Tag Archives: demography

HISD mostly declines to rezone its schools

Posted on May 17, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Lots of noise, not nearly as much action. A divided Houston school board on Thursday rejected most of the rezoning proposals designed to reduce class sizes after dozens of parents expressed concerns about families having to send their children to … Continue reading →

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Metro board seeks to expand

Posted on March 26, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

It’s change that has been anticipated since the 2010 Census data was released. With all indications pointing to more people in the Metropolitan Transit Authority service area living outside Houston than inside the city, Metro officials are asking to accelerate … Continue reading →

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HISD postpones redrawing school boundaries

Posted on March 16, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

This stuff is hard, y’all. The school board [had planned] to vote Thursday on the district’s biggest rezoning plan in recent years, involving more than two dozen campuses. The proposal mostly would redraw attendance boundaries to shift homes from more … Continue reading →

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HISD considers a different kind of redistricting

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

It would likely be just as contentious as the usual kind. Houston school officials may rezone students from roughly two dozen elementary schools over the next few years in an effort to meet the state’s class size limits. District officials … Continue reading →

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Once again with Anglo Dems and Anglo voters

Posted on December 9, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Time once again for the biennial eulogy for Anglo Democrats in the Texas Legislature. When Donna Howard of Austin won a seat in the Texas House in 2006, she was the only white woman among Democrats in the state Legislature. … Continue reading →

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Fort Bend’s electoral future

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Fort Bend County isn’t what it used to be politically, but it’s also not what it ought to be headed for yet. It has been more than two decades since a Democrat won countywide office in Fort Bend, but swift … Continue reading →

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San Antonio’s “Little India”

Posted on July 22, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I love stories like this. On a recent Saturday morning, about two dozen men in team jerseys gathered on grounds in the far North Side with their kits of helmets, bats and protective gear, pumped to play cricket. The scoreboard … Continue reading →

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White return flight

Posted on July 9, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Some interesting demographic trends going on. Between 2000 and 2010, [Harris] county, like much of the U.S., saw a sharp decline of its white population, losing about 12 percent of Anglos or about 83,000 people. The drop mirrors demographic shifts … Continue reading →

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Saturday mini-link roundup

Posted on May 17, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Three stories you should read that I didn’t have time to devote a full post to: AusChron: Abbott’s abject CPRIT failures The scandal broke after letters between the agency’s chief science officer, Nobel laureate Dr. Alfred Gilman, and CPRIT’s Chief … Continue reading →

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It’s not so cheap to live in Houston any more

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

It’s the downside of a hot job market and an improving national reputation for being a cool place to live. Business and city leaders often tout the Houston region as one of the most affordable markets in the country. But … Continue reading →

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Another trip down Demography Lane

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

From the Sunday Chron op-ed pages: Texas is headed for the ditch, but few people are aware of the state’s perilous path. The demographers have seen the future, though, because it’s foretold in their numbers. And they’ve been sounding the … Continue reading →

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On schools and neighborhoods

Posted on February 25, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Efforts to revitalize neighborhoods in the Fifth Ward are running into HISD’s proposal to close five schools. Nearly half the students who attend Nathaniel Q. Henderson Elementary School live steps away from campus in an aging, rundown apartment complex. The … Continue reading →

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HISD gets more diverse

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Which in this case means it’s getting a little whiter. After decades of free fall, Houston ISD’s white enrollment is inching upward, suggesting that more families with the resources to choose are selecting Houston public schools. Enrollment of non-Hispanic white … Continue reading →

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Pity the poor Hispanic Republicans

Posted on February 9, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I’d say I feel sorry for them, but I don’t. Every few years, I like to check in with Massey Villarreal to see if he’s still a Republican. He still was on Thursday. But it’s getting harder all the time. … Continue reading →

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Livin’ small

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Kids today and their crazy ideas about how to live. The modern apartment is increasingly likely to look like this: a 380-square-foot space with a separate bedroom; a kitchen with fewer cabinets and more shelves; and a place in the … Continue reading →

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Fort Worth and Tarrant County

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Between Wendy Davis’ campaign for Governor, and the campaign to succeed Wendy Davis in SD10, there’s going to be a lot of attention focused on Forth Worth in the next twelve months. The two scenes capture the split political personality … Continue reading →

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Nate Silver takes another look at Texas

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

It’s always about the numbers. Since President Obama’s re-election in 2012, Republicans have worried about what an increasingly diverse electorate will mean for their future as a national party. Democrats, meanwhile, have started talking about turning ruby red states like … Continue reading →

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Children continue to be our future

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

The mother of all school finance lawsuits, which commenced on Monday, will take many weeks to conclude. I don’t expect to follow it every day since there’s just so much else going on, but I wanted to point out a … Continue reading →

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The demographics of jury service

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Why is it that juries in Harris County tend to not reflect the demography of the county as a whole? District Clerk Chris Daniel explains why in a recent Chron op-ed. If you’re familiar with the concept of “citizen voting … Continue reading →

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How cool are we?

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Way cool, apparently. Houston is known for many things: Oil, NASA, urban sprawl and business-friendly policies. But the Texas city deserves to be known for something else: coolness. The Bayou City may not be the first place you associate with … Continue reading →

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Ten things you should know about the demographics of Texas

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

From the Center for American Progress: 1. Communities of color are driving population growth in Texas. Texas is one of five states in the country where people of color make up the majority of the population. Between 2000 and 2009 Hispanic population … Continue reading →

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The face of the country continues to change

Posted on May 19, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

This is our future. For the first time, as of 2011, more than half of the children under age 1 in the U.S. were minorities, the newest benchmark illustrating the widening age gap between mostly white, older Americans and fast-growing, … Continue reading →

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Always in motion the future is

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

That won’t stop some people from trying to predict it. A Houston think tank has seen the city’s future. Make that two futures. One version shows the Houston metropolitan area in 2040 as beginning to grow after decades of economic … Continue reading →

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Our diverse region

Posted on March 11, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Cool. The Houston region is now the most ethnically diverse large metropolitan area in the country, surpassing New York City. Two suburbs – Missouri City and Pearland – have become even more diverse than the city of Houston. Other suburbs … Continue reading →

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The Fifth Ward

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Lisa Gray writes about a popular art project making a reappearance in a new place. Six years ago, the white guys – Dan Havel and Dean Ruck – smashed up a couple of other bungalows, and in the process, created … Continue reading →

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Brown versus gray

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

This is an old, familiar story, but it really can’t be said often enough: When Gov. Rick Perry showed up in San Antonio earlier this summer to deliver brief remarks to the annual gathering of the National Association of Latino … Continue reading →

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Old neighborhoods, new faces

Posted on July 31, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Really interesting story about the changing faces of a couple of Houston’s historically African-American neighborhoods. There are now almost as many Latino residents as African-Americans in Independence Heights. At the same time, there are fewer African-American children there and in … Continue reading →

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West Texas

Posted on April 17, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Not many people want to live in West Texas any more. The 2010 Census confirmed what anyone passing through the scrublands of West Texas already knew: People are leaving, and no one is taking their place, even with oil at … Continue reading →

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Interview with Steve Murdock

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Dr. Steve Murdock is a former State Demographer of Texas and director of the US Census, now the founding Director of the Hobby Center for the Study of Texas at Rice University. He’s the man to go to if you … Continue reading →

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Infill growth

Posted on March 9, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Anyone who’s been watching Washington Avenue has seen this. From downtown through midtown and along Washington Avenue, a population growth spurt has taken off since 2000. One buzz word to describe what’s going on is “infill,” said Jerry Wood, previously … Continue reading →

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This ain’t your daddy’s Plano any more

Posted on August 25, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Demographic change comes to Texas’ iconic suburb. Recent controversy over whether and where to build a large homeless housing complex is the latest evidence of Plano’s two faces. The nonprofit Samaritan Inn of McKinney last week withdrew a zoning request … Continue reading →

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The retirees of Collin County

Posted on August 2, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I too think of Collin County as a place that primarily attracts young people with its cheap real estate and all, but apparently that’s quite attractive to older folks, too. Affordable living, jobs and a Sun Belt climate have made … Continue reading →

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We keep on growing

Posted on March 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Don’t know how much longer we can or will keep this up, but the Houston metropolitan area just keeps growing like gangbusters. The Houston metropolitan area added more than 130,000 residents between July 1, 2007 and July 1, 2008, the … Continue reading →

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Our Hispanic future

Posted on February 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

It’s happening now. In a new report on population trends in public schools, the Texas Education Agency reports that Texas now enrolls 130,000 fewer white children than 10 years ago. For the first time, Hispanic children dominate first-grade classes, adding … Continue reading →

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