January 24, 2005
G U L F C O A S T
G R O W T H N E W S
A publication of the Gulf Coast Institute
NOTABLE QUOTES
"Transportation
and land use development go together like Romeo and Juliet."
- Frank Wilson, President and
CEO of METRO, speaking at a January 13 Urban Land Institute luncheon.
"Freeways historically have been channelways to connect middle-class suburbanites to inner-city jobs and activities, often at the expense of inner-city communities. I think they're far more disruptive than many people realize."
- Robert Cervero, professor of
city and regional planning at the University of California at Berkeley, quoted
in Chronicle article. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3005621
"You don't need to wait until 2050 to really start to see the impact of how much diversity we're going to have. When you walk into a gas station, listen to the music that's being played. This is where you find out how culture is changing. Pay attention to the kinds of combinations of restaurants that are coming up in your community, the sort of Mexican/Italian restaurants. It's about opportunity, and people remaking America all over again."
-Nat Irvin II, founder and
president of Future Focus 2020, and professor of future studies at Wake Forest
University, as interviewed in the Christian Science Monitor, http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0105/p14s01-lihc.html?s=hns.
LIVABLE HOUSTON INITIATIVE
The scheduled January 26
Livable Houston Initiative meeting about nanotechnology has been cancelled. The
next meeting is Wednesday, February 23, noon-1:30 pm, Houston-Galveston Area
Council, 3555 Timmons, second floor. Topic to be announced. Bring your
lunch. For more information call 713-523-5757. The Gulf Coast Institute and the
Houston-Galveston Area Council host Livable Houston/Smart Growth
bring-your-own-lunch meetings that are open to the public on the fourth
Wednesday of every month. http://www.gulfcoastinstitute.org
REGIONAL NOTES
Howdy, y'all
Houston cracks top-10 'Best-Mannered City' rankings
For the 11th time, Charleston SC was named the "Best-Mannered City" in the US in the unofficial list compiled by etiquette expert Marjabelle Young Stewart. According to CNN, Stewart cited Charlestonians "soft, gentle way of behaving." Houston was ranked 9th, between Philadelphia and Salt Lake City. http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/14/polite.cities.ap/index.html
Lessons Learned: Meeting the
Houston Ozone Standards, 1970-2004
Rice
workshop hosted by Shell Center for Sustainability
The Shell Center for Sustainability of Rice University will present a seminar on Houston's efforts to meet federally mandated ozone standards. The keynote speaker is Hank Habicht, former EPA Deputy Administrator. His talk begins at 8:30 am, Thursday, February 24. Panel discussions begin at 9 am and continue until 3 pm, followed by a public discussion. The seminar takes place in the Shell Oil Foundation for Sustainable Growth Auditorium of the Jones School of Management at Rice University. Contact: Christine Gardner, 713-348-4700. Registration is free at http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~eesi/scs/SIP.html.
McDonough
film to be shown
US
Green Building Council Houston chapter January meeting
The 55-minute film "The Next Industrial Revolution" will be screened. The film, an optimistic look at the future of human economy, promotes the ideas of architect William McDonough and chemist Dr. Michael Braungart, two leaders in a growing movement to transform the relationship between commerce and nature. Tuesday, January 25, at the Houstonian Hotel. Free registration begins at 5 pm. The program begins at 6 pm. RSVP tmurray@m-architects.com. Please respond with the name of attendee and company.
'Green Roof' panel discussion
Feb
8 at McCoy Business Products
The US Green Building Council (USGBC) - Greater Houston Area Chapter's Education Committee will present "Green Roofs," an installment of its "Eco-Interchange 2005" panel discussion series. The discussion will be Tuesday, February 8, from 6 – 8 pm
at McCoy Business Products, 6869 Old Katy Road. Registration is free and
refreshments are provided. RSVP at ghac_rsvp@whrarchitects.com.
TEXAS NOTES
Dallas
paper wins urban journalism award
Chronicle reporters win for 'greatest number of enlightening articles'
The strategic planning firm Civic Strategies gave its Best Urban Journalism award to the Dallas Morning News (DMN) for its series "Dallas at the Tipping Point," which describes Dallas as being on the verge of becoming a "warm weather Detroit." Two Chronicle reporters, John Williams and Lucas Hall, were recognized for producing "the greatest number of enlightening articles about Urban America" in 2004, with 26 and 22 articles respectively. http://www.civic-strategies.com/urban_journalism.htm.
To see the DMN series, go to http://www.dallasnews.com/specialreports/ and click on "Dallas at the Tipping Point."
Conference
announced to address Latino concerns
Soon
to be majority in Texas; issues to be discussed
The Mexican-American
Legislative Caucus (MALC), and the National Association of Latino Elected and
Appointed Officials (NALEO) will co-sponsor a statewide conference addressing
Latino concerns in Austin, January 28-29. With Latinos will soon be the
majority population in Texas, the conference will discuss issues such as
education, health, community wealth, voter registration, and public school
finance. The conference begins with a Friday social event at the Stephen F.
Austin Hotel, 701 Congress Avenue. The Saturday sessions begin at 9 am, and
take place in the Texas State Capitol Extension, rooms E2.026, E2.028, and
E2.030. Public school finance will occupy a plenary session beginning at 3:30.
For more information call Arturo Lopez at 512-236-8410. To register go to
www.malc.org
NOTES FROM OTHER PLACES
URBANISM
'Satellite cities' in the future
Housing
experts predict trends in demographics and housing
The Christian Science Monitor asked experts in housing and design to speculate on the cities and houses to come. Nat Irvin II, founder and president of Future Focus 2020, an urban-issues think tank, and a professor of future studies at Wake Forest University, foresees the "satellite city" - that is, medium-sized, full-service cities near a larger city - replacing today's suburbia. He also sees whites continuing to move out of the larger cities - but not too far, so medical care can be nearby. He also says that you can predict the future of your city by looking at the people serving you fries in a fast-food emporium, and listening to the music being played in a service station near you. The children of those same workers will be the students in the community's schools. Sarah Susanka, an award-winning architect and author, thinks that today's McMansion will give way to more customized, space-efficient houses. http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0105/p14s01-lihc.html?s=hns
The
gray, the brown, and the hip
Demographic
changes will fuel housing changes
Immigrants, aging baby-boomers, and the boomers' high-tech-savvy offspring will change the face of US housing in coming years, according to the Chicago Tribune. Some 10 million immigrants are expected to buy their first homes in the next decade. But immigrants—especially Hispanics—will also change the nature of housing. By 2040, the US will be the second largest Hispanic nation, after Mexico. And because Hispanics prefer to live in extended families, the paper says, new types of housing will be need to be designed to meet their needs. Aging baby-boomers will likely not follow their parents to retirement communities in Florida or Arizona. They will want a more customized dwelling where they'll be able to continue working in one fashion or another. The boomers' kids, Generation Y, will make up 34 percent of the population by 2015. They will want a hipper, more urban lifestyle than any the country has seen. They tend to prefer lofts close to coffee shops, clubs, and shopping. http://www.housingzone.com/news2.asp?topicId=14531&docId=l:248926727
<http://www.housingzone.com/news2.asp?topicId=14531&docId=l:248926727>
Halting 'runaway growth' in Georgia
State senator's plan would create suburban villages
Republican state senator Mitch Seabaugh has introduced legislation that would allow unincorporated areas of at least 1,000 acres to incorporate themselves as villages, provided they set aside 30 percent of their acreage as park land. According to the Atlanta Constitution-Journal, Seabaugh sees this measure as a way to increase density and park land, and to stop "runaway growth." The villages would have the powers of a municipality, except for the ability to establish authorities or to create ordinances that conflict with county standards. A member of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce's Quality Growth Task Force said the village concept could appeal to developers because they could have more zoning flexibility and higher density in some areas. http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/horizon/1204/03legacres.html
Are
convention centers overbuilt?
Study
finds that business is shrinking as centers expand
The convention business is in big trouble, according to a report by the Brookings Institution. The report's core findings are that the overall convention marketplace "is declining in a manner that suggests that a recovery is unlikely to yield much increased business, and that this decline began prior to 9/11." Even though attendance at the 200 largest tradeshow events is stuck at 1993 levels, cities continue to compete against each other "in a type of arms race." Over the past decade, public capital spending on convention centers has doubled to $2.4 billion annually, increasing convention space by over 50 percent since 1990. Nationwide, 44 new or expanded convention centers are now in planning or construction. The report's author concludes, "This analysis should give local leaders pause as they consider calls for ever more public investment into the convention business, while weighing simultaneously where else scarce public funds could be spent to boost the urban economy." http://www.brookings.edu/metro/pubs/20050117_conventioncenters.htm
'Pro-reality' development in Baton Rouge
New mayor promises to take on 'one thorny issue' a year
Mayor Melvin "Kip" Holden of Baton Rouge - the first African-American to hold this post - wants to ease traffic and encourage more walkable neighborhoods, and to spur both downtown and riverfront revival. But, as revealed in an interview with the Baton Rouge Business Report, the new mayor doesn't think it will be easy. He's asked how he'll pursue the smart growth initiatives that his predecessor talked about for 3 years, but never acted on. Holden says he'll call the stakeholders together to develop ordinances that can be implemented "right away." Next, the mayor says, ''we will deal with one thorny issue a year.'' He discusses anti-sprawl measures, and says, "I am not anti-development, but I'm pro-reality." Pro-reality means "that we can't keep approving everything if the infrastructure is not in place.'' http://www.businessreport.com/newsDetail.cfm?aid=4937
TRANSPORTATION
Florida:
the hydrogen state
New
Ford hydrogen-powered shuttle buses will roll there in 2006
18 months ago, Governor Jeb Bush launched the "H2 Florida" initiative, intended to give a boost to hydrogen-related industries. According to Fuel Cell Today, the first tangible results of this effort will appear next year when 12 of Ford's E-450 hydrogen-powered shuttle buses begin to operate. The buses, which will carry 12 passengers, are run by internal-combustion engines that run on hydrogen rather than gas. They will hold the equivalent of 26 gallons, and will have a 150-mile range. They will be 25 percent more fuel efficient than the average gas-powered car, and will produce virtually no emissions.
HOUSING
Housing
is through the roof
Minimum-wage
workers need two jobs to pay rent
Minimum-wage workers can afford the rent and utilities on a 1-bedroom apartment in only 4 of the nation's 3,066 counties, according to The Daily Southtown. Citing a report by an advocacy group for low-income housing, the paper said that in order to afford rent and utilities on a typical 2-bedroom apartment, a worker would have to make over $15 an hour, nearly 3 times the minimum wage. Further, 80 percent of rental homes are located in counties where a minimum-wage family would have to work 80 hours a week just to pay rent and utilities on a typical 2-bedroom apartment. Three of the affordable counties are in Illinois, where the state minimum wage just went up to $6.50. The most expensive rental properties are in the San Francisco Bay area, where paying for a 1-bedroom apartment would require a worker to make $23.63 an hour, and $29.60 for a 2-bedroom. http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dsnews/216nd1.htm
TAXATION
Careful
with that tax base
Too
much residential can drain city coffers
Most homeowners don't think of themselves as economic liabilities for their cities, but they are, according to Otis White in Governing. White refers to the findings of Jeffrey Forman, a professor at the University of Georgia, which state that homeowners typically pay for only 70 percent of the total services they receive, while industry and commerce pay over 100 percent. So cities and subdivisions that have more residential development than their industrial and commercial can sustain are "[tax-base] time bombs." Forman has helped officials understand the tax relationship between residential and commercial development, and some subdivisions and suburbs in the Atlanta area are acting to dismantle the "bomb." http://www.governing.com/notebook/best.htm
Property
tax crisis
'Regressive' tax putting squeeze on retirees, others
Rising property taxes are beginning to alarm the poor, retirees, and middle class families across the country, but particularly in states that are property-tax dependent, according to The Christian Science Monitor. "There is a property tax crisis," says Myron Orfield, a property tax expert at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Citizens in some states, such as New Jersey, are close to revolt. Orfield finds a relationship between high property taxes and sprawl. Young couples who can't afford suburban houses are moving to the exurbs and taking their children with them. The previously rural communities are then forced to raise taxes to pay for schools and other services. "The property tax system accelerates the sprawl," Mr. Orfield says, "and communities are competing for the few [taxable] businesses." The current tax system is particularly hard on retirees living on fixed incomes. The mayor of Madison, WI says, "We've moved away from progressive forms of taxation to more regressive. This is of great concern to me that the tax structure is less fair." http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1203/p01s01-usec.html
EVENTS
REGIONAL
State of Galveston Bay Conference, Jan 25 at Downtown Aquarium. http://www.gbep.state.tx.us/news-events/registration.html.
5th Ward redevelopment open house, Jan
29, Fifth Ward Multi-Service Center, 4014 Market. Sponsored by the Land Assemblage Redevelopment Authority in
conjunction with the City of Houston Planning and Development Department.
lynn.henson@cityofhouston.net
UK-US climate change conference, Feb 9, Rice University. Sponsored by Rice University's Environmental and Energy Systems Institute, the Shell Center for Sustainability, and University College London. Contact Rice University's Gary Marfin at 713-348-4133, gcmarfin@rice.edu. Also the British Consulate's May Akrawi at 713-659-6270 x2134, may.akrawi@fco.gov.uk.
NATIONAL
New Partners for Smart Growth, Jan. 27-29, Miami Beach. The 4th annual
conference sponsored by the Local Government Commission and Penn State. http://www.outreach.psu.edu/C&I/SmartGrowth/
<http://www.outreach.psu.edu/C&I/SmartGrowth/>
Advancing Regional Equity: The Second National Summit on Equitable Development, Social Justice, and Smart Growth, May
23-25, Philadelphia. Sponsored by Policy Link and the Funder's Network for
Smart Growth and Livable Communities. http://policylink.org/Summit2005/
Prepared by David Theis
Gulf Coast Growth News is a publication of the Gulf Coast
Institute. The Gulf Coast Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to
improving the quality of life in Houston. To support the Institute, go to http://www.gulfcoastinstitute.org.
To join the Institute's 1000 Friends of Houston, go to http://www.1000friendsofhouston.org