If you've lived in Greater Houston for any length of time, you're probably familiar with the idea that there's an east-west divide here. The east side of town is more blue collar. The west side of town is more white collar. Incomes on the east side are lower than on the west side, and so on.
Well, a local researcher says there's some truth to that, and to boot – when it comes to the rise and fall of the Houston economy – there's a pendulum that swings from east to west and back again. And it's about to swing back to the west, at least according to the University of Houston's Bill Gilmer. He's the director of the Institute for Regional Forecasting at the Bauer College of Business.
At the West Houston Economic Development Summit today (Feb. 10, 2017), he's delivering his economic forecast for West Houston, and he explains to Houston Matters producer Maggie Martin what he sees coming.