The past several years have continued to reward Texas with great success. Tens of thousands have sought cities throughout our state to secure a solid job, enroll their children in quality public schools and live a fulfilling and affordable lifestyle. We are growing one of the strongest workforces in the nation – a workforce that has driven companies to choose Texas as their home. Bryan Daniel, Executive Director, The Economic Development and Tourism Division (EDT) of the Governor’s Office, goes as far to say, “The workforce is the backbone of why these companies are moving here. The challenge is to keep them here.”
TREC’s first Bank of Texas Speaker Series presented by The Dallas Morning News of the year, “Texas Today: Big Cities, Big Challenges,” addressed the transportation, development and educational consequences of the state’s rapid growth. Moderated by Mark Bulmash, SVP – Development, The Howard Hughes Corporation, panelists shared their perspective of the current state of the Texas economy and provided an outlook to the future. Panelists included:
- Bryan Daniel, Executive Director, The Economic Development and Tourism Division (EDT) of the Governor’s Office
- Victor Vandergriff, Commissioner, Texas Transportation Commission
- Todd Williams, Executive Director, The Commit! Partnership
Transportation Challenges
Victor Vandergriff spoke to the biggest challenges facing transportation: the shortfall of funding and the rural vs. urban divide. With a backlog of $150 billion in projects across the state and less than half that amount in funding, there are tough choices to make. Vandergriff noted that, “Here in Dallas, you have the largest funding needs and the biggest challenges in prioritizing.” Governor Abbott is focused on urban congestion; however, Vandergriff added that there is not enough public money for these projects and public/private partnerships must form to make projects a reality. To add to the challenge, in Texas, 80 percent of the population lives in 20 percent of the geography and the other 20 percent live in 80 percent. There is a strong divide between the rural and urban Texan, and more frequently than not, the two do not agree.
Economic Challenges
Bryan Daniel tackled the development and economic challenges we see today. Optimistic about the future and the continued economic growth of the state, Daniel focused on the workforce, industries and companies calling Texas home. A believer that, “the workforce is the backbone of a growing economy,” Daniel highlighted the importance of maintaining and growing a workforce of high demand. This workforce, paired with our competitive business environment and balanced economy, will enable Texas to maintain an edge over the competition.
Daniel explained that in order to create a balanced economy, input from business leaders must be closely considered. Industries that compliment and fit the direction of the community are considered first. Next are industries that fill the most desired areas of the economy as well as industries that need to be strengthened. Daniel added that it is important to refrain from becoming a city known for a sole industry or field such as “Dallas Financial” or “Houston Energy” or “Austin Technology.” Dallas has been successful in defining itself as snapshot of the whole state with a diverse set of companies and industries.
Daniel also mentioned the housing shortage of North Texas. When asked if high home prices would slow growth, Daniel responded yes, “We have responded to the housing issues, not as rapidly as we would like, but we’re still growing economically.” It is clear people are chasing houses today to ensure they are in the right school district – which is evidence by the increasing average home prices in certain areas in Dallas, Plano and Frisco.
Education Challenges
The discussion ended with Todd Williams providing some surprising statistics on the educational condition of our state. Williams is convinced that our current education system, “is not meeting the needs of our workforce,” and our success and failure are dependent on quality public schools. According to Williams, nearly 90 percent of the population is educated in the public schooling system. Early education is a critical problem that needs to be solved, especially efforts to address the reading gap at an early stage. If children are not taught to read effectively at an early age, they cannot continue to learn. Of cities with a population of one million or more, Dallas is the number one city with children living in poverty.
According to Williams, only one in seven high school graduates are prepared to take the ACT or SAT, and we are graduating too many students who are not remotely prepared for college. Williams is optimistic for the future and is hopeful industry leaders such as Microsoft and Accenture will collaborate with collegiate academies to create programs that will grant students the skills, degree or industry certificate and real experience needed to find work after school. Williams ended by noting, “If we don’t fix education in our region or state, we won’t have a community I want my kids to live in.”
Looking Ahead
Throughout the discussion each participate highlighted the fact that all of these challenges are a direct result of our successes. We created the challenges we face. Daniel, Vandergriff and Williams are all confident and optimistic that we will be able to handle and manage each one of these challenges. Each is optimistic about the future and all that lies ahead for the great State of Texas and its many wonderful cities.
At the age of 16, David Belpedio acquired his real estate salespersons license and at the age of 20, purchased his first piece of investment real estate. As a young entrepreneur, David spent his early days learning the family business – commercial real estate development, and continues to acquire the skills and experience necessary to build his own commercial real estate company. David currently works with the Howard Hughes Corporation (NYSC: HHC), supporting the Asset Management team with a focus on both operating and developing retail, office and multifamily assets.