Posted on 07/19/2008 12:09:38 PM PDT by Lorianne
The Southern city welcomes the middle class; heavily regulated and expensive Gotham drives it away.___ New Yorkers are rightly proud of their city's renaissance over the last two decades, but when it comes to growth, Gotham pales beside Houston. Between 2000 and 2007, the New York region grew by just 2.7%, while greater Houston — the country's sixth-largest metropolitan area — grew by 19.4%, expanding to 5.6 million people from 4.7 million.
To East Coast urbanites, Houston's appeal must be mysterious: The city isn't all that economically productive — earnings per employee in Manhattan are almost double those in Houston — and its climate is unpleasant, with stultifying humidity and more days with temperatures exceeding 90 degrees than any other large American city. Since these two major factors in urban growth don't explain Houston's success, what does?
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
Deadbeats from New Orleans?
How many of them are displaced Katrina "victims"?
First, the comparison of earnings between Manhattan and Houston is dubious, unless you also account for the cost of living difference between the two.
Second, some of us like 90 degree days and dislike the snow.
I used to run for an hour in 100 degree weather.
New Yawkers... You wouldn’t like Houston. I’d suggest y’all stay where you are.
In all fairness, New York City sits on an island where real estate values are over the top and Houston sits on the coast of a huge plain — it does make a difference.
Oftentimes, people live where they can afford to live.
Not that I want anymore people from NY/NJ to move down to the Houston area but I did back in ‘94. I found a nice job (actually took a 33% pay cut) and bought a new house bigger and nicer than anything I ever imagined I would own in NJ. We don’t have a state income tax and the cost of living is way less than up there. The people are nicer down here too. I admit there are some days in the summer where the humidity feels like a locker room and I’m reminded why it’s cheaper to live here but I wouldn’t trade it for anything now.
I get 90 degrees+, no snow ('cept for the occasional flurry), no hurricanes and, most importatly, NO BUGS!
Can't say that in Houston!
They must be using averages, because median household income in NYC was $38,000 in 2000, whereas median household income in Houston was $36,000. The problem with averages is that a small number of billionaires and Wall Street high-rollers living in Manhattan tend to skew this number upwards.
The deadbeats have all pretty much gone back to Louisiana.
The criminals discovered that people of Harris county and Houston do not like criminals. We arrest, prosecute and if convicted we send ‘em to jail. If they commit murder they go to death row. Those are the lucky ones, the unlucky ones get shot by the person they are trying to rob or attack. We do not play the “root causes” game here-you do the crime, you do the time.
Many of the folks who lived on welfare took advantage of all the city of Houston did as far as job training, help with getting GED’s, job placement, transportation, business clothes so folks could go to interviews, etc. and have built new lives off the welfare roles.
The other side of that coin are the “Katrina Queens”...
The Katrina queens took their six kids by six different “baby-daddies” back to Louisiana as soon as the federal welfare ran out. In Texas welfare is a helping hand until a person gets back on their feet, not a lifestyle.
We still do have about 150,000 former residents of NOLA here. They have rebuilt their lives here as best they can.
Notice, they're not comparing Houston to NYC, they're comparing Houston to Manhattan. So obviously it's meant to be skewed.
From Staten Island, the average commute is 44 minutes — and often something of a triathlon, with bus, ferry, and subway stages. Our middle-class New York commuter thus spends at least 120 more hours in transit per year than does his Houston counterpart. And except perhaps for the ones spent on the ferry, none of those hours is as agreeable as sitting in an air-conditioned car listening to the radio.
For me, this is the key passage. A lot of fans of NYC-style megalopolises have unrealistic expectations about urban commutes. They are long and exhausting, and involve frequent exposure to the smell of people who haven't washed for days.
I live in the Pacific NW and started dating a gal from outside Houston (Baytown) in December. I make about two trips per month to see her and I have to tell you the humidity is not all that bad. Not nearly as bad as Washington, DC.
It can get pretty humid in the morning but dries out pretty well by the afternoon. It is hot this weekend and I normally perspire heavily, but not at all today when we’ve been outside going to run some errands.
We are hoping to move to the Woodlands once we get married and that is almost a resort type area and housing there is very inexpensive compared to the Portland, OR area. Very nice homes for $98-125/ SF, with very nice finish work and inground pools with attached spas.
My wife and I were talking about Texans not waving like they used to, to signal thanks for pulling over to let them pass and/or the usual wave of fingers from the steering wheel meeting each other on secondary roads. Why we wondered?
Our theory is that with the influx of Yankees (yep, we still use that term here) and Califas, manners are goin’ out the window. A family member (from CA don’t ya know) once asked, “Why are they waving, they don’t know me.” Sheesh, you’d think that he would enjoy the hospitality instead he questions it. We told him off, later he thought that was pretty “neat”, we think it’s a requirement.
If they’re Katrina Trash, well back with ye back to yer chocolate city! If it’s Yankees and Califas, then get some manners or go back too, leave us alone.
I’ve been to Hell and I’ve been to Houston. I ain’t goin’ back to Houston.
Today is one of them!
Back to the topic, a large part of Houston's success is due to their pro-business attitude and very diversified economy. Houston learned their lesson during the oil bust and put their eggs in many baskets.
I’ve lived in NY state and now Texas. Familiar with both NYC and Houston. Driving into NYC is a big hassle,,,public transit is great. Houston has lots of traffic but driving,parking better than NYC. Real estate prices are insane in NY plus all the taxes where Houston is great for that. Too hot and humid in summer but I prefer living in a fairly conservative state vs. the tax rip off liberal extortioners of NY rip offs.
A lot, I’m sure.
However, the immigrant community there, too, is a big factor. Texas as a whole is seeing substantial growth from immigration, and Houston is a manufacturing/shipping hub somewhat close to Mexico.
Excellent! I sure miss home. I bet West Texas is the most civilized place on the planet.
Houston = mega amounts of mosquitos in late spring, summer, early fall... brutal.
Trajan88, a resident of Dallas... where we’ve got fewer of those little beasts :-)
So let's just keep on doing like we're supposed to and maybe it'll spread again.
And to I got the rope: come back home!
This is wrong; it took ~90 minutes each way to get to Midtown from SI even before 9/11.
And this, coupled with 1 hr commutes Silicon Valley-SF in largely standstill traffic, is why I pay a slight housing premium in my new hometown because I refuse to commute more than 15m in my own car.
Weef did it right. He/she assimilated to the culture. I hope that never ends in Texas. Someday I want to go back. I’m hoping within the next five years.
I know how you feel. I once did the two-hour trek from Manhattan to the Staten Island Mall using the ferry, SIR, and the Staten Island bus system. Never again. Public transportation ain't all it's cracked up to be, even in the most compact big city in the country - the city with the nation's best (i.e. not the cleanest or the newest, but definitely the most comprehensive) mass transit system. It would have been way faster to drive through Bayonne or Brooklyn.
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