Below you will find all the SperlingViews added about this city.
| Location - 10/6/2016
Your intro page for Galveston, Texas shows the location as:
Location: Southeast Texas, 50 miles inland from the Gulf Coast
I'd like to let you know that Galveston (not the county) is an Island. So if you can't get the location right how can you get the statistics right?
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| Visiting and Appreciating Galveston - 3/15/2013
Galveston is one of the friendliest, relaxing invigorating places my family and I have visited. My children love this island, and we are considering moving here. Galveston cries with hospitality, good neighbors, wonderful enviroment filled with so many thing to enjoy and do! What a wonderful place!!
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| The Galveston of the 1950's and 1960's - 12/27/2011
I was born on the island in 1948 and graduated from Ball High in 1966. Growing up on the island was a lot of fun and the island was clean and safe. I have seen the island deteriorate from the inside out now for 45 years. Unless you can afford to live out past 61st street with the "westward ho" migration, the rest of the island has been left to fend for itself. I still have a brother who lives on the island and is surrounded by drug addicts,drunks, and welfare recipients. He unfortunately was disabled while working for the city and does not have the financial means to leave the island. My dear friend from grade school was just fired as chief of police for trying to clean things up . Galveston has turned into a cess pool of city corruption. There are few industries left especially after Hurricane Ike hit there 3 years ago. I would never go back to Galveston except to visit friends,class reunions, or visit family. The moral,industrious,respectable island I knew has vanished. Galveston,like the federal government, needs a fresh new slate of concerned moral people to bring about a complete change. Even if you do report a crime,and my brother and I have often,it is disregarded because the city police are so corrupt themselves. I miss the island I knew and had when I grew up.A "BOI' ex-resident.
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| Galveston Since Ike - 9/13/2011
Hurricane Ike struck Galveston on Sept. 13, 2008, not a particularly windy hurricane, but it was so huge and pushed so much water into the bay system, after the eye passed over all the water was pushed back onto the island from the north side. The south side of the island is protected from the Gulf of Mexico by a 17 foot tall seawall.
Ike flooded low-lying areas of the island with water 13 feet above sea level. Portions of the island with a base flood elevation of 11 were inundated. The end result was lots of flood damage to possible 75% of the structures on the island.
Many people left. Some will never come back. Galveston will never be what it was before Ike. Some people see that as an opportunity to fix some of what was wrong with the island. Infrastructure will be hardened, the island less likely to lose it's water supply, etc. The Medical School will be massively renovated and partially replaced, to the tune of over a billion dollars in construction.
2011 was one of the island's best tourist seasons ever, and Carnival and Disney have plans to expand the cruise business in the city.
Living a few blocks from the beach with lots of great restaurants and entertainment venues is great. Hurricanes, not so much. Having said that, most people will live though only a few of these storms. Old timers remember Carla, Alicia and Ike in 1961, 1983 and 2008. Rita in 2005 was a big exercise in how not to evacuate for a storm that's not coming. More people died in the evacuation than from the storm. So including Carla in '61 until 2011, a period of 50 years, there have been three major hurricanes. Personally, I'd rather deal with hurricanes than wildfires or earthquakes.
So here's my two cents worth regarding Galveston: one of the world's greatest cities in the late 1800's, now a somewhat worn and in places shabby beachfront town. Public schools are improving to the point of being above average - but smart kids can thrive here. Galveston College and branches of both the UT and A&M systems - so lots of higher education opportunities. Friendly, small town atmosphere. Poverty, crime, homelessness like a "real city", so lots of problems to work on and issues to resolve. Galveston has a lot going for it, but it can be better.
If you want a nice, small city to live in, with plenty to see and do, and you want to make a difference with your life, Galveston might be your kind of place.
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| Galveston - 10/14/2009
Very Hot in summer. Best school Odyssey Academy through 8th grade. Cost of living moderate. Economy still rough since Ike blew us away. Will be a few years until she comes back to life. Time to buy houses here, some good deals if you have the money to sit for a couple years. Beach water still brown most the time once in a while greenish to greenblue every blue moon. the city is still working on Jetties and beaches, they have brought alot of sand in. Some pretty cool people B.O.I.= Born on island. Less bad people. Less bumbs except on beach. Police ok quite some crooked, Trying to make money for the city. I got pulled over and ended up with $2500 in tickets for razor knives and pocket knives that they called parefinailya (sorry for the spelling) I negociated down to $360. Crazy
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| Quality of Life - 7/15/2009
Galveston is wonderful, it's our favorite get-away. This past January we purchased property on the west end, and will eventually build a retirement home. The beaches look wonderful...give this little piece of paradise another five years, and it WILL be better than it was before. We love the diversity, and how friendly everyone is. On top of everything available ON the island, Houston, the tenth largest city in the U.S. is only an hour away.
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| In response to Michael's "what's up with the beach - 9/20/2007
Dude, its the Gulf of Mexico.
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| great place to visit - 6/12/2007
It's got many attractions such as the beach,the strand,moody gardens,schlitterbahn waterpark,and some museums.you'll have tons of things to keep you entertained.Granted the beaches are mostly brown but its not like your going to die from it and if you want crystal water go to florida or the carribean!
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| Do not move to Galveston - 1/30/2007
I was born and raised on Galveston Island. The gangs are terrible, and the crime rate is pretty nasty. During the summers, it's hell getting on or off the island because of all of the tourists. There's the fraternity party in April which is actually a riot that takes over the entire island. None of the islanders go out that day, and some businesses actually shut down. Mardi Gras is worse, and you have people stripping in the streets or puking in your front yard. My parents moved us out when I was 12, and I wouldn't raise my kids there for anything, either.
After you've seen the beach, the Strand, the Moody Gardens, and the Super Walmart, there's nothing else to do. Summers are brutal and muggy. The Gulf of Mexico isn't very pretty. A lot of the time, the water is brown. And if you like hurricanes, then this area is right up your alley.
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| Nice place, not so expensive - 9/5/2006
Galveston has plenty to offer without being super expensive. There are great family-owned local restaurants and hole-in-the wall bars for night life. The housing is definitely reasonably prices, especially apartment living. It's a great place for students to live.
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| Beaches - 8/11/2006
From what I see, the beaches look pretty nasty. Why is that? Is it pollution? Is it due to the rivers exiting into the ocean? I am curious if swimming is even an option. I know its not going to be like Florida beaches, but still....
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