| About Livable Houston Magazine For some years, there has been a huge hole in the Houston region’s media mix. Long ago, Houston City Magazine filled that niche for a few years, then Houston Metropolitan Magazine took its place, and in the mid-90s Houston Life was published for a couple of years. This online publication, Livable Houston Magazine, is a very modest beginning to fill that niche again. The death of the Houston Post removed all competition from the regional market for coverage of urban issues. Television stations don’t really cover news and certainly don’t provide regular explorations of issues that affect all our lives, except for traffic accidents. I remember being at a fairly high-level meeting about how Houston’s leaders were going to communicate the seriousness of the region’s air quality problems to the citizens. A remark was made that “What Houston really needs is daily newspaper.” Because the Houston Chronicle is a daily newspaper, it took a few seconds for the subtlety to sink in. The frustration that was then expressed was that there was no way the Chronicle’s editors could be convinced to present in their pages any of the nuances of the causes and solutions and controversies about the issue. There was a moment of stunned silence in the room as it sank in that the general observation was true. Now, two years into the Livable Houston Initiative to make Houston a better place to live, coverage of the issues of Smart Growth and Livable Communities has been scant in the Chronicle and as far as I know non-existent in the electronic media. I doubt there is any set of issues that occupies the time and energy of more people in America than this one, but you wouldn’t know that from paying attention to the media here in Houston. In fact, the Chronicle has probably published more pro-sprawl, anti-livability misinformation from national groups like the Heritage Foundation than about issues and attitudes here in the Houston region. There is no money behind Livable Houston Magazine, so it will be erratic about how often new articles and essays appear. But over time, I hope a significant archive will accumulate here. That’s off to a very good start with the essays gathered by Toni Beauchamp and published in her millenium book “Good.” I hope some writers will take an interest in this Web site and begin to publish essays and observations here. As is true of any publication’s editor, I’ll be interested to hear comments and suggestions. Just drop me a note at crossley@mediaplace.com. David Crossley Editor Livable Houston Magazine |