The Suburb With No City | Killeen, TX

[@CardinalNorth]

Appreciate y'all watching! Looking back on this video a year later, and a year wiser (finished one year in college), there is many things I can change. One thing I want to add on is this: Yes, I know that the reason for the housing in the first place is the military base. The purpose of the video, as I describe in the video, is to address how building the city out was unsustainable and led to problems for present and future day. Subscribe if you want to see more of this type of content! God Bless!

[@KSslopestyle]

what a massive oversight lmao

[@micosstar]

factssssssss@@KSslopestyle

[@steveschultz300]

I would look for one more reason....the municipal board is populated with realtors and THEY don't want to do anything differently. Denser housing, I don't think that is the answer. I don't want to live in a packed environment. Narrow the roads? Wow, obviously "they" don't drive the streets they already have. Oh crap, he just compared the ideal with European communities; a direct attitude leading to those infamous "15 minute cities". That way "they" can control you.

[@GPGPapercraftTX]

Yes, forward thinking extends only to additional property tax income in Texas.

[@starventure]

7:43 WHY? Why show some grafitti infected street corner like that to promote a city?

[@Dr.C_Stag]

I use to live in this $hithole place. The reason it looks like this is to the extreme is because of the population that it contains. It’s a military town. Soldiers come and go and they just need a place to live for a few years. They don’t care about where they live or even the services the city has. The “neighborhoods” just look like on-base housing without the gate guard. This is important context you forgot to mention.

[@emmanuelmacute6921]

The military there was Fort "Hood." LOL

[@Dr.C_Stag]

@@emmanuelmacute6921 facts

[@CarrieBrownNet]

Amen brudda....I went to high school there and moved two days afterward. Killeen is the rectum of the Western World

[@theazurapristina]

​@@CarrieBrownNetI wholeheartedly disagree. There are far worse places. My education experience was amazing here and the natural landscape here is majestic

[@amac2612]

Exactly the same where i grew up in Townsville Australia, Australias largest military base and a city of 200.000 which is big for Australia and its just one big suburb.

[@StylistecS]

I grew up here. My mom still lives here. There is no amount of words I can say about how I hate that place. It's your typical run of the mill military town but if you don't have a car, your life will be extremely miserable. Absolute terrible neighborhoods with fourplexes. Stay far far away from those. Everything is centered on the highway. 0 percent of is walkable. 0 percent of is bikeable. There aren't any good positive words I can say about this cesspool. BTW, most of Central Texas is this way. Waco and Temple aren't much better if they are at all.

[@r.pres.4121]

Well Austin and Round Rock are also sprawled out aesthetically hideous cesspools. Heavy traffic, overburdened infrastructure, high cost of living, increasing crime. None of the cities along I-35 between San Antonio and Fort Worth were meant to grow big but they grew anyways because the local politicians only care about the tax rolls and their pocketbooks.

[@landrypierce9942]

Downtown Waco and some of the parts near Baylor have gotten a lot better though.

[@StylistecS]

@@landrypierce9942cities around the country deep down know that this type of development was a massive mistake. Europe quickly put a stop to this by limiting it or halting it period. They knew car centric auto sprawl development would destroy their cities. Asia realized this as well. America being as car centric as it is kept it going. It will pay for it in the long run. We are late on acknowledging this. Good to know about changes in Waco. I hate to say it. But millennials and Gen z are the ones that have to put this in motion. Even the younger generation x. Boomers and older gen will continue in this mindset of building out.

[@robj387]

My mom is from there. Growing up, having to spend parts of summer there was miserable. Before 9/11 the post was open so visiting the PX was probably the highlight of it all.The last time I went back was for my grandfather's funeral. Ended up being a couple siblings and cousins sitting around drinking and I decided to go fir a beer run. About a mile round trip on foot around 11pm. Dear god, even enebriated and packing heat i was still on edge the entire trip. Made up my mind I'd never return there and have no plans to.

[@pvman2]

​@@StylistecSBoomers won't continue anything. They are quickly becoming octogenarians and are a much less influential to the progress of our society and lessening with each passing day.

[@NateClay]

0:56 It's next to Fort Hood, where all the Army guys and their families live. It's also near Temple, super hub for CTX crime because it's a shipping area.

[@uzin0s256]

Then it should look like a walking area. Thats just fucking sprawl.

[@michaelherring1944]

Seriously? I was born, raised, live, and work in Temple, which rightly has a reputation for being boring. But a super hub for CTX crime? Never heard that one, except about the Killeen/Fort Cavazos area.

[@EV4LS1DE10MAN]

Your lieng your ssa off about Temple being a high crime area😂

[@InterstellarKev]

Lmao bruh you lying on temple crime probably the most safest boring ass town I ever lived in

[@rturo22]

Killeen is a suburb of Fort Hood

[@chipperP]

Exactly!

[@eduardoaguilar7361]

Yeap. But how can he say there's no city when there's Rancier right there :D

[@panaderofilms]

My penis is a suburb of Clitoral Hood..

[@noelv1976]

But it doesn't take away from the fact that the rapid urbanizination (not sure if that's a word) was a bad idea. Just drive down Robinette or Stage Coach and you'll see how bad the roads are.

[@dansburns]

Killeen exists because of Fort Hood. It seems like you left that very big point out to push a point of view.

[@kaymillerfromTX]

I’m surprised to hear Killeen is making changes. A big reason for it being the way it is with sprawl is it being a military town. Over 43,000 work on base of for defense contractors where the next biggest employer is the school district with 6800. There was never any diversified economy for a downtown to grow.

[@folumb]

It's not a suburb of no where. It's a suburb of a giant military base. Everyone from central and south central Texas knows that

[@choatican]

I own property near downtown Killeen. The city was originally built next to the largest military base in the US (that has shrunk to about 30k today). Those soldiers used to live off base but from 1985-2000 the military built thousands of new housing units for all the soldiers.... so it destroyed the Killeen real estate market. It's basically become a city in the middle of Texas where poor people, convicts released from prison, and people with criminal records/no credit are able to find cheap housing.Its a short drive to Austin, Temple, Waco, and south Dallas.

[@OG_Beckie_Leigh]

My dad was stationed at Ft. Hood when I was very young in the mid seventies, so I don’t remember much about it. My mom worked for a bank in Killeen, and I remember hearing her talk about how they were on lockdown whenever it was military payday. Apparently it must have been pretty dangerous even way back then. I’m glad that was the last place he was stationed and I didn’t have to grow up in a place like that.

[@txmeats]

In 1991 there was a mass shooting at a Luby's. A guy drove his truck through a window and just started shooting people. It's actually one of the deadliest in the country.

[@pvman2]

And your point is . . . ?

[@myurbangarden7695]

Not to mention the Ft Hood shooting and the death of Jessica Guillem which they covered up

[@savanatabarlet7595]

​@@myurbangarden7695Vanessa guillen??

[@azulaquaza4916]

Killeen is 1 of 3 Central Texas small sized cities in Bell County that sit in between Austin and Waco. Its sister cities are Temple and Belton which are much safer and appealing. The only reason it’s so big is the giant military base next door.

[@CPhillips5481]

I also grew up in killeen. It's way different than it was back then. Seemed like it was way more to do compared to now. I go back because my mom and dad retired from the military in old Ft Hood. Man I couldn't wait to leave that place.....

[@flipsolo]

Killeen is 100% military town. US Army could care less about urbanism, land use, public transit, economic growth, etc. That this video never even mentioned that is wild.

[@theral_24karatgarrett]

I think I saw this place in a dream. Everywhere I turned, it was just endless houses with no personality behind their drywall facade. It was strangely horrifying. It felt so dead.

[@Ricecooker112]

Who needs personality? The fact that we’re able to give so many people their own quarter acre of land with a huge house and backyard, with all their ammenities accessible by their own private transportation is a miracle. People move to the states because they’re tired of cramped cities and apartments stacked 100 feet high.

[@jonoghue]

Love seeing these types of videos quickly becoming more common. Maybe we can actually have some real change in the US.

[@texgreen1]

It’s a long way to go for the US, but I’m glad to see more people become interested in this problem!

[@andrerothweiler9191]

Well there is New York were I was as European. It felt great. Public transport all day around, no suburbs

[@jonoghue]

​@@andrerothweiler9191NYC is the exception, not the norm. Basically the best public transit in the country. It's also about the most expensive city in the world. (A one bedroom apartment is over $4,000 a month.) I'm from Syracuse, about 4 hours north by car (6 by train, and lucky to have that), and all we have for transit is buses that come every like 90 minutes. There's not even a transit route to the airport. We really have to own and drive our own cars.

[@jenn976]

They left out one HUGE fact - that the biggest employer in Killeen is the US Army Post on its western city border. The US Army’s presence has been a huge factor in the city’s history and planning for decades.

[@ant.8635]

I lived in Killeen for years. It's basically your average military town. 99% of people there are military affiliated and has access to base and everything it comes with. Round rock is like 20 minutes away, Austin is like 40, harker heights and cove is like 5-10 away (give or take 5-15 minutes, really depends who's driving) then there's temple that's also very close.It's really not as secluded as you're making it seem lol but I'll agree you definitely need a car I actually enjoyed living there.

[@LuperSame]

You had me until you said Round Rock is 20 minutes lmao. From Killeen, Round Rock is at least a 50 minute drive.

[@orangemanbad]

A relative of mine moved there from california. They were paying $3400 on tiny house rent in cal and bought a big house in Killeen.

[@guyatridaskerr4676]

Finally managed to move out of Killen last year and I am SO happy. I hate Killeen so muchh

[@tgtgtgtgtgtgtg]

Why?

[@akmartinez419]

We have been trying for 3 years, looks like we may be getting out soon. I despise this place.

[@bonesandbells]

Killeen has the more unique challenge of being next to the largest military base in the free world as they call it. If you're near the original city center, you'll likely be woken up at night by artillery and few private entities will invest. The older nearby towns of Belton and Temple are seeing more revitalization in their historic downtown areas, but Killeen has struggled to do any revitalization even with the largest population between Austin and Dallas. Though, people still move in for Fort Cavazos or the cheap housing where homes can be found for under $250k with property taxes 40-50% lower than the Austin area. Revenue is great, but it seems to just go to tax incentive deals for the large companies that should be paying the taxes. Multifamily is generally garbage in Texas with mostly rentals with poor noise isolation between units and often in huge complexes with no stores or anything nearby. One apartment complex was also even trying to put a curfew on its residents.

[@benwaffleiron]

the simcity 2013 music is so perfect. it reminds me of my time playing that game and desperately struggling to collect enough taxes and grow enough in a game that confines you to a tiny city plot while being so car-centric in how you can design cities

[@ToyotaCamrySEv]

honestly super excited that killeen recognized the problem and is making an effort to become more sustainable. I bet in the future everyone still making the mistake of sprawl will wake up soon.

[@robert2695]

They've known and aren't going to do a thing lol

[@ToyotaCamrySEv]

@@robert2695 the people in gov now will age out n i can’t see young impressionable decision makers being more loyal to tradition or whatever than to a more efficient way of making money. After a while sustainability is gonna start looking really good to them.

[@starventure]

Ah, but what is the alternative to sprawl....?

[@BigRodd91]

@@starventure The congestion of homo sapiens. That is the alternative.

[@redline1916]

@@robert2695 they are

[@schneesdog]

Thank you for talking about this issue! Killeen has been my hometown for a great while but I never really noticed the issues with it until I lived in South Korea for about 2 years and was subsequently orange pilled as well The main issue with Killeen lies with how its economy is solely based on Fort Cavazos, and most of the residents from here are military residents (myself included). Alongside that, crime has been a huge issue here for quite some time, with the crime rate being nearly higher than the national average. Now, Killeen has realized this issue and for the past 3 years they've been working to make the area much more walkable, although if I'll be honest, I think a really good area to start would be Stan Schleuter; that area is right outside of Fort Cavazos, and also encompasses CTC as well so it would gain increased traction from soldiers and community college students (it's also nearby Shoemaker High School, so high school students too if KISD was better funded) I think in about a decade or so, Killeen will actually become slightly better due to how its trying to revitalize its city, and considering there's a factory being built somewhere right outside Killeen, that would also bring more jobs that are outside of the military. I really am excited, as I'm only in high school right now, but I'm quite optimistic about the future of Killeen especially since the improvement in infrastructure would also bring down the crime rate by a ton. ^ they just built a new set of apartments too called Station 42 on the north side of Killeen (basically the old side where downtown is at) and I think that's a really good start to revitalizing Killeen's economy

[@myurbangarden7695]

The factory being built by will be powered by Robotics and hire less that 100 people

[@eddyeroyal6024]

Yes, but FT Hood, Texas is the military base that is there for people to work and Killeen was one of the towns outside the gate for soldiers and families, I should know I was there many times as a solider.

[@larsedik]

I was born in Temple in 1950, when it had a thriving downtown, which lasted through the 1960s as well. During that period, soldiers from Ft Hood would go to Temple to shop and to patronize mostly Black prostitutes on 8th Street, which was a dangerous street to drive on after dark, if you did not keep your car doors locked. Killeen never had a substantial downtown (unlike Temple), and so I do not know what they can revitalize there. Temple has much more potential, and I hope it will take advantage of that. I lived in San Francisco in the 1970s and early 80s and never had a car there, and neither did almost all of my friends there. It is a very walkable city and has great public transportation.

[@curlsbygrace]

Columbus GA is a military town which used to have a downtown filled with clubs and bars maybe a few banks and furniture stores. Over the last 20 years they have revitalized it and now there are apartments, breweries, bookstores portions of the university to include dorms and now grocery. They do have the benefit of having a river as a backdrop, but maybe this concept of placing higher education facilities in the “downtown” area could help create a draw, but from last weeks visit there is a lot of work to be done if there is to be a true Killeen downtown. I personally did not feel safe in the broad day light.

[@redline1916]

The thing is, why would you even WANT a walkable city in Texas when most people just drive to begin with for the AC? At the very least they're expanding rail, but for walking that's not doable in the summer.

[@robert2695]

I live in Killeen and the murder rate here is crazy. Killeen caters to those with $$ They have removed all the grocery stores on the older side of town. It's actually really sad and the wages here are total bs.

[@nicholasharvey1232]

What do you expect for a city's murder rate when its name begins with "Kill".

[@adamodle3944]

Killeen’s “downtown” is Fort Hood, an army installation. That’s where everyone works. Due to your failure to mention this, I believe this video is very misleading.

[@dariusbrock2351]

I live not far from Killeen. Even though Killeen is more than twice the size the city of Temple, Tx which is about 18 miles away, functions more like a city than Killeen.

[@Joefragc]

You have to keep in mind demand. Most people in the suburban neighborhoods actually want land and do not want to live in a densely populated area. If the demand is there then cities would focus more on condensing their population rather than spreading. I personally don’t want to live in a densely populated area. Been there done that. Lived in NYC all my life. I would like more space and would not mind driving to where I need to go to pick up grocieries.

[@StylistecS]

@@Joefragc a good suburban development is Oak Park, Illinois. You still have your space but you have a city center and it’s still walkable and bikeable. It’s more efficient than the suburban style that Killeen builds.

[@Joefragc]

@@StylistecS Never seen one! I’ll take a look.

[@JesusChrist-qs8sx]

Kileen is a 40 minute drive from the outskirts of the urbanized area around Austin. It's not a suburb without a city, but it's also just not a suburb. Its a city that's seen most of its growth post war, and so most of its land follows that growth pattern, but that doesn't make it a suburb. You see these same car dependent subdivisions in every city, small or large. That doesn't make those places "suburbs".

[@nndjkn9255]

You just described a suburb haha with your last paragraph. It doesn’t have a large city center, it’s just cookie cutter houses stretched out in every direction. It’s literally a suburb

[@leahfarmer5966]

@@nndjkn9255that development in Austin only happened in the last ten or so years. For decades the small towns in this area were considered to be outside of fort hood, but now they are thought of as part of the Austin metro area. The Austin metro sprawled out to them

[@HiDefHDMusic]

That’s literally what a suburb is

[@leahfarmer5966]

@@HiDefHDMusicpeople in suburbs commute to the urban center. That never happened here historically. This is a different development pattern, it’s like convergent evolution.

[@StylistecS]

@@leahfarmer5966 to be fair, Killeen isn’t in the Austin area and any towns around Austin grew because of Austin not Fort Hood. Meaning, Georgetown, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Leander are all what they are because of Austin.

[@raleighbevill5272]

Killeen is a military town not some inexplicable suburb in the middle of nowhere. Try telling the boys at ft cavazos they should walk to work.

[@CardinalNorth]

Your right, it would be hard since the city is car centric. That’s exactly the problem I’m trying to communicate.

[@SuperGamerzchannel]

@@CardinalNorth Even if Killeen was the perfect walkable town, cars would still be the primary role in the town, because you can't just walk on base, and get to where you need to go. It's sucks for the average resident of Killeen, but you can't be working for the military and live off post without a vehicle.

[@1stTnetix]

Bro you can’t talk to these people they won’t get it until the system starts breaking down and even then they’ll blame whatever president because someone on tik tok said

[@StylistecS]

@@SuperGamerzchannel yeah no military base is urban. It could be but that’s probably by design. The military base is like a very large spread out college campus.

[@Motownsports89]

​@@StylistecS What would you call Fort Irwin?

[@eduardoaguilar7361]

You don't understand how everything around Fort Hood exists BECAUSE of Fort Hood, huh?

[@Anomaly-uz9pr]

Im a soldier stationed at hood currently. Killeen is a terrible place but it only exists because our base is here if the base wasn’t here the town wouldn’t exist. End of story

[@hippiechick73]

There is “no character” to the neighborhoods because they are built for people who will for the most part live there for 2-4 years and then move on. I live in Temple-Belton area now and I really love this area. It’s way more relaxed than Austin area and has more character than Killeen.

[@Novusod]

The most sprawl centric city on earth is Cape Coral Florida. It has 194,000 population and essentially no down town. The nearby Lehigh arces which is a suburb of a suburb is even worse. It has 135,000 population at a semi rural density.

[@Potato_pigeon]

Killeen is like this because the fort. Not sure how this concept is complicated. And the vast majority of of us want large houses with nice large lawns and to be away from the busy city. You act like we don’t and you’re wrong. “Fixing”every instance of this will make people mad including myself. We like our cars and we like not having to walk miles when it’s 110 outside. And if you had braids to pay attention to the topography you’d realize that Killeen is far to hilly to make “biking” everywhere a viable option for most people

[@Goldarlives]

Lmao Killeen is not hilly at all. It’s so flat.

[@Potato_pigeon]

@@Goldarlives you’ve never been there then. Billy doesn’t mean 3000 foot elevation changes 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️. I’ve got family there and am there all the time. You seem very miss informed

[@bonesandbells]

I'm on a place next to Stillhouse Hollow in neighboring Harker Heights and it's hill country scenery there with 200'+ hills and 6-8% grades, but fun on a good e-bike. Though, most of the stores and shopping complexes don't even have bike racks and I'm not leaving my bike unlocked almost anywhere in the U.S.

[@redline1916]

@@Goldarlives dude it has hills

[@hunterhill1013]

I live near killeen in heights. Theres plenty to do outdoors between the two giant lakes and nearby rivers and creeks. Also plenty of mtb trails, hiking, even a motocross track and single track dirt bike riding within a 20 min drive. Theres all amenities near my house, grocery, hospital, schools. If i want to go to a downtown i got to belton. I was born in south texas where i wohld have to commute 30 minutes to the nearest grocery. My family loves the hill country.

[@ZeroFoxtrotG]

Can you give me any good fishing spot recommendations ?

[@nippolitica]

Because Killeen has a military base and a college! Anyone who has lived in Texas will know that.

[@CardinalNorth]

That’s the reason for the demand of housing there, yes, but in this video I focus in on the way they went about building housing in Killeen, which is unsustainable, as I describe in the video.

[@nippolitica]

@@CardinalNorth yes, I watched the entire video. I was just saying that because of Fort Hood (and to a lesser extent, the college), that is essentially the "city" for Killeen. Killeen can be a suburban bedroom community for its major employers. Base housing kinda sucks, and housing allowance goes a long way.

[@russelllukenbill]

It's not a military base, it's an Illuminati oil company mercenary-for-hire base.

[@ZeroFoxtrotG]

There’s many people who were born and raised in Texas, and never even heard of Killeen

[@nippolitica]

​@@ZeroFoxtrotG There's a fair number of people who can't name their senator (Cruz or Cornyn) or governor (currently Abbott), but I wouldn't consider those people the norm. Killeen is quite well known, and I've lived in multiple cities in Texas (and I went to UT Austin). I think we can grasp that my "anyone who has lived in Texas" was hyperbole, but used in the sense of "Killeen is common knowledge." Which I stand by.

[@AltayHunter]

1:14 Considering how deadly they are, the typo "mortor" (i.e. mortar) vehicles feels appropriate.

[@Aggie1295]

Killeen is designed this way because of Fort Hood. By the way, all the people complaining about a town or city in Texas being walkable or bikeable, do you know what our weather is like, especially in the summer? Walking or biking in Texas from May to early October is a good way to die of heat stroke.

[@StylistecS]

@@Aggie1295 lol so build better cities. Texas summers aren’t nearly the hottest in the world and yet, they have bikeable walkable cities. Seville Spain is just as hot as Texas and yet its urbanity is miles better than any city in TX.

[@Aggie1295]

@@StylistecS Why do we want urbanity in our cities? Why do we need bikeable or walkable cities? I have no interest in that, nor do many other people. There is a small segment of people who complain about our towns and cities, but most of them don't live here. I see no reason to change anything.

[@StylistecS]

@@Aggie1295 you may not but there are other people in your city that does. There are also other people in your city that cannot afford a car or want a car to participate in society. Give people options especially if a city is rapidly growing. Suburban infrastructure just for the sake of it has proven to be a mistake. Even LA acknowledges this. Also what do you mean you don’t need walkable cities? The most basic form of transit to form a sense of place and a sense of community where I don’t have to enslave myself to a car for every little thing for basic needs. Walkable cities are far more desirable around the world than car centric cities..

[@azulaquaza4916]

@@StylistecSSpain has a Mediterranean climate like California Texas is subtropical and humid like Vietnam, please get your weather correct before trying to correct someone who lives there 😂

[@StylistecS]

@@azulaquaza4916 seville is Mediterranean but still subtropical. The point though is it gets hot. But since you want to get super technical, Houston climate is similar to Guangzhou and yet they build a far more vibrant and urban city than Houston. There are many cities that have built walkable bikeable cities in the world. They don’t cry that it’s to hot like most soft Americans. Also, Vietnam climate is tropical, not subtropical. Learn the difference. You should have heard Taipei if you really wanted to make a comparison.

[@johntex105]

Texas is not Amsterdam. You do not want to walk and bike in 110 degree weather with 90% humidity. Amsterdam is a great city, but you can't recreatate it in Texas.

[@Troonald]

Many, many studies have shown that weather is not the most important factor determining bikability. Infrastructure and urban design are far, far more important. you say no one wants to walk or bike in 100° weather and i agree, Growing up in austin i didnt want to do anything but get to my car and blast the AC. Imagine if every street was lined with trees to provide shade. tree cover usually reduce ambient temps by 10-15° making it much more pleasant to walk. Singapore, Madrid, and Hong kong all get just as hot and humid as texas, often more, and yet are all thriving walkable cities. Trust me when i tell you that we can be just as great as any other city in the world if we wanted to. But we prioritize highways and suburbs so our cities go broke paying for so much infrastructure

[@DavisRyan12]

Yeah when all the “cities” in Texas consist mostly of seas of asphalt parking lots and highways, that actually makes it a lot hotter because it absorbs all that heat. So keep dumping big giant quantities of asphalt everywhere and it’s just gonna keep getting hotter. But at least there’s plenty of room for the lifted ram 2500’s that don’t actually do any work to drive freely around all these oversized subdivisions! I’m sure dumping all that smog will help cool down Texas a lot over time!

[@therealspeedwagon1451]

You can always plant trees you know. Maybe have smaller roads and more options for busses and light rail. Trees not only provide ample shade but also shield against noise better than walls. They also soak up carbon dioxide as well. You can absolutely create Amsterdam anywhere you want to.

[@Dezzo0721]

My cousin literally grew up here and I visited here multiple times in my childhood. I always thought the houses were fancy but I never had to live there and experience actual life here

[@hawkinzzz]

Horrible place with very few good people. It makes you depressed just driving through there.

[@MisterMikeTexas]

Think of Killeen as a suburb of Fort Hood. Also, carbon dioxide is not a poison! Plants take it in and turn it back into oxygen. Living conditions are worse in other parts of the world.

[@kngjoea3743]

Killeen has become so much better since the 1990s. The North side is still troublesome with no grocery stores and outdated retail. You get what you pay for I suppose. At least people can still afford a home in Killeen and afford to go out to eat once in a while. The Southside of Killeen is actually quite nice, most people are friendly, businesses do well, new schools, several colleges, not far from Austin, Waco, or Dallas. Killeen has lakes, hiking trails, water parks, shopping, and the police are not generally asses anymore and try to help people. Killeen also has several hospitals, many clinics and dental offices and is quite interracial and most people get along quite well. I think a lot of people like to bad mouth Killeen because they are generally miserable people but the Killeen area holds many opprotunities, as many people that live there have made a good life for themselves and their families. There definitely are much worse places to live. Sure, Killeen had some work to do but what area doesnt?

[@imjuanflorez]

love that drawing at the end!!! and the phrase with it, i felt that,,, I always when im gonna visit some new city in the US always tell people to just walk on the downtonws and forget about the Tourist'' sections because DRIVING to the places for the picture is not my thing.

[@gregorysouthworth783]

The good news here is that if a community like Killeen can address the sprawl issue by making its infrastructure more productive, then just about anyplace in the first world should be able to do so. Texas as a whole is a mega monster for this type of development all around the state. Maybe we should all be watching Killeen! Who knew?

[@RBuckminsterFuller]

So basically cities need to stop subsidizing suburbs.

[@kaymillerfromTX]

In this case the city is the suburb. So they’re subsidizing their own city staying horribly spread out.

[@georginawhitby1320]

Using one terrible , extreme and dsytopian town planning system as the pretext to impose a different terrible , extreme, and even more dystopian planning system.

[@hartsickdisciple]

Leander is an exurb of Austin. Cedar Park and Round Rock are suburbs. Killeen is a suburb of Fort Hood (Cavazos). The existence of that massive military base is what drives the growth of Killeen.

[@cameron_0496]

Love the use of SimCity Music

[@saxquiz]

It's a nice idea, but there are certain things people were fleeing from in the cities. You have to fix that first before people will be willing to live in cities again.

[@cupriferouscatalyst3708]

"Certain things"...

[@nishiljaiswal2216]

People are already willing to live in the cities, look at the mass gentrification of city centers and the inner ring suburbs. Newer generations don't like sprawl.

[@TheNobleFive]

Bedroom suburbs can still have quaint downtowns and main streets without being a big city. Look at Fredericksburg Virginia or a lot of the older, smaller towns in the northeast. Some small towns (actual small towns, not like the place in this video) in Georgia like Harlem have gorgeous main streets with smaller businesses and places to walk to. Even if you got spooked by cities on TV you have to admit this is just neglect.

[@redline1916]

people are fleeing from cities for a reason. The management in them is killing people.

[@multitieredinvestor183]

Killeen is a poor city. Too many people with out fully adequate services. Like myself, many households pay no property taxes. Many of us are disabled veterans having retired from Fort Hood/Cavazos and stayed here.

[@redline1916]

For all you complaining that Killeen is hell because it's not "walkable" or "how it looks." You should really visit parts of central NJ, you cannot go anywhere here without taking a car or you'd be walking down miles of forest and farmland a lot of the time. Also, MOST PEOPLE DO NOT GO ANYWHERE WITHOUT A CAR OR TRUCK IN TEXAS. You literally need the fucking AC, now it's not too hot for me on my end, but for many others that heat is felt. And even if you're "used to it" you'd still rather want to take a car. I don't know what you're on about for making Texas walkable, nobody would want to walk anywhere even if it was. Killeen's roads and infrastructure overall still look better and well taken care of compared to where I live, so y'all must've had it really cushy to be complaining so hard. It's also a military town, did you expect it to look magical? I can't believe I have to say this as some western canadian living outside of Texas currently in the US... Y'all should know your own states better, especially those that are so recognizable outside of your own country. Texas practically created most of your culture that is viewed outside of america.

[@MiiaProd]

good video, very informative

[@Sacto1654]

I don't think this was what the Levitt Brothers had in mind when they built Levittown, NY just after World War II. At least Levittown had an actual town center and reasonable access to the Long Island Rail Road for commuting back into central New York City.

[@FSM_niki_1989]

The 1970's development in north TX that I live in is in really high demand now because the neighborhood is somewhat walkable compared to the newer developments and my un renovated house is now worth 3x what I bought it for.

[@curlsbygrace]

Columbus GA is a military town which used to have a downtown filled with clubs and bars maybe a few banks and furniture stores. Over the last 20 years they have revitalized it and now there are apartments, breweries, bookstores portions of the university to include dorms and now grocery. They do have the benefit of having a river as a backdrop, but maybe this concept of placing higher education facilities in the “downtown” area could help create a draw, but from last weeks visit there is a lot of work to be done if there is to be a true Killeen downtown. I personally did not feel safe in the broad day light.

[@TheVanuPhantom]

Hearing the SimCity soundtrack 🥰🥰🥰

[@apreese16]

you should do a video on Lehigh Acres Florida, it's very similar to Killeen TX

[@EvelynElaineSmith]

Killeen (approximately 153,000 pop.) grew in the 1960s because of the Vietnam War since it is located next to Fort Cavazos (formerly Fort Hood), the largest army base in the United States. Most everyone living in Killeen is either in the Army, a member of a family of an Army Vet, or an Army Vet. Before the Vietnam War, Killeen was a wide spot in the road. Please don't compare Killeen with Texas cities or American cities in general when talking about urban sprawl because it's a very atypical city.

[@Jnicks01]

Killeen is a town for military families it’s built exactly how the government wanted it to be

[@_brushie]

Leander is building a new downtown and moving it's government offices to a new location right next to the commuter train (CapMetro) that goes into Downtown Austin. Look up Leander Northline, it's still being built as of this comment, but a lot of the buildings are already up. I believe the interior spaces and road work around it needs to still be finished up. It's a surprise piece of urban density that came out of nowhere. Cedar Park just South of Leander and North of Austin is also making their own density location call "Bell District", though it is also next to that same train line I mentioned, Cedar Park isn't partnered with CapMetro, which I've been harassing them to do since their own studies have shown about 60-70% of Cedar Park residents would like to travel by train. Most of them probably working in offices in Austin proper.

[@jamesfisher3505]

I don't know how you can talk about the situation in Killeen without acknowledging certain factors. The town is heavily influenced by Fort Hood (or Fort Cavasos), so there is a huge portion of the population that is transient, with substantial income. If they cannot get housing on post, they receive a Basic Allowance for housing. If they have families, they want a house, and if single (as I was) we want convenience and ideally inexpensive so we can pocket any remaining BAH after rent. Because of the irregular rate of Soldiers moving to and from the area (it can happen in any month). For many Soldiers, the Post amenities is de facto their "downtown"; the house off post is just to stash their stuff and go to sleep. The other factor is one that many don't want to acknowledge; there is a crime issue concentrated inordinately in the North Killeen. Call it "White flight" if you want, but most newcomers to the city avoid ling in North Killeen. Also, there is ONE main thoroughfare through the City, the Central Texas Expressway, along which most of the in-town amenities and services are located. To fix Killeen we need to tamp down the crime issue, look to attract the single Soldier receiving BAH by optimizing locations and amenities. A regular, and frequent bus line along the CTE from Nolanville to Copperas Cove with a route onto Post would help immensely. I don't think we can reduce the car culture though. EVERYONE has a car, especially Soldiers returning from a deployment stacked with cash. The fact that they have ready transportation is what drives the suburb sprawl, not the other way around

[@caseybowman5232]

Killeen is mostly military families now as well because it's right next to Fort Hood which is the biggest base in the U.S.

[@cat_luver16]

Ayyy Pensacola mentioned, such a nice downtown

[@camadams9149]

The thought of getting stuck living in one of these places makes my skin crawl. There is precisely ZERO to do & even the most basic activities like getting food is a 15 minute care ride

[@uzin0s256]

exactly.

[@chenanigans]

Lol

[@PerfectlyFunctioningAI]

Most cities in the U.S have these places but i feel like in Texas it doesnt matter where you live, it will be a MINIMUM of 30 minutes to go ANYWHERE. I hate this state so much because of how suffocating the sprawls are. So much of the same to see with such dull scenery, and the traffic gets worse every year.

[@camadams9149]

@@PerfectlyFunctioningAI I actually moved to Austin 4 years ago & specifically chose austin because of the walk-ability. Im a chemical engineer too... so choosing this over Houston cost me A LOT of money. That being said, money is useless if the place you are living is inhospitable to life

[@PerfectlyFunctioningAI]

@@camadams9149 i feel personally attacked 😂i live in Houston and yea, i hate it for the same reasons you do. Forget walkability this place has turned into literal madmax the last few years. Be inside a big car or be killed. Houston is one of those cities that did everything wrong transportation wise.

[@lindaniedo1216]

Killeen is built around Fort Hood. To accommodate the military population they need more housing,etc. Since they can't really enlarge the base, they need to expand around the base.

[@samuelschmidt5314]

The video is a bit disingenuous. Killeen exists because it is a military town. Ft Cavazos (formerly Ft Hood) was the largest military base in the world for the longest time until JBLM overtook them. So it is just one giant suberb, but it's a suberb of the second largest military base in the world. Also, as a resident of killeen, the number one complaint is the urban sprall to the city council. However, they have been openly hostile to anything but the status quo. Lastly, downtown is not being revitalized. If you have ever been to killeen you know nothing good happens after dark and nothing good happens on Rancier Ave.

[@Fgtr4Life]

I'm not a city planner or anything close to that, but I'm almost offended looking at that zoom out at 0:56. I've read through a handful of comments, but it still astounds me that a city this dysfunctional *looking* can even exist.

[@LIMEGREENKING254]

I have a big ass house big yard creek with bass in my backyard a lake 1 mile away Killeen aint bad all lived here my hole life . Austin is actually way worse

[@gopro2027]

You could say something similar about STL due to how dead the city is, it basically doesn't exist to the suburbanites, and most suburbanites like 45 minutes outside the city already anyways

[@mcsomeone2681]

The channel strong towns always talk about strong towns and weak towns (usually suburbs) I'm surprised they don't draw the connection more often that the weak town can't exist without the strong town, they act as urban leaches

[@UnicornDreamsPastelSkies]

I follow a lady from Killeen on FB... this reminds me of Colorado Springs in many ways, similar layout, there's been rumors according to someone that lives in the city I live in north central Ohio (also car-dependent and want to leave but it's not as ugly as Kileen at least... hint: most of "The Shawshank Redemption" was filmed here) that Colorado Springs wants to abolish its' public transit... and both they and Killeen are military towns. One could make the argument too that Orlando is a suburb of their theme parks such as WDW and Las Vegas is a suburb of the Strip (most of which is not even IN Vegas). I was born and raised up around Portland, OR and their design and public transit, so I know what a walkable city is, by American standards anyway.

[@linuxman7777]

Don't call it Road Deaths. Call it Stroad Deaths. That's more like it

[@GPGPapercraftTX]

I am popping off early. Only seen ‘bout 2 minutes so far. But... 1. Leander “used to be a city” the subdivisions swallowed its prior personality. 2. Killeen was never and never will be anything but Base Housing for one of the biggest darn military reserves in the nation. Killeen needs no city. The base completely fills that function. The base cafeteria stretches east from 195 most of the way to the hill. Restaurants on both the north and south of “I-14”. Chili’s Applebee’s, You get the idea. Lampassas to the west and Temple to the east are still real places.

[@bryanr1727]

It's simple if you like the life style of a city move to a city. Do all the changes that you want but don't conver a Killeen to a Austin. The people that move to Killeen they just want a big house and big yard in other words SPACE.

[@uzin0s256]

I used to live in Leander and youre right. It has thousands yet it feels like a small town due to how sprawling it is. Thank god i live in SF now.

[@gotaylor]

I’m soon to be an x resident of Leander.

[@uzin0s256]

@@gotaylor Soon? I became one 2 years ago.

[@fuhjk502]

Do you mean thank God president Xi visited SF so that the city would clean up the the shit on the street, the drug needles, the decaying zombies walking around shitting everywhere and the homeless camps? Or do you mean thank God you live in a city that is leading the way in commercial real estate crash that will take down the entire US economy?

[@danielpruitt8550]

I was born in 2000, I live in rural car dependant nc. My question what do you do in these theorized new dense downtowns other than buy lunch or coffee or spend money? What are we missing out on? When I go near my downtown it is unfriendly spread out houses. I worked as a realtor for 3 months this year, I went door knocking in a small section of a neighborhood nearby me, I had to walk 5 miles round trip to get to my car after door knocking. All this to say I don't remember pre-car dependant.

[@newalbacore8352]

also its strange seeing every one complain bc my mom always gushes about how she misses it cause everyone was so friendly and tbh i was too young when i lived there to remember

[@SpicyTake]

He didn't say anything about the people. Just the city planning.

[@newalbacore8352]

@@SpicyTake I looked at the comments and ppl said it sucked that’s what I meant

[@poisedperson6475]

Surprised this video isn't about Cape Coral, FL.

[@colbyjaque7759]

Why is the answer to these "How to make (place) better?" videos is always to narrow the roads and make things as dense as possible? People need breathing space, not to be cramped together.

[@jaystrickland4151]

The city that Killeen is a suburb for is Fort Hood. Between the military members, government employees, retirees ( of the former two) and contractors Fort Hood is often the center of economic activity. It creates an issue where those without base access are at a disadvantage. Note recently renamed Fort Cavazos recently.

[@rwiksell]

Isn't Killeen a bedroom community for the military base? It's not just a random suburb that's there for no reason. Still terrible, though.

[@fadedgeff]

the problem is that populations just keep going up in major cities. so are we supposed to keep shrinking apartment sizes until everyone lives in a tiny box? i guess places like new york and japan are already like that but many people prioritize a large living space

[@Peterkragger]

This place looks like my first ever city in Cities Skylines

[@ThinkLiveLife]

I live in Killeen and I have to say- This sounds like a good thing for the city to be able to throw more money around and an awful thing for the citizens. Maybe we like not having to fight for a place to park or being stuck in traffic like we lived in Austin. Sometimes municipal planners are just disconnected with reality. Don't try to make Killeen into Los Angeles. Just spend less on nonsense and don't be greedy.

[@markanthony1004]

Yeah there’s more than a few “suburbs” that aren’t within 50 miles of the closets city. Then there’s San Marcos which is closer to Austin but so far from San Antonio and Austin I actually don’t know if it’s even a suburb at all

[@azulaquaza4916]

San Marcos and New Braunfels is the border between Austin and San Antonio’s metro areas. Austin owns San Marcos and San Antonio owns New Braunfels, the 20 miles in between is just buffer space. Austin is a huge city with its own suburbs which are pretty good

[@Kludgzenjammer]

A suburb assessment with a good ending? Took me by surprise honestly, but thinking about it more, this video would have been a quick one if all there was to it was just that "downtown is gone"

[@Ce13stialBunny]

Where is the footage from? The graphs and the man speaking? I’d like to see the whole thing.

[@mailboxxy]

The flooding in Killeen/Harker Heights is abhorrent. At least in Copperas Cove, we have anti flood streets.

[@slowlydistancing]

Is that SimCity 2013 background music ??? AWESOME

[@Minelaughter]

Don’t go to the Chick-Fil-A on south highway 183 in Leander Texas guys 0:36

[@greysongladney4403]

Or you know we could NOT send 200 billion to another country....

[@Neuros_N3]

Leander actually has 80,000 plus people now.

[@rmst1783]

😂 it’s my home town. Moved out fast as I could.

[@bobsmith2815]

Something they don’t mention is tax breaks for a very high percentage of of veterans per Texas law . Many of us veterans are 100% property tax free

[@Kevintendo]

Just bought a car from here in the last few months! Highly recommend Maxdale Auto 🙌

[@gd_4saken827]

I notice the simcity 2013 music in the background

[@ronaldmiears4554]

I liked killeen seems like a good place they have public transportation well at least they did clean little city

[@jan6258]

Basically every city I build in the new Simcity

[@aegisofhonor]

Killeen does have a "city" it's called Fort Hood or whatever they recently renamed it as (if that renaming is official yet or not).