Texas SNUBBED for retired space shuttle (Houston, Sugar Land: house, living, to move)

[Trae713]

Originally Posted by sxrckr

Hmm, I thought Obama said going in that he was going to change the way of Washington, not play games, and bring people together. So if it's true what you say, that was all a complete lie. Or petty revenge gets in the way of common sense. Either way, not a good thing for someone who is supposed to be leading the country.

Yes, because Obama made the decision on where the shuttles would go. Seriously, this blame for Obama (for every damn thing) needs to stop.

[Queen Palm]

QUOTE=Kibby;18733641]That's not correct at all. I don't dispute that Governor Perry and the entire Texas Congressional delegation should have done more to make sure the JSC got a shuttle - Perry was at the JSC in 2005. When you check the Governor's news site, there are many mentions of the Space Center and he regularly travels with astronauts to promote Texas. There is something about the center on a pretty continuing basis.

Who has anything when the entire Space program has been gutted???? Perry has widely spoken against the gutting. Perry pretty much wrote the book on bringing new business to Texas - that's why other Governors are now doing the copy cat thing.

Houston had a hot shot Mayor that certainly had the ear of Washington and he did nothing for the Space Center - on the up side, he did not take control of Texas.

You got one part correct - elections have consequences. The current administration in Washington D.C. (aided by Texas Democrats that vote to punish Texas like the Lloyd Doggett bill did) put politics in front of country and put a big fat Target on the back of Texas.

The Texas economy just does not fit in with their program. Our economy is way too robust for them, too many people moving here, too many new re-districting delegates. Texas will hopefully lead the way to a more prosperous Nation.

I think this may be a reason too. While I stated in the other thread that we (as a city and state) need to do a system check on our pride (we do), I do believe that Houston was snubbed for many reasons. The highlighted above may play into the attitude regarding Texas (and Houston) in Washington.

People on this board who's response has been not to blame Washington, but ourselves and our local leadership, may not remember that President Obama, during his campaign, hardly made stops to/thru Texas. I think whatever disregard there is, was already there before taking office. Before any talk of seceding and other things from our governor.

While others here try to make it seem that people are 'bellyaching' or 'whining', because of this whole incident, for the most part, Texans have not been outspoken much on other issues. This is something that legitmately many Texans feel should not have been something that we had to bid for, read beg) or present a proposal.

At any rate, we just have to move on......

[Queen Palm]

Originally Posted by godhead

Why Houston didn't get a shuttle
http://waynehale.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/why-houston-d... /
"No disrespect to those who spearheaded the effort to bring the shuttle here, but the response was lackluster. The local politicians gave lip service, some weak letters to the NASA administrator and little else. We got a limp editorial or two in the local newspaper. The movers and shakers downtown barely lifted a finger. Its hard to tell if Austin and the Texas Legislature even knew what was happening. A rally at city hall was poorly attended, too little, too late, and totally ineffective.

You can tell that Texas regards involvement with NASA as an entitlement by the evidence: when was the last time a sitting governor came to JSC? I know the answer: Ann Richards in 1995. When was the last time the Houston mayor bothered to visit JSC? Anybody remember?

Other states have strong programs to bring space investments to their states; Texas has virtually nothing.

Thousands of high paid, white collar jobs are leaving the Clear Lake area as NASA and JSC wind down. The City of Houston and the State of Texas have done, well, next to nothing. Nobody gets excited; nobody tries to bring new work here, a little lip service, no real effort.

Nope, Houston does not deserve an orbiter because Houston doesn’t care.

Don’t expect JSC and its mission control to be here forever just because we are entitle to them.

No, with the level of interest that our citizens and leaders have in JSC, I soon expect to see that facility in the hands of a different federal agency. Soon the National Park Service will be leading tours through the historic – and empty – halls of the Johnson Space Center National Historic Site.

Because we just don’t care enough to do anything about it."

If Florida (who's involvement with Nasa is foremost) was left out of receiving an orbiter, and it's citizen's spoke out, would people feel that they had a sense of entitlement? Do you and others who share your views feel that they justly received one?

If your's and others' answer is 'yes', why do you feel that Texas did not have the right to feel 'entitled' to one? Just saying...

[Bo]

I overlooked a few posts the first time. They're gone now. The following still applies.

Originally Posted by Bo

Some posts above were deleted and others edited.

Even though the President has a role in this particular story, discussing your sentiments about him or any other issues he holds positions on is OFF TOPIC FOR THE FORUM. In other words, you can't do that in here.

You can discuss this particular choice he allegedly made not to locate a shuttle in the state in this thread, since it directly affects Texans and is integral to the issue in the subject, but you may not share your views on the President or members of Congress in general or on other issues. This is NOT the forum for venting about Washington. If you can't resist, allow me to direct you to //www.city-data.com/forum/polit...controversies/ which is the ONE set of forums at City-Data where Washington politics is on topic.

[cBach]

If you look at it from a tourism perspective, certainly FL, CA, NYC, DC have many more tourists that will visit the shuttles than Houston would.

[Spade]

Originally Posted by Queen Palm

I think this may be a reason too. While I stated in the other thread that we (as a city and state) need to do a system check on our pride (we do), I do believe that Houston was snubbed for many reasons. The highlighted above may play into the attitude regarding Texas (and Houston) in Washington.

People on this board who's response has been not to blame Washington, but ourselves and our local leadership, may not remember that President Obama, during his campaign, hardly made stops to/thru Texas. I think whatever disregard there is, was already there before taking office. Before any talk of seceding and other things from our governor.

While others here try to make it seem that people are 'bellyaching' or 'whining', because of this whole incident, for the most part, Texans have not been outspoken much on other issues. This is something that legitmately many Texans feel should not have been something that we had to bid for, read beg) or present a proposal.

At any rate, we just have to move on......

Well the reason why President Obama hardly made stops is because he knew he had no chance to win this state. Just like McCain didn't visit Massachusetts or California or New York. McCain knew he wouldn't win those states. Obama did fair pretty well in the election in Texas btw.

[AK123]

Originally Posted by cBach

If you look at it from a tourism perspective, certainly FL, CA, NYC, DC have many more tourists that will visit the shuttles than Houston would.

Yet Houston's no slouch on number of visitors either:

Forbes lists Top 10 most-visited U.S. cities
Orlando, Fla.: 48 million visitors
New York City: 47 million visitors
Chicago, Ill.: 45,580,000 visitors
Anaheim/Orange County, Calif.: 42,700,000 visitors
Miami, Fla: 38,100,000 visitors
Las Vegas, Nev.: 36,351,469 visitors
Atlanta, Ga.: 35,400,000 visitors
Houston, Texas: 31,060,000 visitors
Philadelphia, Pa.: 30,320,000 visitors
San Diego, California: 29,600,000 visitors

And the choice was supposed to be not just number of tourists, but the area's history with and connection to the space program. Houston is mission control, HQ for manned space flight and the ISS, astronaut training center, etc. After the FL location, I think it should have been next choice.

The CA and NYC (more so NYC) choices were certainly questionable, and Houston was robbed.

[First24]

There's a chance Houston was passed on because NASA knows JSC will be phased out in a few years. Otherwise, it makes no sense to me why JSC; the hub of manned space flight, could possibly be snubbed of receiving a shuttle.

[Trae713]

Originally Posted by Scout_972

There's a chance Houston was passed on because NASA knows JSC will be phased out in a few years. Otherwise, it makes no sense to me why JSC; the hub of manned space flight, could possibly be snubbed of receiving a shuttle.

Contrary to popular belif, JSC is not being phased out and the job losses are no where near as high as they were going to be. And once the next manned spacecraft is developed, JSC will be back to it's glory years.

[sxrckr]

Originally Posted by Scarface713

Yes, because Obama made the decision on where the shuttles would go. Seriously, this blame for Obama (for every damn thing) needs to stop.

Sure it's not all his fault, but if he had nothing to do with it why were other lawmakers petitioning him on locations right before it was decided?

Originally Posted by Scarface713

Contrary to popular belif, JSC is not being phased out and the job losses are no where near as high as they were going to be. And once the next manned spacecraft is developed, JSC will be back to it's glory years.

Are you sure? What's the next manned spacecraft to be developed?

With all of the other recent events, nothing is a given anymore. Especially if nothing changes in 2012.