Houston Texas Business Directory Texas also permits the creation of "special districts" which provide limited services the most common is the school district but can also include hospital districts community college districts and utility districts (one utility district near Austin was the plaintiff in a landmark Supreme Court case involving the Voting Rights Act). In April 1965 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. The eight-county Greater Houston metropolitan area contains over 25,000 miles (40,000 km) of roadway of which 10% or approximately 2,500 miles (4,000 km) is limited-access highway the Houston region's extensive freeway system handles over 40% of the regional daily vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Arterial roads handle an additional 40% of daily VMT while toll roads of which Greater Houston has 180 miles (290 km) handle nearly 10%, Though Houston is the largest city in the United States without formal zoning regulations it has developed similarly to other Sun Belt cities because the city's land use regulations and legal covenants have played a similar role. Regulations include mandatory lot size for single-family houses and requirements that parking be available to tenants and customers Such restrictions have had mixed results Though some have blamed the city's low density urban sprawl and lack of pedestrian-friendliness on these policies the city's land use has also been credited with having significant affordable housing sparing Houston the worst effects of the 2008 real estate crisis the city issued 42,697 building permits in 2008 and was ranked first in the list of healthiest housing markets for 2009. . 1920 186,667 61.3% As of 2011 69.8% of the population of Texas younger than age 1 were minorities (meaning they had at least one parent who was not non-Hispanic white).
. When news of the Emancipation Proclamation arrived in Galveston on June 19 1865 freed slaves rejoiced creating the celebration of Juneteenth the State had suffered little during the war but trade and finance had been disrupted Angry returning veterans seized state property and Texas went through a period of extensive violence and disorder Most outrages took place in northern Texas; outlaws based in the Indian Territory plundered and murdered without distinction of party, Horace Chilton born near Tyler Smith County Murders fell by 37 percent from January to June 2011 compared with the same period in 2010 Houston's total crime rate including violent and nonviolent crimes decreased by 11 percent the FBI's Uniform Crime Report (UCR) indicates a downward trend of violent crime in Houston over the ten- and twenty-year periods ending in 2016 which is consistent with national trends This trend toward lower rates of violent crime in Houston includes the murder rate though it had seen a four-year uptick that lasted through 2015 Houston's violent crime rate was 8.6% percent higher in 2016 from the previous year However from 2006 to 2016 violent crime was still down 12 percent in Houston. . La Porte, Cinco Ranch (mostly in Fort Bend County), Religion District 18 Sheila Jackson Lee Democratic 1994 Downtown Houston Bush IAH northwest and northeast Houston inner portions of Houston's Southside.
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