Blake

Houston is one of 16 cities worldwide selected to receive funding for a "green makeover" of our City Hall, in an effort to reduce energy consumption. "Sixteen cities around the world will get financing to "go green" by renovating buildings they own with technology designed to cut carbon emissions, former President Clinton announced Wednesday. Clinton's foundation has created an arrangement among four energy service companies and five global banking institutions that will result in major environmental upgrades in the cities, which include New York, Chicago, Houston, Toronto, Mexico City, London, Berlin, Tokyo and Rome." http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/C/CL...EMPLATE=DEFAULT http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/05/city_halls_to_g.php Your thoughts?

Howdy all, This is my second post here, been lurking for a while. So, if this is a double post please forgive, I searched a bit but nothing turned up Houston Community College Central is constructing a few new buildings in the midtown area, and performing a much-needed renovation of the San Jacinto Memorial Building among others on the campus. 1300 Holman Street. The renovation seems to be throwing out parking space in exchange for a nice green space in front of SJAC. The most prominent new construction is the Learning Hub, which will house their technology and science classes. http://learning.cc.hccs.edu/future/ http://learning.cc.hccs.edu/future/future.swf In my opinion, the Learning Hub resembles an ice cube sitting on the historic SJAC building's front lawn. I have mixed feelings about it, and am questioning whether it fits in with the area. What are your thoughts and opinions on the construction? Are our bonds going to good use?

The majority of the tunnels are ~6 person width. The only 2 person passage I can think of is at the Public Works building (or if you count escalator width as "person width"). Ceilings vary from 8 ft to over 20 feet. Some of the flooring is cheap tile, others are beautiful polished granite. It really just depends on how much the property owner wanted to invest into the construction of that particular section. Since the tunnel system itself is not owned by a particular entity, each section is constructed and maintained by the owner of its respective aboveground property. So, it naturally makes sense for property owners to open up retail space both above ground, and below ground. There is not a consistent architectural theme to the tunnel system. Each section has widely different styles. Some sections are actually just pathways through underground garages, with no special aesthetics (I'm thinking of the path between the public works building and the hobby center) So, depending on which part of the tunnels you've walked through, you can come to varying conclusions on the condition of the tunnel system as a whole. Overall, they are very nice in my opinion (much nicer than the average subway terminals). I'm personally a fan of the tunnel system. They're the safest and quickest way to get around downtown on foot, no waiting for traffic signals.