tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113216062012-01-28T13:10:53.481-06:00An open dialogue on serious strategies for making Houston a better city, as well as a coalition-builder to make them happen. All comments, email, and support welcome.Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.comBlogger9021100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-78674630065101626362012-01-23T20:08:00.001-06:002012-01-23T20:12:12.154-06:00

The smaller misc items have been piling up faster than usual lately... The 2012 8th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey has been released, with Houston once again held up as a paragon with a very affordable 2.9 ratio between the median home price ($160k) and median income ($55k).  That certainly beats ratios around 6 for the major coastal cities and even much worse for

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-67097416920216587782012-01-16T19:30:00.000-06:002012-01-16T19:30:33.132-06:00

Slate has a blog post claiming that zoning-free Houston is a myth (hat tip to John). "Whenever I talk about anti-density land use restrictions, someone inevitably brings up Houston, where people have heard there are no zoning rules. If overregulation causes low density, people ask, then how come Houston is so sprawling? There are a number of reasons this line of questioning is a mistake, but the

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-44637164858791134342012-01-09T21:38:00.001-06:002012-01-09T21:38:35.393-06:00

The smaller misc items stacked up over the holidays: Forbes ranks Houston the #1 best city for manufacturing in America. (alternate New Geography link) "Our top ranked area, Houston, is one of only four regions that enjoyed net job growth in manufacturing in the past 10 years. This year its heavy manufacturing sector expanded by almost 5%. Houston’s industrial growth is no fluke; over the past

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-63925413016558373302012-01-02T18:57:00.001-06:002012-01-02T18:58:19.227-06:00

It's time for the Fall 4Q11 quarterly highlights post, which also sums up all of 2011. These posts have been chosen with a particular focus on significant ideas I'd like to see kept alive for discussion and action, and they're mainly targeted at new readers who want to get caught up with a quick overview of the Houston Strategies landscape. I also like to track what I think of as "reference

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-62694701558672827192011-12-19T19:29:00.002-06:002012-01-05T07:20:00.614-06:00

The Wall Street Journal recently profiled Austin's power to create middle class jobs, something the rest of the nation is struggling with.  But not Houston.  If you check out their graph, you'll note that Houston and Austin are neck-and-neck in middle-skill job growth since 2001 at ~25%, and well ahead of the rest of the pack, including Dallas (surprisingly).  Let's look at the key excerpts first

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-33850571029667205052011-12-12T18:44:00.000-06:002011-12-12T18:44:33.142-06:00

OK, the smaller miscellaneous items just keep stacking up: Check out TX/RX Labs, Houston's Hackerspace.  I just think it's awesome that Houston has something like this.  Very cool and expanding fast. Peter Wang writes about a nightmare traffic experience at CityCentre for a holiday party, noting that New Urbanist/"Livable Center" developments in Houston will still need to accommodate large

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-68484551622278740272011-12-07T21:05:00.000-06:002011-12-07T21:05:12.745-06:00

Wall Street Journal columnist Daniel Henninger had some very nice things to say about Texas in a recent column about Rick Perry.  For my excerpts, I'm going to skip the Perry stuff and just focus on the Texas accolades.  It'll make you proud. Rick Perry says Texas is the most successful state in America. He's right. Texan economic output exceeds Mexico's and Australia's and rivals India's. ...(

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-80318034715813003702011-11-28T18:12:00.000-06:002011-11-28T18:12:55.924-06:00

I recently got engaged on an interesting discussion thread on HAIF about making Houston more of a tourism magnet, an area where we are sadly lacking compared to other global cities of our stature.  In that thread I reposted my July post on attracting national and international tourists to Houston, where I talked about converting the Astrodome and empty land nearby into the world's largest

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-32752856998411482622011-11-21T17:47:00.000-06:002011-11-21T17:47:17.497-06:00

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

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-47768357040293710452011-11-11T18:58:00.004-06:002011-11-17T19:04:14.081-06:00

Sorry for the post delay this week - got back midweek from California and ran right into a giant pile of work.  Back in June I had the opportunity to speak at TEDx Houston on the UH campus.  It was a fantastic (and yet nerve-wracking) experience I really enjoyed.  Well, the professionally edited video of my talk is finally available: "What is Social Systems Architecture and why does it matter?"  

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-87506794637132552752011-11-01T19:20:00.000-05:002011-11-01T19:20:56.202-05:00

Time to catch up on the smaller misc items: Houston tops the nation for income growth in the last decade.  Hat tip to Josh. Why is Houston an information technology hotbed? Somebody's personal essay on why Portland sucks, specifically mentioning the traffic (from underinvesting in freeways), taxes, and government over-regulation.  Normally I try to avoid bashing other cities (and I've actually

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-61750912024487423772011-10-25T21:06:00.000-05:002011-10-25T21:06:48.502-05:00

The National Review recently published a great essay on the Detroit vs. Houston development models since WW2 titled "Houston, We Have a Solution" (big hat tip to Brian).  Detroit was so far ahead of us - how did things switch so powerfully over the last few decades?  The whole article is definitely worth reading, but let's dive into the key excerpts: (highlights mine) ----------------------------

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-54183544773678108382011-10-18T20:27:00.003-05:002011-10-18T20:32:18.344-05:00

Continuing from last week with excerpts from Phil Hayward's amazingly insightful paper on urban form and economics. (again the bold highlighting is mine) ----------------Platitudes like “we must locate people close to where they work”, or “we must locate jobs close to where people live”, have little basis in reality. ... Ultimately, green planning will phase out cheap urban land, undermining this

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-54716886127251857632011-10-12T19:52:00.001-05:002011-10-12T19:53:00.559-05:00

Phil Hayward of New Zealand sent me an early draft of an amazingly insightful paper on urban form and economics.  Unfortunately it's not currently on the Internet, so I can't link to it, but I can share my favorite excerpts (italics and bold highlighting mine).  In fact, there are so many, I'm splitting them over two posts this week and next.  Long-time readers will recognize themes similar to my

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-7925549179425428572011-10-04T19:39:00.003-05:002011-10-04T19:45:03.985-05:00

It's time for the Summer 3Q11 quarterly highlights post (and let's all take a moment of thanks that the hottest Houston summer on record is over!). These posts have been chosen with a particular focus on significant ideas I'd like to see kept alive for discussion and action, and they're mainly targeted at new readers who want to get caught up with a quick overview of the Houston Strategies

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-25251675301451949772011-09-27T19:57:00.001-05:002011-09-27T19:58:11.847-05:00

Some smaller items this week followed by some amusing rankings analysis: If you're as annoyed by some of the "most livable cities" rankings as I am, there's a new web site out there called Pikimal that agrees with us and allows you to rank cities by your own criteria.  You can add your own ratings to Houston here. Aaron Renn the Urbanophile over at New Geography looks at the data and concludes

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-8995408295690649092011-09-20T21:17:00.000-05:002011-09-22T09:53:25.714-05:00

"Look to Texas to solve Australian housing supply" by the Unconventional Economist (hat tip to Hugh) Originally, I was just going to include that link among many in another misc items post, but there is so much good material in here, it deserves its own post.  Sometimes we forget how good we have it here and exactly why it works so well.  It takes an outsider to see and articulate the power of

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-88382317585073841422011-09-17T15:30:00.000-05:002011-09-17T15:30:47.228-05:00

A couple friends of mine are raising money for a very cool project: an application to enable a conversation on the future of our species (yes, I wish they'd think a little bigger too ;-)  They're in the last few days of Kickstarter crowdsourced funding, so check out the video and then support as you're inspired - even if it's just a tweet or Facebook "like" to spread the word.  Thanks.

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-31742711011969641382011-09-13T20:50:00.001-05:002011-09-13T20:53:20.334-05:00

Despite the success of the Main St. line, I've been concerned for a long time now that the next set of rail lines will essentially bankrupt Metro while providing minimal benefit (except for possibly the Universities line, which has moderate benefits, but may not get built anytime soon because of the money drain of the other lines being built first).  Now the Coalition On Sustainable

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-34992249413312782252011-09-06T20:20:00.000-05:002011-09-07T09:58:29.832-05:00

Lisa Gray at the Chronicle (who I don't always agree with) had a great article a week ago with quotes from people on "what makes Houston Houston?".  Long time readers know this has been a regular theme of mine.  Here are just some of my related posts: Houston's great competitive advantage The many meanings Houston as an "Open City of Opportunity" Opportunity Urbanism, 4 drivers op-ed, and 

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-63258557094543789532011-08-30T21:42:00.000-05:002011-08-30T21:42:21.955-05:00

Mayor Parker recently called for job-generating ideas to be submitted to her campaign web site, and I thought I'd share with you my suggestions I submitted. What can Mayor Parker and the City of Houston do to create more jobs in Houston right now?: Employers are creating more new jobs outside the city than inside of it because of severe traffic congestion.  They want to be close to their

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-18047976428286777162011-08-23T18:47:00.003-05:002011-08-25T22:28:23.149-05:00

Another stack of smaller misc items this week: Very unfortunately, Metro's future is almost certainly going to be the same as Denver and most other transit agencies in America: Build Trains = Raise Fares + Cut Bus Service.  It's the clearest case of "the emperor has no clothes" that I've ever seen.  Everybody can clearly see the long-term financial train wreck Metro is embarking on, but they all

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-7090680180724763912011-08-16T19:45:00.001-05:002011-08-16T19:47:16.190-05:00

I have tried several times to follow the twisted logic in this Chronicle op-ed calling for the new ordinance to limit tower development to designated areas - or at least have a large buffer between them and residential areas (a result of the Ashby high-rise controversy).  I don't know enough about the ordinance to have a strong opinion on it one way or the other.  I even proposed my own

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-44358882058722174322011-08-09T20:36:00.001-05:002011-08-09T20:36:37.836-05:00

Some smaller items have piled up over the last couple of weeks: Chief Executive magazine ranks Texas #1 for business seven years straight.  Illinois, NY, and CA are the bottom 3 - no surprises there.  And, speaking of Illinois, Businessweek has a feature profile of the new Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel and how desperate he is to attract business and jobs to Chicago.  Good luck with that, Rahm.  Hat

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-6190606571881426232011-08-01T20:38:00.003-05:002011-08-01T20:42:45.179-05:00

Alert reader Jessie sent me this article about Houston ranking "very low" on a "resilience capacity index".  For real.  I was dumbfounded too. And now I'm going to post out-of-character and get a little snippy... Let's skip right past the parade of articles and data showing Houston and Texas weathering the great recession better than just about everywhere else in the country.  It's so strong

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-77680762539984385712011-07-25T22:07:00.003-05:002012-01-02T18:59:20.363-06:00

PWC ranked Houston #11 *in the world* for business, life, and innovation - a really amazingly high ranking when you think about it.  Here's what they said: Best : #2 in cost of owning business space, entrepreneurial environment and life satisfaction, #3 in commute time and cost of living  Worst : Last in foreign job-creating investment and international tourists  Details: Houstonians love Houston

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-22407186908041422792011-07-19T19:55:00.001-05:002011-07-19T19:55:45.252-05:00

Just a few small items this week:Joel Kotkin on the rise of America's third coast.  Lots of great Houston material in here. Texas is among the top destinations for companies fleeing business-unfriendly California. Houston was the fastest growing metro area of the last decade, at least in terms of total population growth (as opposed to percentages), barely beating out DFW.  Pretty cool video too.

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-88095646688561204572011-07-12T19:41:00.003-05:002011-07-27T20:52:43.454-05:00

And the smaller misc items just keep piling up... Why does downtown Houston struggle to add residents? It's really pretty simple: who wants to pay high-rise living prices but have their view blocked by another building across the street?  There are plenty of buildings at the same - or lower - price point in the downtown-uptown-TMC triangle with unobstructed views. Houston paychecks go far.  Best

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-41315808319608773002011-07-05T20:06:00.001-05:002011-07-05T20:07:01.083-05:00

It's time for the Spring 2Q11 quarterly highlights post. These posts have been chosen with a particular focus on significant ideas I'd like to see kept alive for discussion and action, and they're mainly targeted at new readers who want to get caught up with a quick overview of the Houston Strategies landscape. I also like to track what I think of as "reference posts" that sum up a particular

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-23007700090662456262011-06-28T19:45:00.003-05:002011-06-28T19:51:35.079-05:00

Four years ago I started calling for Houston to develop its own version of Austin's globally-popular SXSW mega-conference, except around all types of energy technology, including alternative energy (arguments here and here).  It would be an incredible economic development, city branding, global PR, and tourism asset for the city while cementing our status as the Energy Capital no matter how the

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-42347594524657446262011-06-21T18:26:00.000-05:002011-06-21T18:26:36.709-05:00

This week we have an excellent guest post by fellow TEDx Houston attendee Katrina Moore, a long-suffering rider of Metro and the Metrolift system, with her insider's perspective and personal story of what's wrong and what's needed to fix it. -------------------------------------- I have been a member of a unique class of Houston citizens for well over a decade. In the hustle and bustle of daily

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-90249532783708244482011-06-14T19:41:00.001-05:002011-06-14T19:42:11.590-05:00

My TEDx Houston presentation went incredibly well.  Thanks to everyone for their support.  There should be a video available within a few weeks, but until then you can download a pdf of my TEDx slides here or they're also permalinked in the right-side Links column. I'm crunched for time this week, so just a pass-along of a couple of interesting items from Reason's Surface Transportation

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-16643451263225573452011-06-09T20:24:00.001-05:002011-06-09T20:25:14.518-05:00

Sorry about the late post this week - I was in New York for a conference.  Continuing the smaller misc items from last week: Dallas DART transit ridership continues to fall, even with rising gas prices.  Extensive light rail is definitely not working for them, yet we refuse to learn from their lesson.  Hat tip to an anonymous commenter. Pretty slick tool for mapping how far you can reach on

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-11947617493975257812011-05-30T20:50:00.001-05:002011-05-30T20:51:24.132-05:00

Gotta open this week's post with a big announcement: I'm now in the official speaker lineup for TEDx Houston Saturday June 11th at the University of Houston.  The official title of my presentation will be "Changing the Future of Cities, Organizations, and Education: What is Social Systems Architecture and why does it matter?"  The bulk of the presentation will be about cities, including

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-18150007911115195102011-05-25T08:44:00.000-05:002011-05-25T08:44:14.229-05:00

I'm back from my California travels and resuming blogging.  Last week I was able to attend the annual education summit put on by the NewSchools Venture Fund.  It was a fascinating experience.  There is an incredible amount of innovation going on in education, but scaling the success stories has run into the brick wall of the public school bureaucracy.  A few of the items to come out of the summit

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-11839609670997119402011-05-03T18:32:00.002-05:002011-05-03T18:32:40.388-05:00

Before we get to this week's misc small items, just a quick note that I'm going to be traveling on business and may miss the next couple of weeks' posts, probably to return the 24th. Fast Company has named Houston their 2011 City of the Year!  Quite a large honor.  After being a subscriber for many years, it's good to finally see us get our due.  Houston Business Journal coverage here, and the

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-34526431005761965302011-04-27T17:23:00.001-05:002011-04-27T17:24:42.474-05:00

Business Week recently had a feature article on "The Megabus Effect" and how these new cheap luxury intercity bus services are not only extremely popular and growing like crazy, but also deeply undermine the case for spending tens of billions of dollars developing high-speed rail for this country: He immediately begins detailing the company's merits: how 90 percent of customers book online, many

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-65532455831603429042011-04-19T18:11:00.000-05:002011-04-19T18:11:06.160-05:00

Got to clear out a stack of smaller misc items this week: Houston #1 for population added and #2 for jobs added in the last decade, just behind, you guessed it, Washington DC and our insatiable, ever-expanding federal government.  What I can't understand from the table is how all of these metros like DFW (+12 people for every job added) and especially Atlanta (a million people added but negative 

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-49947943859648375192011-04-13T16:27:00.000-05:002011-04-13T16:27:13.215-05:00

Not surprisingly, there has been much gnashing of teeth about Houston being denied a retired space shuttle to exhibit.  And as a Houstonian, I'm certainly disappointed.  But let's step back a bit and understand the logic of the decision and even the upsides for Houston. First, and most obvious, Space Center Houston won't have to spend the required tens of millions of dollars to exhibit the

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-45553776574375458022011-04-05T20:21:00.000-05:002011-04-05T20:21:48.120-05:00

It's time for the Winter 1Q11 quarterly highlights post. These posts have been chosen with a particular focus on significant ideas I'd like to see kept alive for discussion and action, and they're mainly targeted at new readers who want to get caught up with a quick overview of the Houston Strategies landscape. I also like to track what I think of as "reference posts" that sum up a particular

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-8394783240707966402011-03-29T21:42:00.000-05:002011-03-29T21:42:25.929-05:00

Just a handful of quick items this week.  First, a couple of Harvard professor Dr. Edward Glaeser excerpts: From a Wall Street Journal op-ed "Detroit's Decline and The Folly of Light Rail": Public policies only made things worse. The defining characteristic of declining cities is that they have plenty of infrastructure relative to the level of demand. Detroit didn't need the People Mover—an

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-40549078412977875402011-03-22T20:13:00.001-05:002011-03-22T20:16:54.430-05:00

Two items this week build the growing pushback against the administration's plan for a national network of high-speed rail lines.  The first is from Reason's respected transportation analyst Robert Poole in his Surface Transportation Innovations newsletter.  After describing negative op-eds in the Washington Post and news analysis in the NY Times - and dissecting a fluffy response by the DOT

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-18601445320478188202011-03-16T20:03:00.001-05:002011-03-16T20:07:00.016-05:00

Just a few smaller misc items to pass along this week: How's this for amusing? The new 2010 Census population-weighted center of the United States is Texas County, Missouri!  How's that for a sign of where the population is moving?  And it gets better: guess the county seat of Texas County, MO? Houston!  Both named in 1845 after the new Republic of Texas and Sam Houston, our first president.  If

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-64974646814124503752011-03-07T22:13:00.000-06:002011-03-07T22:13:58.834-06:00

I was able to attend Judge Emmett's State of the County address last week (Chronicle front page coverage here), and was very excited to hear his headline focus on the future of the Astrodome matches my previously posted ideas (and follow-up).  A minimalist upgrade into a festival and events venue could bring in more than enough annual revenue to support its maintenance as a historic structure (as

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-79269307645723900602011-03-01T18:37:00.002-06:002011-03-02T17:39:30.189-06:00

Continuing from last week with the rest of the smaller items: Site Selection magazine has named Texas #1 and Houston #2 (behind Chicago) for corporate expansions and relocations.  The GHP has more details in their press release here. Census 2010: A Texas Perspective from New Geography.  Excerpts: "What are people seeking in Texas? I’d call it quality of life with room for upward mobility:

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-13700551418861002862011-02-21T20:18:00.001-06:002011-02-21T20:18:46.549-06:00

Some smaller items this week: The Wall Street Journal examines options for reducing traffic congestion and improving commutes (with some good graphics).  The good news is that Houston is already doing most of these.  That's also the bad news - no easy improvements here.  The Houston-specific excerpts: "In many cities, roadways are lined with sensors or cameras that feed information to

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-33498848552205927172011-02-15T20:36:00.001-06:002011-02-15T20:37:25.798-06:00

Today Metro held a blogger luncheon with senior Metro people (Chairman, CEO, board members, managers) at the Rail Operations Center south of Reliant.  It was an informative event with a lot of good two-way Q&A.  And it included an impressive tour of the facility, which, btw, is not air conditioned in the main maintenance bay.  Let's just say it was the right time of year for a tour and I'm really

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-28098485140224178892011-02-08T19:06:00.002-06:002011-12-29T18:49:16.118-06:00

The Chronicle editorial board recently argued that light rail is key to combating Houston's traffic congestion problems.  But if you look at the three cities with worse traffic congestion than Houston - DC, Chicago, and LA - they have much more transit, including tons of light rail in LA.  Transit clearly hasn't solved the problem in these cities.  These people aren't stuck in that traffic

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-5963153927285611932011-02-01T18:28:00.003-06:002011-02-01T18:29:22.435-06:00

Continuing last week's list of smaller items: You probably saw this article in the Chronicle on how Fed funding for the Metro North and SE lines is at risk, as I predicted.  If the funding does disappear, I hope Metro has the guts to go in a new direction: replace N and SE lines with much cheaper signature bus and focus on the much more important University line (with or without Fed funds). Just

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-48539293752039913042011-01-27T15:33:00.000-06:002011-01-27T15:33:52.876-06:00

The Center for Houston's Future is holding their annual 'Counting on Quality of Place Symposium' this Friday morning (1/28/11) at the GRB. They will release the 2010 regional ‘report card’ on three critical indicators: Water Quality, Water Supply, and Green Buildings.  Both Mayor Parker and Judge Emmett will be there.  Definitely worth checking out if you have the time. More details and some of

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-15626272252961217862011-01-25T16:08:00.007-06:002011-01-25T16:10:03.814-06:00

The list of smaller misc items has been building so rapidly the last few weeks I'll need to split them across a couple of posts: The Urbanophile has a very insightful piece titled "Chicago: The Cost of Clout", making the case that "the Chicago way" of clout/patronage inherently limits their potential as an innovation/tech hub.  I don't think Houston has this problem, although we might be at risk

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-26155742998907885882011-01-18T15:23:00.000-06:002011-01-18T15:23:55.139-06:00

Houston Tomorrow recently featured a story about a study claiming that faster urban growth leads to lower incomes and higher poverty and unemployment.  I find the whole assertion deeply flawed, as does UH professor Peter Bishop in his comment. Here's what's happening: A city gets to the point it's difficult to add new housing to meet demand.  It might be because of regulations, geography, or

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-6328221734967732762011-01-11T21:48:00.004-06:002011-01-25T21:28:21.170-06:00

Last week NYT columnist and economist Paul Krugman wrote a very popular column pointing to Texas' revenue shortfall and declaring it an example of the failure of conservative government.  I found the whole piece a muddled mess and dismissed it, but you can't believe the notes I've gotten from people requesting a response. The thing is, I don't really get his point. The bad national economy was

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-60743151108955503162011-01-07T13:58:00.006-06:002011-01-07T14:05:43.856-06:00

It's time for the Fall 4Q10 quarterly highlights post, which also sums up all of 2010. These posts have been chosen with a particular focus on significant ideas I'd like to see kept alive for discussion and action, and they're mainly targeted at new readers who want to get caught up with a quick overview of the Houston Strategies landscape. I also like to track what I think of as "reference posts

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-17049726644678589282011-01-04T19:03:00.000-06:002011-01-04T19:03:56.630-06:00

There's been a buzz lately about this NYT piece on Geoffrey West (not all of it good - scroll down to the second section).  He applies some complexity principles to cities, which yields some interesting insights, albeit ones we kinda already knew. I highly recommend reading the whole thing, but here are some excerpts that jumped out at me: He didn’t want to be constrained by the old methods of

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-88485109968661093982010-12-28T13:39:00.001-06:002010-12-28T13:42:43.202-06:00

I had a tough time deciding this week between discussing the Geoffrey West/"A Physicist Solves the City" NYT story or another group of small misc items.  Since I figure this is a holiday week when people might have more time to follow links and read more, the misc items won out.  I'll post on the West article next week. Houston's Prop 1 drainage and roads fee is featured in this Wall Street

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-24993278021933083132010-12-21T15:58:00.002-06:002010-12-21T16:00:08.008-06:00

Some smaller items this week for your holiday reading (how many of you are really working at the office this week?), but first a paragraph on one of my pet peeves. Another report came out recently claiming Texas has some of the worst and most expensive commutes in the nation (hat tip to Jimmy).  While we do have our share of delays and traffic problems, these reports all share a similar flaw (

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-1159824491812410082010-12-14T14:51:00.000-06:002010-12-14T14:51:12.666-06:00

Just a quick pass-along this week from transportation expert Bob Poole at Reason, followed by a few comments of mine: Making Urban Highways More LikeableLast month I wrote about the Reason Mobility Project’s first major policy study, which makes the case that over the next 25 years, America’s urban areas need to add 104,000 lane-miles of expressway, arterials, and local roads in order to catch

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-53163877827013952652010-12-07T18:40:00.000-06:002010-12-07T18:40:51.546-06:00

A busy holiday season week with a business trip to Austin thrown in, so just a few small misc items to pass along:  Fast Company on "How an Army of Techies Is Taking on City Hall: Still waiting for a full reboot in Washington, D.C., an army of citizen techies is redefining civic engagement on a hyperlocal level."  Houston could definitely benefit from some of these Gov 2.0 initiatives which can

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-85936484571734586962010-12-01T14:41:00.000-06:002010-12-01T14:41:42.976-06:00

The Wall Street Journal had a fascinating article recently on "Studying the Biases of Bureaucrats" - essentially applying behavioral economics to examine how government bureaucrats systematically make mistakes in their judgement.  The key excerpt (my highlights): ..."in the mainstream economic literature there is a near complete absence of concern that regulatory design might suffer from lack of

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-62152834034398453272010-11-23T16:26:00.002-06:002010-11-23T16:29:49.623-06:00

Before I get to a collection of smaller misc items for your holiday reading pleasure, a blatant self-promotion unrelated to the normal content of this blog: yours truly was notified last night that I had won the first ever M-prize for management innovation by the Management Innovation eXchange community lead by the Wall Street Journal's #1 ranked management guru, Gary Hamel.  I won in the

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-19555404090848379532010-11-17T10:45:00.001-06:002010-11-17T10:46:33.443-06:00

I was lucky enough to attend a GHP education luncheon (summary story) last week featuring Dr. Terry Grier, head of HISD, and Dr. Roland Fryer, a Harvard economist who focuses much of his research on closing the black/brown-white gap in education.  They had some exciting things to say about educational progress in Houston. Dr. Fryer's personal story was very inspiring by itself, rising from a

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-36794008526560255272010-11-08T14:18:00.006-06:002010-11-09T12:30:27.080-06:00

For its 10th anniversary, the Center for Houston's future has snagged one of the highest profile thinkers, writers, and speakers in the country on the topic of cities: Joel Kotkin. I worked with Joel on the Opportunity Urbanism study a few years back, and he really knows how to get past all of the hype and fads around cities to get to what's really going on, including what's working and what's

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-35202096924009721572010-11-01T21:21:00.004-05:002010-11-01T21:26:38.954-05:00

Some more smaller items this week: A new index estimates new house cost impact of land regulation.  As you might expect, Houston comes out very well - actually #1 - with the lowest cost impact of any of the cities listed. Wendell Cox at New Geography details Portland's Runaway Debt Train, an anti-model for Metro.  Let's hope they're not making the same mistakes.  Scratch that - is somebody

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-41057245536345718382010-10-26T20:21:00.001-05:002010-10-26T20:21:39.338-05:00

The eminent Bob Poole over at Reason has another insightful analysis in his Surface Transportation Innovations newsletter which I wanted to excerpt, but has so many good points I just highlighted my favorites in bold: Bus Continues to Challenge High-Speed Rail I've written previously about the remarkable come-back of the inter-city bus ("coach") industry this decade, as typified by the highly

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-57377837468746043462010-10-19T16:30:00.002-05:002010-10-19T16:32:11.950-05:00

Before getting to a batch of smaller items, I wanted to mention that I met with Peter Schwethelm for HISD school board district 8 this week, and he had some well-reasoned arguments on how to improve public education.  I don't do official endorsements on this blog, and he and I didn't agree on everything, but he was thoughtful, knowledgeable and open-minded - which is more than I can say for many

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-1328941335684109782010-10-12T16:38:00.001-05:002010-10-12T16:38:50.991-05:00

The American Dream Coalition just had their annual conference in Orlando.  I was unable to attend, but their presentations have been put online here.  Here are some key highlights I found: This excellent presentation on Houston's unique approach to development from Sam Staley at the Reason Foundation, titled "Opportunity Urbanism: Zoning and Planning for the 21st Century City"   An accountant

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-52896097595675323172010-10-05T15:29:00.002-05:002010-10-05T15:29:58.859-05:00

It's time again for the quarterly highlights post.  These posts have been chosen with a particular focus on significant ideas I'd like to see kept alive for discussion and action, and they're mainly targeted at new readers who want to get caught up with a quick overview of the Houston Strategies landscape. I also like to track what I think of as "reference posts" that sum up a particular topic or

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-74396314424813466702010-09-28T14:46:00.003-05:002010-09-28T14:49:02.528-05:00

Another week to clear out the rapidly growing list of smaller items: Some very cool maps of cities with racial/ethnic color-dot overlays, including Houston, which seems a bit less rigidly segregated than most other cities (maybe from the lack of zoning?), but that may just be an illusion of the lower density.  You can keep clicking down on it to get to the full detail version where you can make

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-1147900635478081962010-09-21T15:38:00.001-05:002010-09-21T21:48:31.393-05:00

Sometimes I have a half-formed idea for a post.  When that happens, I throw a few notes into a draft and save it to get back to it one day.  At this point, I must have 30+ of these post ideas saved up (some from years ago), but I almost never get around to finishing them because of the substantial time investment they usually need.  Since today is blogging day, and I've posted plenty lately on

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-72222625048399747702010-09-14T15:22:00.004-05:002010-09-23T09:10:35.995-05:00

I haven't commented much on all of the recent Metro news, but today's article puts the absurdity level over the top.  What the heck were they thinking using short-term debt to pay the cities their quarter-cent mobility payments?  How are they possibly going to balance the budget and build rail without cutbacks?  While I applaud Greanias' appointment as CEO, how could they possibly think they can

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-63595435933599735502010-09-08T08:46:00.003-05:002010-09-08T08:47:45.492-05:00

Sorry about the erratic posting recently - Internet access problems.  Just have time today to pass along a few small items: One of the common stories you'll hear is that GM killed off the trolleys in the first half of the 20th century to increase the purchases of cars.  The Debunker over at BNET has looked into it and, well, debunked that myth. "The main point of “General Motors and the Demise of

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-50047479966973848952010-08-24T17:05:00.003-05:002010-08-24T17:07:43.692-05:00

Another week to clear out some smaller items: High-Speed-Rail Costs Irk States - WSJ.com (good map here too, including the absurd exclusion of the Texas Triangle).  This cracks me up. The Federal govt offers free money for high-speed rail, and they get a $108 billion in applications.  All of a sudden they ask states to chip in 20%, and the requests drop to $8.5 billion.  What, put our own money

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-14872329817081120182010-08-18T17:35:00.002-05:002010-08-19T13:51:47.513-05:00

I was recently able to have lunch with fellow Rice alum Lauren Barrash to talk about her rapidly growing jitney transit service, The Wave.  What started as a small shuttle service for nightlife on Washington Avenue has grown to multiple shuttles now serving the Heights and Midtown, with downtown shuttle service coming soon - all with Metro's full blessing and permitted by the city's brand new

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-19961816786097164412010-08-10T16:15:00.001-05:002010-08-11T14:16:12.120-05:00

Aaron Renn (The Urbanophile) has a fascinating piece over at New Geography titled "Civic Choices: The Quality vs. Quantity Dilemma".  'Quality cities' like Boston, NYC, SF, LA, DC, etc. focus on elite populations and jobs at the expense of affordability or any broad job or population growth.  In fact, their overall job growth is usually negative.  'Quantity cities' like Atlanta, Austin, Dallas,

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-91944523770105739912010-08-05T08:53:00.006-05:002010-08-05T08:58:32.043-05:00

Sorry for the late post this week.  I was doing a little traveling to the Hill Country.  Just a few small items. Interesting transit concept from China: tall buses (trains?) that allow cars to travel underneath them.  Creative concept for very tight rights-of-way, but I think the number of accidents would be astronomical as cars accidentally merge into or collide with the moving supports - esp.

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-7232824835121852992010-07-27T18:03:00.002-05:002010-07-27T18:07:12.521-05:00

Sometimes, Houston's obsession with matching other "world class" cities works out pretty well - like Discovery Green and our stadiums - but sometimes it doesn't serve us so well, like our insistence on having a rail transit financial disaster because all of the other important cities have had one. Even the Feds are having second thoughts about emphasizing rail over much more cost-effective buses

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-63486168718058605422010-07-20T14:52:00.002-05:002010-07-20T14:54:14.424-05:00

Another stack of smaller misc items, including a lot of love for Houston from the media: 10 Things We Love About Houston.  No-zoning is #1.  Love it! And from the same site, a translation of favorite NYC sites to their Houston counterpart. Houston is the “Top City for New College Grads” according to BusinessWeek. Why? Affordability, good pay and plenty of jobs (at least relative to the rest of

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-34292899012713445672010-07-13T17:52:00.004-05:002010-07-13T17:54:12.604-05:00

It's time for the Spring 2Q10 quarterly highlights post (which I forgot to do last week).  These posts have been chosen with a particular focus on significant ideas I'd like to see kept alive for discussion and action, and they're mainly targeted at new readers who want to get caught up with a quick overview of the Houston Strategies landscape. I also like to track what I think of as "reference

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-77480448590590295512010-07-06T17:05:00.000-05:002010-07-06T17:05:30.212-05:00

IBM has released its annual Commuter Pain Index (press release), and despite what you might expect, Houston ranked remarkably well, scoring 17 out of 100, the second-lowest in the index behind Stockholm.  In his analysis, Wendell Cox has some nice things to say about Houston: The Houston Advantage: Perhaps the biggest surprise is Houston's favorable traffic congestion ranking.Houston has the 

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-35195445672193350842010-06-29T17:21:00.002-05:002010-06-29T17:23:55.155-05:00

Some smaller items this week: Everybody knows Austin is the darling city of Texas, and maybe even the whole country.  Not so fast, argues this essay by someone who's lived there and here: "Austin: The Best City in Texas? Think Again!". Houston may not photograph as well or have that hip image, but it's friendlier, more open, more diverse, easier to do business and build a career in, has more

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-57252014648889849882010-06-22T18:18:00.002-05:002010-06-25T10:56:26.857-05:00

Last week HCSCC released a new master plan for Reliant Park with three options for the Astrodome, including two large, relatively detailed chart documents and a public feedback form.  Summing up the three options in their words: Reliant Astrodome is demolished and replaced by a green space plaza - $873 million Reliant Astrodome's outer shell remains, a floor is built at grade level, and the

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-48277100632146519772010-06-15T17:39:00.006-05:002010-06-16T16:55:08.479-05:00

A few smaller and mid-sized items: A story on the dramatic one-third drop in juvenile crime since 1997.  My theory: the rise and now ubiquity of the internet, cell phones, and video game consoles have got to be a big factor here.  Youth don't get bored and cause mischief as much anymore - there's always something entertaining to do close at hand.  Or with texting, IM and social networking,

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-2708930174543834532010-06-08T22:20:00.000-05:002010-06-08T22:20:36.519-05:00

Last week I was briefed on the Renew Houston city charter amendment initiative, which is trying to collect 22,000 signatures this month so it can be on the ballot in November.  The basic argument makes sense: we pay dedicated fees for water and sewer, which keep them maintained properly year after year, but we pay for roads and drainage out of the general fund, which is always being short-changed

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-66944145837664611882010-06-02T15:32:00.002-05:002010-06-02T15:33:45.848-05:00

Joel Kotkin has a great piece in Forbes titled "Houston: Model City" (also reposted on New Geography), holding that our innovation, job growth, and immigration put us ahead of other cities like NYC and Boston.  Originally I wanted to show key excerpts, but I couldn't find anything to cut!  It's that tight (and quite short), making a great point in just about every sentence.  And I know most of

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-88272303196528240572010-05-25T17:39:00.003-05:002010-05-25T17:40:47.813-05:00

The small items have been coming in thick and fast (really more medium-size in this case), compelling me to do another misc post more frequently than I'd like (ideally) before I get too many for one post: Brookings has released a new report on "The State of Metropolitan America", including some pretty impressive interactive maps with tons of statistics.  If you dig into the full report (pdf),

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-53319989077455140362010-05-18T18:44:00.000-05:002010-05-18T18:44:01.149-05:00

I've been building up a list of recent stories on national problems with rail transit projects.  The most comprehensive is Randal O'Toole's new report at Cato on "Defining Success - The Case against Rail Transit".  It is packed with disturbing statistics.  Here is the Executive Summary: Over the past four decades, American cities have spent close to $100 billion constructing rail transit systems

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-40943286285562181382010-05-12T18:43:00.000-05:002010-05-12T18:43:11.801-05:00

I'm speaking at a symposium in Sacramento this week, so just time to pass along the rapidly growing list of smaller items: Daniel Gross at Slate on "Lone Star: Why Texas is doing so much better economically than the rest of the nation."  Hat tip to Hugh. How Shale Gas Is Going to Rock the World - WSJ.com, by Amy Myers Jaffe of Rice's Baker Institute for Public Policy.  Bodes well for the economic

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-6511567799281198772010-05-02T16:21:00.000-05:002010-05-02T16:21:48.838-05:00

That's the headline of Christof Spieler's recent article in Cite magazine.  For those of you who don't know Christof, he used to write excellent posts about transit over at the Intermodality blog before being recently appointed to the Metro board.  The article was written and published before that appointment.  In it he raises a lot of critical issues regarding Houston's long-term commuter

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-40067465325805590712010-04-26T17:19:00.001-05:002010-04-26T21:21:58.227-05:00

What started as a humble video segment for Reason TV has mushroomed into a lot of positive PR for Houston (and less than positive for Cleveland).  It started with famous actor and comedian Drew Carey working with the libertarian Reason Foundation on a video series about saving Cleveland, his hometown.  Houston is held up as a "best practice" example for land use regulation.  There are lots of

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-84616008624131336252010-04-16T09:21:00.004-05:002010-04-22T07:55:06.273-05:00

Adding to the Metro mess, KHOU 11News Defenders have an expose this morning on how Metro deceived the FTA in its rail funding application (hat tip to Barry). It intentionally used out-of-date pre-recession sales tax revenue estimates to "prove" it could afford to build all five lines (which was required).  UH Dr. Barton Smith gave them updated numbers in June 2009, but they chose to submit the

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-70647659868342145582010-04-14T18:04:00.001-05:002010-04-15T08:18:58.543-05:00

Time again for some of the smaller misc items that have stacked up: Ted Balaker has a new Reason TV piece on how red tape and taxes are strangling California.  Texas is talked about as a better model about 5:30 in, with numerous shots of Houston. In case you missed it, check out Jennifer-Joy Bronk's recent op-ed in the Chronicle on using micro-loans to stimulate entrepreneurship, economic

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-76745780605930644012010-04-12T14:48:00.000-05:002010-04-12T14:48:50.499-05:00

I'm planning on attending this event and wanted to pass the announcement along.  If you work downtown it should be particularly easy to attend: South Texas College of Law will host what promises to be a very interesting land use panel on Tuesday, April 13, at noon.  It's called "Land Use in the Unzoned City: Regulation, Property Rights, and Smart Growth in Houston's Future."  It's free and

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-39886027812510827822010-04-08T18:57:00.007-05:002010-04-08T19:18:28.652-05:00

I've been wanting to do a "big picture" post on Metro since the transition committee reports came out (see below for links), and after a blogger conference call with the Mayor last night I think I finally have all the pieces I need.  I originally expected it to be a post of despair: Massive debt for extreme rail construction costs hobbling Metro for a decade or more, with budgets running out

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-22054729896075354382010-04-05T09:30:00.000-05:002010-04-05T09:30:26.753-05:00

I know I've been a little thin on new content recently, something I hope to rectify soon.  In the meantime, here is a small new 'strategy' for Houston Metro: move the Clear Lake P&R lot from Bay Area Blvd. to the Space Center Houston parking lots. Here are the benefits: Express commuter buses could now carry passengers both ways with NASA employees and contractors that live up in Houston doing

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-21679844451238177142010-04-02T16:42:00.001-05:002010-04-02T16:43:08.066-05:00

It's time for the Winter 1Q10 quarterly highlights post, which is a little awkward because of the recent 5th-birthday retrospective post.  Sorry about them being so close together, but I'm trying to keep these posts on a regular schedule at the beginning of each quarter.  I promise to do some more new content posts soon. These posts have been chosen with a particular focus on significant ideas

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-88085150143372686692010-03-25T17:23:00.000-05:002010-03-25T17:23:35.472-05:00

Passing along some smaller misc items:In case you missed it, check out Bill King's excellent op-ed in the Chronicle detailing the myths of Metro's light rail plan. Also, Tom does a great job summing up much of the recent Metro criticism.Fox News' John Stossel has a great column (alt link) commenting on Forbes recent list of Most Miserable Cities, where Cleveland was #1 and NYC was #16. Houston

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-54006281360329935282010-03-20T15:50:00.002-05:002010-03-20T15:51:46.079-05:00

Randal O' Toole has such a great essay in the Wall Street Journal this morning, I have to pass it along (with my own highlights). Its main theme is about the self-driving cars of the future, but it also brings up a lot of inconvenient facts about the alternatives, like inter- and intra-city rail - which are the emerging themes of the next federal transportation bill. This fits into my ongoing

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-3571929246436861492010-03-18T22:13:00.009-05:002010-03-19T08:40:47.897-05:00

I wanted to do a substantial post this week on the big picture situation at Metro, but it looks like it'll have to be at least next week before I'll have everything I need. Instead, this week, I want to pass along a couple of insightful posts by Bill King on Metro. The first one describes how Metro fails to serve its most important constituency: the transit dependent. 2-3 hours for a 14-mile

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11321606.post-66795243748527807912010-03-09T19:09:00.005-06:002012-01-18T13:24:21.918-06:00

Houston Strategies is five years old this week, which is reasonably old by blog standards. You can find the inaugural post here, and my very first "strategy" post here: a proposed elite UH - Institute of Technology campus. And now here we are 802 posts later (!) - so much content I can't even remember most of it, and count on Google to help me find it. So I've decided to pull out the best of

Tory Gattishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14219981302409618830noreply@blogger.com7