Houston Strategies

More great rankings, an outsider on our Ch.42 revisions, rethinking METRO, and more

My backlog of smaller miscellaneous items is at an all time high (over 50!), so prepare for a deluge as I try to clear it out over the next few weeks:

• Houston in top 5 global cities for attracting international real estate investors. Hat tip to Jessie.

“Houston has gained broad acceptance as a top-tier market,” said Greg Kraus, managing director at Atlanta-based Invesco Ltd. (IVZ), a global adviser for pension clients including QSuper Ltd., an Australian fund for public-service workers. “It’s reflected in job growth, more gas refineries, more oil out of the Houston port and a true international feeling.”

• Houston tops job creation index.  Hat tip to Annise (yeah, that one).
• America's Fastest and Slowest Growing Cities.  Houston does very well, as you'd expect, and there are some good stats on it in here.
• Houston #1 city for salary increases over the last year:

"Houston, up 4.8%. Texas' largest city is big in the energy industry -- and not just in the traditional areas of oil and gas. It's also seeing gains in newer areas, such as wind and solar. Health care and aerospace are other major industries in town. Houston has an interconnected bikeway network over 300 miles long spanning across 500 square miles, so commuters can get past gridlock while getting healthy on their way to work. In their free time, residents can enjoy a rich, multicultural arts community."

• Houston ranks near the bottom in tax burden, 47th out of 51 cities. Excerpt:

"For the $75,000-annual-income hypothetical family, the highest total tax rate is in Bridgeport, Conn., where the family would pay $16,105, or 21.5 percent, of its income in taxes. 

The lowest rate at the $75,000 income level is in Cheyenne, Wyo., where the family would pay nearly $2,808 in taxes, or 3.7 percent of its income. 

In Houston, the same hypothetical family would pay $4,333 in taxes, or 5.8 percent of its income, making it 47th in the list of 51 cities. 

The tax burden that is looked at in the study includes state and local taxes on income, residential property, sales and vehicles. The vehicle tax incorporates the gasoline tax, registration fees, excise tax and the personal property tax."

• Christof Speiler's op-ed on a clean-sheet rethinking of the Metro bus system.  I have high hopes for this initiative.
• Houston the 3rd busiest customs district in the nation.  Hat tip to Jessie.
• Houston top five city for young adults.
• Houston Gets Top Rating In Small Business Friendliness Survey (KUHF story here). Hat tip to Jessie.
• There's a new Houston-focused magazine out there called Houstonia, and I highly recommend it.  You can still find the inaugural issue on newsstands.  It's like a Texas Monthly focused on Houston.  Definitely check it out.  You can probably guess which inaugural article I've already commented on.
• The Antiplanner discusses Houston's Chapter 42 revisions, especially additional densification outside the loop.  He has a nice compliment in there for us too:  "For the moment, Houston is still the closest thing we have to true market urbanism."  I strongly support changing our development rules to allow densification and encourage affordability outside the loop but inside the city.

Finally, dear readers, please fill out this Urban Houston Framework survey about what tools the city should and should not use in getting certain kinds of dense, urban development from developers.  I found some of the tools reasonable, and some to be overreach, and if you read my blog, you probably have a thoughtful opinion on these topics the city should know about.

Labels: affordability, density, development, economy, growth, land-use regulation, Metro, port, rankings

posted by Tory Gattis @ 6:39 PM