A lot of people shudder when they see growth projections of the Houston metro area from the current 6.5 million to 9 or even 10 million people over the next couple of decades. If traffic is this bad now, how can we possibly handle it? Is there any way this can be handled gracefully, or at least … [Read more...]
Why Does Houston Have Such A Great Restaurant Scene?
Browsing through peoples' posts of their favorite things to do in Houston, there's a recurring theme of eating out. USA Today called Houston "the dining-out capital of the nation": on average, we eat out more often than any other city in the country, at the second-lowest average price … [Read more...]
Market Urbanism MUsings March 18, 2016
1. This week at Market Urbanism: Nolan Gray's latest post, Liberate the Garage!: Autonomous Cars and the American DreamAt present, zoning laws effectively prohibit entrepreneurs from using their garages for business. In many Americans cities, hiring employees, hosting visitors, putting up … [Read more...]
From the comments: Parking minimums in Houston
In a comment to yesterday's post on land use in Texas, baklazkhan notes that in spite of the libertarian myth of Houston as a completely (or even relatively) laissez-faire city with regards to land use, it actually has pretty strict parking minimums: Additionally, it's interesting to compare the … [Read more...]
A far-too-long rebuttal of Randal O’Toole on parking
Donald Shoup and Randal O'Toole – they just can't get enough of each other! Donald Shoup, you may recall, is the granddaddy of free market parking policy, and Randal O'Toole is the self-styled Antiplanner. Though they both claim to be libertarians, they seem to have some pretty fundamental … [Read more...]
Even Jane Jacobs thought Houston doesn’t have zoning
"Houston has no zoning" is a very popular urban planning meme. It has its roots in Houston's lacks one very specific kind of zoning: Euclidean separation of residential, commercial, and industrial uses. Euclidean zoning happens to be the one kind of planning that people easily understand (the whole … [Read more...]
Weekend link megalist
This is probably my favorite link list yet...enjoy!1. The WSJ claims that delinquent homeowners can expect to stay in their homes after making their last mortgage payment – that is, they can live rent-free – for at least 16 months. The longer it takes for foreclosures to happen, the longer it … [Read more...]
Another Angle on Planning in Houston
Brian Phillips at Live Oaks contacted me regarding the recent post by Stephen Smith on planning in Houston. Brian is a long time opponent of land use restrictions and defender of property rights in Houston. Brian has a different point of view on the subject, and has written a post on his blog, … [Read more...]