Houston Strategies

Tops for global connections, shale gas, new map, regs vs. density, and more

Since it's a short week where people usually don't have a whole lot going on in the office, I thought it'd make sense to do a misc items post this week since people might have more time to follow the links.  So here they are:

• From the Houston airports newsletter: "On November 16, Houston will become the only city in the Western Hemisphere to offer non-stop flight service to every inhabited continent on the globe, as Continental Airlines launches a non-stop flight between George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Lagos, Nigeria."  Close, but not quite true until the United flight to Auckland, NZ starts next year when they get the 787.  I guess that means New Zealand counts as part of the Australian continent.  So how'd we pull off that distinction?  The international energy industry, of course.  Plus, SF, LA, and DFW don't go to Africa.  NYC, Chicago, and Atlanta don't go to Australia/NZ.  That pretty much covers the mega-airport cities of the Western hemisphere.  Of course plenty of airports go to Europe, Asia, and South America.
• The NY Times' most popular columnist, David Brooks, calls for this country to get the most out of the miracle of the shale gas revolution, which could transform the economy of our country as well as our energy and trade deficits.
• The new 2011 City of Houston Major Thoroughfare and Freeway Plan/Map is out.  Nothing in particular jumped out at me, but let me know in the comments if you see anything interesting.
• The Urbanophile on how reducing regulations can naturally increase density in most cities, something Houston is actually pretty good at.  The Chronicle just had an article on the huge number of apartments being added inside the loop, although they didn't put the great map in the paper online.

From the Houston Digital Ambassador emails:

• Houston as Job Creation Capital of the US? Still leads nation in job growth  
• Houston economy outpacing the nation, with highest job growth our of the Top 12 metros 
• No wonder our restaurants are so good! Houstonians eat out more than any other city, via Zagat (my analysis on why that's the case here)
• National business magazine claims Texas has the best business climate 
• Young people flocking to “college towns, high-tech centers, and so-called cool cities,” like Houston 

Finally, to end on a lighter note, here are my favorites from the Houston Press' "50 Reasons Texas is the Best State in America"

42. No state income tax, suckaz. 

39. "Failure is not an option." Yeah, it was never actually said by Gene Kranz, but it summed up generations of work at NASA that hopefully will not end with the shuttle era. 

37. Tex-Mex. Comfort food, hangover cure, drunken latenight scarfing: It has many purposes, all of them delicious. 

34. When you say you're from Texas, no one in the world needs to ask where that is. 

26. If there's an ethnic food that's not available in Houston, it involves a very, very small ethnicity. 

14. Few states have legislatures that meet less often than Texas's, and we like to keep it that way.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and I'll see ya next week.

Labels: aviation, density, economy, energy, identity, land-use regulation, rankings, transportation plan, world city

posted by Tory Gattis @ 5:47 PM