texas

Seven of the ten most diverse neighborhoods in America are suburban. None of them are in the evolving, creative-class city and inner suburban districts that many of us normally think of as undergoing change.[read more]

As the environmental harm caused by the use of coal as the main source of electricity production becomes more and more evident, Texans turn to wind energy as a more sustainable resource for meeting their energy needs.[read more]

If people vote with their feet, then Texas is a loser ... in the world of higher education. A journalist for the Washington Post crunched the numbers of the high school graduate college migration. The worst "brain drain" is in New Jersey. Texas is a distant second.There are a bunch of tasty data morsels in this blog post. There's a link...[read more]

   Three years ago, Hurricane Ike wiped out much of Galveston, Texas, including over 500 affordable homes administered by the city’s Housing Authority.  Faced with the task of starting over, the Authority began to rethink how it might improve upon its old public housing model. With the help of McCormack Baron Salazar, a...[read more]

I reluctantly throw my hat in with all the analysis of Rick Parry's Texas jobs miracle. I take issue with the recycling of the positive migration story. Tyler Cowen (Marginal Revolution) riding the "vote with their feet" meme:I’ve read a lot of blog posts lately painting Texas as a low benefit, low Medicaid, not so great system of public...[read more]

    Jamestown Mall, 16 miles north of downtown St. Louis, Missouri, is an environmental disaster.  Built on farmland in an area rich with environmentally sensitive fields and floodplains, and completely automobile-dependent, it was built in 1973 – the heyday of shopping-mall speculation – as leapfrog sprawl, in...[read more]

People should move from states with high unemployment to ones with relatively low unemployment. One major exception to that rule is amenities migration. Why one couple moved from hip Western Washington to struggling Colorado:"We moved here mostly because we hated the weather up there. It rains all the time," said Christina, 21, who will...[read more]

News to me:  Texas will study a tax on miles driven: If you don't like gasoline taxes, here's an alternative: a tax on the number of miles you drive in a year. The Texas Transportation Commission has directed a fresh study of the idea, and it is not alone.  There are pilot projects in other states and nationally to gauge...[read more]

Tyler is the first city in the State of Texas to use a new type of overlay called E-Krete for roads, shoulders and runways. Created, manufactured and distributed by Mississippi based PolyCon Manufacturing, city engineers say it will cut costs and improve overall quality of streets. E-Krete is an extremely durable polymer composite...[read more]

Environment Texas is lobbying City Council to increase its water conservation budget by one-third.  We're in a severe drought, you know.  Just like we were last year.We're also in a recession.  The city has no spare change lying around.  Why, it's even offering an on-line budget "simulator" so ordinary citizens...[read more]

About two months ago, we read about a sustainable design competition called Re:Vision Dallas.Re:Vision asks the question: "What if one entire city block served as the model for sustainable design for the world?" The bigger question: "How would you create this building block?"Re:Vision Dallas is an opportunity to transform one "Big D"...[read more]

Stassney between South Congress and I-35 is apartment-complex city.  Perhaps a half-dozen giant apartment complexes line one half-mile stretch.  None is older than four or five years. These are the standard suburban set up.  A collection of three-story walk-ups with open breezeways, a pool, a one-story...[read more]