19 Comment

• Angostura February 9, 2018 at 9:44 am

  “I also had to drive around for 45 minutes before I even found a bike.”
  I think I’ll just keep one in my garage. It’ll be just like owning a bike, but you don’t care that much if it gets stolen.
• WR February 9, 2018 at 10:15 am

  Re: Texas, where people are coming from

  California, Chicago, New York …. sounds like Texas will be solidly in the “Blue” column shortly, especially with the GOP constantly invigorating the Hispanic population to vote. I’m all for a fiscally responsible government but one that cares for all it’s people, and that sure isn’t what we have now.
• Toby February 9, 2018 at 11:06 am

  WR, you mean you want a state government like California, Illinois, and New York….. The kind of government people are fleeing from correct?
• commonsense February 9, 2018 at 11:35 am

  @WR, I’m a staunch fiscal conservative and I agree, getting fiscal conservancy at the expense of living under a dictatorial theocracy is no longer an acceptable arrangement. The time of republican dominance in Texas is quickly on it’s way out due to various factors like demographics, and more educated young voters.
• Queso Please February 9, 2018 at 11:43 am

  WR – Unless those are “red” folks wanting to move away from a Blue state . . .
• GoogleMaster February 9, 2018 at 12:12 pm

  Frequently those Gray Matters columns seem to be written by millennials who are just learning how to “adult”, as they call it. I’ve been using Bcycle (docked bike share) for about a month, but I would not have thought it remarkable enough to write a column about it. With the exception of the perplexingly placed dock station at City Centre, the Bcycle docks are only about a 10-15 minute ride from the next dock. And Bcycle doesn’t require a smartphone.
• HIBTK February 9, 2018 at 12:18 pm

  @WR: I’ve heard the opposite. Conservative Christians from California are coming to Texas to get away from the “pesky liberals”. On the other hand, you are right. I’d say we will turn blue within the next decade. Here’s hope that Abbott looses this year’s election!
• Wolf Brand Chili February 9, 2018 at 1:04 pm

  Re: Transplants Make Up Largest Share of New Texans
  .
  Count me in as thinking that those “refugees” are probably conservatives from liberal states. After all, if you lived there and got taxed heavily for things that you didn’t fundamentally believe in, you’d find it easier to move yourself, rather than change the state government. Though, at the most, I think it will be a 50/50 split between liberals and conservatives who move here, which wouldn’t change our status quo.
  .
  As for the theory that it will help us turn “blue” in connection with the Hispanic vote, I wouldn’t quite put my money on that. The slumbering giant of Hispanic votes is still sleeping despite decades of talk. You’d think they took a mega-dose of Ambien.
• Cody February 9, 2018 at 1:24 pm

  I don’t see why on earth dems would just assume to get the Hispanic vote. If someone has a Hispanic background and can vote, it means they’re here legally (though in California they all but allow people in the country illegally to vote).
  .
  Just because dems claim over and over that illegal and legal immigration are the same, and that if you’re against illegal immigration you must be “anti immigrant”, I give the Hispanic population more credit. I don’t think they’re all that stupid to believe that. I know a lot of people that are first or second generation Americans from Mexico. most are pretty conservative. I don’t think they favor the same open border policies that the dems push.
• HIBTK February 9, 2018 at 1:25 pm

  From what I gather, there is a large Christian Hispanic population. Maybe the Trump deportations will fuel Hispanics to vote blue though.
• Cody February 9, 2018 at 2:21 pm

  HIBTK: I have a lot of polish and Hungarian background. If there were a bunch of polish and Hungarian people who have sneaked into the US and were caught and deported, that wouldn’t cause me to vote blue as it doesn’t fundamentally change how I view the role of government, the free market, ideas of individual liberty, taxes, foreign policy, social views, or tons of other things that cause me to vote how I vote.
  .
  I am a strong believer that immigration is good, and we should have more of it. Yet at the same time I can hold the view that if you’re here ILLEGALLY, and are caught, you should be removed. I have no idea how the concept of catching someone that sneaked in, and removing them, became controversial.
  .
  I mean, if you’re border patrol and you watch someone jump the fence should you try to catch them and send them back? I think most people would say yes. But if somehow you don’t catch them right after they jump the fence but then find them a few days later, then somehow they’re quasi legalized?
• bocepus February 9, 2018 at 2:54 pm

  How is it different if an illegal of Latino decent votes in an election, and say an illegal of Russian decent? Is there a difference, because the media sure makes it seems like there is a difference.
  Dont California my Texas, yeeee haaawww!
• HIBTK February 9, 2018 at 2:55 pm

  @Cody: I was more so speaking about the “religious freedom” of conservative Christians. The people who take the Bible literally. No gays, No abortions, No sex till marriage, No marijuana, Pro guns, etc. Christian fundamentalists
• Dana-X February 9, 2018 at 2:57 pm

  So according to this article 49% of the CA net population loss of 150K people came to TX.
  But more than 50% of the total new Texans are from outside the US.
  Sign of success when both political and economic refugees are attracted.
• anon22 February 9, 2018 at 4:38 pm

  So Harris County accommodated 20,942 new residents from out of state…in the entire year?! Is it just me or is that figure missing an extra digit?
• Webster February 11, 2018 at 10:59 am

  Commonsense: I don’t know any place in the U.S. that is under a dictatorial theocracy. You may not like your local and state representatives, and you may not agree with the laws or ordinances they pass. But as far as I know, the Bill of Rights is still there, and no one is forcing you to say prayers three times a day. The point is, there is no need to exaggerate. You may be frustrated with your state’s politics, but the fact that you are allowed to misrepresent it as a “dictatorial theocracy”, proves that in fact, no dictatorship exists.
• anon22 February 11, 2018 at 9:17 pm

  I’m pretty sure a theocracy would be an improvement.
• susana February 14, 2018 at 3:40 am

  Securities and Exchange Commission and HBJ research.
• callirhoe February 14, 2018 at 8:29 am

  Presumably this paper will never be allowed to see the light of day, but it certainly makes a mockery of the idea that we have a handle on the numbers, or ever will again:

  https://www.isye.gatech.edu/news-events/events/calendar/day/7740