.:.Economy - Texas Triangle on NewsGator Online

IATA: Passenger and cargo demand drops continue

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:45:05 GMT

Airline passenger and cargo figures declined again in June with no signs of recovery in sight, according to a new report from the international industry group of the world’s air carriers.

Report: Cruise industry worth $1.1B to Texas in 2008

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:24:19 GMT

The cruise industry contributed $1.1 billion in direct spending and 18,674 jobs to the Texas economy in 2008, according to a new report from the Cruise Lines International Association. (CUK) (RCL)

Commuter rail district seeking $17.5M from FRA

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:56:03 GMT

The Austin-San Antonio Commuter Rail District is asking the Federal Railroad Administration for $17.5 million to fund environmental clearances and preliminary engineering services related to the creation of a passenger rail line and the relocation of Union Pacific along the corridor.

Millennials Think Globally, Act Locally

Morley Winograd and Michael D. Hais — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 05:56:23 GMT

The phrase, “Think Globally, Act Locally” has often been used by environmentalists to sum up a strategy devoted to conserving the earth's scarce natural resources at the local level. More recently, business executives borrowed the idea to emphasize the need for building capabilities at the country or regional level even as they pursue global growth. But now the Millennial Generation, Americans born between 1982 and 2003, are giving the phrase an entirely new meaning as they pursue their efforts to change the world – one local community at a time.

In contrast to the generational stereotypes many people hold of them, Millennials are very much concerned about and connected to the world around them – more so, in fact, than many older Americans. Responding to questions on foreign policy in a recent Pew Research Center survey, only 9% of Millennials were unable to express an opinion on how President Obama is doing in working with our allies, while almost a quarter of senior citizens had no opinion on the same subject. On the knotty question of Israeli/Palestinian relations, all but 7% of Millennials could tell survey researchers what they thought of American foreign policy in this area. On the other hand, 26% of senior citizens could not (see table below).

In addition to its high level of concern with international matters, the Millennial Generation's ability to make virtual friends instantaneously on Facebook or Twitter with Iranian protesters provides a unique perspective on how to deal with America’s foreign policy challenges.

Perhaps most notable is how the Millennial Generation deals with the concept of "threats". A majority of Millennials do see Al Qaeda, and the nuclear programs of North Korea and Iran as "major threats" to the United States, but by rates 15 to 20 points less than other generations. Other more intractable but less direct security concerns, such as the drug trade in Mexico, China’s emergence as a world power, or conflicts in the Mideast ranging from Pakistan to Palestine, are not considered a major threat among a majority of Millennials. To be sure, some of these attitudes may reflect the inevitable naiveté of young people, but we believe the underlying beliefs of Millennials suggest an alternative explanation.

Millennials have been taught since at least high school that the best way to solve a societal problem is act upon it locally and directly. Tired of exalted rhetoric from Boomer leaders that rarely produced results and frustrated by their older Gen-X siblings lack of interest in pursuing any collective action to address broad social problems, Millennials have embraced individual initiative linked to community action. Eighty-five percent of college age Millennials consider voluntary community service an effective way to solve the nation’s problems. Virtually everyone in the generation (94%) believes it’s an effective way to deal with challenges in their local community. No wonder one of Barack Obama’s first legislative initiatives, the Kennedy National Service Act, was in response to the desire to serve of his most loyal constituency, the Millennial Generation.

And when it comes to public service, Millennials are putting their money where their mouth is, although lack of opportunity in the private sector also could be accelerating this public service trend. Teach for America, which places new graduates in low-income schools, saw a 42% increase in applications over 2008. Around 35,000 students are now competing for about 4,000 slots. U.S. undergraduates ranked Teach for America and the Peace Corps among their top 10 "ideal employers," ahead of the likes of Nike or General Electric.

Scotty Fay, a recent University of Massachusetts graduate, typifies the continuing belief of her generation in the importance of collective action to cope with a challenging world. “If we excel and we’re able to keep ourselves working, we’ll be OK, we hope, because we haven’t experienced anything different than that,” says Fay, who worked two jobs on top of her full-time course load, and is now getting ready for her Peace Corps assignment in Guinea.

First Lady Michelle Obama, in kicking off the administration’s “summer of service” initiative, made it clear that the administration sees this belief as key to America’s future. “This new Administration doesn’t view service as separate from our national priorities, or in addition to our national priorities – we see it as the key to achieving our national priorities.” Given the likelihood of continuing employment challenges for America’s newest workers, more and more Millennials are likely to gain their first work experiences performing some type of voluntary service.

This penchant for public service shapes the beliefs of Millennials on how the United States should deal with the problems it faces around the world. In last year's contest for the Democratic presidential nomination, Millennials believed Barack Obama was right and Hillary Clinton was wrong over whether to conduct direct talks with our enemies. And they thought Sarah Palin was completely off base when she declared in her acceptance speech at the convention that “the world is not a community and it doesn’t need an organizer.” In fact, Millennials believe that what the world needs most is thousands of community organizers, working on the ground to solve their own country’s problems, linked electronically, of course, to friends around the world.

This is a trend that, appropriately, resonates outside our borders as well. Grassroots activism, led largely by young Iranians, produced protests that may yet topple one of the most autocratic regimes in the world. Activism of this type across the Mideast could result in regime changes of far greater consequence than the military conquest strategy the United States employed in Iraq. Given the distinctions Millennials make between the seriousness of direct military threats, such as terrorism and nuclear proliferation, as opposed to squabbles over power or territory, America’s foreign policy is likely to shift towards a more multi-lateral, institution-building focus as this generation assumes our country’s leadership. This will occur even as Millennials continue to express support for our military by word and deed – when that becomes the only available option.

It may take a decade or two before we know how the Millennial Generation's belief in the need to “think globally, act locally” will impact our overall foreign policy. But in the interim, the United States will surely benefit from the generation's focus on rebuilding our country, as well as the world, one community at a time.

	Total	Millennials	Gen-X	Boomers	Silent & Older
Obama favors… (6/09)
Israel too much	6%	5%	9%	6%	4%
Palestinians too much	17%	9%	16%	20%	23%
Right balance	62%	79%	62%	63%	47%
DK	14%	7%	13%	11%	26%
Compared with Bush Administration has Obama Administration made US (6/09)
Safer from terrorism	28%	40%	23%	29%	23%
Less safe from terrorism	21%	16%	20%	23%	24%
No difference	44%	38%	48%	43%	44%
DK	7%	6%	9%	5%	9%
Is each of following a "major threat" to well-being of US (6/09)
Islamic extremist groups like Al Qaeda	78%	59%	77%	86%	85%
North Korea's nuclear program	72%	51%	74%	75%	81%
Iran's nuclear program	69%	55%	67%	75%	76%
Drug-related violence in Mexico	59%	42%	55%	61%	77%
China's emergence as world power	52%	31%	51%	59%	61%
Political instability in Pakistan	50%	30%	45%	59%	63%
Israel/Palestine conflict	49%	39%	45%	53%	58%
In dealing with our allies does Obama…(6/09)
Push America's interests too hard	8%	3%	10%	6%	11%
Take account of allies' interests too much	20%	13%	18%	25%	22%
Strikes right balance	57%	76%	53%	59%	46%
DK	15%	9%	18%	10%	22%
Approve how Obama is handling foreign policy (6/09)	57%	59%	61%	52%	55%
Is Obama's approach to national security…(6/09)
Too tough	2%	1%	2%	5%	2%
Not tough enough	38%	30%	37%	42%	41%
About right	51%	64%	53%	46%	48%
DK	8%	6%	8%	7%	10%
Approve/Disapprove how Obama is handling North Korea (6/09)
Approve	51%	61%	50%	55%	38%
Disapprove	23%	15%	26%	22%	25%
DK	26%	24%	24%	23%	36%

Morley Winograd and Michael D. Hais are fellows of the New Democrat Network and the New Policy Institute and co-authors of Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube, and the Future of American Politics (Rutgers University Press: 2008), named one of the 10 favorite books by the New York Times in 2008.

Public gets crack at loot seized in criminal cases

Houston Chronicle — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:46:37 GMT

AP Texas News © 2009 AP AUSTIN, Texas — A 10-carat diamond watch. A 25-inch gold chain with a "Paid In Full" pendant. Those are just two items of criminal ...
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Why Can't the Monster Make His Home in Our Lake Worth?

Broward New Times — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:29:23 GMT

By Thomas Francis in Science Near the city of Fort Worth, Texas, there's a Lake Worth -- a city that's next to an actual lake, not a lagoon like Florida's ...
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Texas districts called 'unacceptable' highest ever

KRIS-TV — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 23:28:12 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas -- The number of Texas school districts rated by the state as academically unacceptable has increased to 87, the highest level ever, ...
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FedEx Ground gets ready to move to south Fort Worth distribution center

support@star-telegram.com — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 03:41:00 GMT

By SANDRA BAKER

FedEx Ground will be the first tenant in the new Carter Distribution Center in south Fort Worth when it relocates a nearby facility in October.

The company will move into 110,800 square feet at 6601 Oak Grove Road. It leases about 25,000 square feet at 5778 Brush Creek Road in southeast Fort Worth.

It’s part of an expansion that FedEx Ground began in 2002, spokeswoman Allison Sobczak said.FedEx Ground is expanding about 500 facilities nationwide, she said. The company has since also opened nine distribution hubs, including one in Hutchins, in south Dallas, in 2005.

The Fort Worth facility, which serves the western half of the Metroplex, ran out of room, Sobczak said.

"They were leasing annex facilities during the peak last Christmas," she said. "The move is perfect timing."

The facility employs 63 workers. FedEx Ground will hire six to eight additional part-time package handlers in the move, Sobczak said.

The Carter Distribution Center is a joint venture between the Amon G. Carter Foundation and Rob Riner Cos. in Fort Worth. The center is adjacent to the Carter Industrial Park, south of Interstate 20 and east of Interstate 35W.

FedEx will be in a 615,000-square-foot new building.

Rob Riner, also a principal in Lee & Associates Fort Worth office, represented the owner. Chris Perkins and Mead Hardwick with Fischer & Co. represented FedEx Ground.

Southwest Airlines' bid for Frontier may help it grow in Denver

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Texas 161 toll road opens today in Irving, Grand Prairie

Fort Worth Star Telegram — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 05:28:11 GMT

... especially for people arriving from the northern reaches of Dallas. Texas 161 will also be a southwestern extension of the President George Bush ...
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Future has arrived in Texas

St. Louis Post-Dispatch — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 08:34:28 GMT

BY VAHE GREGORIAN ARLINGTON, Texas — Even if it resembles some futuristic vision of a space ship, the $1.12 billion colossus known as Cowboys Stadium can't ...
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Austin Contrarian: Peer pressure

Chris — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 21:41:09 GMT

Whatever the average Texan thinks about its feasibility in Texas, this map is likely to provoke a uniform reaction: Why the hell should the Midwest get high-speed rail get before the Texas Triangle? America 2050 proposes linking Chicago ...

Quarterly report: Energy troubles take toll on Houston

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 05:30:00 GMT

An economist, a real estate executive, chamber president and an oil and gas expert discuss where Houston's economy is going.

Facts & Figures Handbook: How Does Your State Compare?

Shirl Kennedy — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 20:31:14 GMT

Facts & Figures Handbook: How Does Your State Compare?
Source: Tax Foundation

How do taxes in your state compare nationally? This convenient pocket-size booklet compares the 50 states on 37 different measures of taxing and spending, including individual and corporate income tax rates, business tax climates, excise taxes, tax burdens and state spending.

The 2009 version of this booklet was originally published in February; this is a mid-year update reflecting recent rate changes in some states.

+ Full Document (PDF; 2.3 MB)

Metroplex office market has been bad this year and probably won't improve soon, analysts say

support@star-telegram.com — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 02:19:00 GMT

By SANDRA BAKER

The Dallas-Fort Worth office market is coming off one of the worst six months in years in terms of growth, and if the second half of the year is anything like the first, don’t expect any miracles in the coming months.

Rather, analysts at the nation’s largest commercial real estate firms paint a bleak picture in midyear reports, with one going as far as to say the Metroplex "will be hit harder" than any other Texas metro area in this recession.

Vacancy rates at downtown Fort Worth office buildings, for example, reached a 25-year high in the first six months, the result of no new leases for space that came online in the past year as well as tenants moving to smaller, cheaper space elsewhere, said Todd Burnette, managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle’s Fort Worth office.

Taking all that space — roughly 1.1 million square feet — into account, Burnett calculates the downtown vacancy rate for the top office buildings at nearly 19 percent. That includes leased space that’s not being used. Companies try to find someone to sublease the space to help with costs, but a sublease is typically for a lower rate.

"And I don’t think the shake-out is finished," Burnette said.

Rents are down, as are the number of office buildings being sold and construction, the reports say.

Where the growth went

Oil and natural gas companies have played a huge role in downtown Fort Worth’s growth the past few years. But that’s slowed because the industry has shrunk with the decline in prices. Companies aren’t demanding the space they once did.

Leading the charge were EOG Resources’ 196,500-square-foot lease in The Carnegie, Third and Taylor streets, in late 2008 and Range Resources’ 80,000-square-foot lease in Two City Place, Weatherford and Taylor streets, in mid-2007.

Not long after buying the headquarters of home furnishings retailer Pier 1 Imports in April 2008, Chesapeake Energy leased an additional 70,000 square feet of office space at the top of a downtown parking garage. The company upgraded the space and moved employees in but within months moved them to the office tower because Pier 1 gave up some floors it was leasing.

The parking garage space is now up for sublease.

"Those guys have just stopped," Burnette said of the oil and gas firms. "It’s rippled through the market."

NAI Huff Partners, a Fort Worth-based real estate brokerage firm, is giving up its 11,000-square-foot space in City Center and will sublease unused space from Range Resources in Two City Place in the fall. The move will save NAI six figures in annual rent, partner Kirk Kelly said.

"That’s hard to ignore," Kelly said. "But my hope is the energy business comes back and Range Resources needs the space back."

Not a landlord’s market

More space on the market means falling rents. Rates have dropped between 11 and 16 percent at some of the larger office buildings to about $23 a square foot. Rates may not rise for a couple of years, brokers say.

"There’s no question tenants can get a better deal out there right now," said Drew Kile, regional manager in Marcus & Millichap’s Fort Worth office.

But it’s not always working. Rents were lowered more than $3 a square foot in January at Cantey-Hanger Plaza near Seventh and Lamar streets, but it hasn’t spurred interest from potential tenants, said Jim Eagle, president of Red Oak Realty, the property’s owner.

"The supply [of office space] has increased fairly rapidly in a short period of time," Eagle said. "Now it’s eroding into the submarkets."

The reports put the vacancy rate for all downtown Fort Worth office buildings at about 7.5 percent. It’s 24.9 percent in downtown Dallas.

U.S. Business Employers Add 100,000 Establishments in 2007, Census Bureau Reports

Shirl Kennedy — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 05:58:03 GMT

U.S. Business Employers Add 100,000 Establishments in 2007, Census Bureau Reports
Source: U.S. Census Bureau

United States businesses with employees added more than 100,000 establishments in 2007, bringing the total number to 7.7 million and adding more than 650,000 employees to their payrolls. Overall, employees of businesses in the United States earned more than $5 trillion in annual payroll in 2007, up from $4.8 trillion in 2006.

These economic numbers come from County Business Patterns: 2007, an annual report that contains data covering establishments with paid employees at the national and state levels, and in more than 3,100 counties. An establishment is a single physical location at which business is conducted or services or industrial operations are performed. The report provides data on the number of establishments, employees, and quarterly and annual payroll for most of the 1,100 industries identified by the North American Industry Classification System.

Among the counties with the most establishments, Maricopa, Ariz., added 3,058 establishments; Los Angeles, Calif., added 3,027 establishments; and Orange, Calif., added 1,363 establishments.

A sampling of the 50 counties with the most employees showed average annual per-employee payrolls of $79,848 in Santa Clara, Calif.; $55,477 in Fulton, Ga.; and $53,134 in Hennepin, Minn.

+ County Business Patterns 2007

35 hurt in turbulence aboard Rio-to-Houston flight

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:40:00 GMT

Continental Airlines spokeswoman Mary Clark said 28 passengers were treated at the scene and seven were hospitalized.

Dallas region among top spenders for health care

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:44:00 GMT

Austin Contrarian: The Texas Triangle

AC — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 05:13:27 GMT

Ryan Avent writes about Texas's strong growth, and the possibility that this strong growth will beget more growth: Austin's strength is pretty remarkable, as well, though I shouldn't be surprised given the way Texan metropolitan areas ...

Texas A&M Megaregion Report

Meghan — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:48:41 GMT

Texas A&M has recently published a report on the effect of climate change on the Texas Triangle Megaregion, as population grows and the economy changes within the area. The conference in September will address these expected shifts and ...