tamtagon

Actually, Texas is home to 102 companies from the Fortune 1000 list; there are 56 Texas based companies on the Fortune 500 list.

hahahahaha haha hahahahahahahaha I'm skepticle that Fort Worth could have more residents than Dallas in less than a few decades, if ever. I will not be surprised when the City of Dallas begins to annex unincorporated areas of SE Dallas, N Ellis and W Kaufman Counties.

Do you know about how many NO transplants are still in Houston? Isn't it around 150,000???

Hopefully, LA will be the metro area which ends the cycle of municipalities mortgaging revenue future for the sake of a professional sports team.

Personally, I enjoy soccer about as much as I enjoy ice hockey - not much, and I dont care to learn the ins/outs of the game to appreciate it more. A whole lotta basketball, football and a little baseball is to my taste. I never said SA is wild about the Cowboys, but would agree with whomever said it; same thing in Austin too, they love the Cowboys. Since the Spurs are the only big sports team in SA, an futbol team might have an easier time - less competition - attracting a big crowd, the underserved sports fan being the key demographic.

The eagerness (and stadium availability) in San Antonio to be a host city to another pro sport team is, like, a major bargaining tool for teams to get a better deal out of their current hosts. I think MLS at the AlamoDome would be great, and very successful. San Antonio seems to have a demographic which could actually use as many seats as the Alamodome could offer. I love the idea that San Antonio could become a futbol-centric American city. Having a really successful and popular Pro Soccer team in SA would bouy the teams in Dallas and Houston.

I think the boom will last longer than 10 years, at least 20 years. Lifestyle opportunity enrichment will occur in rural and urban settings as baby boomers retire. The six big city settings in Texas - Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Fort Worth, Austin, El Paso - can anticipate significant expansion in the urban environment as well as continued sprawling suburban. El Paso could experience the greatest rate of growth, and become a viable relocation alternative to Phoenix. Sunbelt urban environments will attract residents from two very different but very significant sources: young adults and old adults. The "new" cityscapes growing in our culture during at least the next generation will be more comfortable, convenient, and varied than ever before. The biggest concern in Houston is the stability of oil related industries; if oil prices experience sustained relative decline, Houston will grow more slowly.

...if not now, then certainly this time next year when the 45 story building, just now beginning construction, nears topping out.

me too

I got these Ranally Metro Area data from the Rand McNally Commercial Atlas & Marketing Guide. Rank - - Core City - - Population -- Change '00-'04 - - Area square miles 1) New York City------19,799,374-----------2.3%---------------6905 2) Los Angeles--------13,671,048-----------5.2%---------------3224 3) Chicago--------------9,026,690------------3.2%---------------4068 4) San Francisco-------6,034,656------------0.7%---------------2041 5) Philadelphia---------5,931,045------------2.0%---------------3912 6) Miami-----------------5,307,359------------7.3%---------------1660 7) Dallas----------------5,154,855-----------10.1%---------------3360 8) Washington DC----4,904,263------------7.1%----------------3479 9) Boston---------------4,748,174------------1.5%---------------3609 10) Detroit-------------4,694,293-------------1.1%---------------3656 11) Houston-----------4,472,646-------------9.6%---------------2576 12) Atlanta-------------3,992,259------------10.2%--------------3132 13) Phoenix------------3,495,656------------13.6%--------------2071 14) Seattle-------------3,165,807-------------4.2%---------------2604 29) San Antonio------1,511,381--------------7.5%---------------1032 37) Austin-------------1,122,107--------------11.2%--------------1071 59) El Paso-------------729,987----------------5.0%---------------469 23) El Paso/Juarez---2,004,987--------------34.5%--------------529 The biggest difference between OMB Census and Ranally metro area definition is that Ranally is not restricted to county boundaries. Ranally metro areas contain at least 70 persons per square mile and at least 20% of the labor force commute to the central urban area.

The North Central Texas Council of Governments estimates the January 1, 2006 population of the 16 county Metroplex area at 6,242,800. http://www.nctcog.org/ris/demographics/population.asp

I'd say Houston had annexed San Antonio.

I think Houston or Dallas-Fort Worth would be great Olympic hosts. But I would prefer San Antonio as the Texas host.

Wouldnt any Texas host schedule events for Sept/Oct rather than Aug?

The complex is going to have a huge positive impact on the Metroplex economy, but my intuition says the impact will be even better for the economy in Houston. From a lifestyle pov, the potential growth of cargo movement between the Ship Channel and Dallas rail and highway infrastructure increases the likelihood of passenger rail service between Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston and Galveston. The unified economic profile of this venture exponentially increases the world economic influence of Texas. I expect Houstonians would get wound up about these kinds of things, but it seems the potential of this venture hasnt sunk in yet, or maybe no one here wants to talk about it beyond how funny "The Port of Dallas" sounds. Sure, I'm kinda frustrated (snide definition: "whiney") that this discussion isnt getting any traction on this forum, but the frustration is my own mistaken; the discussion can be anticipated, but not prompted.

This explains it. My bad. I'm looking in the wrong place for real Houstonian opinions of the agile port. Really, I should have known better. My favorite was the picture of Captain Cooter getting ready for his maiden voyage. Great, now my eyes are bleeding.

The ski resort is still in the planning stages. These recent advertisorial media quips give a general idea what's being attempted:

Ya, no guess about it.

Why not? Shouldnt the municipal contribution to airport decisions come from the areas driving the most business? I said IF 2/3 of the O/D traffic was whatever/whatever.... I'm not trying present data or anything, just trying to understand what factors should be used to determine the make up of airport decision makers. I would not be surprised at all, though, if half of DFW's O/D traffic came from Dallas proper. Does anyone know if those data are gathered and reported? It would be interesting.

nice

There's gotta be an estabilshted policy for reallocation of board seats, but I have no idea what it may be. However, I would think passenger destination should have more weight in the decision of board seat allocation than city population. That is, Dallas and Fort Worth could have the same population, but if 2/3 of O/D traffic is heading into Dallas, then 2/3 of the board seats come from that city. Metroplex aiport politics is a mess! The population growth in NNE Tarrant County is among the most rapidly increasing areas in the country, the Metroplex "infill" population growth is as dramatic as experienced in South Collin County during the past 20 years. To me, one of the most significant metrics of Metroplex population growth rate during the past three decades has been the relativly consistent growth rate from decade to decade: 30-33%, while other MSAs have experienced ebb/flow in growth rate. I'm not really sure what measurable benefits might eventually surface, resulting from the consistent growth rate, but intuitively there's gotta be something. I agree the population could reach 800,000 by 2010 and 1.3 million by 2020. Much of the land within FW city limits is rural and in the sweet spot of current Metroplex suburban neighborhood expansion.

Just to check, does anyone on this forum want to talk about the potential and/or impact of the agile port, or is it a topic mostly for fun and games?

The likelihood of passenger train service between Dallas and Houston is strengthened by the cooperative efforts to build an agile port in South Dallas County. Additionally, with a repeal of the Wright Amendment, Southwest would be much less inclined to oppose passenger train service, rather American Eagle would be the airline with the most to lose.

cool

hahahaha I know I know, but it's just too easy sometimes drop a cheap shot like that. I wish I knew more about Houston - more than weekend visits strung out over the years - to have a real opinion in the comparison. I wish I had lived there. Like your experiences, Gary, with trips to Atlanta. I cannot help but think that if you spent more time here, your disposition would change. I agree with those who find validity to compare DFW, Atlanta and Houston. Each metro exists with similar characteristics across many demographic, economic and social data points. Despite the "data" similarities and the monotonus experience opportunities, and everything else which might indicate lifestyle opportunity redundancy, the places really are very different. I love to study it, too. This forum gives anyone who reads it a good head start on Houston, but not enough to know what it's really like to be there. Like, if you read the DFW and Fort Worth forums, you get a similarly good idea about the Metroplex, but I know it's not enough to give a real sense of the place.