Pleak

For May http://system.gocampaign.com/files/file.asp?f=519561 1. New/rebuilt IAH Terminal A restrooms. 2. New HOU parking garage. 3. Move entrance at HOU due to parking garage. 4. New security technology at both IAH and HOU.

From work I can see a tall mobile crane on this property. But south of West Alabama I can see two tower cranes. I can't tell if they are on Weslayan or it almost looks like they are in Afton Oaks. What are they for?

You missed global warming, the Gulf war, the clubbing of baby seals and the heartbreak of psoriasis. And ows was a bunch of whiny kids who majored in “fun” stuff in college instead of boring practical majors where you could actually get a job. And they loaded up on debt to fund their little party then crapped bricks when they realized they had to pay them back and couldn’t get a decent job with their History degree. If you take out $100k in loans for a journalism degree, you just need to have your head examined. Instead of just evicting them, the police should have shipped every one of them to North Dakota. As soon as they got off the plane, each and every one of them could have got a $60k a year job as an entry level roughneck. But that would have meant they would have actually had to WORK for a living instead of whine about the injustice of it all in front of a camera and then go back to living in their parents basement and trolling the internet complaining. What makes people look crazy is their irrational fetishes. Like the inability to see that there are other perfectly good forms of transportation besides rail. Everybody on this board probably likes rail. But most (some?) of them are rational and understand that it is extremely expensive, fairly rigid, and is not the panacea that you make it out to be. It is part of a system, and if rest of the system is not functioning – why should billions be thrown away for your personal jollies? Metro needs to get its internal house in order, get the lines it is building up and running smoothly, expand the bus system and make it a smooth running machine (this could be done easily – all it takes is the will to do it) and show Houston and the feds that the crap is all in the past. Basically, Metro has failed on execution for so many years, they will need to prove themselves for several years now - if they do so, and ridership on all forms goes up - I bet a lot of the arguments for rail expansion would go away. Oh, and as far as your little “people have spoken” argument. They also spoke when they elected Lanier as mayor for three straight terms. He basically ran on a “I will kill the rail system” platform. And he is one politician who actually kept a campaign promise.

That pic does look cool. Of course there is always this option. http://www.businessinsider.com/the-tropical-islands-resort-in-germany-2013-3

Thanks for digging that up. Sorry for the false alarm.

Plano & Irving are both 2-3 times as big as the Woodlands. Actually per Wikipedia, The Woodlands is right behind San Angelo. So that could be their slogan. "We're the San Angelo of Houston!"

Now Red, you know in a Woodlanders eyes, they are about equal in size to Fort Worth. Only about 93,000 of the people in Fort Worth would qualify for inclusion in any kind of a Woodlanders list. The rest of them just don't matter.

I was wondering. The Terminal B phase I is pretty far along. I think its supposed to be finished sometime this year. I put several disclaimers in because I was very iffy about the source. And the link to the source. I figured it would be a big announcement by either Mayor Parker or United like the agreement on Phase I was - but I threw it out there to see if anybody knew anything more concrete.

When I saw this yesterday on the news, I thought to myself - he lurked on HAIF (or is one of us). We will know for sure if he adds an oil derrick with Jeff Bagwell astride it.

More completely idle, baseless speculation to add to the above. If there are plans for a fourth tower several years out - it makes sense on a couple of levels. IF the long-term plans are to move Chevron headquarters from San Ramon to Houston. ( I read somewhere that Houston has 7000 employees, San Ramon 3000 - before the transfer of the 800 that are being moved here). In the O&G business, there are two big age clumps of employees. A huge amount are older, nearing retirement - these are the survivors left over from the 70's-80's boom years before the bust. Then there are the huge amount of new hires in the last 5-8 years. The cohorts in between are very thin, because times sucked in the O&G industry and no one went in if they could avoid it in the late 80's through early 00's. So who is at San Ramon? All the higher ups (i.e. old-timers) who don't want to move and have the power to block the move within the company. But all these workers are nearing their RV purchasing age and planning their move to Del Webb communities in AZ and FL. All that will be left will be the younger cohort which are not long-term established anywhere (or are already hired on in Houston) and more amenable to moving. So I could see when the grumpy high-ranking old-timers start leaving, any internal opposition will be reduced. Plus if there are any promises to the city of San Ramon by Chevron (and I think there are) a few years down the road, they might have expired also, or are cheap enough to buy out of. Like I said - pure idle speculation.

I don't know for sure, but I read on an airplane forum a link to this blurb...... http://texasleftist.blogspot.com/2013/02/houstons-air-war-is-apparently-over.html It seems to indicate that an expansion of IAH Terminal B by United was approved by city council on Feb. 13. I have seen nothing else about this, but if anybody is good at searching council records. If so - looks like it was under the radar - like "I've thrown my big fit, now lets get back to work making money since the fit didn't work." My 3 1/2 year old does this all the time.

So would this be a literal example of "pave Paradise and put up a parking lot." ??

The problem with Astroworld wasn't Astroworld - it was a Six Flags problem. A small company amusement parks company (Premier Parks I think) from Oklahoma took over a much bigger one in the late 90's/early 2000's. (Six Flags). They did this by borrowing gobs of cheap debt. Then they bought a bunch more parks over seas - there was a Six Flags Holland, etc. and domestically - Jazzland etc. All financed by cheap debt. Problem with cheap debt is you have to pay it back eventually. Cash flow got tight. Oops. Stopped investing in parks and new rides (this is why Astroworld seemed to go downhill towards the end - cash flow cruch at the parent company) So what can we sell? Sold off the foreign parks. Wasn't enough. Then what parks - Well Astroworld is close in to town - has to be worth a lot to a developer - right? Well we all know how that worked out. Astroworld was done in by poor corporate management and neglect due to parent company issues.

Is that the old "Hotel 31" ? I've been waiting for the Hotel Impossible guy to come in and save the place. I mean if you can't make it in the Galleria area when Houston is booming.... The bones of the building seem to be in good shape for some sort of hotel. Just think it's been poorly run (down) for several years. Here are some fun reviews: http://www.expedia.com/Hotel.h5577.Hotel-Information?&rm1=a2&semcid=13172-1&kword=%20Hotel_%2031_%20Houston!m.ZzZz.3340000081098.0.21330667397.+hotel%20+31%20+houston.%20hotel_%2031_%20houston&gclid=CMqXnfTUmLYCFaGoPAodwAYAtQ#reviews

And it looks like the Exhaust Vent is not going to be built after all. http://www.statesman.com/news/business/can-a-failed-tower-plan-show-the-way-to-a-better-c/nWrKf/ Maybe now Houston can still keep it's Space City nickname without a great gnashing of teeth.......