This is all so very dumb. Yes, Houston should've received a Shuttle back when they were retired, but they dropped the ball and NY swept in.
The rest all make sense. Of course NASM should have the most historical orbiter. One should go on the East Coast (Atlantis), one should go on the West Coast (I'll argue that should have been Enterprise, but ultimately was Endeavor) and one in the middle of the country (Houston - Enterprise) so that the majority of the population that paid of them could see them. The outlier is of course, Enterprise to NYC of all places that had nothing to do with the program. Moreover, though I love the Intrepid Museum and I'm sure it gets lots of visitors, the Shuttle building plopped down on its deck to cover the shuttle just seems totally incongruous with the museum.
I always believed NY getting the shuttle was a sort of sop from Obama to Schumer. The articles above don't say that, but I can't believe that wasn't happening. Especially as shitty as Cornyn and Cruz were to Obama.
But coming back now trying to undo this arrangement just seems incredibly stupid and costly. Another example of fixing a problem costing far more than to do it right the first time.
It's all spilled milk. Stupid election season play for votes. Hopefully it goes away after. Even politically it seems to be Cornyn trying to assert a remedy no one was asking for.