MetroMogul

What rail line were they planning to use? In my five years of riding the 50 - Harrisburg to work I've only seen two trains on the Galveston Rd. track. I seriously thought the line was abandoned. Then one day I saw a crew working on it and the next day the first train I ever saw ran on the track.

It's only fair to give Tata Nanas to every individual in the Metro service area, even children.

Correction; there is ONE old, large mansion on Milam and McGowen. It's used as a CPA office and is in decent shape.

Well, I hate to interrupt with actual news about the line, but as a fequent rider of the 50, I feel it is my duty... New utility poles have been placed about 15-20ft. behind the current utility ROW for perhaps a few blocks along Harrisburg near the new CVS.

I ride the 50 to work quite regularly now and um, there was no construction going on during my last run through this past weekend. All the barricades and equipment I'm used to seeing was moved for some reason. I'm assuming construction work has resumed but things seem to be progressing EXTREMELY slowly.

I don't see too many white people sipping "40s" during the middle of the day or sagging their pants around Sharpstown Mall. Well, come to think of it, I don't see too many people of any race or culture drinking a "40" and walking down the street near the mall. But of course, we know the demographics of both the mall and the apartments around the mall. And these are the people that many in here are railing against. As far as laziness goes, how do you even know they don't have a job? Have you polled every assumed "thug." Hmmmm, I'm supposing not. I wish those lazy housewives would get a job and stop walking their ugly dogs in that McMansion infested neighborhood of West University! Oh, they offend me so!

I suppose you'd prefer your racism guilt free?

I've come to realize that I hate veiled racism a bit more than the bare, unadultered kind. Guys, just say blacks and mexicans. Everyone already knows who you're talking about.

.....Okay....let's......

And it's not just the bums, I also blame those "hip hop thugs" for keeping downtown mired in mediocrity. If we could just keep out all of the bums and "Gangster Grizzilles," we'd have an entertainment/residential/retail center that would rival New York Times Square and the Vegas Strip, COMBINED~!

I'm thinking around the Chronicle building. I didn't even walk around some of those tunnels because they were just so isolated.

I don't mind the tunnels and don't mind the bums as they are quite easy to ignore. The only issue I have with the system is that some of the tunnels on the north end of downtown are clammy and somewhat creepy.

Exactly. People did not expect HP to be "just another shopping center." They expected a mixed use development with heavy emphasis on shopping and entertainment with a moderate residential component. To say the demand for that is less than 100 people in the whole of the city is a tad silly. HP was conceived due to that demand.

HP would not have been developed at all if what you and Meme allude to is true. The original concept of HP was to cater to those that wanted the whole mixed use/entertainment feel. I doubt multi-million dollar projects are conceived on the whims of less than 100 REGULAR people. I suppose we'll just have to agree to disagree on that. While the comparison to the the Galleria is valid, the lure of HP is that it was supposed to breathe a bit of new life into a somewhat revitalized downtown. Personally, I don't have a dog in this fight. Whether HP becomes close to what it was envisioned to be at the onset or just another bathroom and bookstop doesn't really matter to me. I will say though that it was incredibly short-sighted to open only four stores in such a hyped project. The opening would have gone over better if they decided to wait until more tenants were ready.

Judging from the sentiment of some on this site alone, I'd beg to differ.