Opportunity Urbanism released, Houston outbuilds CA, America loves us, top GDP growth, and more
So as I mentioned in the last post, last week Joel Kotkin came to Houston for the release of our Opportunity Urbanism study at a major luncheon. The tweetstream for the event is here, and the report itself can be found here from this page at the GHP under the Independent Research section. Joel also published the introduction to the report at his New Geography site. Our op-ed in the Chronicle should be coming out next Sunday, and I will post more about it then. In the meantime, here are some of my favorite tweets from the #oppurbanism tweetstream:- Houston is the alternative to the "luxury city" - focused on upward mobility for middle and working class
- In an Opportunity City, the objective is how do you make life better for more people
- Opportunity Urbanism = high growth in jobs/incomes, growing appeal to immigrants/millennials, city for middle class
- You have suburban and urban center growth at the same time in Houston
- Much higher percentage of home ownership among minorities in Houston than in many other cities
- Kotkin: "People go to Houston because they like the community, can make a good living and everyday life is better"
- Houston has fairly strong growth in millennials. #1 in growth in adults with bachelors or higher (2007-2012)
- When you factor income relative to cost of living, Houston is the best bargain you can get
The backlog of smaller misc items has also been growing incredibly quickly lately:
- Business Week on Houston and how we're issuing more building permits than all of California with 6x the population. Since 2000, we're almost an even match!
- Houston ranked as one of America's favorite cities, with some great sub-category rankings as well. Really impressive showing vs. similar past rankings! (more here)
- Houston actually has a pretty pleasant climate compared the most of the rest of the country. Hat tip to Leo.
- An analysis shows that Houston's transit access is actually pretty good, and that's before the big redesign that's coming.
- An nonlocal architect checks out Houston...
LETTER FROM HOUSTON
Planning the Boom
As Houston enjoys staggering growth, can a city known for its lack of zoning and car-centric ways embrace a more pedestrian-friendly urbanism?
- I love this awesome idea for a public mega-pool in Houston, similar to Barton Springs in Austin.
- Houston is the #1 metro in the country for per capita GDP growth from 2010 to 2013, and our GDP per capita is actually much higher than NYC, Chicago, Dallas, or LA.
There are plenty more where those came from, but that's enough for this week.
Labels: affordability, economy, growth, Metro, opportunity urbanism, rankings, tourism, transit
posted by Tory Gattis @ 7:36 PM
11 Comments:
Houston's now among the most overpriced cities in the entire country, housing-wise:
http://www.chron.com/homes/article/Houston-among-most-overpriced-housing-markets-in-5810173.php#photo-6877827
High property and sales taxes certainly don't help. What do we get in exchange for it all? Expansion rail lines won't even be open until April of 2015, at the soonest. In light of the latest metro rail expansion release delays and cost overruns, one can't help but increasingly want jitney buses to become legalized throughout Houston (instead of merely Washington Avenue and a few select routes). Metro doesn't deserve to continue having a monopoly. It can't even keep its contractors and winner-picking bureaucrats in order amidst their temptations to increasingly snatch money out of taxpayers' pockets "for their own good" amidst all these additional delays.
Here are some interesting websites on the subject of jitneys' legality in Houston:
http://www.houstontx.gov/ara/regaffairs/jitneys.html
http://www.thehoustonwave.com
&...
Well... Walt Inc. appears to have gone outta business:
http://walt-inc.houston.tx.amfibi.com/us/c/14185729-walt-inc
Having to compete against taxpayer-subsidized, established monopolies without an economy of scale like what Metro's allowed to have can do that to a company.
Isn't there a better way? With all these newcomers voting in Houston, it's easier to sway public opinion than before. But the public needs information and inspiration. Mr. Gattis can lead the charge and others among us will follow his charismatic, well-informed lead.
Thanks, Rich. I don't know about leading the charge, but I'd love to see METRO offer a flat taxpayer subsidy per passenger-mile and let private operators compete on routes and service.
Hi Tory:
What you're mentioning is very interesting. Please feel free to elaborate.
With Metro's upcoming reimagining, inertia will be undermined and new competitors will have a chance to enter the scene perhaps more than ever before. Folks have to change their routes, regardless, so why not experiment with competitors? :-)
At any rate, newcomers will not be married to the Metro brand, while they're often from cities that are commuter friendly. Meanwhile traffic will keep getting worse here as more move to Houston. Stress is the mother of innovation. And a thousand mile journey begins with a single interaction with...guru Tory Gattis... :-)
I'm here at the APTA convention & been able to have some discussions w/transit operators including Metro. The Wave would be able to expand into markets needing jitney services with subsidy/grant money from HGAC, and others. For now however, we keep expanding & providing services to our growing ridership. To date we've moved 100,000 people. Not bad for a small operator. Stay tuned for our 5 year anniversary and updates we will be doing to help move Houstonians where they want to go! Thank you Tori for educating the public.
Way to go, Houston Wave! Your Facebook page has very recently been liked at the unofficial page devoted to rail expansion here in Houston:
http://www.facebook.com/hmrdev
Obviously Houston needs more jitney service, what with the high cost of rail expansion and the nearly inexplicable delays... May your endeavor attract considerable investment and enthusiastic support. :-) Houston needs you...
Here's the elaboration you requested, Rich: http://houstonstrategies.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-vision-for-metros-new-ceo.html
Way to go, Lauren - congrats! Good luck with continued growth!
Thanks Tory. I look forward to checking it out.
Hi again Tory:
I enjoyed your article but I still don't quite understand what you mean by the following quote from earlier today:
>>>I'd love to see METRO offer a flat taxpayer subsidy per passenger-mile<<<
Maybe you're referring to how Metro could theoretically take tax dollars and allocate them to the various competing jitney buses per ticket sold?
Exactly. 80% of Metro's budget comes from it's 1% sales tax, not the fare box. It could say to private operators, "We'll give you $0.10 per passenger mile you carry", enabling the jitneys to offer lower prices to passengers.
Any chance that your very interesting proposal could wind up on a website (maybe a .org one, or perhaps just a dedicated Facebook page) maintained by Houston Wave, etc.? Your idea has very interesting potential, Tory. Let Metro focus on serving the unprofitable routes while facilitating others' commercializing the potentially profitable ones.
It's analogous to what spacers are trying to do with NASA: have NASA focus on Mars and beyond, which the private sector isn't inclined to touch anytime soon. Having NASA closer (as with the fortunately canceled Shuttle program that I seem to recall barely, if ever left near Earth orbit) spooked investors and potential customers. Same goes for jitney services here in Houston, perhaps? :-)
I'm open to it being shared anywhere. I know people inside METRO are aware of it, but bureaucracies are quite resistant to innovation.
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