As a native, but former Memphian, while I've always thought that they get plenty of things right, it's hard to compare it to San Francisco.
For one, there's the freedom to sprawl, while San Francisco proper is constrained to a much smaller geographic space. That alone skews a lot of the comparisons.
I was reading this today, and it struck a chord especially after yesterday's "rent in SF" article, and while I feel that the Houston approach is indeed the enlightened one, I don't know that it's appropriate for every particular place.
Beyond that, of course, as much as it pains me to knock my home town, we left Memphis because of the rapid rise in crime, and that hasn't seemed to improve terribly. Since we've left, they've apparently done a fantastic job of buggering up the schools.
The draw of home pulls strong on me, and I frequently contemplate moving back, especially with the craft brew scene producing what I believe are some of the best beers in the nation (especially High Cotton), but between the things I've already mentioned and the oppressive summers, it's a tough sell.
For one, there's the freedom to sprawl, while San Francisco proper is constrained to a much smaller geographic space. That alone skews a lot of the comparisons.
I was reading this today, and it struck a chord especially after yesterday's "rent in SF" article, and while I feel that the Houston approach is indeed the enlightened one, I don't know that it's appropriate for every particular place.
http://joshblackman.com/blog/2015/03/15/the-economist-housto...
Beyond that, of course, as much as it pains me to knock my home town, we left Memphis because of the rapid rise in crime, and that hasn't seemed to improve terribly. Since we've left, they've apparently done a fantastic job of buggering up the schools.
The draw of home pulls strong on me, and I frequently contemplate moving back, especially with the craft brew scene producing what I believe are some of the best beers in the nation (especially High Cotton), but between the things I've already mentioned and the oppressive summers, it's a tough sell.