Number Nine on The Street’s list of “10 Cities Poised For Greatness In 2012”. Which places us one behind Austin, and one ahead of…Rochester, NY? Whatever. Here’s what they say about our fair city.
Houston
Throughout the economic crisis, Houston has been the buttoned-down older brother to Austin’s hippie slacker.
While college-boy Austin coasts by on education and arts, Houston shrugs off the cool kids, goes to work every day with its buddies in the energy industry and does what it can to keep unemployment below 8%. Unlike Austin, though, Houston doesn’t have to drop its home prices to draw new blood.
Home prices in Houston have remained level since 2010 and are among the few in America that have risen since 2008. ConocoPhilips(COP_), Marathon Oil(MRO_) and Halliburton(HAL_) all help provide a solid employment base and, though the Houston Texans’ run to the NFL playoffs may be Houston’s major one-off event of the year, there’s economic life to the city that’s only improving as the year goes on.
Boy, if that doesn’t get your blood pumping, I don’t know what would. Better jump on this while you can, GHCVB.
Hey, I went to college in Rochester (UofR)! But if “poised for greatness” means having a dying giant (Kodak) and a run of the mill regional brewery (Genessee), and Chicago doesn’t make the cut as having actually achieved greatness, somebody’s criteria are a bit skewed.
Houston has changed a lot in the past 10 years, but it’s not going to get to the “great cities of the world” category until we figure out what to do with the Astrodome, join up all the bayous into a connected system of parks and trails that would put Boston’s “emerald necklace” to shame, and have a light rail and commuter rail system that actually connects people to where they want to go. The airport, anyone?