Houston Strategies

• Speaking of Scott Beyer, he has a great piece in Forbes on "Texas' Toll Roads: A Big Step Towards Open Markets For Transportation". Key excerpts:

"No city in America runs on anything resembling a free-market model. But Texas' major cities are probably the closest thing, with vast improvements to their economies and living standards to show for it. Their looser land-use laws mean that housing supply grows quickly, stabilizing prices. Their lighter tax and regulatory structure helps businesses locate there and grow. And—shenanigans from the governor's office notwithstanding—their openness to immigrants means they have cheap and robust labor forces.
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Another thing Texas' toll roads have accomplished is greater mobility. The Dallas and Houston metros, in particular, have been the nation’s two fastest-growing metros by net population since 2010. But their congestion levels are not as bad as similar-size metros, according to traffic studies by Inrix and TomTom. This is because they've expanded highway capacity to accommodate population growth, acknowledging that the laws of supply and demand apply to roads like with anything else. Perhaps more crucially, though, they’ve priced the use of these roads, to avoid a tragedy of the commons. And it has worked at creating many excellent, self-funded roads: as I can attest from having lived last summer in Houston, Dallas and Austin, toll roads proliferate throughout each metro, are free-flowing, and charge users electronically, so that they're not having to stop and pay at booths."

• Some good feedback from Ian on flaws in the 45 project that need to be fixed, mainly involving east-west connectivity from downtown.
• While I find this piece from Richard Florida insightful (arguing that land-use restrictions and high housing prices on the coasts helped keep some talent and jobs in the rust belt cities that otherwise would have left), I don't buy the high-speed rail argument for increasing the labor pool that can access a metro area.  Given the pricing of HSR tickets, it's highly unlikely to me that very many people are going to be willing to spend $100+/day commuting to work!
• Houston is one of The Command and Control Centers of the United States (2006/2012): An Analysis of Industry Sectors Influencing the Position of Cities. Hat tip to George.
• Texas Monthly: Was The Super Bowl Really Worth $347 Million to Houston? Overall answer: yes. Some good excerpts:

"In many ways, Houston’s Super Bowl was a tremendous success. On the field, it was perhaps the most exciting game in the 51-year history of the event. The weather was perfect, the mild Texas winter providing a comfortable respite for visiting fans and media. For locals and visitors alike, the events at Discovery Green and throughout the Super Bowl Live experience offered engagement with the event regardless of whether they could afford a (minimum) four-figure ticket to the game itself. Taylor Swift had a good time! So did Sting, The Goo Goo Dolls, Travi$ $cott, and the other entertainers who visited and performed for the crowds.
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Still, even with the fuzzy math of an economic impact report, the Houston Super Bowl was a success.
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The impact of Super Bowl 51 on Houston also highlights the significance of events like the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, or SXSW and the Austin City Limits Festival in Austin... Cities around the country compete, year after year, with aggressive bids for the chance to host Super Bowls. The Rodeo happens every year and brings in more money, while SXSW annually serves as a recurring pitch to the 85,000 or so people who come to town that Austin is a cool place to live, work, run a business, and spend money. No matter the exact numbers, the Super Bowl seems to have worked out for Houston—but the most impactful events seem to be the ones that are annually in our backyard."