Top Ten Lists - Again

Every once and a while I take a few minutes and peruse the top ten list of this and that. They are always interesting. Mostly because of the compilers themselves (What were they thinking?) than the list itself. Best places to live, cities with the best grade schools, and those that have the best chain restaurants are fun to read but I can assure you that no one will move just to be on one of these lists. But, it does give a resident of “The best college town in America,” some self-satisfaction knowing someone out there validates their choice.

So here are few to ponder:

America’s Most and Least Expensive College Towns  (CLICK HERE)

I was not surprised that Berkeley Cal was number one. No one can afford to live in the Bay Area. But why Stanford isn’t on the elite list leaves one to wonder about the list's authenticity, housing in Palo Alto is totally insane. The least expensive is Muncie, Indiana. Yes, Muncie. I’m going to Google Earth and find it, I do remember the name from my youth.

America’s Most and Least Expensive Affordable Areas to Raise A Family. (CLICK HERE)

This is an in depth article about living costs in American cities. Interesting for data geeks. But I was shocked to see that New York was listed as the most expensive, shocked I say. What this does show is that where you live does matter. California needs to work on getting to the top of this list.

Here’s a list of the Top 25 Private Home Building Companies. (CLICK HERE)

Where are the healthiest housing markets? (CLICK HERE)

According to this list and the article, out of the top fifteen, seven are in Texas, four in Colorado, and only two in California—the Bay Area to be exact. What is more interesting is the Affordability Rank—why anyone would think of moving to California is beyond me. But for those of us here, have pity, we feel trapped in a gilded prison of drought and Coppertone.

Outside magazine took a pole of its readers and came up with The 16 Best Places to Live in America – 2015. (CLICK HERE)

The list certainly grabs your attention from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Lake Placid, New York. Note: there are no California cities listed – just saying.

And one last fun one:

California finally tops the list, The 10 Most Polluted Cities in America. (CLICK HERE)

In California’s defense, the Fresno-Madera, Ca. region sits in a bowl and with agriculture dominating the economy you get dust and all the usual mix of agricultural byproducts. The rest of America must have its veggies.

Stay Tuned . . . . . . . .

Why Is It Always Texas – Part 2

Prime Real Estate

An article in The Atlantic got me thinking (again) about why Texas is such a draw.  Both Houston and Dallas added more than 100,000 people during the 2013-2014 timeframe and not far behind in growth was Austin. After this past winter in the eastern Midwest and the Eastern seaboard it is a very good bet that this trend will continue. Throw in the insane politics of many of these areas and the best investment during the next few years may be in moving companies.

There was a time when California held this honor of being the prime destination of Easterners (as a kid in the sixties I remember the Beach Boys, Little Duce Coups, Haight-Ashbury, Jefferson Airplane, California Dreaming, all that stuff). Now they are fleeing. No water, a democratic political machine everything political, no smoking yet marijuana yes campaigns, did I say no water, 100 billion dollar trains to nowhere, taxes through the roof, rents the highest in the world, home prices along the sacred 50 mile Pacific edge totally unaffordable (can’t wait to sell and get that equity – which is a whole other market strategy), and did I mention no water. Yes, California may have absolutely fantastic weather but it hardly makes up for the idiots that now run this state. It was remarkably different when we moved here in the early seventies – very different.

But, back to Texas. Americans, as we get older like warmer weather, just ask my back. I assume that there are many in Boston that are glad the aerobic exercise of snow shoveling has lost its allure and fondly think of warmer climes – at least with a January temperatures over “frost-bite.” Time magazine published an article by Tyler Cowen in late 2013 that sums up many of the reasons why Texas is the thing and America’s future (for good or bad).

While there are a lot of issues such as automation and the impacts on the middle-class that are driving people to Texas, it is jobs and inexpensive housing that are the greatest draws. Housing is less expensive in Texas and not by a small amount of money. On average you can buy a lot more house for a lot less money than in California, New York and almost anywhere in the Northeast. A home in the San Francisco Bay area is impossible for under $600,000 and the same in New York. The same house on a larger lot in a nice community in the Houston area is $200,000. That leaves a lot of money for other things. And it’s not due to lower incomes, in all stats after living expenses, the average middle-class Texan is wealthier than their social equals in New York and Coastal California. Did I mention Texas also has no income tax.

Texas is the complete opposite of California. From economics, politics, governmental expectations, income taxes, and a much smaller government, they are dramatically different.

One reason I suspect that people are heading to Texas is because it is NOT like where they live now. Americans (at one time) wanted independence and freedom more than anything. They were told to head west, they fled the confines of the cities and all the ills found there, they wanted safety and they wanted to be fundamentally left alone. Nanny laws were anathemas, but we sucked it up. We rationalized everything, accepted everything—after all we are flexible and optimistic. But, there are still some who want to be left alone and many of them are heading to Texas.

Stay Tuned . . . . . . . 

NEW YEAR - NOW SOME FUN STUFF!!

I came across these on Facebook posts and thought you might get a kick out Fibonacci, algorithms, and graphics. Seems that nature also has inherent algorithms in its genetic codes that also express themselves in flowers and who knows what else....

And again how Aaron Renn finds these I just don't know.......

Paris and New York

Paris and London

The new trend in urban videos is split screens - very cool. And for a reminder of the most exciting event last year in San Francisco . . . . .

Stay Tuned for a Great New Year . . . . . . .

Traffic To Die For

When I listen to the latest on traffic in the Bay Area and San Francisco (Galaxy Base for Cogito Urbanus) you would think we were in a free fire zone of automotive chaos and collisions. Here are a few videos that make you wish for those future days of robot cars.

The above is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (I bet some of you thought is was Columbus Circle in New York City). Makes you kind of dream about stoplights and left turn arrows. What is most fascinating are the pedestrians dancing in and amongst the cars. I hate to think of the number of accidents, though libertarians might think this all normal which proves that we don’t need the heavy hand of government over-management.

Note the seven lanes demarcated in the upper left lanes (Traffic Engineers of Africa) with appropriate turn and directional arrows. Watch how they are stringently followed. And I also note the lack of bicycles, I guess they are not as useful in a third world country as I was led to believe.

Now Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam is an entirely different matter. One difference is the dominant use of motorcycles and mini-bikes. The intersection also has a traffic signal, one I believe, that hangs over the center. As with Ethiopia, pedestrians must fend for themselves.

Mumbai, India looks like any intersection in New York (mostly taxis and pedestrians) or Columbus Street in San Francisco.

Driving in China – Linyi City style. Lanes? I don't need no stinking lanes.

Pedestrian crossing Japanese style. This near the Shibuya train station in Tokyo.

And you thought Los Angeles traffic was bad.

What more can you say when you mix vodka and traffic. This is near St. Petersburg, Russia.

And you can always bet on the Japanese to solve the problem – Nagoya, Japan

Stay Tuned . . . . . . . . .