First, some snippets: (from American.com)
Houston possessed powerful assets. It sat on an enormous fresh-water aquifer, which today guarantees a water supply in a way that other growing cities, such as Phoenix and Las Vegas, can only dream about. The area also abounded in natural resources such as timber and rich soil that was ideal for growing cotton. And when oil drillers hit a gusher in Spindletop, about 90 miles from Houston in East Texas, in 1901, Houston suddenly found itself positioned as the nearest city to some of North America’s richest oil and gas reserves.
None of this, however, adequately explains Houston’s ascendancy. Other cities enjoy better locations for shipping, richer agricultural resources, or similar proximity to oil fields. The answer, I have come to understand as I have worked in Houston as a reporter and consultant, echoes something that the late Soichiro Honda once told me: “More important than gold and diamonds are people.” This critical resource, more than anything, accounts for Houston’s headlong drive toward becoming not only the leading city of Texas and the South, but also a player on the global scene: it is emerging as one of the world’s great cities.
It took a certain type of settler, back in the 1830s, to look at a sun-blasted, humidity-drenched, mosquito-infested flatland far from any major river or port and think: “Here is where I’ll make my success.” That tradition of hopefulness and determination can readily be found in the city to this day. As Rice University sociologist Stephen Klineberg notes, roughly 80 percent of Houstonians, according to his annual local surveys, consistently agree with the proposition that “if they work hard, they can succeed here.”
(snip)
Most important, Houstonians worked desperately to ensure that their city emerged from the early-1980s oil bust as the undisputed center of the energy industry. Many observers saw the oil bust as a harbinger of Houston’s inevitable decline. And indeed office construction nosedived along with rents, housing prices, and the job market. Yet, looking back, it is clear that Houston turned the oil bust to its advantage.
Using the lure of its relatively inexpensive office space and housing stock, as well as its ties to energy executives and leading engineers, the city attracted firms to locate there. In 1960, Houston was the home of hardly any major energy companies, ranking behind New York, Los Angeles, and even Tulsa; today, 16 large companies make their headquarters there, more than all those cities combined.
Rather than lapsing into a tailspin in the 1980s, Houston continued its rapid growth. A place with fewer than 300,000 people in 1930 is now a mega-region with a population nearing five million. The population of the metropolitan area itself, which did not even rank in the U.S. top 20 in 1940, is today the fourth largest in the country. The 2006 census estimate pegged Houston’s population at 2,144,491, only 700,000 behind third-place Chicago. In 1960, Houston was the home of just one Fortune 500 company; as of 2007, the area has 23. And the city is well positioned to benefit from its important place in the energy industry, a sector of the global economy that is only going to grow in strategic importance in the early 21st century.
By "people" I believe that Kotkin was referring more to the hardscrabble small businessman than he is the Downtown development establishment or those inside City Hall. I would imagine that Kotkin would more closely identify "growth" with the owner of a Mobile Taco truck taking advantage of an opportunity than a developer trying to use City Hall to his advantage but that's just me. Some (such as Off the Kuff guest blogger Alexandria Ragsdale) see it differently:
Those couple paragraphs really just make me think more about what's still left for the government and individuals to do to make Houston a place where everyone succeeds. Houston has tons of success stories in every demographic, but there are still big numbers of people that are struggling here. Our diversity is a strength, but let's be careful not to take that for granted and make sure that people succeed here because of what Houston (and the county and the state) do and not in spite of what they don't.
They see it as the job of Government to make the opportunities for those who (in their mind) don't have them. They support regulation that protects us from ourselves and that protects us from that which we find uncomfortable. They're willing to overlook inconsistencies in policy enforcement in order to achieve the desired result.
On the other side of the ledger are those who favor the light hand of Government to refulate little. A few people being caught in the wash are a small price to pay to acheive the progress realized by free markets.
For myself I'm probably closer to the latter than the former, in that I'm tired of a City Council that tries to legislate away every unseemly thing but I'm also wary of a Government that provides aid to some where others find none while asking us to forget the past to make way for a future that's been dictated to us by groups with clever names sometimes masking their true purpose. I'm also very wary of a Houston that's increasingly being governed by psuedo-governmental beauracracies who have not only the ear of City Government, but who control the purse strings as well. This financial control is propelling Houston closer and closer to Trinket Governance and further away from the unsexy nuts and bolts of City Administration that provide the underpinnings for growth.
One good thing about Kotkin is that his writing has the ability to get all sides of Houston's vast political landscape focused on how to best accomplish the goals that we would all like to see: A vibrant, growing Houston that's a world economic force who's economy is diverse enough to withstand tough economic times.
Hopefully, in the course of this discussion we'll come to realize what are priorities are as well.
- A "third way" for transportation which takes a fresh look at Houston's transportation needs outside of the "Metro LightRail" and "blacktop everything" corners both sides have backed themselves into.
- A better way to spend Billions than to fund construction of Hotels and a Downtown park that's "sort-of" almost entirely unlike Central Park in New York.
- A close look at our flood control needs including how to mitigate the effects of the next Allison-type event.
- A way to ensure robust development while protecting the integrity of established neighborhoods.
- Ways to clean our air and waterways that don't stifle the job growth that industry provides us.
- Stopping the insanity of subsidizing Billionaires with sports arenas all so that a select few can feel "World Class".
Kotkin set the bar pretty high. I wonder if Houston has the political will to reach it?
Other eyes:
BlogHouston: Kotkin: "Lone Star Rising"
Off the Kuff: Houston, the Next Great World City
Houston Strategies: America's Next Great World City (+ tourism proposal)
Houston's Clear Thinkers: America's Booming Opportunity City
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