{"id":31497,"date":"2013-09-27T07:58:20","date_gmt":"2013-09-27T12:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=31497"},"modified":"2013-09-27T07:58:20","modified_gmt":"2013-09-27T12:58:20","slug":"locals-sing-the-boomtown-blues-in-west-texas-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/09\/27\/locals-sing-the-boomtown-blues-in-west-texas-and-beyond\/","title":{"rendered":"Locals Sing the Boomtown Blues in West Texas and Beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_31514\"  class=\"wp-caption module image center\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Downtown Odessa Texas, despite having a roaring hot economy, some storefronts remain empty in the oil-rich Permian Basin. \" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/09\/downtown-odessa.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-31514\" alt=\"Downtown Odessa Texas, despite having a roaring hot economy, some storefronts remain empty in the oil-rich Permian Basin. \" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/09\/downtown-odessa-620x397.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/09\/downtown-odessa-620x397.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/09\/downtown-odessa-300x192.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Photo by Mose Buchele<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Downtown Odessa Texas, despite having a roaring hot economy, some storefronts remain empty in the oil-rich Permian Basin.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The Midland-Odessa region in West Texas has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/business\/headlines\/20130917-midland-odessa-lead-u.s.-cities-in-gdp-growth.ece\">the highest GDP growth<\/a> in the country, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mywesttexas.com\/local_newsroom\/article_18d407c9-e8aa-55a9-9a58-915843249afd.html\">lowest unemployment<\/a> in Texas. This is oil country, and oil is one of the most profitable products in the world. But if you ask someone what it&#8217;s like to live there, don&#8217;t be surprised to hear answer like this:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It\u2019s terrible.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>During a recent visit I heard that sentiment from oilfield hands and office workers alike. One roughneck I ran into\u00a0 at an Odessa <span class=\"st\">doughnut <\/span>shop agreed to share his opinions anonymously. (He didn\u2019t want his name included in this story because his company has a policy against talking to reporters).<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Everything\u2019s overpriced, the food is overpriced, living is overpriced,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>And that was just the start. His other complaints:<a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/09\/23\/three-ways-the-oil-boom-has-increased-hunger-in-texas\/\"> housing is impossible<\/a> to find, rents are high, traffic is terrible, crime is bad and there\u2019s nothing to do.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Everybody\u2019s just trying to make as much as they can, wait for this boom to be over and get out,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F112498105\" height=\"166\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The bad reputation has been around for a while. Texas writer Larry McMurtry dubbed Odessa \u201cthe\u00a0worst town on earth\u201d in his novel <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Texasville\">Texasville<\/a>. But these days many natives &#8211; even those who may have defended the area before the boom &#8211; have taken to venting about local problems online.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When people ask, &#8216;what is there to do here?&#8217; people say &#8216;go to the airport and fly somewhere else,&#8217; because that\u2019s about the only thing you can do,&#8221; Midland native Jaret Burkett, who started the popular Facebook page\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/midlandjokes\">Midland Texas Memes and Jokes<\/a> told me.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_31533\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Jaret Burkett created the popular facebook page Midland Texas Memes and Jokes.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/09\/jaret.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-31533\" alt=\"Jaret Burkett created the popular facebook page Midland Texas Memes and Jokes.\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/09\/jaret-300x224.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/09\/jaret-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/09\/jaret-620x463.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/09\/jaret.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Photo courtesy of Jaret Burkett<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jaret Burkett created the popular facebook page Midland Texas Memes and Jokes.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I asked him what are some of the good parts to life in the Permian Basin. &#8220;There are jobs,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s where I need to mention that Midland and Odessa are two separate towns with two separate reputations: one is said to be more white collar, the other more working class. One is corporate, the other a little edgier.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s even a saying: \u201cyou raise your kids in Midland, you raise hell in Odessa,\u201d Burkett said.<b><br \/>\n<\/b><\/p>\n<p>But the oil boom has pushed the two cities closer economically and geographically. And most of the problems people talk about in both towns aren&#8217;t happening despite all that prosperity, but because of it.<\/p>\n<h4>The Boom Town in Theory and Practice<\/h4>\n<p>\u201cThis is a pretty well know phenomenon, we have ghosts towns and boom towns,&#8221; Susan Christopherson, <a href=\"http:\/\/aap.cornell.edu\/crp\/people\/faculty-profile.cfm?customel_datapageid_7102=16885\">a professor of City and Regional Planning<\/a> at Cornell University, said when I told her about what I had heard from people in Midland-Odessa.<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"related-content alignleft\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/09\/25\/scene-from-an-odessa-barbershop\/\">Views on the Oil Boom From an Odessa Barbershop<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/09\/10\/how-the-west-texas-drilling-boom-could-go-bust-again\/\">How the West Texas Drilling Boom Could Go Bust. Again.<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/09\/23\/three-ways-the-oil-boom-has-increased-hunger-in-texas\/\">3 Ways the Oil Boom Has Increased Hunger in Texas<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2011\/07\/Oil-FirstDrillinAustin-Trinity-street-By-Daniel-Reese-60x60.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/topic\/oil-production-in-texas\/\">Oil Production In Texas<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>She said a lot of the negatives mentioned in <span class=\"st\">doughnut <\/span> shops and on Facebook pages, are mirrored drilling towns from North Dakota, to Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n<p>For example, it&#8217;s a common complaint that there&#8217;s &#8216;nothing to do.&#8217; And indeed, despite being economically vibrant, empty storefronts are still a fact of life in Midland-Odessa.<\/p>\n<p>Christopherson said the reason could go back to the boom-bust cycle. In the 70s a massive oil boom flooded the region with jobs and money. In the early 80s, the bottom fell out and a lot of people lost a lot of money.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause of the boom bust cycle investors are scared off,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>And when it comes to the housing shortage: &#8220;Who would build housing?&#8221; asked Christopherson.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If they&#8217;ve been through it before, they know that there&#8217;s going to be a population decline and those houses are just going to sit empty,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>In some communities that reluctance to invest can extend from individuals to entire cities.<\/p>\n<p>Other times, local governments will respond by spurring construction. In Midland there\u2019s even a plan to give<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mywesttexas.com\/top_stories\/article_67deb47c-1fbb-11e3-93bd-001a4bcf887a.html\"> tax breaks for a downtown skyscraper<\/a>. But history indicates that could be a risky prospect.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The question,&#8221; Christopherson said, &#8220;is who is going to be there after the drilling rigs leave?\u201d<\/p>\n<h4>Tumbleweeds<\/h4>\n<p>Like the guy I met at the <span class=\"st\">doughnut <\/span> shop, the huge influx of businesses and workers will likely not stay around if this boom busts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce everybody leaves it\u2019s gonna be tumbleweeds coming down here,&#8221; he said, &#8220;places are gonna close.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_31536\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Guy Andrews is in charge of economic development for the Odessa Chamber of Commerce.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/09\/IMG_5056.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-31536\" alt=\"Guy Andrews is in charge of economic development for the Odessa Chamber of Commerce.\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/09\/IMG_5056-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/09\/IMG_5056-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/09\/IMG_5056-620x465.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Photo by Mose Buchele<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Guy Andrews is in charge of economic development for the Odessa Chamber of Commerce.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>To avoid such a fate, Christopherson said, boom towns need to diversify by bringing in other industries, and sock up money for lean times. But that&#8217;s a tricky proposition.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo tell the truth that\u2019s the exception. More communities end up in worse shape than in better,&#8221; she said. &#8220;By far.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The people tasked with doing that are usually city employees and representatives of the local chambers of commerce. Earlier this year I met with one of them.<\/p>\n<p>Guy Andrews is the director of economic development for the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.odessachamber.com\/\"> Odessa Chamber of Commerce<\/a>. He said there\u2019s something about Odessa, underneath all the problems and prosperity that will ensure its prosperity. He described it as a kind of small town feeling. Something that might not be appealing to everyone but will convince some new residents and businesses to stay and invest in the community.<br \/>\n\u201cIf you like conservative American beliefs. You know, baseball apple pie, Chevrolet, it\u2019s all part of who we are out here,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s just that currently, with the frantic pace of change, Andrews likened trying to solve the near daily addition of challenges to &#8220;trying to drink out of a fire hose.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>Support for KUT&#8217;s StateImpact Texas <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/08\/16\/stateimpact-texas-hits-the-road-miles-and-miles-of-texas\/\">Roadshow<\/a> comes from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.energy.utexas.edu\/\">The UT Energy Institute<\/a>.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Midland-Odessa region in West Texas has the highest GDP growth in the country, the lowest unemployment in Texas. This is oil country, and oil is one of the most profitable products in the world. But if you ask someone what it&#8217;s like to live there, don&#8217;t be surprised to hear answer like this: &#8220;It\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[59],"tags":[105],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31497"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31497"}],"version-history":[{"count":46,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31546,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31497\/revisions\/31546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}