mattyt36

Surprising someone still is encouraging this person to keep trying at a political career by getting her appointed to the METRO board as privileged whiner-in-chief. Boy did we dodge a bullet (wish we could say the same about Whitmire). I mean, seriously, even if she believes this (which is questionable at best) does she think it is a winning argument for most Heights residents? The fact she still loves her ridiculous campaign photo provides further proof of her absolute cluelessness. I believe the word is “shrill.” 

Probably not the best thread for this article, but it is a good one discussing the success of the City's land use reforms that are now celebrating their 25th anniversary.  (It does mention parking requirements, however.)

Houston, we have a solution - Works in Progress

2 hours ago, BeerNut said:

 

Seems to me the strategy is a typical Republican one--deliberately "starve the beast" in order to make cuts elsewhere inevitable while completely avoiding any policy debates.

3 hours ago, steve1363 said:

And to think he won with a huge mandate!  His tenure is not off to a good start.   He's already dealing with two big issues (Firefighters pay and Police case scandal), he comes off as combative, and frankly he's not very likeable.

But it's still too early to say we are in for "4 years of hurt."  Everybody knew the city had financial problems and the firefighters lawsuit had to be dealt with.  The police case scandal came out of the woodwork so he can't be blamed for that. 

He still has plenty of time to recover.

He does, but I'm not particularly hopeful--that'd require him changing his tack, and as you say, he comes across as unnecessarily "combative" and "not very likable."  Hard to change course with that attitude.  It actually seems like he doesn't particularly like the City, which is, I suppose, one way to run it. 

Every time I see Whitmire’s name in the news, all I can think is we’re in for 4 years of real hurt and for no reason at all.

As @noahmf said

Ah, yes, I forgot, the only acceptable way to "circumvent the voters" is to storm the Capitol when they're counting votes.  Who needs the legal process?!

8 minutes ago, editor said:

I wonder what it was before Katrina cut off service past New Orleans.  Unfortunately, the Amtrak web site doesn't go back that far.

The website I sent sure does.  The peak was in the 20K range, from 2015-2019.  Stats go back to 2005.

9 minutes ago, editor said:

Speaking with people anecdotally, there was pretty enthusiastic ridership east from Houston to Jacksonville → Miami/Orlando/Tampa, and Jacksonville → Charlotte.

Does this mean you spoke with people who took it who described the ridership as "enthusiastic"?  So your anecdotal sample was comprised of a set of only people who rode the train?  What exactly is meant by "enthusiastic ridership"?  Hobbyists?

FWIW, Amtrak ridership statistics available here: Amtrak Ridership | Bureau of Transportation Statistics (dot.gov).  It's a nice little utility where you can click on the city and see the boardings and alightings, so two way traffic--airport traffic is traditionally presented one way.

Houston at 15,833 for federal fiscal year 2022, or 43 daily average, or 21.5 each way daily average.  However, since trains operate only 3 days per week, that'd be right at 100 per day or 50 each way.  More than what I would've guessed quite honestly.  Pre-pandemic they were above 20K annually.

San Antonio almost three times as much at 45,819, but it has train service to Dallas as well--I think daily.

Austin 26,665.

Fort Worth 93,181 (it has train service to Oklahoma--I think daily)

Dallas 40,197

55 minutes ago, tangledwoods said:

not to be that guy but I am pretty certain that the train riding demographic doesn't have much overlap with the demographic that Post wants in their building.....

I can see it now.

Food & Wine Magazine:

Best Amtrak Stations in the Country for Food

POST Houston

Forget Washington, DC Union Station!  If you're one of those many gourmands frequently traveling the bustling 5-hour trip* from Houston to San Antonio, you can experience a gourmet food court at POST HTX, where you can get a burger for $25 before you hear the call for "All Aboard!"

* - Editor's note: Often 8 hours.  Operates 3 days per week.

20 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

As I said upthread, I wish we could get the love from United that DFW gets from American.

I'm so confused . . . that would require them using more than 3 gates at Terminal D 🤣🤣🤣

On 1/30/2024 at 1:49 PM, Blue Dogs said:

Here's a growing headache for the Whitmire administration:

https://houstonlanding.org/houston-minority-contracting-program-may-be-at-crossroads-with-new-mayor-lawsuit/

 

Ah, Bluey's concerned with minority contracting.  Didn't see that one coming.

And make that 2 more long-haul routes as GIG is also being added.

Bound for Brisbane: American Airlines to fly Down Under next winter - American Airlines Newsroom (aa.com)

VER also added, I think in this case it is a resumption, which is a good time to highlight the fact that IAH isn't even number 1 to Mexico anymore and hasn't been since 2019:

Seats to Mexico by calendar year IAH/DFW, in millions:

2010: 1.906 / 1.309

2015: 2.095 / 1.808

2019: 2.091 / 2.066 

2023: 2.510 / 2.825

Destinations served CY 2023: IAH 22 / DFW 24

No unique destinations are served from HOU.

You can't blame that on ORD, EWR, and IAD being more geographically convenient to Mexico.  Granted, the majority of HOU's international service is to Mexico, albeit to beach destinations.  For reference, HOU had 0.371MM seats to Mexico in CY 2023, which means IAH and HOU combined was only 2% higher than DFW alone.

The air traffic statistics for Houston have been comparatively awful for quite some time, but considering since Houston can be so famously insular, it's understandably easy to have one's head in the sand.

10 hours ago, asubrt said:

Add another destination for DFW… looks like AA is starting Dallas-Brisbane this year 🫤

You beat me to it 🤣  I was waiting for the press release to abide by the "rules."  (I'm afraid we actually may not be able to count it as "actual growth" until the first flight flies, however.)

American Airlines to launch Brisbane-Dallas flights - Executive Traveller

So that's the fifth long-haul route announced for DFW since COVID (excluding HND, which replaced an NRT flight).

The last long-haul route announced for IAH was SYD in 2018 (excluding HND, which was a transfer from NRT).  That is now a seasonal flight.

Nonstop long haul destinations IAH/DFW

Europe: 7 / 11

South America: 5 / 3

Asia: 3 / 4 (counting HND and NRT separately)

Oceania: 2 / 4

Total: 17 / 22

Seems IAH is essentially being consigned to a Latin American hub.  Admittedly, a lot of that has to do with AA's poor route network, but that doesn't stop the negative effects for IAH (think gravity model of economics).

20 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

Actually, the point is you told us AI service to DFW had been announced.  That is false. Full stop. With or without context.  No announcement had been made when you reported this falsehood to us. No announcement has been made as of this moment. 

Yep, that's definitely the main takeaway in all of the above.

Thanks for reinforcing my point 👍

56 minutes ago, X.R. said:

Am I missing something or is Houston not on there? Or is the point that the Astros are still so far away that they aren't even considered to be under consideration yet?

Maybe it's because all of these absolutely dwarf what has been proposed for MMP!  🤣

@Houston19514, the seats are loaded into computer reservation systems and are for sale as we speak.  Trust me, you won't have to wait long.  

And, if you're in the market for "actual growth" and not "imagined or projected growth," consider the following:

Percent change in international enplanements (one-way, not two-way) per U.S. DoT (these exclude nonrevenue passengers so are lower than the numbers reported by the airports)

IAH/DFW (in millions)

2019: 5.4 / 4.6

2020: 1.7 / 1.6

2021: 3.2 / 2.9

2022: 4.6 / 4.7

That means in 2022, DFW was 2.2% ahead of where it was pre-COVID while IAH was 14.8% behind.

If we assume the YTD percentages you posted above hold (+22.4% for IAH and +14.3% for DFW), that would make for 2023:

2023: 5.6 / 5.4 

So, yes, IAH will emerge CY 2023 as marginally busier than DFW, which seems to be your biggest yardstick.  However, from a long-term perspective, it means IAH will be 3.7% higher than where it was pre-COVID, while DFW will be a whopping 17.4% higher.  That is "actual growth."  I ask you again, who would you rather be?  IAH grew faster in 2023 than DFW is because it had a lot of ground to make up.  And it's increasingly clear to me the competitive landscape has likely changed permanently.  This longer-term trend is THE trend.  DFW continues to get more long-haul service this summer while IAH gets none.  AUS getting European service certainly hasn't helped, either.

As for the route map, well, that shouldn't take much mental effort to understand.  If you could go back in a time machine on January 10, you would see what they were seeing.  There were schedules leaked by reputable sources, as happens with these things quite often (e.g., the same group of people who knew about Ethiopian coming here before the world did).  Maybe it will pan out, maybe it won't.  The point is DFW is likely in AI's network plan for the near term and IAH isn't.  The fact is that Houston has not been in the mind of long-haul international network planners in the way it had been in the past since 2015, which admittedly makes perfect sense because Houston's economy has not performed comparatively well since then when compared to the prior decade.  One needs to follow the industry as a whole, instead of Houston's participation in the industry at a single point in time in order to notice the abundant evidence and ensure one's head is not in the proverbial sand.

I hope to be wrong, but the "actual growth" data, when presented in a manner that allows people to see the real long-term trends, tells otherwise. 

On 1/29/2024 at 9:03 AM, Houston19514 said:

I wish we'd get the love from United that DFW gets from American.  But I'd rather have Bush IAH's international traffic growth of 22.4% for 2023 than DFW's 14.3% growth.   (By the way, I think Finnair and Iberia have both been at DFW since 2022; good for them that they finally joined Houston in having service from Turkish.)

"I'd rather have more growth in the past than future growth"--this seems to be a recurring theme.

Not sure why I'd be glib about Turkish serving DFW after IAH.  It's not like IAH has gotten an airline that has served DFW.  I don't think it says the thing you think it says, especially considering IAH is a Star Alliance hub.  When Iberia comes to IAH, then maybe I'd say you have a point.

The routes and airlines listed were added since COVID (i.e., 2019).  The long-term is the story.  Not a year or a month at a time.

On 1/29/2024 at 9:42 AM, Houston19514 said:

And I don't know of any announcement of DFW service by Air India.

"Announced intentions."

Air India Plans Dallas, Los Angeles, And Seattle Flights - One Mile at a Time

59 minutes ago, talltexan83 said:

I know this has been brought up before, but would it be that difficult to move the Amtrak station into the Post complex?  It's only a few hundred meters away.  With the potential hotel proposed, they could go for something similar to what Denver has accomplished with their downtown train station.  

There are only 3 trains per week each way IIRC (maybe 4), whereas Denver has the airport rail, light rail, and a transit center, not to mention the Denver station is arguably more centrally located.  So even if they moved it, I don't really see it accomplishing anything close along the lines of Denver.  Kind of putting the cart way before the horse, no?

Worth noting:

(1) DFW international traffic is more seasonal, with multiple seasonal European routes.  Therefore, it should be expected that IAH's numbers look "better" relative to DFW in other months.

(2) International traffic growth at both airports has been strong, but looking forward DFW is still growing faster than IAH.  Percent change in international scheduled seats versus the same month in 2023:

Month: DFW/IAH

Jan: 15.9%/15.2%

Feb: 20.7%/18.0%

Mar: 17.7%/11.6%

Apr: 16.1%/11.8%

May: 14.8%/12.4%

Jun: 9.3%/6.7%

New international routes for DFW served in 2024 not served pre-COVID:

AKL (long haul), BCN (long haul), HEL (long haul), HND (long haul), IST, LTO, MEL (long haul), MID, TQO, XPL, ZLO

New routes for IAH in 2024:

GEO, HND (long haul), NLU, TQO, XPL

New airlines for DFW: Finnair, Iberia, Turkish

New airlines for IAH: Volaris El Salvador

I believe both DFW and IAH are in India now (or were earlier in the week) on a trade mission with the governor and other state officials.  (Guess the border crisis can't be that bad!)  Air India has announced intentions to begin service to DFW.

Who would you rather be?  Context remains key.

35 minutes ago, IntheKnowHouston said:

Based on documentation submitted to the Planning Commission, it seems the name of the proposed Hyde Park Blvd Hotel may be Gossamer.

The name is referenced in the Academic Business Project's preliminary scope statement. Academic Business Project is a collaborative program between University of Houston Hilton College Graduate Program and Mighty Equities.

The possibly named Gossamer Hotel is planned for 704 Hyde Park Blvd.

Strange name for a hotel considering what the word means 🤣

Gossamer Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

1: a film of cobwebs floating in air in calm clear weather
2: something light, delicate, or insubstantial

Seems like one would not want to associate a hotel with cobwebs!

14 minutes ago, trymahjong said:

oh my, Gossamer, you say.....?

hmmm I'm wondering if there is a signifant number of kids from looney tunes Saturday mornings in the 60's that see that word and think oh.....

 

BTW, I heard Mighty  Equity purchased another property north of Fairview for additional parking.

not sure of location.

And this association doesn't make much sense, either!

Cool that the Hilton School is involved, however.

2 hours ago, editor said:

If you're going to make statements of fact like that, it would be helpful if you linked to a campaign finance report showing how much the Pappas family donated.  Otherwise, it's just rumor-mongering.

It's no secret--simply Google "Pappas Family Whitmire" and this is the first return.  Much easier than accusing someone else of "rumor-mongering."

Whitmire, Pappas oppose Turner's plan to amend $1B airport contract (houstonchronicle.com)

Below heading in big, black, bold letters "The decadeslong relationship between Whitmire and Pappas"

 A recent Chronicle story highlighted a number of past instances when Whitmire has blurred the line between his public and private roles, taking consulting, lobbying and legal jobs that raised some ethical questions. Among his former clients was Four Families of Houston, which included the Pappas family of restaurateurs.

1 hour ago, LosFeliz said:

Follow the money. Tilman was a big Whitmire supporter. He's got lots of interests downtown that could suffer with a bigger and better Post. 

If true, that's what I suspected, more or less.

Which means Whitmire is crying about political favoritism while doling out his own political favors.

He sort of set the stage of his campaign that way, so I'm not surprised. 

Canceling the airport concession contract awards in favor of his political benefactors the Pappas family is probably next.  I'm sure there will be plenty of cries of "corruption" when, at the end of the day, he'd be doing the same thing. 

Wouldn't it be nice if political leaders could just be above board?

It's difficult for me to parse what is going on here.

It seems HoustonFirst (perhaps at the behest of Turner) wanted a new, smaller type of convention space to offer.  I suppose that makes sense and would be good in attracting more people to the Post.  One can imagine how, if done correctly and fully incorporated into the Post development, it could be pretty unique and high profile. 

Since the "convention center" would be City-owned, the City is financing it with tax rebates--I guess similar conceptually enough to how the Marquis got built.  Some of these subsidies may extend to the hotel, although the extent to which is unclear.  I guess Whitmire is saying if you rebate some of the taxes for this development, it works against the funds available to renovate the Convention Center--although $1.8 billion in taxes sure seems to be more than enough for that.  (I suspect a lot of this money will go to the cap park.)

It shouldn't be a surprise that Kashani wants some free money, too, for his development.  I'd say an argument could be made that an additional 20K square feet in a generic W Hotel may not be the same as 20K square feet in the Post.  In the absence of Whitmire having another plan to point to, it's difficult to tell how much of this is just political like the airport concessions contracts, as I assume Frank Liu has been a big supporter of Turner?  Just because one development gets the incentives, does not mean there is a legal obligation for other ones as well, no matter what Whitmire insinuates.  There's the Hilton and the Marriott, of course, and then there are plenty of other hotels that have been built without public financing.

Admittedly, the buyout does strike me as really strange, at least if it's solely at the option of Lovett (mutual option would be different, not sure what is the case as it is not mentioned in the article).  If you want access to a unique convention space today, one would think you wouldn't want that pulled out from under you in the future.

One would think the Chronicle and BisNow could distill this stuff for us because I doubt the way it's being publicly presented is entirely "above board."  The Chronicle mentions the following public comments:

East downtown resident Amber Boyd-Cora asked for more transparency over the real estate transaction, and questioned whether it would benefit the developer or residents more. Al Kashani, a real estate developer behind the proposed W Hotel downtown, asked that more hotels be eligible for similar tax incentives.

Kashani has a direct interest.  And while Amber Boyd-Cora may be a "East downtown resident," she's also a real estate lawyer.  I suspect she was speaking in that capacity and wouldn't be surprised if she had a client with a direct interest.

On 12/14/2023 at 2:37 PM, hindesky said:

What is that Bridge of Minor Champions?!

20 hours ago, nolaboy said:

Why isn't there an option to trench/cap the Pierce, and leave I-45 in its current path of the west side of downtown? Considering that nearly half of I-45 will still remain in place on that side for the the downtown connector and the ROW is already there. The cap would still allow downtown/midtown to be integrated, as opposed to a much wider cap on the east side.

11 minutes ago, samagon said:

I hate to have this conversation again.

so in midtown, even if the freeway were trenched as @nolaboy suggests, it would still be a barrier between downtown and midtown.

however, doing double wide in east end, that's just fine!

I hate this argument and wish people would come up with something better, for example "the rich people don't like the freeway cutting through land they want to use" seems a lot more accurate.

I know conspiracy theories are cool and all, but I think if you take 15 seconds and think about constructability, the answer is wildly obvious.