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Foreign Consulates


jt16

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I thought it was cool when the World Trade Center was built, and all +40 consulates Houston had at the time were located there.

I don't think that is true. (all of Houston's consulates being in the World Trade Center Building). The Directory of Tenants when the building opened in 1962 shows only three consulates in the building: Great Britain, Belgium, and Mexico.

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VNA 22/08/2009 - A Vietnamese mission, led by Le Dung, former spokesman of the Foreign Ministry, has arrived in Houston city of Texas state, the US, to prepare for the opening of another Vietnamese general consulate in the country. Dung, who has been appointed as the head of the Vietnamese General Consulate in Houston city, met with the US Department of State representative in Houston, Betty Mc Cutchan, shortly after his arrival to ask for the representative’s coordination in the preparations.

Dung said the Vietnamese General Consulate in Houston is likely to be inaugurated no later than September.

The new general consulate in Houston, Vietnam second after another in San Francisco in California, will mark a new step forward in Vietnam-US relations. It is expected to boost the economic, trade, investment, cultural and education relations between Vietnamese and US partners.

The opening of a general consulate in the biggest city of Texas, home to many Vietnamese-American people, will also create a direct link between the overseas Vietnamese community in the US with the homeland, as well as provide more favourable conditions for dealing with issues related to overseas Vietnamese in Texas and the US./.

http://www.mofa.gov.vn/en/nr040807104143/nr040807105001/ns090824095639

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You can bet there will be protests wherever they put this consulate. Most, if not all, Vietnamese in Houston fled from the current government of Vietnam. I suspect, though, that the reason this is coming here isn't the large Vietnamese population but to establish closer ties with oil firms exploring in the South China Sea off Vietnam's coast.

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I think I remember someone saying that Houston has the second-most consulates in the US after Washington D.C. Seems like we might be behind NYC as well, though. I can think of many here, Mexico and China being the two most prominent noticeable ones. Sometimes when I'm riding my bike down Montrose I'll go step on the porch of the Chinese consulate and "invade" China. ;)

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I think I remember someone saying that Houston has the second-most consulates in the US after Washington D.C. Seems like we might be behind NYC as well, though. I can think of many here, Mexico and China being the two most prominent noticeable ones. Sometimes when I'm riding my bike down Montrose I'll go step on the porch of the Chinese consulate and "invade" China. ;)

DC would have the embassies and other cities consulates. I thought Houston was second in consulates but I could be wrong.

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DC would have the embassies and other cities consulates. I thought Houston was second in consulates but I could be wrong.

Third, behind New York and LA. According to the Greater Houston Partnership, we have 90 (and their list does not include Viet Nam, so I guess we now have 91.

FWIW, it looks like LA has 98.

Edited by Houston19514
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Here's a list of foreign embassies and consulates in the U.S. and in which cities:

http://www.embassiesabroad.com/embassies-in/UnitedStates

It only shows the Mexican embassy in Washington D.C. and a consulate in Phoenix, but I know that there's a Mexican consulate in Houston located adjacent to US 59 in the Museum District. Perhaps it isn't a complete list.

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I remember years ago, we got a call from a building manager (in the Galleria area). He stated that a sewer line must be broken and that we should come take a look around and fix it. Tenants were complaining, he said. We assumed it to be a plumbing vent that someone had apparently forgot to cap, so up into the building we went. We traced the smell to an asian consulate's office (I won't tell you the country). The stench was so bad that my apprentice almost hurled. It appeared that the consulate was harboring some family and the members were cooking up dinner at night and heating it up again for breakfast. When the building air handlers kicked on each morning it would take the smell to all floors. What these people were cooking was eye watering to say the least.

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I remember years ago, we got a call from a building manager (in the Galleria area). He stated that a sewer line must be broken and that we should come take a look around and fix it. Tenants were complaining, he said. We assumed it to be a plumbing vent that someone had apparently forgot to cap, so up into the building we went. We traced the smell to an asian consulate's office (I won't tell you the country). The stench was so bad that my apprentice almost hurled. It appeared that the consulate was harboring some family and the members were cooking up dinner at night and heating it up again for breakfast. When the building air handlers kicked on each morning it would take the smell to all floors. What these people were cooking was eye watering to say the least.

If it smelled like a broken sewer line then they might have been eating a popular southeast asian fruit called durian. My wife and her family love the stuff, but to me it smells like roadkill in mid-July. :o

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On 2/19/2009 at 4:43 AM, rsb320 said:

The Australian consulate used to be in the Post Oak Towers, but it looks like they're on Feagan now.

 

It's only an honorary consulate - no actual consul general. I think the original consulate general closed in the 1990s.

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On 2/18/2009 at 2:43 PM, rsb320 said:

The Australian consulate used to be in the Post Oak Towers, but it looks like they're on Feagan now.

 

11 hours ago, VicMan said:

 

It's only an honorary consulate - no actual consul general. I think the original consulate general closed in the 1990s.

 

According to Australia's embassy website, it's still on Post Oak Blvd (3009) and it's still a Consulate General.  http://usa.embassy.gov.au/whwh/HoustonCG0315HoustonCG0315.html

Edited by Houston19514
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1 hour ago, hindesky said:

Just heard on Ch 13 ABC that the Mexican Consulate by Midtown/Museum District is closing this month and moving to Richmond St on the west side.

Looks like they're going to be at Richmond and Rogerdale, just outside the beltway.  Down the street a little ways is the Indonesian consulate.

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Correct.  Richmond and Rogerdale.  TxDOT swapped about 3 acres of state-owned land at this location in exchange for Mexico's current property, which will be demolished for the NHHIP.  I'm sad to see the Mexican Consulate move outside the Loop (and Beltway), and wish a different solution could have been found.  But excited this part of the highway project continues to progress.

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