Friday, January 29, 2010

Interesting thoughts from a councilman...

Most people I know understand what I mean when I talk about libertarianism. It is not an advocation of drug legalization or anarchy. It is the assertion of freedom from governement intervention in your pursuit of life, liberty, or happiness( or property). In the words of Dr Thomas Sowell: Freedom ultimately means the right of other people to do things that you do not approve of.

Which brings me to me to this article by one of our councilmen:

http://www.matthewrscott.us/?page_id=144

"Which leads me to another point. There are some who believe the city should allow any business to come to Rockwall anywhere they decide they want to come. This opinion is held by a very small, but very vocal minority of people. But that mindset is dangerous—just ask the City of Houston.

The City of Houston has no zoning—this means businesses can locate anywhere they can buy land. You can have houses next to oil and lube shops next to pawn shops, etc. It’s a horrible way to run a city, and most people realize that certain businesses belong in certain areas or in proximity to other similar businesses. "

If I asked Houston, they would tell me it is a horrible way to run the city? Why hasn't Houston then instituted hard nosed zoning like Rockwall?

From Wikipedia:

Houston is second to New York City in Fortune 500 headquartes (26)

Houston dominates the U.S. production of three major resins: polyethylene (38.7% of U.S. capacity); polyvinyl chloride (35.9% of U.S. capacity) and polypropylene (48.4% of U.S. capacity).

Houston is home to more than 10,700 manufacturing establishments. The city ranked as a Gold Medal World-Class Community for Manufacturing for four consecutive years by Industry Week magazine.

Houston is projected to experience a 2.7 percent increase in manufacturing employment by 2012

Metals manufacturing is a $12.0 billion industry in Houston, with nearly 2,100 establishments employing more than 67,000 workers in the region.

Approximately 250 establishments employ more than 20,000 people in Houston’s electronics manufacturing industries. Hewlett Packard employs more people in its Houston operations than any other HP facility in the world.

Of the world’s 100 largest non-U.S.-based corporations, more than half have operations in Houston.

In 2006, the Houston metropolitan area ranked first in Texas and third in the U.S. within the category of "Best Places for Business and Careers" by Forbes.


I've read some other things pro and con for Houston's policy, but the price of freedom IS others doing things you don't like.

Another interesting article:

http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/hotproperty/archives/2007/10/how_houston_get.html

What is unique about Houston is that the separation of land uses is impelled by economic forces rather than mandatory zoning. While it is theoretically possible for a petrochemical refinery to locate next to a housing development, it is unlikely that profit-maximizing real-estate developers will allow this to happen. Developers employ widespread private covenants and deed restrictions, which serve a comparable role as zoning. These privately prescribed land use controls are effective because they have a legal precedence and local government has chosen to assist in enforcing them.

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