PureAuteur

I don't know, Bachanon, I was just having an extremely bad day, and happened to be on here reading at the same time. But here is where I draw that connection. Hopefully this makes sense. The problems with Houston do have a lot to do with the "new houston" suburbia being so nice and being given the most attention from economic developers. That makes "new houston" what home seekers refer to as "desirable", and causes the old Houston areas minus the inner loop to become ring rot and havens for criminals, illegals, and new residents (non-houstonians) from all over America who came to Houston post-9/11 because it's very cheap now, and these very same people tend to be horrible drivers. I don't know what happened to all the midwesterners and yuppies who moved to Houston during the dot-com boom (95-99). I know I'm making generalizations, but I've seen the patterns as I've watched my neighborhood right at Beltway 8 change a lot since it was built in 1995.

Congratulations Sugarland for getting a nice beautiful town center in your lovely wannabe-Woodlands edge city in "new houston", while the city of Houston continues to deteriorate into a crime wasteland.

I never said the attacker was an illegal immigrant. I assumed that the victim was. I'm aware all ethnicities and races are equally likely to commit violent crimes, but with a lot of illegal immigrants who become involved in criminal activity, violence and carrying a gun is about as normal as an American carrying a cell phone. That is the way to solve problems in their old country traditions. These people don't have the same kind of joy and apreciation of life that most Americans have because of the environment they came from. So, I would say this is a concern within the immigration debate. I was definitely shocked, nonetheless, that the attacker was a teenage white girl.

Okay, you are right. He was not an illegal immigrant. I assumed he was, because the Chronicle said that his father had been deported, which I thought the reason being he was here illegally and did something wrong. I didn't know you could get deported as a U.S. citizen. Nonetheless, the teen was involved with gangs that originate in central america. Many of them entered the U.S. illegally, and I still feel this is something that should be mentioned more in the immigration debate, even though this particular murder doesn't directly relate to the issue.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/9339563/detail.html You can chalk up murder #4 for the west end. Teenage girl killed a teenage illegal immigrant gang member a couple days ago in the Montrose Park. I didn't realize that Lamar H.S. had gotten so bad. I thought it was a good school, then I hear about a confrontation in the park with teens wearing clothing with Lamar insignia. Alot of people may worry that Montrose is no longer safe, but I can guarantee that it's still very safe. The community has not changed. The problem is the same problem that you can have anywhere in the Houston area or suburbs. Illegal immigrants moving from one apartment complex to another or one rent house to another who have teenage children who are involved in gang activity. It said in the Chronicle that the teen who was murdered had no family here because his father had been deported back to central america. This is a huge problem that has not frequently been mentioned in the immigration debate. You have a large criminal element that comes with illegal immigration. You have violent gangs and drug activity, not just people who want to work hard and improve their lives. There needs to be greater accountability in U.S. cities for apartment complexes and the people that are living in them. Every time I hear a protest rally about how important the Latinos are to our country, I think of all the criminal gang scum that filter into the country and how their conditions are responsible for Houston's rise in violent crime.

Oh, like those new things they have at the Intercontinental Airport terminals. They're pretty cool for an airport. I don't know about the Woodlands though. You really don't need something like that, I don't think. Once you're in the Town Center, it should be easy for any healthy person to walk all around. The only thing you need is water taxis, as mainly a touristy thing and to make the town center more lively, and then the trolleys, which I assume are being used to move people around the town center once they've already driven there, right?

What's an aerial tram? and what cities or towns currently have them?

I'm not saying they should begin immediate transformation of the mall, but looking further ahead in time, I don't think it will be able to hold up the land value if the Woodlands becomes urbanized, and that area is prime real estate. You could easily fit a downtown the size of Portland Oregon's in that area where the mall is. One thing they could do more immediately, which would be a compromise for those concerned about aesthetics, would be to leave the mall intact, but reduce the size of the parking lot that faces the new development. They could cut it in half even. It may be an inconvenience to some, but it sends a good messsage to move away from use of cars.

I went to eat at Sweet Tomatoes not too long ago in the Woodlands, and driving up to it, I noticed how much things had changed even in the last 2 years. One thing that bothers me is that now that the Waterway has been developed, the mall seems out of place. It was a really nice mall during the late 90s and early 00s, but it seems like indoor malls are starting to become obsolete. Also, it just doesn't look approriate next to the Waterway, but other than that, the Woodlands is designed almost perfectly. I'm wondering if maybe it will get redeveloped eventually once more mixed use buildings go up and the area begins to urbanize.

In today's Outlook section (Sunday August 21, 2005), there is an article about Houston's problem with sprawl by Roger L. Galatas. I'm not sure if the Outlook articles are on the Chronicle's website, so I have no link to post. Maybe the writer's name could come up in a search online.

Speaking of retail, I was driving past 11th and Shepherd and noticed an all-brick retail corner center, or whatever you call those small retail centers on major thoroughfare corners. It looks like almost all the ones I see everyday in the Jersey Village area. It's the same story: donuts, cleaners, liquor, subway, mailbox store, hair salon, etc. The location is not technically in the Heights, so I don't anyone would complain of the distasteful brick, but it just reminded me of the suburbs. Does anyone remember what was there before it went up? It's right next to a Burger King, which is still there.

Some restaurant located right on the Beltway 8 north side built a replica statue of Sam Houston that is on I-45 in Huntsville. It looks so out of place, even though it's on the Sam Houston Beltway.

Fame City was the best kid's place ever. I don't even remember when it closed down or what it became. In the 80s, it was awesome. It's a shame that kids today don't get to experience that kind of business creativity that was around in the 80s.