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January News Digest


27 January 2012


Houston architect Charles Renfro (pictured) has been in Scotland to give a presentation to members of Aberdeen City Council on his New York-based design firm’s proposals to raise and extend the city’s sunken Union Terrace Gardens.

The plans to revamp the city centre gardens will be the subject of a citywide referendum with the result to be announced on 1 March.


Mayor Annise Parker performed the ground-breaking ceremony at the inauguration   of a three phase $1 billion redevelopment scheme at George Bush Intercontinental Airport. The first phase, due for completion in 2013, will create a new Terminal B, south concourse with a 225,000 sq.ft facility to accommodate United Airlines’ regional operations. Houston Airport System is undertaking work over the next seven to 10 years in partnership with United Continental Holdings Inc. “Bush Intercontinental is the first impression many people have of Houston. We exist to connect people, businesses and economies around the world and this project will allow for an enhanced customer experience and a stronger gateway for our air service needs,” said Mario Diaz, Director of Houston Airport System.


Average pay in Houston is $22.26 per hour or $46,290 a year – the second highest in Texas  but well below the top average of $67,850 in San Jose, California.  In Houston the lowest paid 10% of workers averaged $16,950 last year compared with an average of $88,360 earned by the top 90%.


Consumer safety inspectors seized more than 117,000 products being imported through the Port of Houston.  Products deemed unsafe included 25,000 toys as well as mattresses, electronic devices, lighters, bike helmets and all-terrain vehicles. Most of the items impounded were made in China. Around 90% of toys sold in the U.S. come from China and Hong Kong. The Port of Houston handled a record 17.7 million tons of consumer cargo in 2011 – up 4% on the previous year. A record 2.5 million tons of U.S. grain was exported from the port.


Houston added 75,800 jobs last year – a 3% increase on 2010. Growth was recorded in the energy, manufacturing and retail sectors.


20 January 2012


Aberdonians are being invited to vote for, or against a Houston architects’s plans to give the city a heart transplant. Rice University architecture graduate Charles Renfro is a partner in a New York based design consultancy whose plans for an urban garden in Aberdeen city centre won a design competition to revamp the existing Union Terrace Gardens. If the £120 million project is approved in a referendum next month, the work could be completed in 2016. The Granite Web design (pictured) would provide 70,000sq.ft. of additional green space and eight distinct gardens areas. Mr Renfro said, “When you come across the gardens after walking through the density of the Granite City, it is a truly special place.”  


Sunday, 22 January is Grampian Region Day in the Houston calendar. January 22 was so designated by a previous mayor of the city to mark the date of the arrival of a Grampian-Houston Association exchange delegation in Texas.


After being in “exceptional drought” since March, Harris County, which includes Houston, has now been downgraded to the “severe drought” category following recent rain.  


Eithiopian runners swept the boards in the 40th Houston Chevron Marathon and the Aramco Half Marathon, setting new records in the process. Tariku Jufari (27) won the men’s race in the record time of two hours, 6 minutes, 51 seconds while Teyba Erkesso won the women’s race in a record 2 hours,23 minutes,14 seconds. They each collected $35,000 plus $10,000 for setting new records. More than 20,000 runners took part in the marathon, half marathon and 5k fun run.  


Texas Governor Rick Perry will not be the next President of the U.S. He has dropped out of the running to be the Republican Party candidate to take on President Obama in the November election.  Perry became the front runner after he entered the race last August but he decided to withdraw after his poll ratings dropped to single digits.

13 January 2012


Water conservation measures imposed in Houston last summer have been lifted following recent rains and cooler temperatures. Lake levels have risen at the city’s three  reservoirs but Mayor Annise Parker has asked Houstonians to continue voluntary conservation measures such as keeping showers to less than five minutes. Texas had its driest year on record in 2011 with average rainfall of 14.88ins, slightly less than the 14.99 inches recorded in 1917. Houston had its third driest year and its warmest since 1962.


Forbes Magazine has named Tony’s in Houston as one of the top ten restaurants in the U.S. for a working lunch. The Italian restaurant (pictured) run by Tony Vallone at 3755 Richmond is the only Houston restaurant on the list. Its clientele includes oil barons, hospital executives and “ladies who lunch.”


The Houston area is one of the worst offenders on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s latest map of greenhouse gas omissions. The map records the location and amount of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions released by large industrial facilities in 2011. The database shows more than 100 industrial premises in the Houston area released more than 25,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year.


U.S. Census Bureau figures show Houston has more than  250,000 employees in the healthcare and social assistance fields and 92,000 employees in finance and insurance. Average annual earnings for healthcare employees was $45,500 and $76,200 for finance and insurance staff.


Houston is a great place to be in 2012 according to The Street, a financial news website, which has named Houston as one of the top ten cities “poised for greatness” in 2012. The list is based on financial forecasts, large scale events and new initiatives.

6 January 2012


The murder rate in Houston in 2011 was the lowest for nearly half a century. The number of homicides dropped by 26% from 269 in 2010 to 198 last year the lowest since 1965 when 139 were killed.  Almost one-third of the murders were gang-related and Houston Police Department made arrests in around 90% of cases.  Police chief Charles McClelland (pictured) welcomed the drop in homicides which reflects a national trend in major U.S. cities. New York, Los Angeles and Chicago also recorded fewer killings.


Mayor Aurise Parker, City Controller Ronald Green and 16 members of Houston City Council were sworn into office on 3 January to run the city for the next two years.

Seven new members took the oath for the first time. Mayor Parker said her goal would be to keep Houstonians in employment.  “My No 1 job for the next two years is to continue to bring jobs to Houston. We will expand the programme we already started to stimulate small businesses with access to loans and training. We will hire Houston first.”


Houston remains popular with foreign property investors. In the 20th annual survey of U.S. cities by the Association of Foreign Real Estate Investors, the Texan energy capital was placed at No 7 – ahead of Austin at No 8 and Dallas (13).  Last month the sale of the 29-storey Hess Tower office block at 1501 McKinney Street set a new city record for property and for price per sq. ft. The building, which is fully leased to the Hess Corp. until June 2026, was bought by a Toronto-based real estate investment trust for $442.5 million - $523.81 per sq. ft.   


Aberdeen student nurses Kay Strachan and Valerie Stephen will present their impressions of healthcare provision and nursing education in Houston to members of the Grampian-Houston Association Board on 10 January. They will report on their two-week study visit to Houston in September.


This may  be the computer age but the age of the typewriter hasn’t passed completely in Houston.  Ed Smith (75) has been repairing typewriters for 44 years and his Universal Typewriter Shop on Dowling in the city’s 3rd Ward is still getting a steady stream of customers. Ed opened the shop in 1967 and he has no plans to retire. He never learned how to fix computers.