When you start on the section on local government in Texas - and on the parts that discuss cities - you'll see repeatedly stated that cities are different entities than nations, or states, or counties. Those are all defined governing districts that start out with strict borders and then get to the business of getting filled in with people and stuff like that.
Cities start out as groups of people, and if they become economically viable they get the ability to create borders and pass and implement laws, collect taxes and stuff like that. They are economic entities primarily.
- Click here for past blog posts on cities.
- Click here for past blog posts on Houston.
The health of a city ebbs and flows based on how well it makes decisions that enhance its economic viability. Houston - famously - has done pretty well on that front, It helps when the key industry in town is doing quite well. But city leaders have to stay ahead of the efforts of other cities to cut in to what works well for the town, and to re-position itself for the future.
With that in mind I stumbled on this story on the development of the Orion - NASA's latest space capsule. A variety of nearby clicks took me to efforts by the Houston Airport System to turn Ellington field into a commercial spaceport. This is next step in commercial aviation, and promises to continue to ensure that the city continues to have transportation options available to it. This is an endeavor actively sought by the city government. If it does not do so now, the city may lose the opportunity to dominate the industry - which would be a pity given NASA's prominence here:
“This is not a science fiction-type conversation where we have to imagine how this industry might operate if it did in fact exist,” Mario Diaz, HAS’s aviation director, told the crowd. “This industry exists today, these launches have already taken place.”
HAS started aggressively moving forward with its spaceport plans in July, when it secured approval from Houston City Council for a $718,000 contract for a consulting firm to study how Ellington Airport can obtain a spaceport launch site operator’s license. However, HAS has been looking into developing a spaceport in Houston since early 2011. The ideal Ellington spaceport would allow for space tourism, astronaut training and commercial space experiments, HAS said.
In addition to unveiling the spaceport renderings on Sept. 4, HAS hosted a panel of members of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. The panel, which was comprised of former astronauts who are now working at companies that are in the process of creating commercial spaceflight vehicles, such as SpaceX and Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), spoke about their progress. Click here to read more about the panel.
Most of the panelists noted how their work is directly tied with Houston — all of them were trained as astronauts in Houston, and many work with the Johnson Space Center on developing their technologies used in spaceflight.
Houston's founding was based in large measure on its location. It lied on a potential transportation stream connecting the raw materials within Texas (first lumber, then cotton, then oil, etc...) with consumers around the world.
The development of the Port of Houston, then the airport system are all part of this process. These latest efforts fit within those previous ones. That it continues to do so illustrates the city's aggressiveness when it comes to business development.
While city's are primarily economic entities, not all play the game successfully.
