Houston is kicking off its 175th anniversary festivities this week. That’s not old, as cities go, but as you’ll see below, we’ve gotten a lot accomplished in a short time.
Yesterday’s Houston Chronicle published an insert “How well do you know your city: 175 facts”. With the ascendancy of our secessionist-in-chief Rick Perry, Texas is getting a lot of attention, not all of it particularly flattering. In a continuing effort to explain the quirks of our Lone Star State, I’ve selected some of the 175 facts to provide some perspective – good, bad, and ugly (and real ugly) - on Houston and on Texas:
Read on below the roadkill armadillo…
Fact 13: About 135,000 inmates are booked into the Harris County Jail in a year.
Sadly, many of these people are prosecuted, found guilty, and sentenced (including to the death penalty) on shockingly flimsy evidence, thanks to the notorious Houston Police Department crime lab. A fortunate few have managed to get their convictions overturned after years in prison thanks to tenacious family members and attorneys. Rick Perry has executed 234 people so far in his tenure as governor. He vetoed a bill that would have spared the mentally retarded and believes that juveniles should be eligible for the death penalty. Gotta keep up those stats.
Fact 18: Houston is the fourth most-populous city in the nation.
Fact 27: If Houston were an independent nation, the city would rank as the world’s 30th-largest economy.
Fact 34: The Port of Houston is the largest foreign waterborne tonnage port in the U.S. and the second largest in total tonnage.
Fact 49: Houston ranks third among metropolitan statistical areas in the number of Fortune 500 headquarters.
Fact 104: 62 of the world’s 100 largest, non-U.S.-based corporations have a presence in Houston.
So when our secessionist-in-chief threatens once again to exercise his [God-given? Constitutional?] option, some of the multinational corporate interests who do business in Houston and rely on our port might get a wee bit nervous. Some of these folks are probably also his campaign donors, but they’d better be careful. Rick is real mavericky, and not one to worry about a few campaign promises. He’s also not going to focus on the fact that many of the “new” Texas jobs (those not poached from other states), are government jobs. If we secede, do we get to keep all the air force bases, army posts, NASA, Department of Energy, DEA, Homeland Security, and other federal facilities and offices? Sounds like a messy divorce.
Fact 53: Canada is the birthplace of 13,563 Houstonians.
Fact 60: More than one in five foreign born Houstonians – an estimated 285,361 persons – are from Asia.
Turns out, we’re not all “from here”. In fact, since moving here 4 years ago, I’ve hardly met a single person born and raised here. Texas, and Houston in particular, is a place to come for jobs and opportunity. The cost of living is low, thanks to Perry turning a blind eye to the immigrant influx, a move welcomed by our local businesses who can turn a hefty profit with cheap labor. More on this in my diary Perry's Immigration Paradox
Fact 102: 24 percent of Harris County lies within the 100-year floodplain.
Our septuagenarian Libertarian senator Ron Paul, who allegedly represents Houstonians believes federal help for disasters is unwarranted. Ayn Rand, rather than God, is the one speaking directly to him in quiet moments.
"We should be like 1900; we should be like 1940, 1950, 1960," Paul said. "I live on the Gulf Coast; we deal with hurricanes all the time. Galveston is in my district.
"There's no magic about FEMA. They're a great contribution to deficit financing and quite frankly they don't have a penny in the bank. We should be coordinated but coordinated voluntarily with the states," Paul told NBC News. "A state can decide. We don't need somebody in Washington."
Those who have battled Texas’ labyrinth of insurance programs after Hurricane Ike and other natural disasters might beg to differ… or just beg simply to survive, as many are still awaiting settlements for their homes and small businesses.
Fact 103: As of April 2011, the largest Houston-area private employer based here was Memorial Hermann Healthcare System with 19,500 employees.
The good news: this is where we proudly welcomed Gabby Giffords for her rehabilitation. The bad news: one in 4 Texans has no health insurance at all, so they can’t avail themselves of the excellent care offered by Memorial Hermann and our other world-class medical centers.
Fact 109: The city is home to 42 of the nation’s 137 publicly traded oil and gas exploration and production firms.
Fact 147: 56 percent of downtown Houston office space is utilized by the energy industry
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Geology is destiny, and explains much of the “Texas Miracle”. Interestingly, the fossil fuel boom has not prevented serious interest in alternative energy here in Texas, including some massive wind farms that help power Houston.
Fact 150: On average, Houston receives 47.84 inches of precipitation annually.
This year, we’ve received less than 10 inches of precipitation. Like many things about Texas, this is way below average, and as chronicled in my diary Texas Drought Impacts, is having some tragic outcomes for people, businesses, animals, and plants, and entire ways of life.
Fact 155: The city of Houston lies in three counties: Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery.
Rick Perry, by contrast, lies in all 254 counties in Texas… and beyond. Trust us on this.
Fact 156: About 33 percent of Harris County’s residents are Anglo.
Fact 157: 41 percent of Harris County’s residents are Hispanic.
This makes our white supremacists uneasy, but everybody else is just fine. Houston is a phenomenally diverse city, home to all races, cultures, religions, and political views.