TEXAS… DOOMED TO REPEAT CALIFORNIA’S MISTAKES?
TEXAS…DOOMED TO REPEAT CALIFORNIA’S MISTAKES?
Please join Dick Weekley, Walt Mischer, Kendall Miller, Alan Hassenflu, and
Leo Linbeck, III on March 12th, Hilton @ 2001 Post Oak Boulevard, Ballroom “C”
11:30 am Networking, Noon lunch Presentation and Panel, Adjourn @ 1:15
RSVP by March 9th – 866-573-8201 or contact-us@opportunityurbanism.org
California’s tough environmental rules and planning represent the wave of the future to many planners and pundits, as well as to large parts of the federal government. The goal is to rein in “sprawl,” based largely on questionable environmental and urban design considerations California consciously seeks to impose a high-density, transit-focused future on the residents of the state.
But California’s policies do not just affect Californians. Many federal agencies, including the EPA and US Fish and Wildlife Service, have embraced the Golden State’s regulations on climate change, wetland and endangered species protection, as role models to be adopted nationally. As California-style regulations diffuse through the federal government, Texas business could soon be subject to many of the same programs and policies.
In this unique program, the Center for Opportunity Urbanism has invited David Friedman, a leading California land use attorney, to discuss the evolution of California land use and environmental regulation. California’s current regulatory programs were largely invented in the 1970s, when the state’s impressive job creation and economic opportunities made it the Texas of that era. By 1990, however, the California economy increasingly came to resemble the slower growing northeastern and upper Midwestern states, albeit with still-significant population growth.
Dr. Friedman, who holds a PhD in political economy from MIT, will explain the social and economic impacts these regulations have had on the people of the state. He will also discuss how EPA and other federal agencies, as well as changing demographics and political pressure, could bring similar policies to Texas and the greater Houston area.
Dr. Friedman’s talk will be followed by an insightful panel discussion, moderated by the Center’s executive director Joel Kotkin, that includes Architect Tim Cisneros, Houston Developer Walter Mischer, Senior Fellow and urban demographer Wendell Cox and Senior Fellow and Houston Strategies blogger Tory Gattis.
3900 Essex Lane, Suite 1200 • Houston, Texas 77027 • 866-573-8201 opportunityurbanism.org
