Future of Houston #2: Is Houston like Cleveland?
"Whatever else it may become, Houston will still be an oil and gas town for many years. Detroit still manufactures cars. Pittsburgh still makes steel. Plenty of U.S. cities have accepted that their best years are behind them and supplemented their legacy industries by finding a new economic equilibrium—one based to a great degree on, say, health care, higher education, a port, and a NASA facility. Cleveland, for example. I’m describing Cleveland. But who wants to live in Cleveland? " -Evan Mintz, Texas Monthly In my last post, I discussed two differing views on Houston's future. One predicting that Houston's fortunes will reflect the country as a whole (a "prophetic" city). Another where Houston will be particularly hard hit by climate change and our economic response (a "pathetic" city). The author that posed the latter, Evan Mintz, suggested in the quote above that Houston may level out like rust belt cities before it; more specifically, Houst...