Houston Strategies

Does Houston have a sense of 'sacredness'?

Joel Kotkin's new book, "The City: A Global History", is out, and it talks about how great cities are sacred, safe, and busy. Houston is reasonably safe, and we're certainly busy, but do we have a sense of 'sacredness'? His definition:

"Being sacred is really the sense that a city is unique, which engenders loyalty and pride. If city leaders and the populace don’t have a sense of passion about where they live, then people will not invest in it."

He has an interesting quote in a a recent interview where he's talking about sacredness and LA (where he lives):

"I just came back from Fargo, North Dakota, where I was impressed by the sense of importance and commitment among a broad spectrum of people. Cities like Houston, which does not have the natural blessings that Los Angeles has, have a sense of mission and uniqueness that we lack."

Setting aside LA's "natural blessings" of drought, wildfires, mudslides, and earthquakes, I'm curious if people out there really feel Houstonians have a "sense of mission and uniqueness"? I tend to think so - but then I'm the author of this blog, which pretty much puts me out of the mainstream. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section.

posted by Tory Gattis @ 8:18 PM