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| I moved to San Antonio Texas in 1976 from Ohio. I found San Antonio to be sunny, friendly, and a relaxed place to live. I thought then, I sure hope it stays this way for a while - and it mostly has. San Antonio is a city that works. It is sunny and friendly still, but has grown and is busier now than in the past.
People get along here. Poor get along with rich, whites get along with Hispanic (Mexican American mostly) and the few Black residents the city has. People intermingle, and intermarry and the city has a live and let live attitude. I am white, called "Anglo" in Texas. Half my neighbors are Hispanic and have been so for 15 years, it is not a big deal who moves in or out, we get along. My old neighborhood in Ohio has been having all kinds of worry over the illegal alien problem when a few Hispanic folks move into the neighborhood. Here we live next door to Hispanic folks, your kids play together, you go out together and go to the same church. There is no illegal alien problem here. If you know of an illegal alien he/she is usually associated with a family in the neighborhood as kin. And they always work hard. Texas is not a place to live if you want to be lazy and live on welfare. We are 49th in the country in what we provide for welfare people, and it is not much. So lazy people just do not settle down here, they usually move to California
The culture is Hispanic, plus historically has a strong German influence. It is the top tourist destination in Texas - lots to see and do. Admission into the Alamo is free, and a lot of folks make a living taking care of the tourists. There are 2 amusement parks, a great zoo, 4 Historic 18th century Spanish Church Missions, (which still have active congregations) and a great downtown - with people in it. We actually have people, and stores, and activities in our downtown going on all the time - it is not abandoned like most cities by 5:30 PM. It is great for retirement, and has a lot of really neat small towns outside of San Antonio where old folks can retire but still be close to the city. New Braunfels, Marion, Plesanton, are 3 of them. the fast growth of the city is to the Northwest side of town. I prefer the Northeast side of the city. Slower growth, slower pace of life. People get along well - excellent living in older suburbs of city, and housing prices are low. A house my nephew has in San Diego costs $380,000 there, here it is $122,000 for a home and neighborhood much like his. Many nice 3 bedroom homes under $100,000, and we are talking nice neighborhoods such as mine in East Terrill Hills with wood floors, brick outside, good size yards, sidewalks and nearby hospitals and shopping, it is a great place to retire, lots of military retired here, mostly Army and Air Force because we have an active Army base, and Air Force base in the North east part of town.
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