3.5 Million More People?

Did you see the column in Sunday’s Chronicle by David Crossley of the Gulf Coast Institute? Titled “Last-century strategy won’t move Houston forward,” he cites projections that Houston’s population will grow by 3,500,000 by the year 2036, and discusses studies on how to accommodate that growth.

When I saw 3.5 million, I had to look twice and make sure I wasn’t reading it wrong. I was saddened because I had thought I’d like to live where I’m at for another 20 or 30 years. I certainly never wanted to live in Calcutta. Is that all that this place means to us? That we can’t wait to pave it over and sell it off? That seems to be the intentions of the land brokers and developers that hold our public officials in their sway.

Crossley forecasts that this growth would require 5 billion square feet of new development, and cost between 1,000 and 1,500 square miles of green space.

A study commissioned by the Greater Houston Partnership looks to attract elite “knowledge workers” to the Houston area to build economic prosperity in the region. I’ve heard that scheme before, and as much as I enjoy the company of artists and professionals, I think the Partnership is trying to see the future by looking in the mirror.

Crossley and Rice professor Stephen Klineberg instead face the demographics, and call for improving education and services to the black and Latino populations where the real growth is happening. These groups have historically been ill served by our institutions, unless you’re looking at prison construction or armed service recruitment.

Crossley then cites a Houston-Galveston Area Council survey of citizens, which lists goals of better mobility and transit, more green space, and a healthier environment. He wraps with a quote from Klineberg: “In the absence of meaningful efforts to guide growth in enlightened ways, much of this region’s remaining green space will surely disappear and the overall quality of life in the Houston area may well deteriorate in irretrievable ways. And if that happens, can anyone doubt that the prospects for sustained economic prosperity in the region as a whole will deteriorate with it?”