for more tourist money, so don't expect them to do much for you.

You're moving to the panhandle of Florida, but with the LOVE TEXAS OR GO TO HELL flair. Enjoy.

[Merusk]

You missed Tornadoes.

So 3 of the 4 biggest disasters that can hit the US can happen in the area. Your insurance rates will be amazing.  Good thing there's no taxes on top of it, just lots and lots and lots and lots of fees.

[Miasma]

I know nothing but googling the place it looks like that University (which may be where you are headed?) is about to be swallowed up by the ocean at any given moment.

[Nebu]

I love you guys.  Thanks for the help (and brutal honesty).

[schild]

The only place in Texas worth moving to is Austin.

- Houston is shitty.
- Corpus is shittier Houston.
- Weather sucks.
- Everyone is a tub of shit.
- Spring Break will make you want to die.
- Traffic
- It's not a dry heat.
- STOP LIVING IN SHITTY PLACES, YOU'RE EDUCATED AND NOT STUPID.

Move to Austin or find another state.

[Mazakiel]

We lived there for a bit while I was growing up, and while my parents hated it for all sorts of reasons, the one that stuck in my mind as a young kid was all the roaches.  Everywhere.  I've lived in places that were nowhere near as nice as the house we were in, that didn't have anywhere near the roach problem that we had in Corpus.  

[Nebu]

- STOP LIVING IN SHITTY PLACES, YOU'RE EDUCATED AND NOT STUPID.

Move to Austin or find another state.

Let me just say that I wouldn't be doing it for me.  My girlfriend loves it there and has a very good job offer in Corpus in the dental field. 

I didn't want to go for the reasons above, but thought that there may be a positive side to the area.  I guess my instincts were correct...

[schild]

she

loves it there?

wut

[Paelos]

You can live in the nice parts of Dallas and love it. It's a fine town except for the May-August holy shit heat. Other than that and Austin, stay out of Texas.

[Ruvaldt]

Denton and San Marcos are nice as well, but yeah, that's sound advice.

Corpus Christi isn't even a shit hole.  To call it such would sully the good name of shit holes.  I know because my family used to drag me there on vacations when I was too young to have a say in the matter.  The sooner it gets swallowed by the sea the better.

[Merusk]

So is there a ring in the future here? Because... if it's not on that level this is only going to breed resentment on your part.

Not that I'd ever take that sort of advice from internet assholes.

[schild]

I do, in fact, question the judgment of anyone that says they love Corpus.

[Nebu]

I do, in fact, question the judgment of anyone that says they love Corpus.

She was raised in LA and went to high school in New Jersey.  I think she's poorly calibrated. 

[Chimpy]

So she is both a valley-girl and used way too much aqua-net? 

[Trippy]

The only place in Texas worth moving to is Austin.

- Houston is shitty.

Though it's not as shitty as it used to be.

[MrHat]

- Corpus is shittier Houston.

Heh.

I've been to/through Corpus a couple times on the way to Brownsville. I did not like it at all.  It seemed very white in a bad way from what I saw.  Everyone is pretty much right.

That said, find a nice corner of anywhere and you can live happy.  Get yourself a boat and enjoy the choppy side of the Gulf.

[Lantyssa]

Houston at least has good things about it even if I'm not very fond of the city.

Corpus I've never lived in, but it's always struck me as one of the worse metro areas in Texas.  Mind you that bias has no grounding in reality.

Problems endemic to the Texas Gulf Coast:

- Heat and humidity.  Not heat or humidity, which would be bad enough on their own.  Heat and humidity.  Together.  Cats and dogs not living together and you're stuck in the middle.
- Mosquitoes.
- Rednecks.

[Selby]

Everything Paelos said.  The biggest thing besides humidity & shitty tourists is crime.  Being close to the border means the cops assume everyone driving a nice car or a beater is smuggling drugs.  And illegals/Mexicans WILL jack your shit on a regular basis due to the volume of people moving through the area & the aforementioned shitty tourists making easy targets of their drunk asses.  That's not me being a racist jerk either, I've lived in the area & have friends in the border patrol - just like living in San Diego or Tucson or El Paso.

If you can handle all that... carry on!  But you're smarter than that...  I'd rather live in the hill country/Fredericksburg area & drive 2.5 hours there if I had to.

[Ragnoros]

I lived on Corpus from ages 19-28 or so. It's mostly just boring. Mind you if you love the water/beach/fishing it could be fine, but if you are more into fine arts, food (other than Mexican), live music, or really, any big city stuff, Corpus just doesn't have it. It's a city of 300k, but it is spread out such that there are no interesting nooks to be found like in Austin, just strip malls and identical blocks of houses. No one seems interested in changing any of that. It's a very non-motivated town. There are basically only three jobs in town, tourism, petrochemical, and the service industry. Just not a very cultured place. Everyone leaves when they go to college (me) or finish.

Also, what they said about the University being swallowed by the sea is likely a fact. It's no more than 10-20 feet above sea level and right on the coast. Either a bit of Greenland melting or a nice Cat 4-5 would wipe it off the map. Worth considering.

I never had a problem with traffic, no idea where people got that idea. Except the one week of spring break (just avoid the beach).

The heat is not nearly as bad as Houston. Corpus has a nice breeze most of the time and highs near the coast were usually more in the low 90s rather than the weeks of 100+ you get in other Texas towns. As you go farther from the water it gets hotter obviously, but why would you? The humidity is basically always 100%, but you get used to it, as much as one can.

Edit: I feel like the crime was oversold. Yeah. The city has crime. But everywhere does. IIRC it has a lower rate than basically every big city in Texas bar Austin, and is generally just property crimes. You will never feel unsafe around town unless you go looking for it.

Double Edit: But yeah. If you must live in Texas, Austin is the only place to do it. It is fun and interesting. Just don't drive anywhere if you can help it.

[Strazos]

A lot of our moneyed visa applicants LOVE going to South Padre Island, for whatever that counts for.

You couldn't pay me enough to want to do that fucking drive, even once.

[schild]

I do, in fact, question the judgment of anyone that says they love Corpus.

She was raised in LA and went to high school in New Jersey.  I think she's poorly calibrated. 

No offense, but I thing being raised in LA and going through your main teenage years in Jersey promotes DNA mutation in a bad way.

[schild]

Double Edit: But yeah. If you must live in Texas, Austin is the only place to do it. It is fun and interesting. Just don't drive anywhere if you can help it.

Wrong! The following are good driving hours:
11:15AM - 12:15PM
1:30PM - 3PM (2:30 if you need to get on I-35 or MOPAC)
7:45PM - 8AM

Our traffic problems exist because awful white people moved to Round Rock because it was cheap but just haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad to work in Austin. Shove 3 tolls on I-35 MOPAC between Austin proper and New New Delhi and you're magically gonna have so much money you can get helicopters for every resident.

[Engels]

Honestly we need a panel to host a discussion on the viability of Nebu's girlfriend. We can have schild and angry.bob chair the session. Nebu, can you make her available weeknights on google chat?

[Paelos]

If you want to live on the water, just go to the Atlantic. I'd stay off the gulf. The Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida coastlines are much better.

[HaemishM]

I will second that stay away from the Gulf thing. I wouldn't live on my own Gulf Coast, as it is a shitty, casino-filled pawn shop with toilet water masquerading as the sea.

[Hoax]

Honestly we need a panel to host a discussion on the viability of Nebu's girlfriend. We can have schild and angry.bob chair the session. Nebu, can you make her available weeknights on google chat?

This is an incredible idea.

[Nebu]

Honestly we need a panel to host a discussion on the viability of Nebu's girlfriend. We can have schild and angry.bob chair the session. Nebu, can you make her available weeknights on google chat?

She's half Spanish and half Mexican... and SANE.  What's not to like?

[angry.bob]

...I wouldn't be doing it for me.  My girlfriend...

Not trying to be a nosy snogwart, but for girlfriends you do stuff to make them happy like try a new restaurant, see a play you don't like, or maybe a weekend trip. What you're talking about is stuff you do for a wife or maybe a finance (yes, on purpose). Unless your relationship is one of those 10 year long things and neither of you believe in marriage, she better put a ring on your finger to move to Texas. Or maybe if you just really hate where you are now and hate your job. Like you lived in North Little Rock and taught at Little Rock Community College. It might be a fine school for all I know, if it exists. I don't know. But I do know Little Rock was a shithole, and North Little Rock was worse. I wonder if all the groundwater in the area is still bright green from all the chicken feces dumped into the rivers.

[MahrinSkel]

She's half Spanish and half Mexican... and SANE.  What's not to like?

You said she wants to live in Corpus Christi. I submit that anyone who would choose to live anywhere in TX outside of Austin has some form of mental dysfunction. Yours is love, what's her excuse?

Seriously, choosing to follow an S.O. to another part of the country is a serious, life-altering commitment on the same order as getting married (bigger than merely getting engaged).

--Dave

[HaemishM]

And believe me, even if you (or she) SAYS she wants to live there, if you end up not liking it while your S.O. does like it, it will cause no end of fucking arguments from now until the end of time. If you have even the slightest hesitation about moving there (and why wouldn't you? I mean, Texas), do not.

[Paelos]

I think your relationship is fine Nebu.

Moving to Corpus Christie is dumb.

[Nebu]

I think your relationship is fine Nebu.

Moving to Corpus Christie is dumb.

This is the conclusion I have as well.  I like it when we agree.

[01101010]

I think your relationship is fine Nebu.

Moving to Corpus Christie is dumb.

This is the conclusion I have as well.  I like it when we agree.

I don't think it is "we" you have to worry about in this endeavor.