Creative Houston

S I G N A L S

In this column we collect news and evidence of Houston supporting the creative industries and creative professionals.

Houston Recognized for Smart Use of Renewable Power

Wall St. Journal City of Houston Gives Wind Power a Turn, 2008-Jul-2, by Jeffrey Ball: Other U.S. cities are pursuing renewable energy, but the federal government ranks Houston among the top municipal buyers of renewable energy in the country. ... The power that the city buys won't necessarily come directly from wind turbines. Because wind power is intermittent -- it is produced only when the wind blows hard enough -- the city's contract calls for back-up power to come from conventional sources. But the energy companies will certify that an equal and offsetting amount of power will be produced by Texas wind farms.

...In 2007, Houston signed a contract to lock in wind power at 7.5 cents per kilowatt hour for a five-year period. Since then, power prices have gone up. At today's electricity prices, the city would be spending $167 million for power for the fiscal year that started Tuesday, said Cris Eugster, an official in the Houston mayor's office who also was involved in the deal. The wind-power deal will shave $7 million, or about 4%, off of that bill.

 

Solar Technology Company wants Houston Engineers

Houston Business Journal: Solar technology company opening Houston engineering office, 2008-Jun-20, by Ford Gunter: Solar technology company LXE Corp. is locating its engineering center in Houston to be close to the local talent pool and local companies. Florham Park, N.J.-based LXE provides chemical companies with technology packages for the manufacture of trichlorosilane, or TCS, a chemical used to make polysilicon, the key ingredient in solar panels. "The solar industry is really in the stage of explosive growth -- 50, 70, 100 percent for most of the companies," says George Xiao, LXE chairman and CEO

UH Bauer College of Business Reaches for International Glory

Houston Business Journal: City Beat, 2008-Jun-20, by Casey Wooten: A building named for an alumnus has broken ground in the University of Houston's Bauer College of Business.Michael Cemo, retired president and CEO of Houston-based AIM Distributors Inc., donated $3 million of the $9 million price tag to construct Cemo Hall. ...Arthur Warga, dean of Bauer College of Business, notes Cemo has a long history of contributing to his alma mater. Cemo introduced the college to Houston businessman Ted Bauer, who donated $40 million in 2000. The largest tenant will be Bauer's Global Business Minor Program, which tutors students on today's globalized economy. "It is an important part of our trying to bootstrap off having the most international business school in the country," says Warga.

Waste Management Opens Greenopolis

Greenopolis is a social networking site that develops online relations between everyday people, communities, organizations, schools and businesses. As an environmentally-focused social networking site, Greenopolis was created to engage users on green issues so that they might learn, explore and participate in an open dialogue about the present and future of our environment. Waste Management sponsored the creation of the site to encourage individuals, communities, non-profits and businesses to communicate about green practices, to give users a tool to share ideas and to encourage people to make positive, incremental changes in their daily lives.

Saint Arnold Brewing Co. Moves Near Downtown

Houston Business Journal: St. Arnold drafts former HISD building for brewery, 2008-Jun-20, by Allison Wollam: According to Nielsen Co. data, Saint Arnold's seasonal line is the top-selling craft beer package in grocery stores in Houston. Statewide, both the seasonal line and Saint Arnold Fancy Lawnmower Beer are among the Top 10 craft beer packages sold in grocery stores. In addition to retail outlets, the products are also sold onsite at the brewery. Established in 1994, the brewery's production has grown an average of 24 percent each year from 2002 through 2007, more than double the growth of craft beer nationally during that period....

Saint Arnold's planned move into the former HISD building will triple its space and significantly increase its brewing capacity. The company will relocate from its current 30,000-square-foot space at 2522 Fairway Park Drive in North Houston into the redeveloped 90,000-square-foot former HISD warehouse, which is located at 2000 Lyons Ave. near downtown. ... Wagner is planning to maintain the brick portion of the historic main building, but plans to remove the existing loading dock and construct a 14,000-square-foot brew house. ... The brewery was recently listed by USA Today as one of the "10 great places to see what's brewing in beer."

Windpower Draws Crowds

Houston Business Journal: Organizers blown away by success of Windpower 2008, 2008-Jun-17, by Ford Gunter:The American Wind Energy Association's Windpower 2008 Conference and Expo drew 13,000 people from June 1 to June 4, shattering expectations and nearly doubling last year's record turnout of 7,000. "We knew (it) was going to be big and we had planned for a lot of growth, but our plans were blown out of the water by the interest in wind energy," said Randall Swisher, executive director of AWEA. "We had to expand the show floor several times." Some 776 exhibitors -- again almost double the number from the previous year -- almost filled up the convention center and helped deliver an estimated $12.8 million boost to Houston's economy.

Houston Welcomes House of Blues

Houston Chronicle: Dan Aykroyd brings the blues to Houston, 2008-Jun-26, by Andrew Dansby: Dan Aykroyd jokes that no expense is spared in the creation of a House of Blues, so the venue won't have much in common with Houston's old blues clubs. Still his visit included a hard-hat-clad Aykroyd shoveling some Mississippi River mud into a hatch at the front of what will be the stage. And among the first acts booked to play the club later this year are Aykroyd's Blues Brothers group, B.B. King and Buddy Guy. Opening Oct. 18, the venue will host approximately 200 concerts per year. Aykroyd says it will be "a house of all music."

Discovering Houston

Culture Scout Blog: Houston, The Energy City A-Glow with Bright Lights, 2008-May-22, by Patricia Martin: My brain is pinging. I have so much to tell you about Houston. Big confession, it was my first visit to the city. To my great relief, no one held that against me. In fact, the Houstonians I met exuded both Southern charm and Southern hospitality. The MetLife RenGen event drew a RenGen crowd...diverse, for-profit/non-profit mix of marketers eager to exchange ideas. ... Among the many surprises: Unbelievable amount of world-class sculpture in Houston. I mean OMG, blow-your-mind quantity and quality! Houston has a great downtown. It's loaded with untapped potential and awaits discovery by people fed up with the expensive, tedious commute into the sprawl that has grown around it.

Houston's Gay Pride Parade Largest in Southwest

Houstonist: 30 Years of Pride. 2008-Jun-26, by Brittanie Shey:

Did you know Houston's Pride Parade is the only one in the country to take place at night? And that it's the largest in the Southwest? Houstonist didn't, but that's never stopped us from enjoying the parade from the patio of Catbirds, beverage in hand. Pride Houston is celebrating it's 30th year serving H-town's GLBT community with festivities all day Saturday. This year's theme is "We Are Family," a fitting motif in the wake of recent events in California. The event is free and open to the public. The celebration begins at 11 a.m. on the corner of Yoakum and Westheimer with shopping, live music, street food and a "Community Zone" where festival-goers can visit with some of Houston's most ardent GLBT supports, from non-profits to businesses. The event is family-themed and appropriate for all ages. There will even be a Kids' Zone.

Houston Sidestepping Problems Other Cities Face

Newsweek: Houston, We Have No Problems, 2008-Jun-21, by Daniel Gross: ...an area that finds itself uniquely situated to capitalize on the longstanding megatrends that are transforming the global economy. ... Exports are rising because Houston has become a sort of Silicon Valley for the global energy industry. "There's hardly any oil and gas production in a 40-mile radius of Houston," says Mayor Bill White, a former energy executive, as he held court in the city's charming art deco city hall. (Think of a much smaller Rockefeller Center, but without the tourists.) "It's the knowledge that has concentrated here that is driving things." In 1981, the oil and gas industry was a domestic, blue-collar one. Today it's an international, white-collar one. ... Urban cowboy? Think suburban geek. Houston has 70,000 engineers and architects (a concentration 60 percent higher than is typical for the United States). The oil boom and weak dollar are boosting demand for their services, and engineering and construction firms like KBR and Fluor are applying their expertise to power plants and sewage facilities around the world.

Houston Builders Know Eco

Houston Chronicle: Houston builders suggest some ecofriendly materials, 2008-Jun-23, by Maggie Galehouse: The building community shares some of its favorite ecofriendly construction materials...

Houston Doctors Tackle Montezuma's Revenge

abc13.com: New patch developed in Houston could stop traveler's diarrhea, 6/20/08: In a laboratory at the UT Institute of Molecular Medicine, Dr. Ferid Murad is working on a solution to a worldwide problem. ... "It will basically block all of the bacterial toxin-induced diarrheal diseases [like] cholera, E. coli, perhaps others," Dr. Murad said. ... Meantime, another UT scientist is tackling a similar problem ... He's developing a patch that targets the E. coli bacteria that causes the illness. ... "Antibodies are developed against that toxin which now protects me against that infection," said Dr. Herbert DuPont with the UT School of Public Health.

Records of Houston Streetcars Rescued

Houston Chronicle: Discovery illuminates history of Houston's streetcars, 2008-Jun-22, by Mike Snyder: ... the recent discovery of a trove of streetcar documents and photographs could yield new insights into the pivotal role streetcars played in Houston's development a century ago. ... Donald Lambert, 83, died on April 10. Not long after that, Irv Smith got a call from his wife, who had spotted a pile of what looked like transit-related documents at an estate sale near their Missouri City home. ...Randy Pace, the city of Houston's historic preservation officer, ... worked out a deal to purchase the material from Lambert's estate. The costs were shared by Baron, Pace and Paul Fruge, a member of Houston's Archaeological and Historical Commission. ... Pace plans to ship it to Baron, who may use it to produce a Web-based update to his book [Houston Electric, 1997]. When that is done, Baron said, he probably will donate it to the Houston Public Library's Metropolitan Research Center, which houses local historical collections.

Tenacity of Houston Educators Creates New Visions for Students

Houston Chronicle: Sharptown band students, composer create original music, 2008-Jun-19, by Tara Dooley: "Before, we would play a lot of things and I didn't get it," said Tovar, an 18-year-old marimba player. "On the day of the performance I finally got it. I could tell where things were going." It was an epiphany nearly five months in the making. Since the end of January, Tovar had been part of the group, dubbed the Sollopa Ten, that met nearly weekly with professional composer Kurt Stallmann for an experiment in creativity, collaboration and composition. Their goal was to create a work to be performed before a Houston Symphony concert in The Woodlands.

Wired Recognizes Houston Band

Listening Post blog at Wired.com: Indian Jewelry Pawns Golden Freakouts, 2008-May-3, by Scott Thill: It's hard to categorize the throbbing dance psychedelia that Indian Jewelry concocts out of their Houston-based launch pad, but I suppose I just did. The tongue-in-cheek ensemble falls somewhere in the sonic spectrum between My Bloody Valentine, Gram Rabbit and Brian Jonestown Massacre, but one could argue they lie outside of those comfortable coordinates as well. You can decide for yourself by catching them on their current tour, or by listening in on their latest effort Free Gold, which drops May 20 from the very indie label We Are Free. Then again, you could also read the short but humorous exchange I conducted below with head jeweler Erika Thrasher ... Wired: Give me one good reason why you should be in Texas. Indian Jewelry: Ireland is too cold. Texas is the new Seattle. OK, you win.

Houston Architect Launches Revolutionary Home Building Company

Metropolis: Cottage Industry, 2008-Jun-18, by Tess Taylor: This month, in the wake of the home-lending collapse and under the shadow of a looming energy crisis, [Brett] Zamore is betting big on small-home chic. He is launching a Web-based company, Zamore Homes, to offer environmentally friendly shotgun-inspired cottages at prices as low as $100 a square foot. With the largest standard version, Kit 06, measuring in at 2,200 square feet, and Kit 00 a mere 400 square feet, they are efficient to ship, build, and maintain. Their well-placed windows, open floor plans, and vaulted ceilings lend them a sense of largesse. Zamore would argue that these are homes for the carbon-crisis world.

Juneteenth Started in Houston

Smithsonian Magazine: Destination America: Juneteenth Celebration 2008-May, by Kenneth R. Fletcher (via Houstonist): Juneteenth Celebration in Houston, Texas on June 19, 1865, two months after the Civil War ended, a Union general traveled to Texas and declared slaves there to be free. This year's celebration includes zydeco, blues and gospel concerts.

Methodist Hospital Expands Internationally

Methodist Hospital System:

Methodist International (MI), a subsidiary of The Methodist Hospital in Houston, has signed an unprecedented agreement with Emaar Healthcare Group (EHG), the healthcare subsidiary of United Arab Emirates-based Emaar Properties, to build, operate and manage its health care centers throughout the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey.

Under this agreement, a strategic partnership was formed to promote best practice standards and develop and manage hospitals and clinics in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia.

Houston Dancers Compete on MTV

Houston Chronicle: Houston dancers have the right moves , 2008-Jun-18, by Anthony Williams:

America's Best Dance Crew, MTV's American Idol-like series with hip-hop dance groups, starts its second season tonight at 9.

Just months after crowning its first winners, two Houston crews are still alive in the competition, ready to face eight others from across the nation.

The young dancers in SoReal Cru and Chatelain's Distorted X are thrilled but hope the show is a taste of the success to come rather than their full 15 minutes of fame.

Houston a Good City to Enjoy your Salary

BusinessWeek: Are You in the Best City for Your Job?, 2008-Jun-12, by Prashant Gopal: Businessweek.com worked with Seattle's Payscale.com to determine where the best and worst cities are for 20 common careers and found that—when it comes to earning a comfortable living—Houston it at or near the top for most jobs, from human resources manager to graphic designer. ... It has been almost a year since Campbell joined Houston's Andrews Kurth law firm as a partner and chief diversity officer, . ... "The bottom line was: 'How come I didn't live here already?'" Campbell said. "I came here because of a job. But it's a wonderful city, and I can see myself retiring here."

 

Massachusetts Governor Hires Nation's First "Dir of Econ Dvlpmt for Creative Industries"

The Boston Globe: Massachusetts sees arts as vital to economy, 2008-Jun-3, by Robert Gavin (via CreativeTampaBay)

The Patrick administration today launches an initiative to expand so-called creative industries in the state, appointing a first-in-the-nation "creative economy" director to help expand a diverse sector that ranges from individual artists to cultural institutions to video game makers. The appointment of Jason S. Schupbach of Boston illustrates the growing role creative sectors play in economic policy as states compete for jobs, companies, and skilled workers.

Houston Learns to Go Green with Antiques

Houston Business Journal: Face to Face with Tricia Keuhnert-Gillespy, 2008-Jun-6, by Casey Wooten: We are finding that baby boomers and younger generations like the fact that the environmental carbon footprint for antiques is neutral. No trees have to come down and no paints and stains have to be manufactured to have a truly beautiful piece of furniture. It's a very green industry. Also, our estate auctions are very green as well. Instead of leaving furniture, china, silver and other household furnishings in storage for years, we sell these items at our Thursday night auction for those families and businesses experiencing lifestyle transitions.

Bike Further in Houston

Houston Business Journal: Transportation Briefs, 2008-Jun-6, by Thora Qaddumi: Bicyclists are discovering that the City of Houston Bikeway Program's Columbia Taps Rails to Trail greenway, which broke ground a year ago at Texas Southern University, is nearing completion. The greenway is a three-mile-long, 10-foot-wide hike-and-bike trail that runs in an abandoned railway corridor from the bike route on Dixie Drive to the bike lanes on Polk Street. It connects to the trail on Brays Bayou, as well as the bike route on Alabama and McGowen. The trail also includes two bicycle and pedestrian bridges to cross State Highway 288 (South Freeway) and Brays Bayou. This year, on May 1, the City of Houston Bikeway Program held a groundbreaking ceremony at Eldridge and Enclave for the West Houston Phase II Bike Trail, which includes 27.8 miles of bike lanes and designated bike routes west of Beltway 8, between Old Katy Road and Richmond.

Selling Western Wear

Houston Business Journal: Riding high, 2008-Jun-6, by Debra Beachey: Walter Pye Jr., ... opened the 12,500-square-foot, Western lodge-style store in the Galleria area in 2004. Clients can choose from an array of hand-crafted Western apparel and accessories including handmade, designer-name cowboy boots, belts, buckles, jewelry, Stetson hats and saddles. Handmade cowboy boots in leather, alligator or ostrich cost from $500 to more than $3,600. Hand-crafted silver and gold belt buckles displayed in jewelry cases in the middle of the store start at $250, but can fetch as much as $20,000. Saddles, handmade in a workshop at the store by saddle-maker Julio Pena, go for up to $4,000, depending on the amount of tooling. The Western-chic niche has turned out to be a profitable one, with no shortage of customers willing to pay dearly for the luxury Western items, the store's attentive customer service and a tangible connection to the American West.

Houston High School Selected to Open Branch in Qatar

Houston Business Journal: Houston health magnet school to open satellite campus in Qatar, 2008-Jun-6, by Casey Wooten: In the fall, Houston's Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions will open a satellite campus in the Middle East emirate of Qatar.

"This is a great opportunity for the city, the state and the nation," says Charlesetta Deason, school principal. "We realize that eyes will be on us, and we will do everything we can to make our city proud."

The Qatari government conducted a worldwide search of public and private schools as part of a broader effort to revamp its education system. Representatives from Qatar's Supreme Education Council visited the DeBakey school in 2007, eventually selecting the health sciences magnet school as a model for their own.

New Style of Housing for Sugar Land

Houston Business Journal: Housing design for Imperial tract goes down unique alley, 2008-May-30, by Jennifer Dawson: Jim Cheney, vice president of corporate communications for Southern Land, says the housing component will be similar to what the firm is doing in a project called Westhaven that is currently being developed in Nashville. The company is proposing a high-density neighborhood design with alleys behind the houses for garage access. "You don't drive down the street and see garage after garage after garage," Cheney says. "These are commonplace in Boston and New York City, but we're going to put them into suburban Houston. It's different from most everything that's out there now." With garages tucked away, the street view includes homes, front porches and heavily landscaped, yet small, front yards as well as sidewalks. In another unique design feature, Southern Land will not allow repetition of a home façade in any given neighborhood section, so in a group of about 65 homes, no two houses would look exactly alike.

Houston Company Protecting Environment with Eco-Sheets

Houston Business Journal: Fresh Pak helping give wood pallets the slip, 2008-May-30, by Monica Perin: Fresh Pak has produced plastic slip sheets for a decade using plastic resins, but began transitioning to recycled curbside plastic over the last several years, finally rolling out the branded product Eco-Sheet this year. [Director of Sales and Marketing Rudy] Macdonel says Fresh Pak has seen an annual increase in demand for this alternative to wood shipping pallets."It's a no-brainer," he says. ... A truckload of 500 wood pallets weighs more than 30,000 pounds compared to about 1,000 pounds for 500 plastic slip sheets, which take up a space of only four feet in width, length and height. That translates into potential savings in shipping -- from reduced fuel and freight rates to increased product space -- along with significant environmental benefits, from saving trees to reducing air emissions through more efficient shipping, Macdonel says.

Houston in Top 10 List of Cities for Young Adults

Houston Business Journal: Houston ranks high in best cities for young adults, 2008-May-30, by Casey Wooten: The Bayou City has broken into the Top 10 list of cities offering the best prospects for young adults, according to a recent study by Bizjournals, which is part of Houston Business Journal parent company American City Business Journals. Houston ranks 10th out of the 67 largest U.S. metros in opportunities for people between the ages of 18 and 34. The study looked at factors such as the annual rate of employment growth, total population growth, jobless rate, education level and average income of young city dwellers. ... Austin topped the group of Texas cities that were included in the study with a score of 6.38, ranking second on the list behind only Raleigh. ... After Raleigh and Austin, Washington, D.C.; Las Vegas and Phoenix rounded out the Top 5.

The Ambition of Houston

Cultural observer Paul Graham (www.PaulGraham.com) recently wrote about the way that many cities embody certain kinds of ambition. He doesn't mention Houston, of course, but I wonder if our ambition here in Houston couldn't be described as enterprise. Everyone is Houston seems to be working on something, some project, some cause, some empire, some breakthrough. Our scientists are known for their discoveries, not their teaching abilities. Our physicians are known for new methods of treatment. And, of course, NASA is known for a handful of big projects off the surface. Joel Osteen is known for trying to help everyone improve. We're always building something, redesigning something, carving out new territory.

Cities and Ambition. 2008-May, by Paul Graham: Because ambitions are to some extent incompatible and admiration is a zero-sum game, each city tends to focus on one type of ambition. The reason Cambridge is the intellectual capital is not just that there's a concentration of smart people there, but that there's nothing else people there care about more. Professors in New York and the Bay area are second class citizens—till they start hedge funds or startups respectively.

This suggests an answer to a question people in New York have wondered about since the Bubble: whether New York could grow into a startup hub to rival Silicon Valley. One reason that's unlikely is that someone starting a startup in New York would feel like a second class citizen. [3] There's already something else people in New York admire more. (Money)

 

Another Major Wind Power Player Comes to Houston

Houston Chronicle: Dutch wind power giant to open research center in Houston, 2008-Jun-3, by Tom Fowler: Houston is already home to a handful of major wind power project developers, including those owned by oil and gas giants BP and Shell, thanks in large part to the state's ample wind resources, renewable energy incentives created by lawmakers and competitive power markets. And the industry blew this way again Monday when Dutch powerhouse Vestas Wind Systems said it will open its first U.S. research and development facility here. The office will open in 2009 and grow to about 100 researchers by early 2010, not including support staff, with more positions likely to come.

GreenHunter Opens Nation's Largest Biodiesel Plant in Houston

Houston Chronicle: Nation's largest biodiesel plant opens at Houston Ship Channel, 2008-Jun-2, by Brett Clanton: The nation's largest biodiesel plant opened Monday at the Houston Ship Channel, expanding Texas' lead as the biggest producer of the alternative fuel and helping chart a course for making it from nonedible sources. The $70 million facility, owned by Grapevine-based GreenHunter Energy, will be able to produce 105 million gallons a year of biodiesel, boosting the nation's capacity to make the fuel by nearly 5 percent. But at a grand opening event Monday, GreenHunter officials were just as eager to highlight the plant's flexibility to produce the fuel from a wide range of animal fats and vegetable oils, both edible and nonedible. The design not only will help the industry move away from competition with food crops like soybeans but will prevent the facility from being too closely tied to one feedstock, which is by far the biggest expense of making the fuel, company officials said.