Dallas, Texas
Dallas is by far the largest city to make my Top Ten list, with a population of about 1.2 million in Dallas proper and a total of nearly 6.5 million in the greater DFW metropolitan area. Dallas has a strong, growing economy and the state of Texas is one of only 3 or 4 US states that is experiencing economic growth under our federal government's relentless war against prosperity and freedom.
Like most other cities I'm considering, Dallas has a humid subtropical climate that is periodically fanned by dry winds from the north and west in the summer, bringing temperatures well over 100 °F (38 °C) at times and heat-humidity indexes soaring to as high as 117 °F (47 °C). When only temperature itself is accounted for, the north central Texas region where Dallas is located is one of the hottest in the United States during the summer months, typically exceeded only by the Mojave Desert! Winters in Dallas are generally mild to warm, but strong cold fronts known as "Blue Northers" sometimes pass through the Dallas region, plummeting nightly lows below 25 °F (−4 °C) for up to a few days at a time. In addition, Dallas is subject to freezing rain, severe thunderstorms, hailstorms, and lies in America's notorious "Tornado Alley".
Due to its size, Dallas offers a wide variety of culture and entertainment options, with major sports franchises, museums, symphonies, Six Flags theme park, the Dallas Zoo, and of course Gilley's. DFW airport is one of the largest and busiest international airports in the world. More about Dallas can be found in the Wikipedia article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas,_texas.
Advantages
Dallas offers numerous advantages not found in most of my other Top Ten cities: lower airfares and shorter travel times, major attractions to enjoy if/when my children and grandchildren visit, and a much wider array of cultural, civic, and entertainment activities. The economic climate of Dallas is also a major advantage.
Dallas has a large number of inexpensive homes in inventory, and it also offers a surprisingly low cost of living for a major US city. However, as I point out under "Disadvantages" below, most of the inexpensive homes are either located in high crime areas or well out in the suburbs.
With its large population, Dallas offers a huge market for a traditional Japanese dojo. However, this market size is partially offset by the fact that there are many competing dojo and many of those dojo owners violently oppose new entrants in the market.
There are numerous golf courses in the DFW area, but because of the comparative wealth of local residents, only a few of them are moderately priced.
Disadvantages
Dallas is HUGE! And I generally dislike everything about big cities: traffic, noise, congestion, crime, driving distances to government offices and public facilities, and the layers of bureaucracy common to big city life.
Dallas is the hottest city of any I'm considering. It's summertime temperatures -- even without factoring in the humidity -- are as high or higher than Tucson, Arizona! And you know how I hate the heat! So this is a major downside for me ... then add hail and tornadoes and you can see why the Dallas climate is not at all attractive to me
Although the cost of housing in Dallas is within my price range, the quality of housing in my price range is among the lowest of the cities I'm considering. Many require extensive upgrading or repair, or are located in high crime neighbourhoods ... the notable exception being a couple of areas in which the majority of residents are low income blue-collar Hispanics. These areas have significantly lower crime and better quality of housing than I've found in the other parts of the DFW metropolitan area.
As always, I'd like to know your thoughts about Dallas ... Is moving there a good idea or a bad idea for me? What are your impressions of Dallas? If you know me, would you be more inclined or less inclined to visit me in Dallas than you would in Marion? Or compared to the other locations I'm considering?
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