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HISTORY

In 1937, the city of Houston purchased an already existing private airport at this site, and renamed it Houston Municipal Airport. To honor a major benefactor and user of the airport, it was renamed Howard Hughes Airport 1938. The name was soon changed back to HMA, after the federal government informed Houston that no federal funds would be granted to any facility named after a living person.

During the 1940′s major improvements were made to the runways and buildings at the airport. It stayed busy during World War II, and by the end of that decade there were four airlines providing regular service from HMA.

The 50′s were a time of major change all across the USA, and airport construction boomed. National and international flights became commonplace, and infrastructure was needed to support the growing popularity of air travel. The current main terminal was constructed, old runways improved, and new runways added, to facilitate landing the new jet aircraft. A number of private hangers and aviation facilities were also constructed, mostly along the west side of the airport.

• 1937 – The city of Houston buys an existing private airport and names it HMA, Houston Municipal Airport.
• 1938 – In honor of Howard Huges, the airport was renamed in his honor as a great contributor to aviation.  This author has visited Mr. Huges’ grave which is in a beautiful wooded setting only 1 mile west of downtown Houston overlooking Buffalo Bayou.
• 1950-  Pan Am began a Houston-Mexico City flight. The airport was renamed to Houston International Airport the same year.
• 1954, a new and expanded terminal building was opened.  This provide support for the 53,640 airline flights that carried 910,047 passengers. The airport was renamed to Houston International Airport the same year.
• April 1957 Official Airline Guide shows 26 weekday departures on Eastern, 20 Braniff (plus four departures a week to/from South America), 9 Continental, 9 Delta, 9 Trans-Texas, 4 National, 2 Pan American and 1 American. There were nonstops to New York and Washington, but not to Chicago or Denver or anywhere west of there.
• Later in 1957 KLM started DC-7C flights to Amsterdam via Montreal; they later moved to Houston Intercontinental Airport (now George Bush Intercontinental Airport), where they remain today.
• 1967, in honor of ex-governor William P. Hobby. Mr. Hobby was also the owner of the Houston Post newspaper, The airport name was changed in his honor.
• 1969, the first terminals, A and B along with the runways of the new Intercontinental Airport (IAH) were completed, and scheduled passenger traffic was all relocated to the new airport. Hobby Airport continued to serve private aviation as a “general aviation airport”. Activity included corporate flights, flight training, & air-cargo operations.
• 1971, Southwest Airlines started up again and the airport was reopened.  As IAH has become more and more crowded, other airlines have also begun servicing William P. Hobby Airport. There are currently 12 commercial airlines serving Hobby with domestic flights.
• 2006 – The J.D. Power and Associates surveys for  Aviation Week traveler magazine satisfaction report, passengers have voted William P. Hobby Airport as the number ONE airport in the country for customer satisfaction
• 2008 – Hobby Airport served 8.8 million passengers.
• 2008 – The J.D. Power and Associates surveys for  Aviation Week traveler magazine satisfaction report, passengers have voted William P. Hobby Airport as the number TWO airport in the country for customer satisfaction

Houston Intercontinental Airport (now George Bush Intercontinental Airport) was built in 1969 because of expansion limitations at Hobby being surrounded by residential and commercial property on all sides, whereas IAH was carved out of the giant east Texas pine forest.   All commercial aviation operations at Hobby were moved to Houston Intercontinental. The Civil Aeronautics Administration recommended years earlier that Houston begin to plan to replace Hobby, since the airport was inadequate for the new aviation travel market.

Hobby was reopened to commercial aviation in 1971. In 2008 the airport handled 8.8 million passengers. Only US destinations and international destinations with border pre-clearance are served.

Hobby Airport handles domestic service for seven commercial airlines and is an international point of entry for general aviation activity between Texas and Mexico. The airport is capable of handling all but the largest narrow-body aircraft in operation. Hobby has multiple low cost carrier operations, as opposed to Bush Intercontinental Airport’s hub operation with Continental Airlines.

Southwest Airlines operated more than 80 percent of the total flights at Hobby in 2005 and an average of 10 flights per day per gate. Southwest Airlines plans to maintain Houston as a focus city and is looking to serve new markets from Hobby.

Developments at Hobby in the 2000s include a new concourse to serve Southwest Airlines and the upgrade of Runway 4/22. In May 2009, a terminal renovation project was announced that will update the ticket counters, lobby area, and baggage claim.

The Houston Air Route Traffic Control Center serves as the airport’s ARTCC.

Houston Hobby (HOU) Airport airlines and cities served:

• AirTran Airways:    Atlanta
• American Eagle:     Dallas/Fort Worth
• Branson AirExpress operated by Vision Airlines:    Branson
• Delta Air Lines:     Atlanta
• Delta Connection: operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines     Atlanta
• Delta Connection: operated by Pinnacle Airlines     Atlanta
• Frontier Airlines:     Denver
• JetBlue Airways:     New York-JFK

AND the BIGGEST Provider and only Airline in History to have never lost a passeger!

Southwest Airlines

1. Albuquerque
2. Austin
3. Baltimore, Birmingham (AL)
4. Charleston (SC)
5. Chicago-Midway
6. Corpus Christi
7. Dallas-Love
8. Denver
9. El Paso
10. Fort Lauderdale
11. Greenville/Spartanburg
12. Harlingen, Jackson (MS)
13. Jacksonville
14. Las Vegas
15. Little Rock
16. Los Angeles
17. Midland/Odessa
18. Nashville
19. New Orleans
20. Oakland
21. Oklahoma City
22. Orlando
23. Panama City (FL)
24. Philadelphia
25. Phoenix
26. San Antonio
27. San Diego
28. St. Louis
29. Tampa, Tulsa

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Limousine Limo Town Car Airport Service for IAH Bush Intercontinental Airport Houston.

Terminal Map, IAH – Houston Intercontinental George Bush Airport

The number two airport in the whole of Texas and currently ranking as the world’s 17th busiest air facility, George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) sees upwards of 43 million passengers per year. Next to Bordersville, Humble and the Cypresswood Golf Club, and roughly 22 miles / 35 km north of central Houston, George Bush Airport features five separate passenger terminals and covers approximately 10,000 acres / 4,050 hectares.

Houston’s airport offers plenty of transport options, allowing passengers to quickly reach downtown Houston, where you can expect to see many breathtaking skyscrapers towering high above the streets. Metro buses operate at the George Bush Airport and are run by the Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority, linking destinations such as the southerly Midtown area, the historical Heights area, the Theater district and the entertainment hub of Uptown.

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General Facts
» Houston headquartered Continental Airlines largest hub with more than 700 daily departures.» Underground inter-terminal passenger train to all terminals and the airport hotel.» Terminal Link above ground inter-terminal passenger train between terminals B, C, D and E.» $440 million, 880,000 sq. foot Terminal E and Federal Inspection Services (FIS) with 84 primary inspection booths that can process over 4,500 passengers per hour.» Free shuttle to and from Parking Cents, the official on-airport value lot.» Marriott Hotel on the airport.» More than 550,000 sq. ft. of cargo space in the IAH CargoCenter.» More than 23,000 parking spaces.» Ground transportation services to downtown Houston.» Two fixed-base operators on the airport.» Consolidated car rental facility.

Allen Brothers

Just after the Texas Revolutionary war with Mexico, two New York real estate promoters, John Kirby Allen and Augustus Chapman Allen were seeking a location where they could begin building “a great center of government and commerce.” In August 1836, they purchased 6,642 acres (27 km²) of land (on a site adjacent to the ashes of Harrisburg) from T. F. L. Parrot, John Austin’s widow for $9,428. The Allen brothers first landed in the area where the confluence of White Oak Bayou and Buffalo Bayou served as a natural turning basin, now known as Allen’s Landing. The new city was named after Sam Houston, the hero of San Jacinto, whom the Allen brothers admired and anticipated to be the first President of the Republic of Texas. Gail Borden, Jr., a publisher and surveyor, who would later found Borden, Inc., exercised foresight when he laid out wide streets for the town. Great Borden’s ice cream is still made in Houston.

Houston 1873

After it was founded, it started out as a hamlet. Its population later grew into the thousands. The Laura, the first ship ever to visit Houston and Galveston, arrived on January 1837. The city was granted incorporation by the state legislature on June 5, 1837 and was made as the temporary capital of Texas. At this time, lawlessness, diseases, and financial difficulties began to become a problem in early Houston. According to legend, the first business opportunity for the city vaporized when a businessman, who was considering relocating his carriage making business to Houston, heard accounts of violence witnessed by his uncle in a Texas saloon. Rather than relocate, the businessman left the state never to return.[citation needed]
Marker on the Harris County Annex 2 Building in Downtown Houston, indicating the site where Sam Houston lived from 1837 to 1838

Soon, Houstonians were prompted to put an end to their problems. And so, they wanted to make a Chamber of Commerce just for the city. A bill had been introduced on November 26, 1838 in Congress that would establish this entity. President Mirabeau B. Lamar signed the act into law on January 28, 1840. This move could not have come sooner; some creditors had already cut off some Houston businessmen, and there were numerous yellow fever outbreaks, including an 1839 outbreak that killed about 12 percent of its population. Also, on January 14, 1839, the capital had been moved to Austin, known as Waterloo at the time. On April 4, 1840, seven men met at the Carlos City Exchange and enacted the Chamber of Commerce. The seven men were Thomas M. League, Henry R. Allen, George Gazely, John W. Pitkin, Charles Kesler, E.S. Perkins, and Dewitt C. Harris. The chamber’s community development efforts would revive the dying frontier village.

In 1840, the town was divided into four wards, each with different functions in the community. The wards are no longer political divisions, but their names are still used. The Texas Government started to promote colonization of the state. The Allen brothers started to promote their town at the same time that the Republic of Texas started promoting settling of Texas. The Allen brothers were not particularly honest to the people whom they settled. They boasted of waterfalls in their advertisements when all Houston had were bayous. However, Houston did get many perks very quickly, since the brothers really wanted their city to succeed. Digging for a proposed Port of Houston began when Congress approved a move to dig out the Buffalo Bayou on January 9, 1842. Funding was awarded which amounted to $2000. Houstonians had mixed opinions over the apparent statehood of their country. When Mexico was again threatening Texas, President Sam Houston moved the capital to Houston on June 27, 1842. However, the Austin residents wanted to keep the archives in their city. This would be known as the Archive Wars. The capital was then moved to Washington on-the-Brazos on September 29. Austin became capital again in 1844.

German immigrants started arriving in Texas and Houston after the revolution of 1848. Many were educated and arrived with capital to set up businesses or buy farms. The port in Houston was getting some shipping business, but the shallowness of the water hampered massive shipping. During the 1850s, the Houstonians decided to build a rail system to connect their port with rail links. Eleven companies built 451 miles of track before 1860. Mexicans, who were one of the earliest immigrant groups to Houston, worked as railroad builders and stayed in the area.

Houston first started shipping cotton, lumber, and other manufacturing products. Alexander McGowen established the iron industry, and Tom Whitmarsh built a cotton warehouse. A fire ravaged Houston on March 10, 1859, but the city rebuilt itself soon after.

Thousands of enslaved African-Americans lived near the city before the Civil War. Many of them near the city worked on sugar and cotton plantations, while most of those in the city limits had domestic and artisan jobs. In 1860 forty-nine percent of the city’s population was enslaved. Frost Town, a nearby settlement south of the Buffalo Bayou, was swallowed by Houston.

The Civil War

In 1860, most Houstonians supported John C. Breckenridge, an independent Democratic candidate. However, he lost the election. As the civil war went underway, people loyal to the Confederacy and people loyal to the Union had a falling out. The Chamber of Commerce kept the city together during the conflict. Galveston got blockaded on October 4, 1862, which in turn soured Houston’s economy. On January 1, 1863, John B. Magruder’s Confederate forces recaptured the city. However, the war was won by the Unionists. Texas was governed under a military district during Reconstruction, but Federal forces could not control the anarchy and lawlessness that broke out after the war. Civilians settled old grudges and several counties were essentially without civilian government.

In 1869, the Ship Channel Company was formed to deepen Buffalo Bayou and improve Houston as a shipping port. Despite the postwar social unrest, migrants flocked to Texas for new opportunities. Texas businessmen joined together to expand the railroad network, which contributed to Houston’s primacy in the state and the development of Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and El Paso.

In May 1870, Houston was the site of the State Fair. The fair remained until 1878.
Reconstruction through 1900

After Texas was readmitted to the Union on April 16, 1870, Houston continued its growth. Houston became a port of entry on July 16, 1870. Its new charter drew up eight wards. Many freed slaves opened businesses and worked under contracts. The Freedmen’s Bureau stopped abuse of the contracts in 1870. Many African Americans at the time were in unskilled labor. Many former slaves legalized their marriages after the American Civil War. White legislators insisted on segregated schools. After white Democrats regained power in the state legislature in the late 1870s, they began to pass laws to make voter registration more complicated, with the effect of disfranchising African Americans. The elections of 1876 were accompanied in many southern states with fraud and violence to suppress black voting. As white Democrats secured their power, they passed Jim Crow laws to establish and enforce legal segregation across the state.

Lumber became a large part of the port’s exports, with merchandise as its chief import. The Houston Post was established in 1880. The Houston Chronicle followed on August 23 of that year. Former U. S. President Ulysses Grant came to Houston to celebrate the opening of the Union Station, which had rail links with New Orleans. Fifth Ward residents threatened to secede from Houston because they felt they already had been separated. An iron drawbridge built in 1883 pacified them, and they did not secede. In 1887, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word established a hospital that would become Saint Joseph’s Hospital.

In 1893, George H. Hermann donated a site for the purpose of a charitable hospital, which would later become Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center. In 1898, Houstonians appealed before Congress for permission to turn the Buffalo Bayou into a deepwater port, prompted in part by the Spanish-American War; construction of the Port of Houston was approved by Congress in 1899.

The Early 1900s

Houston 1910

On September 8-9, the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 savagely tore apart the city of Galveston, Texas. After the incident, investors were afraid of its location, and invested in Houston instead. The oil discovery at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas in 1901 prompted a new industry to be developed in Texas; the oil trade would transform Houston, the raiload hub of east Texas, from a smaller town into a large city. In 1902, Theodore Roosevelt approved a one-million dollar fund for the Ship Channel. 1902 also saw the arrival of the first Japanese in Texas, after Sadatsuchi Uchida gave a fact-finding tour of the Gulf Coast region. He helped establish rice as a major crop of the Gulf Coast area. With a large grant from Andrew Carnegie, the Houston Lyceum and Carnegie Library, later known as the Houston Public Library, was founded in 1904. By 1910, the population of Houston was larger than that of Galveston.

Mexicans displaced by the Mexican Revolution started flooding the city of Houston after 1910, and have been a strong influence in the city ever since. In 1912, the Rice Institute (now Rice University) opened in the West University area. By 1913, twelve oil companies had located themselves in Houston, most notably Humble Oil Company, which is now ExxonMobil. Howard Hughes was born in Humble Texas, where the oil company started. President Woodrow Wilson opened the Port of Houston in 1914, 74 years after the digging started. Service started with the Satilla, a ship that ran from Houston to New York, New York. World War I put the gasoline-combustible automobile into widespread use, causing oil to become a precious commodity. However, the war caused the amount of tonnage arriving in the Port to drop. After the war, the rice business fell flat, causing many Japanese-Americans to find other work or to move out of Texas.

In early 1917 the War Department ordered two military installations to be built in Harris County: Camp Logan and Ellington Field. The Army deployed a battalion of the all-black 24th Infantry Regiment to guard the construction site at Camp Logan. Racial tension in the city rose as the black soldiers received hostile treatment in the racially segregated city. Tensions flared into a full-blown riot in August 1917; the Houston Race Riot of 1917 resulted in the deaths of 15 whites (including 4 policemen) and 4 black soldiers, and scores of additional injuries.[2]
[edit] 1920s
The Pioneer Memorial obelisk stands at the end of the Reflecting Pool in Hermann Park. It was erected by the San Jacinto Centennial Association and dedicated on August 30, 1936.

On May 30, 1922, George Hermann, a millionaire, donated land to the city that would later become the Hermann Park. September of the same year saw the start of the Houston Zoo. The zoo was started when Houston schoolchildren bought two ostriches. The zoo was later moved from Sam Houston Park to Hermann Park. September 26 saw the first international-bound ship in the port. During the Roaring Twenties, more specifically 1927, the state highway to Houston was built. Bus and truck operations also fell into swing. Houston Junior College opened its doors that same year, which would later become the University of Houston. August 1929 saw the first Sears into Houston. Then Black Tuesday threw a devastating blow to the economy of the entire United States. Houston’s growth was much smaller, but the city still grew. Mexican Americans no longer found it as easy to obtain jobs, yet several were successful by catering to the Anglo market in the city.

1930s

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo came in 1932. In 1934, Houston Junior College became a four-year institution and changed its name to the University of Houston. A flood in 1935 suddenly turned conditions for the worst, and Houstonians were forced to clean up the mess. Air service by Braniff Airways and Eastern Air Lines came in 1935 and 1936. By the end of the decade, Houston was encountering growth pains, as the city had inadequate air service and that it was no longer a frontier town. Houston became the largest city in Texas in terms of population in 1939. Many immigrants and African-Americans from Louisiana and other parts of Texas moved to the city to find education or work. The city obtained a very multicultural atmosphere, with large African-American and immigrant communities scattered about. However, African-Americans faced bad housing and poor jobs during this time period. Nevertheless, African-American society developed so much that the city was, and still is, the African-American capital of Texas. The University of Houston moved to its present-day location donated by the Cullen family off of what would later be the first freeway in Houston, U.S. Highway 75 (now called Interstate 45), or Gulf Freeway.

1940s

When World War II started, tonnage levels fell and five shipping lines ended service. April 1940 saw streetcar service replaced by buses. Robertson Stadium, then known as Houston Public School Stadium, was erected from March 1941 to September 1942. Also that year, Pan Am started air service. World War II sparked the reopening of Ellington Field. The Cruiser Houston was named after the city. It sank after a vicious battle in Java, Indonesia in 1942. August 1942 also saw the new City Manager government enacted. The M. D. Anderson Foundation formed the Texas Medical Center in 1945. That same year, the University of Houston separated from HISD and became a private university. Aircraft and shipbuilding became large industries in Texas as a result of the war. Tonnage rose after the end of the war in 1946. During the same year, E. W. Bertner gave away 161 acres (0.65 km²) of land for the Texas Medical Center. Suburban Houston came to be in the period from 1946 to 1950. When Oscar D. Holcombe took his eight term in 1946, he abandoned the city manager type government. Foley’s department store opened in 1947. The Alley Theatre got its first performance in 1947. Also the same year, voters overwhelmingly rejected a referendum for citywide land-use districts–zoning. The banking industry also rose to prominence in the late 1940s.[citation needed] Houston carried out a large annexation campaign to increase its size. When air conditioning came to the city, it was called the “World’s Most Air Conditioned City”. The economy of Houston reverted back to a healthy, port driven economy.

Segregation was not as rampant and vicious as it was in other parts of the South. As demonstrated by the NAACP voting drive in the time period, many African-Americans in the city started to more openly challenge segregation laws.

1950s

The medical center became operational in the 1950s. The Galveston Freeway and the International Terminal at Houston International Airport (nowadays Hobby Airport) were signs of increasing wealth in the area. Millions of dollars were spent replacing aging infrastructure. In 1951, the Texas Children’s Hospital and the Shriner’s Hospital were built. Existing hospitals had expansions being completed. July 1, 1952 was the date of Houston’s first network television. Later on that same year, the University of Houston celebrated its 25th anniversary. Another problem Houston had back in the 1950s was the fact that it needed a new water supply. They at first relied on ground water, but that caused land subsidence. They had proposals in the Texas Congress to use the Trinity river. Hattie Mae White was elected to the school board in 1959. She was the first African-American to be elected in a major position in Houston in the 20th Century. Starting in 1950, Japanese-Americans as a whole were leaving horticulture and going into business in larger cities, such as Houston.

1960s

Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center

In the year 1960, Houston International Airport was deemed inadequate for the needs of the city. This airport could not be expanded, so Houston Intercontinental Airport (now George Bush Intercontinental Airport) was going to be built north of the city. September 1961 saw Hurricane Carla, a very destructive hurricane, hit the city. On July 4, 1962, NASA opened the Manned Spacecraft Center in southeast Houston in the Clear Lake area, now the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. This would bring many jobs to the Houston, especially the Clear Lake area. Also in 1962, Houston voters soundly defeated a referendum to implement zoning–the second time in fifteen years. In 1963, the University of Houston ended its status as a private institution and became a state university by entering into the Texas State System of Higher Education after a long battle with opponents from other state universities blocking the change.

In April1965 the Astrodome opened, under the name of the Harris County Domed Stadium. In July 1965, the Houston Metropolitan Area was expanded by the inclusion of Brazoria County, Fort Bend County, Liberty County, and Montgomery County. AstroWorld, a theme park adjacent to the Astrodome was opened in 1968. Houston Intercontinental Airport was built in 1969. Houston International Airport, renamed to Hobby Airport, was closed to commercial aviation until 1971.

Barbara Jordan was elected to the US House of Representatives by Houston residents on November 8, 1966.

1970s and integration

In the 1970s, the Chinese-American community in Houston, which had been relatively small, started growing at a rapid rate.

The Sharpstown scandal, which concerned the neighborhood of Sharpstown occurred in 1970 and 1971. One Shell Plaza and Two Shell Plaza were completed in 1971. One Shell Plaza was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River.

Because the Houston Independent School District was slow to desegregate public schools, on June 1, 1970, the Federal officials struck the HISD plan down and forced it to adopt zoning laws. This was 16 years after the landmark Supreme Court of the United States Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, which determined that segregated schools were inherently unequal. Racial tensions over integration of the schools continued. Some Hispanic Americans felt they were being discriminated against when they were being put with only African-Americans as part of the desegregation plan, so many took their children out of the schools and put them in huelgas, or protest schools, until a ruling in 1973 satisfied their demands.

The Third Ward became the center for the African-American community in the city. By 1979 African Americans were elected to the City Council for the first time since Reconstruction. During the time period, five African Americans served on city council.

Water pollution of the Houston Ship Channel became notorious in 1972. Work on the Texas Commerce Tower, now the JPMorgan Chase Tower, began in 1979.

The late 1970s saw a population boom thanks to the Arab Oil Embargo. People from the Rust Belt states moved into Houston, at a rate of over 1,000 a week, mostly from Michigan.

The city made changes in higher education. The Houston Community College system was established in 1972 by HISD. In 1977, the University of Houston celebrated its 50th anniversary as the Texas Legislature established the University of Houston System—a state system of higher education that includes and governs four universities. In 1976, Howard Hughes. at one time the world’s richest man, died on his jet heading to Houston. He was born in Humble, Texas, the home of what is now ExxonMobil.

1980s

In 1981, Kathryn J. Whitmire became the city’s first female mayor and held that position for 10 years; after she left office, terms limits were enacted to prevent future mayors from serving for more than 6 years.[3] Several new construction projects, including The Park Shopping Mall, the Allied Bank Tower, the Gulf Tower and several other buildings were being carried out in downtown. The Transco Tower, the tallest building in the world outside of a central business district, was completed in 1983. In April 1983, the University of Houston changed its name to “University of Houston–University Park” in order to separate its identity from the other three universities within the University of Houston System. METRO wanted to build a rail system connecting the city with the suburbs, but the plan was rejected by voters on June 11, 1983. Voters did, however, approve plans for the George R. Brown Convention Center. On August 18, 1983, Hurricane Alicia struck Galveston and Houston, causing $2 billion in damage.[4] Houston’s massive population boom was reversed when oil prices fell in 1986, leading to several years of recession for the Houston economy. The space industry also took a blow that year with the explosion of the Challenger in Florida. The first nine months of 1987 saw the closure of eleven banks, but also the opening of several cultural centers including the George R. Brown Convention Center, the Wortham Theatre, and the Menil Collection. By the end of 1987, the University of Houston–University Park reverted its name back to “University of Houston” after much controversy and resistance over its name change in 1983. On August 7, 1988, Congressman Mickey Leland died in a plane crash in Ethiopia. On October 3, a Phillips 66 plant exploded in adjacent Pasadena, Texas, killing 23 and injuring 130. The Houston Zoo began charging admission fees for the first time in 1988.

1990s

1990 saw the opening of Houston Intercontinental Airport’s new 12-gate Mickey Leland International Airlines terminal, named after the recently deceased Houston congressman. In 1991 Sakowitz stores shut down; the Sakowitz brothers had brought their original store from Galveston to Houston in 1911. August 10, 1991 saw a redrawing of districts for city council, so that minority groups could be better represented in the city council. 1993 saw the G8 visiting to discuss world issues, and zoning was defeated for a third time by voters in November. The master-planned community of Kingwood was forcibly annexed in 1996, angering many of its residents. Rod Paige became superintendent of Houston Independent School District in 1994; during his seven-year tenure the district became very well known for high test scores, and in 2001 Paige was asked to become Secretary of Education for the new George W. Bush administration. Lee P. Brown, Houston’s first African-American mayor, was elected in 1997.

2000 to present-day

The Southwest Freeway, near Downtown Houston, lies under water due to flooding from Tropical Storm Allison

The sports teams had outdated stadiums, and they had threatened to leave Houston. The Houston Oilers did so after several threats, so the city built Enron Field, now Minute Maid Park for the Houston Astros. Reliant Stadium was erected for the Houston Texans. Tropical Storm Allison devastated many neighborhoods with flooding in June 2001. At least 17 people were killed around the Houston area when the rainfall from Allison that fell on June 8 and 9 caused the city’s bayous to rise over their banks.[5] In October 2001 Enron, a Houston-based energy company, got caught in accounting scandals, ultimately leading to collapse of the company and its accounting firm Arthur Andersen, and the arrest and imprisonment of several executives. In 2002, the University of Houston celebrated its 75th anniversary with an enrollment of 34,443 that fall semester. At the same time, the University of Houston System celebrated its 25th anniversary with a total enrollment of over 54,000. The new international Terminal E at George Bush Intercontinental Airport opened with 30 gates in 2003. The Toyota Center, the stadium for the basketball and hockey teams, opened in fall 2003. METRO put in light rail service on January 1, 2004. Voters have decided by a close margin (52% Yes to 48% No) that METRO’s light rail shall be expanded. In the aftermath of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, about 200,000 New Orleans residents resettled in Houston. Six Flags Astroworld, Houston’s only large theme park, closed in 2005.

HOUSTON TOWN CAR
HOUSTON TOWNCAR
HOUSTON SPORTS
HOUSTON CONCERT
HOUSTON CORPORATE CAR SERVICE
HOUSTON AIRPORT
HOUSTON AIRPORT TRANSPORTATION
HOUSTON CAR SERVICE
AIRPORT HOUSTON
IAH TRANSPORTATION
IAH
IAH TO GALVESTON
GALVESTON TO IAH
IAH TO HOUSTON
IAH TO GREENWAY PLAZA
IAH TO MEDICAL CENTER
IAH TO GALLERIA
IAH TO SUGAR LAND
IAH TO KATY
HOBBY TO HOUSTON
HOBBY TO DOWNTOWN HOUSTON
HOBBY TO GREENWAY PLAZA
HOBBY TO THE TEXAS MEDICAL CENTER
IAH TO WOODLANDS
IAH TO CONROE
IAH TO TOMBALL
IAH TO MAGNOLIA
IAH TO COPPERFIELD
IAH TO CY-FAIR
IAH TO SPRING TEXAS
IAH TO KEHMA
KATY TOWN CAR
KATY TOWNCAR
WOODLANDS TOWN CAR
WOODLANDS TOWNCAR
WOODLANDS CONCERT
CINCO RANCH
CINCO RANCH TOWN CAR
CINCO RANCH TOWNCAR
CINCO RANCH
CINCO RANCH SPORTS
CINCO RANCH CONCERT
TOMBALL
MAGNOLIA
SPRING S
CHAMPION FOREST S
CY-FAIR S
COPPERFIELD

There are around 4,000 offshore oil and gas platforms and tens of thousands of miles of pipeline in the central and western Gulf of Mexico, where 90 percent of the country’s offshore drilling takes place. At least half a million barrels of oil and drilling fluids had been spilled offshore before the gusher that began after the April 20 explosion, according to government records.
Much more than that has been spilled from pipelines, vessel traffic and wells in state waters — including hundreds of spills in Louisiana alone — records show, some of it since April 20.

Runoff and waste from cornfields, sewage plants, golf courses and oil-stained parking lots drain into the Mississippi River from vast swaths of the United States, and then flow down to the gulf, creating a zone of lifeless water the size of Lake Ontario just off the coast of Louisiana.

The gulf’s floor is littered with bombs, chemical weapons and other ordnance dumped in the middle of last century, even in areas busy with drilling, and miles outside of designated dumping zones, according to experts who work on deepwater hazard surveys.

The likelihood of an accident is low, experts said, but they added that federal hazard mitigation requirements are not strong enough to guarantee the safety of drillers working in the gulf.

Even the coast itself — overdeveloped, strip-mined and battered by storms — is falling apart. The wildlife-rich coastal wetlands of Louisiana, sliced up and drastically engineered for oil and gas exploration, shipping and flood control, have lost an area larger than Delaware since 1930.
“This has been the nation’s sacrifice zone, and has been for 50-plus years,” said Aaron Viles, campaign director for the Gulf Restoration Network, a nonprofit group. “What we’re seeing right now with BP’s crude is just a very photogenic representation of that.”
History of Neglect
All along the coast, people speak of a lack of regulatory commitment and investment in scientific research on the gulf by state and federal lawmakers.
They note, for example, that over the last decade, the Environmental Protection Agency’s financing for the Chesapeake Bay Program, a regional and federal partnership, was nearly five times the amount for a similar Gulf of Mexico program, and a Great Lakes program was given more than four times as much.
“The funding had never been equivalent to other great water bodies,” said Lisa Jackson, the administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency. “That’s absolutely true. But it’s also absolutely true that this administration changed that long before the spill.”
While the Gulf of Mexico program financing remains at roughly the same levels, Ms. Jackson pointed to other programs to address gulf health that have been created and received tens of millions of dollars in the last two years.
On July 19, the Obama administration announced the recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, a committee created in 2009 to coordinate governance over the country’s major bodies of water.
The White House also announced the creation of a gulf restoration road map before the spill to address the long-term problems on the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts.

Runways:  15L/33R (12000 x 150)

9R/27L (10000 x 150)

15R/33L (9999 x 150)

8R/33L (9999 x 150)

8R/26L (9402 x 150)

8L/26R (9000 x 150)

Elevation:  97′   Magnetic Variation 5*E

Administration Email: slra@sugarlandtx.gov

Twenty miles southwest of downtown Houston, Sugar Land is an exceptional city with an extraordinary quality of life. Founded as a sugar plantation in the mid 1800s, Sugar Land is located in Fort Bend County. Despite the City’s rapid growth, Sugar Land has maintained its charm and is characterized by its scenic waterways, beautiful master-planned communities and acclaimed golf courses.

The Sugar Land Regional Airport , formerly known as “Hull Field”, has operated at the same location since 1952. The City purchased the airport in 1990 and has operated it as an enterprise fund since that time. Over $50,000,000.00 has been invested in new infrastructure since that time, including an air traffic control tower, corporate aviation terminal, new taxiways and aprons, an advanced radar system, and an automated weather observation system. Construction is currently underway on a 92 T-hangar complex that will feature 100 T-hangars, an automated self-fueling facility, lounge and flight-planning facilities. The City remains committed to investing in the airport, and envisions continued growth and success.