GovernorAggie

I didn't take it as doubt, so no biggie. As an aside, that one little strip was off last night, IIRC, but I haven't noticed tonight.

Yes, I'm absolutely sure that it's Wells Fargo, and the one LED piece constantly changes color, just going through the spectrum. It could be a new LED or the LED that was already there just on the fritz (which wouldn't surprise me given the trouble they've been having with those). I thought the lights were neon too until I went to a function at the top of One Shell a few months ago when Wells Fargo's lights were actually on. You can actually see the little lights that make up the LED strips.

FWIW it looks like Wells Fargo could possibly have a bit of a different lighting scheme. It looks almost like an LED is either being tested or malfunctioning beause its one small piece that's on and changing color--similar to the new lighting on the Phoenix Tower.

So I'm calling the race for Parker. The stars are aligned for her to win pretty handily (even though I didn't vote for her). So I think the discussion should now go to what kind of mayor she actually will be. After the fanfare, after the BBC, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and whoever else interviews her for her moment, this lady has to govern. I keep hearing her talk about her experience on one hand, but to me it sounds like experience that had no skin off her back since she had really nothing to enforce or be accountable for. Her job was to "advise" to "warn" to "sound the alarm". Never to govern and face the electorate with the consequences. So, what do you think? Will she really radically clean house at METRO? (hope so). Will she work to spread the 'Houston' brand around the world to try to get more companies here? (doubt it but I hope so b/c I think the time may soon be ripe to score a few relos) Will she be pro-development? We shall see. By the way, I say Parker 61%, Locke 39%--but then again, maybe I read too many Chron.com comments.

I went to check it out during the Night at Market Square last night, and they had menus available. It looks promising! www.byrdsmarket.com

And there's a new "Byrd's" sign in gold above the entrance.

Um, while I agree the the Crosby Freeway looks good and will be a help, my problem is that it will funnel traffic to what I think is the most neglected part of I-10. Yes, they did a recent resurfacing, and I'm normally not one to advocate freeway widenings, but IIRC the RTP doesn't have any I-10 East widenings planned at least until the 2020s, so hopefully that will be just in time to meet the inevitable traffic increases. By the way, wouldn't Crosby be the last new controlled-access facility here that will be a "free"way?

The crane is now up!

Just an FYI, this is a play off of Illinois' actual current plates. The Gotham font is exactly the same is Illinois, and they both have red numbers (though some IL plates have blue numbers), and the City of Gotham seal is actually a pic of Abe Lincoln on the IL plates They've had these plates for about 7-8 years now and they are still one of my favorites.

Believe it or not, those are indeed LEDs at the top of Wells Fargo. You can see them from the top of One Shell. While I like the lighting scheme when it works, there seemed to be more times when at least one part of Wells Fargo wasn't lit. Gave the impression of someone missing a tooth.

While I agree that their work all looks very similar, we really don't have anything in Houston besides Mosaic that is of the style they use.

Nice article in today's Chronicle. The coolest thing I saw aside from the building itself was the fact that they sold the other half of the block to Novare out of Atlanta. They're behind some great residential towers, including the Avenue in Charlotte and 360 in Austin. A Novare building someday in that part of downtown would add a lot to the skyline and would help the residential component of DT. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/features/6556005.html www.novaregroup.com

First, the costs, and Niche is right, there's no real significant ridership generator or attractor between downtown and IAH that would give that line a priority over some of the others that are next. It also an accepted notion in the transit field that lines to airports are not typically successful. I also agree that if service to airports is such a high goal, the quickest one (if only because its closer) to go to is Hobby. Nevertheless, the delay could maybe provide opportunity for real dialogue and decisions on actual higher speed service to the airports (at least IAH since it's over 20 miles away) when the time time is right. And higher speed doesn't necessarily mean another technology as much as it means maybe grade separating more of the North Corridor extension. Note also that the cities in those articles are mentioning connections from downtowns to airports that are a whole lot closer in distance than IAH is to downtown. Furthermore, with the exception of Dallas, they are connecting to their one major airport as well.

Another Houston sighting, courtesy of the George Lopez show. Wells Fargo Tower and 1100 Louisiana shown as a meeting site from an older (2002-ish) episode.

Ah yes. I like to affectionately call this one the "Frankenchange"! BwAhAhAhAhAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. Dumping into the fast lane of 45 can actually be really scary.

I think it can. It sort of already has with the ramp from the Beltway to 249 outbound. You pay a toll to get out of the Beltway regardless, but it's cheaper and smoother to have an EZ-Tag. I've been back and forth on my support of GP, but I think that I can finally say that I support it--with conditions. If it is built as currently conceived with few feeder roads and is tolled, I can live with that. Furthermore, if it can have some sort of scenic designation along it and within say, 100 yards of its ROW, then I would consider it a winner. It could be one of the great hinterland drives in the nation. Hopefully, they will green all the stack interchanges that will be along it as well (12 or 13 of them if my count is right) Also, I know people get tired of playing this card, but anything that will help in evacuations is a necessity, which makes me think that the next segments to be built should have been the ones connecting Gulf Freeway to Katy Freeway, instead of Katy to 290. The best version would have been the originally conceived version, with multiple lakes, ponds, and greenery along it.

I think that if the Governor was as gung ho about the T-Bone as he was about the TTC, this thing happens yesterday. There has to be a way to sweeten the deal. As much as I think CDAs have a lot of errors in them, that might be the best shot. I can see a consortium of operators, builders, and developers coming together to build this system, have the rights to develop around the stations/terminals in each city, and so forth. I personally like Judge Eckels' notion of making it almost completely private or at the most, state level funding. That, in theory, could allow Texas to have a robust system up and running relatively quickly, and would allow the market to determine the best approach (here's hoping for MagLev). The farther we stay away from federal funds, the better, IMO. That will only slow things down.

During the George Lopez mega-marathon on Nick-at-Nite last week, there was an episode where his daughter and her baseball player boyfriend got arrested. When George and his (who might be an epic definition of a woman, IMO) wife went to pick her up, there's a map of Houston can you can clearly see. It's displayed rather prominently and often. Big Constance Marie fan here

Maybe not bad news. At first, we had "2009", now we have "September 2009" as a possibility.

Interesting. Charlotte did this about 8 years ago or so--at the behest of a Republican mayor (who unfortunately lost the recent gov's election there).

Talk about irony and an interesting point. They seem to be trying to shed the "Chinatown" moniker, yet their new name sounds like a significant period in Asian history, AND they are putting (I assume) Chinese symbols on the street signs.

Is it just me or is "EaDo" pretty lame? I honestly hope that no one was paid to come up with that. Enough of the SoHo's and the SoDo's and the NoDa's and the GoGo's and HoHo's. If they were going to come up with a combo name that's a New York clone, I would have preferred something like Tribeca (TRIangle BElow CAnal).

You'll be glad you did. It's a good business run by good staff who are good people and who always seem to be cleaning (at least when I'm there). As was said before, there's several vending machines (5 maybe?) as well as an old-school arcade machine. There's also one or two microwaves if you need them for whatever reason and two picnic tables where you can sit and read while your clothes wash. Be on the lookout for the kids, though. The laundromat is like a play day for them sometimes! And every now and again you'll see someone selling helotes or fruit w/ chile. Don't forget to have cash for your electronic laundry card. Otherwise you'll have to use the ATM that's inside in order to load it. I guess you can tell that I spend a lot of time there, lol.

This may be more proof of this slowly starting to take place. I dipped my head into the CVS on Polk this past Saturday and they were having a moving sale. Not a closing sale--but a moving sale. That coupled with the new on HBG being nearly finished and voila, hopefully the Kroger changes will be soon follow! UPDATE: The Cullen CVS moves to the new Harrisburg location on May 1!

Chalk another one up for SpinCycle on Harrisburg @ Dumble. I frequently use the wash and fold service--even though the price just went up from .79 a pound to .89 a pound.