The calm that is Houston
Tom Kirkendall, who has shared his keen insight with us on all things related to Hurricane Katrina, has a terrific post up about how Houston is turning out to be a very calming influence in the midst of tremendous chaos and uncertainty:
As bad as this disaster has been, it is difficult to imagine how bad it would have been had Houston's amazing facilities not been available as a transition point for the Gulf Coast region evacuees. Reliant Park is a massive facility that can accomodate huge numbers of people, and it is located near one of the world's finest medical centers, Houston's Texas Medical Center. As large as the loss of life has been in the Gulf Coast region to date, it would have been far larger had not Houston's amazing facilities not been available to accomodate the stream of evacuees.
Within Reliant Park, the Astrodome is filled with approximately 15,000 people, while officials have opened up the the adjacent Reliant Arena and the Reliant Park Convention Center to accomodate another 15,000 evacuees. On Friday, city officials also opened the massive George R. Brown Convention Center near downtown Houston, which was filled with air mattresses donated by a local sporting goods retailer. As many as 7,000 people could be staying there as of today.
The flow of buses to Houston continued unabated as conditions in Louisiana have worsened. Rather than turn evacuees away, Houston has simply opened up more of its resources to attempt to accomodate them all, and without much assistance from officials who coordinating the exodus from New Orleans. Texas officials have not been able to coordinate the departures or destinations of the buses with Louisiana counterparts and, at this point, Texas officials have no control over what happens with regard to the exodus from New Orleans.
Be sure to read the entire post. In another post, Tom notes that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will be relocating to Houston temporarily.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: A few days ago, Chris Elam pointed to an article by Thomas Lifson in the American Thinker that generated some controversy in Elam's comments from the usual argumentative quarter. Regardless, it struck me that the author's observations about Houston were spot on:
Many years ago, an oilman in Houston pointed out to me that there was no inherent reason Houston should have emerged as the world capital of the petroleum business. New Orleans was already a major city with centuries of history, proximity to oil deposits, and huge transportation advantages when the Houston Ship Channel was dredged, making the then-small city of Houston into a major port. The discovery of the Humble oil field certainly helped Houston rise as an oil center, but the industry could just as easily have centered itself in New Orleans.
When I pressed my oilman informant for the reason Houston prevailed, he gave me a look of pity for my naiveté, and said, “Corruption.” Anyone making a fortune in New Orleans based on access to any kind of public resources would find himself coping with all sorts of hands extended for palm-greasing. Permits, taxes, fees, and outright bribes would be a never-ending nightmare. Houston, in contrast, was interested in growth, jobs, prosperity, and extending a welcoming hand to newcomers. New Orleans might be a great place to spend a pleasant weekend, but Houston is the place to build a business.
Today, metropolitan Houston houses roughly 4 times the population of pre-Katrina metropolitan New Orleans, despite the considerable advantage New Orleans has of capturing the shipping traffic of the Mississippi basin.
It is far from a coincidence that Houston is now absorbing refugees from New Orleans, and preparing to enroll the children of New Orleans in its own school system. Houston is a city built on the can-do spirit (space exploration, oil, medicine are shining examples of the human will to knowledge and improvement, and all have been immeasurably advanced by Houstonians). Houston officials have capably planned for their own possible severe hurricanes, and that disaster planning is now selflessly put at the disposal of their neighbors to the east.
That's the Houston I'm proud to call home. The fact that this city has managed to set up what amounts to a second city with hardly any advance warning, and to have done so as well (despite a few hiccups along the way) illustrates the fact that this city just manages to get things done.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 09/03/05 03:34 PM | Print |
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