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Big E

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Everything posted by Big E

  1. Big E
    The Pierce Elevated will no longer be a freeway. It appears they are trying to push to turn it into a skypark, but I don't know if that's final or anything. Spur 527 will not be touched as part of this project, other than potentially changing the configuration of its merger with U.S. 59/I-69, since that is being sunk below ground. They are sinking 59/69 east of downtown below grade. That's also where they are moving 45, which will also be sunk below grade.
  2. Big E
    Pretty sure many people on this very forum (and in fact, urbanists and city planning types in general) call for the abrogation of parking minimums and setback laws because of the perceived negative effects they have on cities and their planning, such as encouraging car usage. In a situation where people already think our laws are unnecessary or should be repealed, I am not really for adding another unnecessary law on top of that. And there is no real public use excuse to prevent this bridge from being built. It doesn't impede the road in any way, nor have any negative effect on it or traffic. The city doesn't really have a justification for impeding its construction.
  3. Big E
    Maybe if you live in Houston and are used to it. For people visiting from up north? Is a whole different story. I understand that and I'm from a place with humidity just as bad as, if not worse than, Houston. Yes, people traveling to an eye clinic are probably not going to care to walk outside in the humidity just to get to their doctor's appointment. As others have brought up, this area doesn't really have a hopping street life anyway, and isn't the best of neighborhoods. Nothing of value is lost by building a skybridge here. This isn't the Peachtree Center in Downtown Atlanta. The developer's interest in "the neighborhood" will always be second to their interest in their own development and potential clientele. It makes no sense to try to limit skybridges. Why? To what end? The very idea completely flies in the face of the laissez-faire approach to development that made Houston the city it is. This development will benefit the city ultimately; no point in attacking it over a skybridge of all things.
  4. Big E
    Why would you ask people to walk across a busy street, with traffic, when you can just have them walk in an air conditioned sky bridge? This is all part of one development, and the developers have a vested interest in keeping those who visit inside the development. They don't care about the street.
  5. Big E
    Hard to say. Despite being the fourth largest city in the country, the general prevailing attitude among the scions of business and powers that be seems to be that Houston gets no tourists. This was pretty much the all but stated reason why Houston, despite being home to NASA, got passed over for exhibiting any of the retired space shuttles, despite a prolonged bidding process. Said the rat weasel and former NASA head Charles Bolden: Houston gets no tourists, so Houston gets no shuttle. Houston doesn't get hotels either.
  6. Big E
    What @iah77 said. Its been a revolving carousel of closures.
  7. Big E
    This area desperately needs tenants in general. I'm kind of taken back by how many places have come and gone from here.
  8. Big E

    North Canal Project

    Big E replied to Triton's topic in Downtown

    There has has been exactly zero talk about moving the jails or courthouses. This is true despite the fact that the courthouse buildings are badly designed and heavily susceptible to flooding. County offices are now spread around multiple buildings, across multiple blocks along the bayou's south bank, while the jails, sheriff's office, and prisoner intake take up the north bank. This area isn't going to see any explosive growth because all of the best land is tied up in institutional uses. Ironically the East River site would have probably been perfect to build an entire new civic center for this purpose due to its large size and central location next to downtown. The county could have even worked with the city to build a new Public Safety complex and Police HQ, since the city is looking to move HPDHQ, Central Precinct, and city courts anyway. Instead, the city pursued the old post office (the one that got redeveloped) and didn't get it. Now, I don't know where the county or city would move since everything else is developed. Buy up an existing industrial area nobody would miss? That warehouse area between Spur 5, Gulf Freeway, and the railroad tracks? I got nothing.
  9. Big E
    Wait, they're converting that? When was that announced?
  10. Big E
    It will probably stay clear until they get the go-ahead to proceed with the actual freeway project.
  11. Big E
    A whole lot of factors determine where somebody lives. It usually has more to do with things like affordability and amenities. And, of course, how close they are to their work. I'm not sure how many people, for instance, want to live all the way in Conroe or Huntsville to commute to downtown Houston, no matter how many lanes 45 has. Houston sprawls because land is plentiful and cheap, thus there is no incentive to crowd into existing neighborhoods, even though there are no traditional limits to development in most neighborhoods, like zoning. As long as Houston continues to grow, it will continue to sprawl outward. What differentiates Houston from other cities in America is that it is both sprawling and densifying, with visible signs of denser development inside the loop. But we are far beyond the whole "freeways encourage sprawl" idea. The freeways, and sprawl, are already here. More than a million people are expected to move west of Houston within the next decade. That was going to happen whether 1-10 and the Northwest Freeway were rebuilt or not. But now they are actually able to handle that growth. Induced demand is a chicken or the egg argument; what comes first, the expanding development or the freeway? Suburbs aren't a uniquely American phenomenon and poorer cities in the third world that lack extensive freeway networks can be pretty sprawling. Sprawl is a factor of radical human growth.
  12. Big E
    Were was the personal attack? Did I insult the man's mother? At worst, I did what Samagon claims to do; stated my opinions. Not sure how I could personally attack someone I don't know and have never met. The fact of the matter is, most opinions don't matter in most situations. Yes, that includes mine. And when opinions cross the line into assertions, well, assertions made without evidence can be dismissed without evidence. An opinion is only objectively useful if its informed; as in, based on factual evidence. Otherwise its of no use to anyone but the person asserting it. If all you've gleaned from everything I've ever wrote in this thread is that I tell people "how much they suck", then you have not read anything I've actually wrote very stringently. Its not even a surface level reading, its just off base. Why do all you guys feel the need to be petulant and patronizing? For all you know, I'm older than you. Are you Samagon's spouse or something? Is there any particular reason you feel the need to white knight for him? He or she seems perfectly capable of speaking for themself. You know, and this isn't directed at you specifically @rechlin but I feel the need to go on a tangent here, I hate the term induced demand. Like the freeway is magically making people drive more or conjuring cars out of thin air. Its not induced demand, its existing demand that's finally being met. Contrary to the theory of induced demand, cars don't just conjure themselves out of thin air to use new or improved roadways, won't just disappear if you get rid of it (yes, some people actually argue this). The cars always existed. They just took alternate routes that were probably longer routes to their destination. This newer route is shorter and more direct to where they want to go, so people take the newer route, because "the shortest way between two points is a straight line". These may even be people who took the old highway (if the improved route already existed) in the past, stopped because it took too long and started taking other highways, and now are returning hoping the new roadway will be "faster". Its not induced demand, its latent demand. People already drive everywhere in Houston, so the new I-45 will not make them drive more. And even if it did, even if induced demand was a thing, so what. Freeways are literally the only form of transportation that people criticized for being used according to its purpose. More people are using a newly widened freeway? Good! Its doing its job. If a freeway was expanded and traffic counts actually dropped off a cliff afterward, we would call that highway a boondoggle and say it was unnecessary. The entire concept behind induced demand is flawed. We want people to use the infrastructure we build. What urban planners should be doing is trying to figure out why just building a light rail network or bus network doesn't automatically "induce" people to ride them, causing many of America's metro systems to run into the red and risk bankrupting themselves.
  13. Big E
    It wasn't relevant. It had nothing at all to do with what was being discussed regarding government bureaucracy and how long this project was taking to manifest, which was actually an interesting discussion. Many of your statements aren't relevant, in fact. Mostly they are retreading old arguments and statements that have already been trodden to death in this thread, or dis-proven by relevant information since provided. Opinions are like anuses: everybody's got'em. Yours ain't special and isn't worthy of any special deference or consideration. Opinions can be weighed like everything else. You having an opinion is not an excuse to be factually wrong or to wave it around in people's faces ad nauseum.
  14. Big E
    My reading comprehension is fine thank you. Your response brought nothing to the conversation, added nothing to the conversation, and didn't move the conversation forward. It wasn't even cogent with what was being discussed. If your comment had been removed, nothing would have been lost in this thread. It served no purpose to anyone but yourself.
  15. Big E
    I'm not attacking you for your opinions. I'm pointing out that your opinions don't mean anything because they have nothing to support them. If you don't want people questioning your opinions, don't express them. And there is no requirement that I can't call you out for making unsubstantiated claims. Fun fact: opinions can be wrong. If there is factual information disproving your opinion, then I have every right to call out your opinion as wrong. TxDOT aren't building the cap parks. This has been explained multiple times in this thread. The physical caps over the highways ARE being built. They are part of the project plan now. So those are a given, assuming this project still happens at all. The parks will be built by other public entities, non-profits, private groups, or (more than likely) some combination of the above. Those groups will find the money to do so. Multiple entities (the city, TIRZ, etc.) have already committed to doing something with the caps. Well that is well and truly your opinion, but you don't really explain why you feel that way. Your position is untenable; some things just can't be done in the existing right of way. While regrettable, that's life. A lot of people died before the Big Dig was finished. It is what it is. Just because some people will die before the project's completion is not a reason to stop the project.
  16. Big E
    Okay, but, you don't really explain why you feel that way, so that's neither here nor there. Based on what? Caps will for sure be built if the project ever finally gets underway, as they are now officially part of the project, so something will be built on them eventually. Plenty of entities are invested in those caps being developed into some mix of parkland and development. So this statement means less than nothing. Except that is exactly what TxDOT have explained they are going to do. Your beliefs aren't fact and can be dismissed for being counterfactual. Two to three decades is merely a timeline you pulled out of your butt. And any construction disruption is temporary no matter how long it lasts. But the positives it will bring to the city are permanent. Says you, based on nothing.
  17. Big E
    I got to say, I'm okay with the garage if only for the obvious vengeance aspect. Maybe the community will think twice about opposing variances in the future. It never stops a project like this to oppose variances, just makes it taller and more obnoxious.
  18. Big E
    Well, its either a parking garage or vacant lot. At least the garage is something.
  19. Big E
    I like how you like to couch this as some kind of zero sum game. The people from the Woodlands win, therefore you lose. You completely ignore all the actual benefits this project gives to your own neighborhood, like the cap parks and sunken freeways, plus better street access for surrounding communities, because it might benefit the rich white guy in the suburbs. Its amazing how you've enunciated how your own opposition is based on how this disadvantages you specifically (and others in your neighborhood, as an aside), yet you, in the same breath, make it clear that you couldn't care less how this project actually benefits others in the region, and in fact you've shown nothing but spite towards them, and yet you expect anyone else, inside or outside this thread, to actually give a damn about your position? Does that make sense to you? And yes, I did find what you said disingenuous. We've already been over how the people directly affected by this project will be compensated. You continuing to throw this pity party for the "poor little poor people who will lose their houses" benefits no one but you and your ego. It adds nothing to the thread, nor to the greater conversation. None of those people will read your comment and pat you on the back for your pity, nobody in charge of this project will see your comment nor care about it. And what's more, nobody affected by this asked for your pity. You don't speak for them. Heck, some of them might actually WANT TO SELL their property to the state and come out if it with a fistful of cash, and you definitely don't speak for them. So yes, stop with the disingenuous statements that are only designed to make you seem like a better person for feigning to care. Your flippant attitude comes through your words and belies your actual lack of dog in this fight. I mean seriously, what was the point of this statement: What does this add to the conversation? Not a doggone thing.
  20. Big E
    This building is on relatively condensed plot of land, no room to build a separate parking garage.
  21. Big E
    Now we raise straw men to knock down, bringing up things I never once suggested. You're slipping, my friend.
  22. Big E
    If you don't think he's being disingenuous, that's your belief, and you're free to believe that. Nobody's going to tell you not to. Don't attempt to tell anybody else how to feel either.
  23. Big E
    Its Reddit. What do you expect?
  24. Big E
    Because they built the parking garages separate from the buildings.
  25. Big E
    Here's to celebrating 10 years of the most underwhelming development in Downtown Houston. Hip hip hooray.
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