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Marksmu

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Posts posted by Marksmu

  1. Yeah, Pleak, you're right. I'm sure everyone knows the weight of their vehicle plus passengers and cargo and how it is distributed between the axles.

    If you open your driver (or in some cars passenger) side door and look on the metal body of the car there is a small plate that tells you the weight of your vehicle...at least there is for trucks....

    As to the comment above about writing tickets....I don't know that the people who got pulled over got tickets, I just know they were pulled over....the officer could have just been warning folks - but knowing HPD and their love of ticket writing in the area, they probably got a ticket.

  2. . Posters here talk of intentionally violating the load limit, not sure as to what their reasoning is behind that.

    It would take an additional 3 minutes of my day to bypass the bridge and I do it twice per day. Thats 6 minutes I wont get back. So if I can expedite the repairs by further degrading the bridge with my overweight vehicle then I will do so....

    If a public bridge can't support the weight of a standard 3/4 ton truck then it should be closed - there should be no effort to limit the bridge to little cars. Thats just kicking the can further down the road. Fix it right or close it to all.

  3. If this was all happening in a tiny Texas town, no one would even imagine putting in a Walmart and strip mall development down the street from a bridge that had a 3k per axel load limitation. It would easily be seen for the sheer stupidity that it is. Only under the guise of extreme libretarianism and right wing property rights is it possible to look at the situation and claim that everything is just fine.

    Your argument MIGHT make sense if this were a walmart on an island with no other feasible route of ingress/egress...but as it stands there is a plethora of available routes for anyone to use.

  4. I work in Pearland where construction on HWY 35 has been NON-STOP for the last 3.5 years. There are 2 bridges that had to be demolished and replaced....both bridges were similar to the one over the bayou at Yale....This may come as an enormous surprise to an anti-walmart person - but TXDOT was able to demolish only 1/2 of the bridge at a time. 35, which, just like Yale was 4 lanes wide...now has new bridges complete in 2 locations, and the never closed 35!

    How did they do it? They reduced the lanes to 1 each direction for about 2 weeks while they demolished 1/2 of the bridge, braced the remaining half and poured new piers for the new bridge....then they rebuilt that half...Then (and this will blow you walmart haters minds) they transferred traffic to the NEW half, and demolished it.

    Total amount of time the bridge was under construction? About 8 weeks....Total amount of time the bridge was closed. Zero. While 35 is still being rebuilt traffic now flows effortlessly across the new bridge.

    As an aside - I survived yet ANOTHER illegal crossing of the bridge this morning...this time with both kids in the car!!! Im such an irresponsible and wreckless parent.

  5. I just had my internet phone service replaced with a rotary phone.

    excellent decision! Truly in keeping with your historic meme, I fully expect you to downgrade back to an old dial modem as well...I believe there may be one provider left still offering dial up service...somewhere....Ahhh to hear the squeals of an old modem again - reminiscent of days gone by...

  6. I successfully traversed the bridge of death again this morning...whew...I waved to the flatbed tow truck that was stopped waiting on the light as I crossed...he had a tahoe loaded on back, and was towing an expolorer. We both thought we were about to die, but alas, it was not my day.

    • Like 1
  7. I dont care if the city takes a picture....last I heard they ruled out traffic tickets based on photographs...Maybe I should get a window sticker that depicts the bridge of death on the back window of my truck - at least that way IF it fails while Im on it, I will get to have an ironic death and make an easy news story.

  8. State reduced the load limit to prohibit SUV's & Trucks, but its not done for safety reasons? What other reason could there possibly be for reducing the load limits on the bridge if not for safety?

    Is this the very first bridge in the history of the State of Texas to be politically sensitive to low mileage vehicles? Seriously? What other justification could there be?

    http://www.click2houston.com/news/State-reduces-Yale-Street-bridge-load-limit/-/1735978/16770686/-/velult/-/index.html

  9. Seriously. Lets assume the picture is correct.

    1. The no trucks signs are posted at the threshold of this light. So by continuing they are obviously disregarding the sign.

    2. Why would someone drive past heights to take a left on yale to take a left back to heights, take two more rights and then cross yale in an 18 wheeler? It is absurd.

    3. He is also running a red light.

    I actually do assume the picture is correct, but I can think of any number of reasons that a truck driver could make that mistake...perhaps nobody would let him over in time turn - its not exactly a quiet intersection any more...maybe he did not see the sign until he was already stuck in the wrong lane, also easy to fix...There are a number of scenarios that the truck would still not have used the bridge on.

    However, the light is red. He is screwed there.

  10. 314256_490810957597549_1165859503_n.jpg

    So much for the GPS systems on Walmart trucks that would keep them from going on the Yale St. bridge.

    How are we supposed to know that he used the bridge? He very easily could have just taken a left and then a right onto Heights and come back around....While it looks bad, this is not proof that the truck crossed the bridge...just saying - you have been known to manipulate the truth too many times for me to believe you.

  11. I think we can safely say that it wasn't the Walmart that royally f-ed up the traffic on Heights and Yale.

    It's not even open yet and late afternoon northbound traffic on both streets at I-10 has become ridiculous due to the screwed up light-timings.

    I agree its the dang feeder extension! I wish every day that Yale did not connect to I-10 going westbound... it has added 5 minutes to my commute no matter which direction I come from, and when I have to sit through that light for 2-3 cycles I am almost as angry as I am at Yale when NOBODY is able to make the left turn onto 11th...

    They need to add a protected left on Yale @ 11th and they need to fix the lights on Heights/Yale at I-10...damn this progress!!! But dont worry - in a few months WalMart will open and we can blame all this new traffic on it.

    • Like 1
  12. You cannot be serious about the 6 mil. Had Ainbinder not received 6 mil for all the infrastructure upgrades, they would have made Walmart and their tenants pay for at least a substantial portion of it. why is that so hard for you to understand? Do you really think that developers eat all the construction costs? Maybe you should think twice before resorting to name calling when you cannot even fathom the simple business of how developers deal with their costs.

    Retail gravy? I hope no one has ever relied on you to invest their money. No developer in the world would want to see their profits get eaten up by poor leasing returns. Ainbinder made a lot of money off of the sale of the land to Walmart. But that is also all of the money they will get from Walmart. If the retail pads do not lease well, the Walmart profit will be stuck in empty sq footage.

    I never said Ainbinder was bankrupt. That is just another strawman argument made to avoid the real argument I am making. I clearly pointed out that the worst part of the recent 380 agreements by the City is that they have been bad bets. Landry failed to meet employment numbers and ended up doing a deal to blow up the old fire alarm building in exchange for tax debt foregiveness (which is probably prohibited by the Texas constitution--gov't cannot foregive tax debts). The Pavillions went bust thanks to an idiotic cavern design that no retailer/restaurant/bar in their right mind would want to have their business hidden in an urban gorge. And Ainbinder may have Walmart, but the rest of the development is limping along so far, especially in comparison to what the leasing agent claimed it would be. Ainbinder said he didn't need the money to develop the property. The money certainly has not yeilded any kind of great commercial success. So, why should the City be playing real estate developer? The answer is that they shouldn't. They make bad decisions based on political influence.

    What you dont seem to understand is that business financing is much tighter than it used to be. Its much harder to secure financing on a business, especially retail, without a good traffic count. Many franchises require traffic counts exceed numbers to get a franchise. WalMart is not open yet and Yale was NOT previously a major thoroughfare that had I-10 access....add in the fact that they are about to close the bridge down completely to repair it, and you have a situation where a WalMart can survive based on it being a destination, but a smaller retailer or restaurant may not be able to survive. A mom & pop place is doomed to fail until the roads are repaired and Walmart drives up traffic counts.

    This center will lease, and over time the tenants will get better and better...but until the Walmart opens, the traffic counts skyrocket, and the bridge is repaired this location is not really that desirable for anyone other than a large destination retailer like Walmart.....Your low occupancy rate argument does not take any of this into consideration. You are just cherry picking the low hanging fruit and using it as proof that you right.

    The reality is that this center will fill up, it will be profitable. I'd love to own it. Its short term success will be low until all of the things that retail/restaurants look for align...Ainbinder is not nearly as short sighted as you...they see the big picture and that picture is full of dollar signs!

    • Like 1
  13. You really think that the $6 mil had anything to do with Walmart hiring a bunch of minimum wage workers? At least there is a reasonable argument to be made that the stimulus spending actually did create jobs that would not have been created without it. Walmart would have built that store even if the City imposed a special $6 mil Walmart development tax.

    You have now solidified every perception I had of you.

    Walmart's minimum wage is better than Obama's nothing.

  14. I drive by this thing every single day, twice per day, and even though I do not personally shop at Walmart, the development on the Walmart side of Yale is not ugly....I dont really know what you think you deserve, or why you think you deserve anything, but as far as Walmarts, and for that matter strip centers in general go this thing is beautiful....Look at the Kroger on 11th, or any of that crap that is on 11th between I-10 and 11th...its all Hideous...this story is quite beautiful in comparison....even the sub-tenant shops are being made of a very attractive stone.

    If you dont like this, you just don't like strip developments in general. If you don't like strip center developments you need to move to another country as these styles are all that is being built EVERYWHERE. Its not isolated to Houston or Texas - its the entire country. Its not necessarily a trend I like, but landlords want money and strip centers cost less to make, command similar rents to standalone buildings, and are more easily rented to just about any type of business.

    You are just banging your head against a wall complaining about it b/c nothing is going to change....ever.

  15. Mklultra25 and Niche are both correct. These guns are not illegal. You can buy them, usually special order, from any number of legitimate gun shops. I had thought about getting one, but I never figured I would ever have an occasion to carry one....why not?

    Well - its illegal to have a gun, even a conceal carry one, in a place that makes more than 51% of their income on booze - IE a bar...and bars are the only place I go that I may have to walk any real distance from the establishment to my car that I have a high likelihood of being mugged because I can not carry....every other time/place, a small concealed carry 9mm is a better choice b/c I can hold substantially more rounds or pack a more intimidating punch....the last gun Im going to pick up would be a .410 pistol if someone is in the house....Ill take my pump shotgun all day/every day in those close quarters....if nothing else, the sound of a pump shotgun chambering a round is enough to send 99% of the thugs and would be robbers running out the door....I will even choose my pump over my auto shotgun just for that sound.

  16. some people just want to say something and dont care about grammar or spelling some people hate capitalizing words and some people hate punctuation while still others despise run on sentences with lots of mspelled wrds everywhre but me personally I dont care about any of those things as long as a walmart gets built and I can sit under the shade of beautiful brand new 2-3 caliper inch tree and bask in the glorious odors of taco cabana while I enjoy me some cheap queso

    • Like 1
  17. actually, that tree is a great example of a mature tree, and I'm glad they took the steps they did to save it. I hope it actually survives the ordeal, the chances of a tree that age being able to survive a transplant aren't that great.

    A mature tree? Yes - I agree. But no mature tree is worth $197,500 dollars. ONLY, and I do mean ONLY a government entity would ever spend that kind of money (other peoples) to save something like a tree.

  18. While a tree is beautiful to look at, I find it mind boggling that people will go to such extreme measures and cost (see gigantic waste of money here http://galvestondailynews.com/story/320554) simply to save a 100% renewable, abundant, cheap, replaceable, non-sentimental tree.

    Trees are just trees. If they are in the way they get cut down...then you put a new one up...its a waste (yes waste) of money to put a huge one back since trees grow - so they are inevitably replaced by smaller ones.

    On the league city tree, if I were a resident of the city, I would be outraged at my wasted tax dollars - with these trees on yale, I cant even fake outrage b/c its just a non-issue.

  19. Ha.

    Yes, I will think for once. You are right. Tax and spend is bad. property rights good. East Coast liberal elites bad. Texas bubba good. Me see light now.

    Now, back to reality, are you really going to argue that non-residents of Houston who work in the city five times a week actually pay more than they take away? Really? How, because they make their bosses pay? Next, are you going to tell me that they contribute more to the city than residents and property owners?

    There is no point in arguing with someone who argues only with their emotions and ignores facts...the fact is that every business in the city pays all of the taxes you want the commuters to pay...the business absorbs the cost of fire/police/ambulance in its rent and property taxes....School Districts loves business as they bring in an enormous sums of money through sales tax, payroll taxes, property tax, personal property taxes, and a multitude of other taxes that are paid by businesses that benefit local communities, while utilizing almost zero public services....how many times a year do you think a business utilizes the fire department vs a resident?

    Commuters do flush toilets, drink water, and drive on the roads, but all of those costs are paid by the business where they do those things ...you don't think burger king gets free water/sewer do you?...so please tell me, exactly how are these evil commuters who buy our gas, eat at our resteraunts, get speeding tickets, parking tickets, and dont use our most expensive service (schools) utilizing more services than they are consuming? Commuters are not coming into town to put their kids in public schools, goto our free parks, collect our welfare, and sit in the public library....they are here to work. They come, they contribute, they go home and let some other town pay for the cost of protecting their house. They are contributing substantially more than they are consuming. If you don't think so - then please tell me where all this commuter money is going? It isnt the roads b/c they are paying for that through taxes on their fuel...so how exactly are they draining the city?

    You want to see business flee the city - make it too expensive for those businesses to hire employees....they will leave. They always do.

  20. What the hell are you talking about?

    My proposal is simply a "usage" tax. Millions of people live outside of the C.O.H. but use the city every single day. They drive on our roads. The flush toilets at work. They rely on HPD or Houston Fire to protect their offices. It's high time they pay for those services.

    MANY cities across the globe already have these tolls set up. It's high time Houston got on board too.

    It has nothing to do with "forcing" people to live inside the loop or in dense apartment tower blocks but everything to do with trying to maintain a healthy city center. I am sorry, but someone who lives in Pearland but drives to the TMC everyday SHOULD have to help pay for Houston roads, water, utilities, police, fire, etc...

    Stop being so reactive and actually read a thread for once.

    Every "service" you just listed is entirely paid for by the businesses through taxes and fees on the businesses exactly the same as if the person lived here...The business is paying for it...making another person pay for it, is doing nothing more than subsidizing the city which makes a TREMOUNDOUS sum of money from non-resident suburbs already. Many of these non-residents buy their gasoline here which is a huge boom for the road system.

    All tolls on people coming/going through a city are nothing more than the city trying to encourage a behavior....the tax is a negative encouragement - it is punishing those who live in the outskirts and work in the city because you wrongly believe that they are taking without contributing, when in reality they contribute far more than they take. Houston does not need that at all. Houston needs more high tax paying residents without kids inside its city limits, and fewer mooches - the commuters are not the problem. Your idea of a toll tax on going through the city is nothing more than some dream to turn Houston into another failed East coast dream.

    Stop trying to solve every problem by taxing and spending and actually think for once.

    • Like 1
  21. My solution?

    Stick toll booths at Houston City Limits on the following;

    1) Katy Freeway

    2) Southwest Freeway

    3) North Freeway

    4) Gulf Freeway

    5) 288

    6) Eastex Freeway

    7) I-10 East

    People from The Woodlands, Spring, Tomball, Atascocita, Baytown, LeagueCity, Friendswood, Pearland, Missouri City, SugarLand, Katy, etc... use the COH every day and it's high time they pay for it. Use this new money to fund local road projects and return the pillaged funds from the sales tax back to METRO for transit solutions.

    Right, b/c every person driving those corridors goes into the city for something? Its absurd, its just the snotty attitude that many of the city people have where they think they are better than those people who live outside the city. The inner loopers are the worst, but there is also a growing snot nosed crowd who considers inside the beltway to be urban living....The only thing worse than someone living in a suburb??? Living in the suburb with kids, a pool, and GASP - a suburban or other large gas guzzling SUV.

    They city makes its money off everyone - our world renound hosptial district could not be as large as it is without drawing from all over...same with the port, downtown, and everything else....The other areas contribute plenty to the city, without the largest burdens - the schools, city services -

    Its time all these greeny weenie urbanites, stop trying to force feed their utopia down everyones throats. If you want to spend money on something somebody might actually use then you need to build reliable transit connecting the surburbs to the city, and stop trying to connect the city to other areas inside the city.

    • Like 1
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