A California vs. Texas analysis that breaks the mold

A California vs. Texas analysis that breaks the mold

The California vs. Texas fight has gotten stale for my tastes.

It’s insanely annoying how so many California defenders simply ignore basic facts like Texas is creating more middle-class jobs or that Texas’ Latino and black students do better than California’s in K-12 test scores such as the NAEP.

CA TXBut it’s also pretty telling that so many Californians who tout Texas don’t acknowledge that for lots and lots of people, California’s lifestyle is so vastly more appealing that they’d rather live in a condo here than a 2,800-foot ranch home there.

I’m in that camp. I reject the idea that Texas is some primitive backwater. But where I live in San Diego, the weather is going to be awesome 330 days a year, not 50 days a year. And if you’re a foodie, I know people tout Austin. It’s not Socal. The 20,000 square miles of California from San Bernardino to the coast to the Mexican border have a staggering variety of great ethnic food. The other I day I had sisig, a Filipino pork dish I didn’t know about until last year, and my life felt more complete. Move over, bacon.

A Texas city that seems modeled on … Irvine!

So any kind of CA vs. TX comparison that skips past the talking points is to be welcomed. Now Joe Mathews has just such a piece in which he writes about his road trip to Texas and how dazzled he was not by the state in general but by a suburb of Dallas that sounds like it was modeled on … Irvine!

FriscoTexasWaterTowerHere’s Joe, relating his experience with the company-relocation recruiters of Frisco, Texas:

“What they talked about most was children — and their education.

“They told the story well. Frisco has one of the fastest growing school districts in the country, adding thousands of students every year. Today, nearly a third of residents are kids, and with good reason.

“Texas is full of giant high schools that produce huge football teams and bands. But Frisco, at considerable cost, has chosen to limit its high schools to no more than 2,100 students. The smaller school approach reflects a philosophy that every child in town should be ‘known by name and need.’ This strategy had worked. In a 2013 Dallas Morning News list of the best neighborhoods for public schools in the north Texas region, eight of the top 10 neighborhoods were in the Frisco school district.

“My recruiters emphasized the lengths to which Friscoans will go to support their schools. Voters just approved a $775 million school construction bond (a comparably sized bond in the Los Angeles Unified School District would be more than $20 billion). Despite public criticism of the bond as too big and risky, the measure passed with nearly 80 percent of the vote.

“… such family-centered investment didn’t stop with schools. Frisco has more than 40 park sites and is in the process of turning some of its most valuable land into a 380-acre centerpiece, Grand Park. There are all kinds of businesses and housing development — from gated communities to urban apartments. The town has so many athletics facilities for its people that I lost count.”

Actual reporting, not just blow-harding

Please read Joe’s entire piece here. It’s nice to see real reporting on the opinion pages.

Now maybe Dan Morain can fly to Germany and give a firsthand report on how a government’s overcommitment to green energy has gone haywire.

OK, OK — I won’t get my hopes up.

 

31 comments

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  1. Mark
    Mark 23 May, 2014, 10:23

    What I miss about Cali: Looking out over the ocean. Yep that’s it. The people suck, the traffic is idiotic, the weather is not that great except for 1% who live near the beach, the government is retarded, and the cost to live there is beyond stupid and made worse by the fools in charge.

    ** IRVINE IT’S NOT **

    “Small is better” approach, is nothing but marketing. It’s not a “blueprint” for success in schools. If you don’t think so, then why is India (with the class sizes upwards of 200) turning out more engineers than the US?

    Frisco is using marketing to pull in Californians. As a former Californian (by geography only), I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. “Modeled on Irvine?” Not really, Socialism is not in vogue here, not even here in Austin.

    ** THE WEATHER MAKES UP FOR LIVING IN A BOX **

    As for those saying “the weather if great, wish you were here:” that’s bunk. The fact is that people prefer the pain they know, to the pain they don’t know. Inertial thinking at it’s worst. Justification is not reasoning. In most cases this is nothing but selfishness on the part of those espousing it. A minor comfort in exchange for your family’s future? (spare me the Bay Area argument, it’s nonsense)

    Some people do give up much to live in some places, and some times for good reasons. That’s always a very small minority and not representative of even a plurality. It’s also NOT a justification of anything other than personal choice, nor does it prove that Cali is better than Texas. Outliers only prove the rule, not the exception.

    Beaches, and 300 odd days of “perfect” (boring) weather (only in about 2% of the state), can not match the peace of mind that comes from knowing that I have a yard (not a patch of grass in a plantar), AND a savings account (WITH money in it), AND a retirement account (with INCREASING amounts). Then there is the peace of mind knowing the State is not going to come up with new ways to steal my money. There is also the fact that in Texas I can defend myself, and not have to worry about some Commie DA trying to make the criminal out to be the victim.

    Ah yes, the weather is fine, glad you’re in Cali! (and I’m not).

    Reply this comment
  2. Steele, Ted, When only the very best will do!
    Steele, Ted, When only the very best will do! 23 May, 2014, 14:01

    Oh man Chris– Texas is a hellhole ™ — I say let em have it!

    Reply this comment
    • Rex the Wonder Dog!
      Rex the Wonder Dog! 23 May, 2014, 17:41

      You have never even been there Steals 🙁

      Next to your homeland of Iran (or was it North Korea?) it is a 5 STAR Ritz Carleton, not a hellhole!

      Reply this comment
      • Bud Led Ted S.
        Bud Led Ted S. 24 May, 2014, 09:07

        Poodle-Girl,

        LOl– I know a trip to Texas must seem like a very big deal to a girl of low socio economic status such as yourself, but I have actually been to Texas a few times! Maybe one day you’ll save up enough to go?

        I’m sure there are a few nice places and people of course. But on the whole most people realize it’s a wretched place. Doomers, bunker dwellers, tea baggers, gun nuts, LH Oswald, white power, oppressive heat, dust storms, bad weather, nasty twang accents etc……yikes girlfriend, leave me out!

        Reply this comment
        • Rex the Wonder Dog!
          Rex the Wonder Dog! 24 May, 2014, 14:32

          The ONLY place Teddy Steals has been is his homeland- Iran!

          Reply this comment
          • Bud Led Ted S.
            Bud Led Ted S. 24 May, 2014, 16:19

            Poodle-Girl,
            LOl– I know a trip to Texas must seem like a very big deal to a girl of low socio economic status such as yourself, but I have actually been to Texas a few times! Maybe one day you’ll save up enough to go?
            I’m sure there are a few nice places and people of course. But on the whole most people realize it’s a wretched place. Doomers, bunker dwellers, tea baggers, gun nuts, LH Oswald, white power, oppressive heat, dust storms, bad weather, nasty twang accents etc……yikes girlfriend, leave me out!

          • Rex the Wonder Dog!
            Rex the Wonder Dog! 24 May, 2014, 17:07

            The ONLY place Teddy Steals has been is his homeland- North Korea!

          • Bud Led Ted S.
            Bud Led Ted S. 24 May, 2014, 21:55

            Your from Korea little buddy??

          • Rex the Wonder Dog!
            Rex the Wonder Dog! 24 May, 2014, 22:56

            Your from Korea little buddy??
            ==
            Oh Teddy, why do I have to school you so bad?????

            Your= possessive pronoun.

            You’re= contraction of “you are”, as in “You’re from Korea little buddy??

            KaBAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

          • Bud Led Ted S.
            Bud Led Ted S. 25 May, 2014, 08:40

            Poody-Girl—- typo correction and english 101 is all you have left little buddy? Have I beat you down THAT bad?

            HURRY post now!!!!

  3. Donkey
    Donkey 23 May, 2014, 18:51

    The Donk just finished a visit to Texas in all of April, wonderful is all I can say, Vista Lago, Fredricksburg, Roundrock, Keller, Dallas, Fort Worth, were all beautiful and booming. I do have to admit, a lot more bugs than this Californian is used to, but the traffic moves and the people were great. 🙂 🙂

    Reply this comment
  4. Queeg
    Queeg 23 May, 2014, 22:12

    Some things are alarming in California….food and gasoline prices are killing service workers’ budgets, wages have been declining for quite some time, college grads cannot find decent jobs….

    Globalist slavers refuse to share their ill gotten wealth with the working class.

    You need not worry about excessive government spending and overly generous pensions for the bureaucracy. When will your neighbors in rags come knocking on your door?

    Reply this comment
    • Donkey
      Donkey 23 May, 2014, 22:26

      Queegy, the RAGWUS feeders are the reason good paying jobs are no longer found in the California private sector. The feeders have ruined this state. 🙂

      Reply this comment
      • NTHEOC
        NTHEOC 24 May, 2014, 10:32

        Wrong Donkey, it’s the private sector big business greedy pigs that are the reason!

        Reply this comment
        • Donkey
          Donkey 24 May, 2014, 11:13

          No Ntheoc, it is the RAGWUS “greedy pigs that are the reason!” The RAGWUS is running all business out of the state because the feeders cost to much to coddle.
          You RAGWUS members have better wake up. Soon your retirement numbers will be reaching a million feeders with $100,000 plus pensions and benefits too. Do the simple math Ntheoc, then tell me how long calpers is going to stay solvent. 🙂

          Reply this comment
        • Bud Led Ted S.
          Bud Led Ted S. 24 May, 2014, 11:57

          RAGUS ?????? What does that mean?

          Reply this comment
  5. Bud Led Ted S.
    Bud Led Ted S. 24 May, 2014, 11:23

    Duncey?

    100k pensions and you missed out?

    Maybe you should’ve worked a little harder little buddy?

    Reply this comment
  6. NTHEOC
    NTHEOC 24 May, 2014, 11:24

    then tell me how long calpers is going to stay solvent
    =======================
    80 plus years and still going donk! you count the recessions they have weathered and came out just fine.

    Reply this comment
  7. NTHEOC
    NTHEOC 24 May, 2014, 11:36

    TEXAS is a cesspool! Name one thing that it has to offer that is better than anywhere else and you can not do anywhere else? Absolutely nothing. Nobody goes on vacation to Texas unless they are visiting family etc, there is simply nothing that is not better some place else be it food, art, shopping, outdoors, beauty, and people. Just look at the most recent news headline from texas and i can see why the CWD doomers love it.””A chilling message from the cartels: Billboards with hanging mannequins warning cops to choose ‘silver over lead’ appear in Texas””. And the best thing about this big state is the unregulated big business practices that tend to result in large factory explosions! YA, Texas sucks! CALI rules!!!!!

    Reply this comment
  8. Bud Led Ted S.
    Bud Led Ted S. 24 May, 2014, 11:51

    NTHE OC— Spot on!

    Reply this comment

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