RedScare

The landscaped walkway would be nice. However, something about moving sidewalks bothers me. Could it be that when going to watch some of the world's best athletes, the least that "Fat City" could do is walk a couple hundred yards to sit in their seats? I mean, come on, we already watch it in air conditioned comfort! I hate to admit this, but I think the Astrodome is just too expensive, upkeepwise, to be used for anything. It may become a Discovery Channel documentary yet (you know, the ones showing how to implode a bldg).

I posted a link on this several weeks ago. It was a ranking of housing price increases for the top 50 markets, as well as which cities were financing the most with interest only loans. San Diego led in interest only loans at around 60% of all new mortgages. Numerous Cali cities were in the top 50. Houston was near the bottom at around 7% of all new mortgages. Additionally, Houston's housing price increase was near dead last, at around 5% last year. This may not sound good for those trying to flip their houses (which does not help a neighborhood whatsoever), but is great for those who plan to stick around and don't want property taxes to skyrocket. Houston is in little danger of a housing collapse caused by either no interest loans, or white-hot housing markets. It is merely healthy.

I don't know what you think you'll be doing at 42, but this 45 year old man is still drinking whiskey and chasing young chicks. I suspect you will be, too....or at least looking, without letting your wife catch you.

"yes, houston as a whole isn't really into the arts...patronizing or funding..." You might want to research that last statement a bit. You may be stunned to find that Houston does not fit your stereotype.

Maybe because Bayou Place I is dying. Haven't 2 bars closed there in the last year? If you have empty space in the first section, it does not bode well for filling up the second one. Of course, the location in the Theatre District always suggested to me that 'older' entertainment would be better suited there, such as quieter bars and restaurants.

I am not an armchair laywer (sic), but a real one. I am not a fan of rap/hip-hop. I am however, a big fan of rap's precursor, reggae. I also enjoy the blues, zydeco and bluegrass. I do not like country-western. And, of course, I enjoy rock. Since rap seems to be the cause of all of Americ's problems, due to its graphic lyrics, I thought I'd spend a few minutes listing the topics of some country and blues and rock tunes (BTW, even though I said I don't listen to C&W, I don't recall any songs about one's parents, except for David Alan Coe picking up his mom from prison). Johnny Cash Cocaine Blues (also performed by George Thorogood) Eric Clapton Cocaine (also performed by others) Waylon Jennings Alcohol and various drugs Willie Nelson Pot, alcohol, various drugs and running over grandma with sleighs Hank Williams Jr. Almost everything bad for you David Alan Coe Drinking, Driving, prisons and auto accident fatalities Garth Brooks Alcohol, fighting, spousal abuse Johnny Cash Drinking, drugs, guns, murder, prison, spousal abuse, robbery Lynyrd Skynyrd Alcohol, drugs, fighting, gunplay, murder, etc. This is just a start. Now, it may be argued that, since virtually all C&W singers (male, anyway) glorify drunkeness, driving pickups and fighting, and song lyrics influence people, that male C&W singers cause DWI to be the leading traffic killer, and spousal/date abuse to be the leading killer of women, at least in the South. I, for one, think country music no more causes rednecks to drive DWI and beat their wives, than Rap causes Black youth to kill cops and sell drugs, or AC/DC caused teens in the 70s to perform satanic killings. But, if that is the reasoning you use to justify your dislike of the music, more power to you. I don't need a reason to explain why I don't listen to Rap or C&W...I just don't.

Really? You were there that night? Or, did you just attend the trial? As both, a former prosecutor, and a current defense attorney, it has always annoyed me that so many people "know" what happened, based soley on a newspaper headline, coupled with a stereotype of the one accused of a crime. Oftentimes, this "knowledge of guilt is formed before the trial has even started. Remember the "Did Kobe do it?" polls that were constantly posted on the internet? And there was never even a trial. This is not to support crime or defendants, but to remind people that the only ones qualified to make the call on someone's guilt or innocence are the juries.

Well, if he's putting office space there, then that's the end of the expansion of entertainment venues at Bayou Place...although it would clean up that dreary second section.

Tom Cruise...now, that would have given Scientology some street cred, if he would have shown up.

Midtown, you beat me to the punch.

Shouldn't it be spelled "Metropol"? Metropole sounds like a topless bar, or worse, something that metrosexuals do.

1. Taking these one at a time. 2304 Bartlett is actually a Greenbriar corner lot, not middle of the block. Greenbriar, heading south from 59, has strip centers, westpark (soon to be light rail), office buildings, apartments and, best of all, a SHURGARD Mini Storage! The Dentist office is one block south of the mini storage. Given that Greenbriar is a major thoroughfare with Shepherd, Zoning may have zoned the lots adjacent to Greenbriar commercial. Further, a variance may be granted. So, this is not a sure thing, by any means, even though the neighbors are upset. 2. Zoning does not legislate taste. The city could create a special district, with architectural requirements, but Houston can do this without zoning. 3. Zoning regulates what can be built, not what can be torn down. 4. See above post. Current restrictions dictated that design. CVS, however, could have asked for a variance to that restriction. 5. Zoning is a master document, that may then be tailored to meet the needs of the city. If it is zoned commercial, nothing stops how fast the strip malls are built. Dallas and Ft. Worth, both zoned, have just as many strip malls as Houston. 6. Houston has fairly strict parking requirements for new construction, similar to a zoning ordinance. These force developers to ADD parking, which is very expensive. A zoning law would do the same thing. 7. See #2. All of these situations can either not be eliminated, or can be controlled with a city ordinance. The only thing missing is the commission and the "Master Plan". While I am not opposed to zoning per se, zoning is not the magic wand it is purported to be.

I fail to see what zoning/no zoning had to do with your argument. If Houston had zoning, are you suggesting that Downtown would be zoned highrise? midrise? lowrise? residential? Most posters here don't seem to understand what zoning is, what zoning does, and what it prohibits. Houston has moved toward de facto zoning for years, but with ordinances instead of a zoning commission. Those variance requests you see all around are requesting variances from city ordinances dictating what and how building can occur on a lot. The "prevailing lot line" ordinance in the Heights is a zoning ordinance prohibiting the splitting of lots in order to put up 25 foot wide townhomes. All zoning does is create a zoning commission with the power to do what city council already does now. And worse, zoning commissions are appointed by the politicians, and not answerable to the citizens. Can anyone on this board point to 2 or 3 specific projects that are a detriment to the neighborhood, that a zoning commission would, in all likelihood, have disallowed?

Gracias, mi amigos.

Spanish help por favor. Taqueria Aguascalienes What does that mean? hot water? Forgive my ignorance.

You're not old enough. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070723/plotsummary

Not everyday you get to read a Soylent Green reference on an architecture forum.

I suppose this means the big park proposal died a miserable death?

To those who posted just prior to my second post, if it conflicts with a point you made, my apologies. I was writing as you posted. My tirades are not meant as an assault on any particular group of residents, nor the race of said residents, or even the development. I go to midtown for drinks and eats more than downtown. It is more a call to seek the "root" of the problem (pun intended), and be a part of the solution. I have yearned to live close to downtown since I moved here in 1977. I have lived close by for the last 6 years. We all have moved closer for the excitement and the diversity. We get the bad with the good. No one has the right to urinate or defecate on your property, and I'm not advocating such. I am currently trying to catch the bastard who lets his dog crap on my Heights lawn (the dogs love my house, due to the 3 dogs in the yard), so I feel the frustration. I suppose the reason for my rants are that I sense a lack of respect or caring for our fellow citizens, and a wish to ignore reality. This occurs on a much larger scale than just inside the loop, or even Houston. It has become our societal norm. Money and possessions have achieved such importance, that that we wish the imperfect to just go away, so that we may enjoy our things in peace. Since, those who live far from the downtown/midtown area do not see humanity up close and, therefore, can ignore it, it is incumbent on those of us living in it, or close to it, to take the lead in helping to solve it, or at least, moderating it.

Perhaps I was a bit too generic in my description. Would "uppity, narcissistic, BMW drivers" been a better term? I am curious at what point a citizen (or an immigrant, for that matter) loses his or her right to partake of a street or park's amenities? Is it when the clothing that one wears is not purchased first-hand from an approved retailer? Is it when one does not practice an accepted level of hygiene? Is there an income requirement to use city facilities? Should there be a "park tax" similar to the "poll tax" of year's past? Must one be able to show a City of Houston water bill to sit on a park bench? Can the residents surrounding a facility vote others out of the facility, like members of the Woodlands Athletic Center can do? Statements such as, "it's the law, and we should be enforcing the law", seem to me to be a bit disingenuous. The purpose of these "civility ordinances" were merely to give the police an excuse to run the homeless off. They do not remedy a dangerous or unhealthy situation as assault or littering laws do. They do not address where the homeless should go. There are only a few hundred beds at the shelters. Harris County Jail only has about 9,000 beds, mostly filled with real criminals. Estimates of the homeless population run as high as 15,000 or more. Where, reasonably, can thet go? Here's a much more detailed and eloquently written article on the problem than I could write. http://houstonpress.com/issues/2003-06-26/.../feature_1.html If anyone personally knows the views of any minority council members on this issue, please let me know. I'd like to discuss this issue with that council member. "A society's integrity is judged not by its wealth and power, but by how it treats its most vulnerable members." -author unknown

First, we ran the homeless out of downtown, because some white people thought it would be a nice place to watch a baseball game. Then, we ran them out of midtown, because white people from the suburbs wanted to be 'urban pioneers', but the homeless made it a bit too urban for their suburban tastes. Now, you want to take away their freeway overpass?! For those of you that don't spend much time thinking about this issue, let me explain: The Star of Hope Mission used to have a men's shelter on the east side of downtown. No one bothered them there since no one went over there. Then, we decided to build a baseball stadium right on top of their shelter. They had to go. The non-profit's building was purchased and they rebuilt on Ruiz, next to the US 59 overpass. They also built a women's and family shelter on Dowling, a couple of blocks away. Now, these shelters, being run by a Christian group, have a few rules, if you want a bed. Some of the biggies are no drinking, drugging and fighting. If they smell alcohol, you don't get a bed. These are not harsh or unreasonable rules, but they are the rules. Now, some of these homeless sorts, like many of us with homes, try to get through their miserable lives by having a drink or 2. Now, they don't get a bed, but they WILL get ameal in the morning, maybe their only one all day. Plus, the shelter has security, so if you sleep near the shelter, you will be reasonably safe, a really big deal for these guys. Since most humans, like most dogs, don't like to sleep in the rain, they bunk under the overpass. These guys don't ask for much. On my way to the office, at most, they ask for a quarter. When I had my restaurant, they occasionally asked for a water or a coke. They offered to clean up around my restaurant and to watch the place at night, if I would let them use the spigot in the back to clean up, so as not to offend the white people by being unkempt. I told them that was fine as long as they didn't leave it running. They never used a drop more than they needed. I hope I have not ruined anyone's day by making these people sound a little human. And I hope you will forgive the homeless for sleeping under your 59 overpass. They meant no harm. They just figured you already took their 45 overpass, and you had all the overpasses you need. I'll explain it to them the next time I see them. They are a very understanding lot....they have no choice.

Lamar Hunt is from Dallas...part of the uber wealthy Hunt clan. Tom Benson (New Orleans) is from San Antonio.

Indoor ski slope. Lower the field another 50 feet and you have a 258 foot vertical drop.

Bayou on the Bend will be 4 stories or 6 stories, depending on which article you read. Unclear if that is including, or, in addition to parking levels.

No wonder the food tasted better.