Houston vs. Dallas (Howe: promotional, quality of life, zoning)

[BCB]

More trendy apartments planned for West Dallas

[majicdonjuan]

Originally Posted by First24

x

Well, again if you have a better metric to measure economic output, feel free to suggest it. I'm not suggesting that we're trained economic minds - only that GDP is a consistent, easily comparable metric. Do you have any comparable evidence that DFW actually generates more economic value than greater Houston, either on an absolute or per capita basis? And as far as Bentonville, with all due respect -it's apples and oranges.

The GDP statistics (at least on an aggregate basis) were in Dallas favor during the recession because at that time they were generating more wealth than greater Houston due to the fall in the oil market.

From the last per capita statistics I saw (from 2012) there was something like a $6K-$7K per year in real GDP per capita (~62K vs. ~55K IIRC). That's actually fairly significant at first glance, but when you take into account prices (as Houston is also a bit more expensive than DFW) some of that advantage is taken away. So all in all, it's fairly close, but even my unsophisticated economic mind doesn't believe that the differences in cost of living between the two metros comprises 7K per year.

As far as Exxon goes, I can't speak for what other posters choose to bring up, but yes there is a very real possibility that XOM will move. Perhaps they will not. Only time will tell, but I've expressed my opinion and where I'd put my money if I was a betting man.

[majicdonjuan]

Originally Posted by BCB

No, you are wrong.

Total operations




Wrong, again.

Both metros host 30 million visitors a year.

Dallas
San Antonio



The fact that you don't know, yet let on like you know everything about Dallas is very contradictory.

School for the Gifted and Talented is no. 1 in the nation.


Nice try, Metro Matt.

Tourist numbers are interesting because there's no reasonable way to collect nor count that data. It's hand-wavy and somewhat arbitrary and I'm pretty sure all four big TX cities could make a case for being the most visited city in the state depending on how they choose to count visitors and such. I don't think this is metric that any of us can fight about and have any ground to stand on.

All of that data comes from the sites of the individual cities themselves, so that should tell you something.

[TexasTallest]

Originally Posted by BCB

Houston's branding video was released today, and I can't say it was great.
Dallas' video was released nearly a year ago.

Which one do y'all like more?

Houston

[vimeo]70898479[/vimeo]

here is the full length Houston video.. no, they didnt list any arbitrary accolades in the video like Dallas did. but they did a good job showing off some of what the city has to offer, and its a much better branding program than others in the past.

[vimeo]97150959[/vimeo]

[majicdonjuan]

Originally Posted by TexasTallest

here is the full length Houston video.. no, they didnt list any arbitrary accolades in the video like Dallas did. but they did a good job showing off some of what the city has to offer, and its a much better branding program than others in the past.

[vimeo]97150959[/vimeo]

I actually really like this video and the "City with No Limits" moniker. That's a great concise description of the city in my opinion.

Thanks for sharing.

[Jack Lance]

Originally Posted by TexasTallest

here is the full length Houston video.. no, they didnt list any arbitrary accolades in the video like Dallas did. but they did a good job showing off some of what the city has to offer, and its a much better branding program than others in the past.

[vimeo]97150959[/vimeo]

My "honest" assessment is that I like the Houston video better, really! Mostly because I like the music better and of course the city, it has no narration which I like, the Dallas narrator made me think somebody was trying to con me...The Houston vid made me think Houston just wants to dance and sing and live in perfect harmony !

[chessgeek]

Originally Posted by majicdonjuan

I actually really like this video and the "City with No Limits" moniker. That's a great concise description of the city in my opinion.

Thanks for sharing.

That is an optimistic title and the video shows some positives. The Houston video was a little better. People must be tired of hearing it called "The City with No Zoning". With some zoning and common sense by the city's earlier civic leaders, this might not be a close call between the two cities. However, it seems to be reading this thread.

Too bad Houston's earlier leaders lacked this common sense. Basic zoning is Civics 101. Less important cities have done it with relative ease to enhance quality of life or at least make it more manageable. (Houston is similar to a NASA pit crew that can do the most complex engine work, but struggles to replace a flat tire, don't some of you think?).

[TexasTallest]

Heh.. The mayor is working on coming up with a "General Plan" for the city. Not zoning really, just guidance for development and what not.

[majicdonjuan]

Originally Posted by TexasTallest

Heh.. The mayor is working on coming up with a "General Plan" for the city. Not zoning really, just guidance for development and what not.

LOL. We'll see how that works out.

At this point, zoning is not going to happen. Anything retroactive would take a couple of decades before any real changes would be seen.

I somewhat agree that perhaps back in the old days it should have been considered, but I also when I was younger, there was quite a large contingent of folks that made the case that Houston wouldn't be nearly as large or powerful as it is if it had zoning due to the fact that a lot of its early growth was due to the allure of cheap land and few or no rules, and that adding those rules could have had a detrimental effect in the early-going.

To this day, I'm still not sure if I agree with that sentiment or not. Perhaps someone who was around in the 50s and 60s has a more informed opinion.

[TexasTallest]

Originally Posted by majicdonjuan

LOL. We'll see how that works out.

At this point, zoning is not going to happen.

Haha, yeah.. They've definitely got their work cut out..

Agreed, but some sort of guidance sounds interesting. It would be nice to see the eastern parts of buffalo bayou be one of the highlighted areas for development since that side is majority privately owned.