Houston accolades, criticism, and a crisis
A whole 'nother bunch of smaller items:- Following up on the Center for Houston's Future symposium I mentioned a couple weeks ago (but was unable to attend at the last minute), they released this report on the state of air quality, parks and trails, and trees in Houston, as well as these presentations by the speakers. Here's a KTRK ABC 13 clip too.
- Fortune Small Business magazine named Houston the #4 best large metro to launch a new business with this profile and this in-depth story.
- The 2010 6th edition of the Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey is out, and Houston does very well again, as usual. Hat tip to Hugh.
- More on the critical need to address the city's pension funding crisis. I've come to the conclusion that no institution can be counted on to be above board in pension contributions and accounting - including private companies and government. It's just too tempting to shortchange the problem and kick it down the road until it explodes - and then the taxpayers are on the hook. Defined-benefit plans simply need to be made illegal and move everybody to defined-contribution plans. Hat tip to Bill.
- From the Wall Street Journal: New Transit-Funding Rules Make Streetcars More Desirable.
- Houston 2009 Year End Outlook from Transwestern. Hat tip to Dave.
- Catching up on my newsfeeds, the Antiplanner has a couple of interesting posts: one comparing TX very favorably vs. CA, and another of the Top 10 Rail Disasters of the Decade (Houston weighs in at #6, not because of costs, but because of the chronic accidents in the early years).
Labels: affordability, economy, environment, home affordability, identity, quality of place, rail, rankings, world city
posted by Tory Gattis @ 4:34 PM
1 Comments:
Defined-contribution plans have one downside: if your benefits run out at 70, you're out on the street. This is how things work in Singapore, whose social security system is entirely defined-contribution. You see a lot of people in their 70s and 80s wait tables there.
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