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How big will it get?


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To put things into perspective -  Houston has an economic output of $490 billion, which compares to Poland or Taiwan!  Check out this interesting piece on AC...

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2014/03/new-york-metros-economy-almost-large-australias/8543/

 

Great link. I LOVE that Dallas was bigger than Austria, those people are arrogant over there, especially the closer you are to Vienna. I have no problems with Poland or Slovakia, but good for Houston and SA.

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that said, what forces are driving the boom now and are, or how long, are they sustainable?

Oil. Period. Sure you can cut it off from other "related jobs", but it all comes down to petroleum. Our exports are increasing (chemicals), and employment is growing in leaps and bounds. Imagine all the exxonmobile moving here with their families from Virginia. Now let's pretend that some rumors are true and XOM & Chevron move there HQ's here in the next 5 years... Other companies will follow the leaders. Our business friendly low tax attitude towards companies is just too appealing to stock holders who want every penny squeezed from all corners.

I predict we will see companies not actually related to the energy industries come here in the next decade or so.

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I was not spelling too wll yesterday.

As a child I innocently perceived the beltway to be the very edge of Houston, because I went no farther on my bicycle than to collect the dewberries that came in on the heavily-disturbed site of the future tollway. Of course development had already overleapt it. Still, geometry lesson aside, the Grand Parkway is more distant than I would have guessed the next loop to be. Houston must have skipped a round of loop-building.

I assume sprawl's image problem will be an artifact of the last century, not something planners need concern themselves with now, with silly talk of density.

But if the image problem does persist, I think it will be because of the interstates. They really are so dispiriting, and not just to aesthetes. I would love for planners to come down from their tower and focus on ways to make sprawl "pretty." Okay, less obnoxious.

In hated Austin, the 130 toll road bypass no one's much using incorporated some features to limit roadside crap. I think there are designated commercial plazas or something.

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I think the third loop would have been Hwy 6/1960. But, my sister being one of them, several business people blocked the transit way which was to replace the 6 lane Hwy. She had three Baskin Robbins on Hwy 6 and a thorough fair would have ruined her. So, she, along with thousands of others, blocked the potential third loop.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Oil. Period. Sure you can cut it off from other "related jobs", but it all comes down to petroleum. Our exports are increasing (chemicals), and employment is growing in leaps and bounds. Imagine all the exxonmobile moving here with their families from Virginia. Now let's pretend that some ruomors are true and XOM & Chevron move there HQ's here in the next 5 years... Other companies will follow the leaders. Our business friendly low tax attitude towards companies is just too appealing to stock holders who want every penny squeezed from all corners.

I predict we will see companies not actually related to the energy industries come here in the next decade or so.

DFW seems to be getting those companies.

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