A tale of two cities.(comparison of New Orleans and Houston)

Houston and New Orleans are places united by geography, climate, and history--and divided on virtually everything else. The two cities represent contrasting ways of coping with the urban experience.

New Orleans was for much of its history the Queen City of the Gulf of Mexico, the cultural, economic, and commercial center of the Caribbean basin. Until well into the twentieth century, the city was an entrepreneurial cauldron, for blacks as well as whites, providing a greater degree of freedom and opportunity than virtually anywhere in the South.

Houston, in comparison, is a newcomer. In 1920, its population was barely a third of New Orleans's, and its role in U.S. commerce was insubstantial. Since that time, the two cities have been heading in opposite directions. New Orleans has been living off its history, while Houston tore earnestly into relentless self-improvement. Its leaders dredged its harbor, improved drainage, and constructed state of the art industrial facilities that made it the great Gulf Coast port. Houston grabbed leadership of the world's energy industry, and quietly built the most impressive medical complex in the world. With a gritty efficiency, the city transformed itself into a major global center.

Attention to the economic fundamentals has been critical to the city's rise. Houston's government has been seen as favoring the business community over all other interests, including its poor and minority populations. Over time, however, that has allowed the city to dramatically raise the wealth and quality of life of all its citizens.

In backscratching New Orleans, on the other hand, chronic political "favor-asking" and corruption turned off entrepreneurs and anesthetized the local economy. David Wolff, who runs a real estate business in Houston, recalls that his attempts to do business in New Orleans tended to end in shakedowns. "In New Orleans they say it's all about the thin hogs trying to push out the fat hogs. That's the whole attitude down there. I didn't want any part of it," says Wolff, now one of Houston's largest landowners.

Houston was fortunate to have one of America's best mayors--Bob Lanier--for much of the 1990s. A former developer and lifelong Democrat, Lanier attended to all the business-like details that New Orleans's politicians eshewed, such as improving levees, filling potholes, and streamlining regulations. Houston has had its own ample experience with natural disasters, but has coped much more efficiently.

Under very different management, Houston long ago surpassed New Orleans, and now boasts a population more than three times larger, and a vastly more dynamic economy. During the 1990s, the Texas city grew almost six times faster than greater New Orleans. It flourished as a major destination for immigrants, particularly from Latin America.