mollusk

Edited Wednesday at 01:07 AM by IntheKnowHouston Let's see... two Bentleys, a Land Rover, three Porsches, something low and Italian, and no Audis. Eado's long vacant building rehabs are getting pretty upscale. 🥷

Actually, the point I was trying to make with an intentionally silly example is that the absence of anyone using the bike lanes at the exact time whoever is complaining is in the act of driving past them is not proof that they're not being used at all.

Even in a car, getting in and out of most businesses on 11th is now easier and safer, since traffic no longer busts the 30 mph speed limit by 10 - 20 mph. Beyond that, it's not at all unusual to drive down the length of one of the side streets without encountering another car. Taking the logic of some to its conclusion, we therefore don't need those streets.

People eventually get used to the islands. The middle of the street signs on White Oak at Michaux seem to last longer without getting run over lately. 🥷

There was not a giant sign at the top of the building, but there was monument signage at the street level.

Those banjos worked really well when you were coming in on a Braniff 727...

Once every few years (10 times in the last 30 years, according to the Chron) the low parts of the Katy Freeway end up as de facto detention ponds, and are among the first places to drain out. The pavement is not that old and is in good shape. Traffic is still going to have to slow down for the interchanges at peak times. It's crazy to spend a gazillion dollars cash plus who knows how much time wasted in tied up construction traffic to make this occur - not to mention the additional light, sound, and particulate pollution that will be spread all over the adjacent neighborhoods. As it is we have to use blackout curtains and white noise machines in order to have a decent night's sleep - and we're a half mile away. Walking the dogs this frozen morning, we were struck by how quiet it was without the freeway rumble.

Complex systems do break on their own from time to time, even if well maintained. I'll hazard the guess that Bellagio has a full time worker (or two, or three, or more) assigned to their fountains and a storeroom fully stocked with plenty of anything that can conceivably break, as does Dubai. Any municipal budget in Texas is spread much more thinly as a matter of course and thus doesn't have room for that, as evidenced by Houston still using Crown Victoria police cruisers (last manufactured in 2011) until very recently.

Animated fountains are pretty finicky (lots of pumps, valves, sensors, and software to run it all), the parts aren't always off the shelf items, and there aren't a whole lot of vendors who know how to diagnose and fix them.

At least Jetero never caught on (although trying to name something after a typo is certainly Classic Houston). I've always preferred "Intergalactic" for IAH. 🥷

It's nice to see that sloppy reporting is a century old tradition in Houston. Travis and Fannin have always been on opposite sides of Main Street. 🥷

How about some light abatement while they're at it? I'm 1/2 mile from the Katy and even further from 45, but over the years it's gotten to where you can just about read at night in my back yard (which is opposite the house/garage from both). We've had to put blackout curtains in the bedrooms, which weren't necessary before the giant light masts even when I lived closer.

I almost certainly have met some of y'all IRL. When Lonnie realized that Beer Island had just about the only working power and internet for blocks around after Ike (was it that long ago?) he ran extra plugs out to the deck and updated his wifi. I still miss that place (and the Biscuit, where I likely paid the light bill), OTOH my liver is probably in better shape.

IAOKIYAR (It's all OK if you're a Republican) 🥷

The restaurant plan will likely change - no kitchen, no server areas, no restrooms, no elevator probably won't fly with permitting.