Olympics in Houston

[pm91]

houston has attempted to get the olympics twice. why doesnt it get very far in the race? i think the oylmpics would do great here. any idea why the commitee thinks it wouldnt?

[Trae]

The only thing stopping Houston is its ugliness. That is what the IOC said.

[editor]

Houston is easily good enough to host an Olympics.

The problem is that the competing cities were better, and the IOC isn't looking for "good enough."

I'm not sure how you overcome that obstacle.

[Deut28Thirteen]

Houston is easily good enough to host an Olympics.

The problem is that the competing cities were better, and the IOC isn't looking for "good enough."

I'm not sure how you overcome that obstacle.

1.Improve and expand the bus and rail service

2.Let people see Houston as a place for not only business, but also for leisure

3.Clean and beatify the city (air,homeless,trash,trees/flowers etc.)

This could help, build a couple of iconic skyscrapers of course one would have to be a super tall. Its just an idea so please dont rip it to pieces.

[Subdude]

The only thing stopping Houston is its ugliness. That is what the IOC said.

Yes, but also I think they want to have the Olympics in "tier 1" type cities such as London, Paris, etc. That comes from the perception that the Atlanta Olympics were somewhat a failure and that Atlanta wasn't a global enough place to host. Houston certainly could support the mix of facilities to host, however.

[SecondTour]

Improve and expand the bus and rail service

Houston has almost no public transportation. The busses are for residents. That system would fail under the strain of hundreds of thousands of visitors that would be here over the course of several weeks.

The rail system consists of The Superbowl Train. It has served it's purpose already - it shuttled Superbowl visitors back and forth between the Superbowl and the downtown hotels and restaurants.

If Houston were to even come close to having a chance, real-world mass transit would have to be in place and fully functioning - able to handle the load without delays - usable to the thousands of visitors from around the world. Not just short lines to and from downtown or the Galleria.

They could start with two lines going to and from the airports - where all the visitors would be coming from.

Clean and beatify the city (air,homeless,trash,trees/flowers etc.)

The litter here is shocking. People seem to think nothing of throwing trash out of their cars.

The other stuff seems to be ok - or at least being worked on. Many freeway areas are now being re-worked into landscaped areas as opposed to acres of paved embankments. 59 between Shepherd and downtown looks a million times better than it used to. Same for parts of 288 near downtown. That kind of improvement does wonders for a city's look and feel. For the residents as well as the visitors.

It may happen, but it's going to be a while. As someone else mentioned already, I think Atlanta really hurt the chances for future, non-international cities to be considered.

[ToryGattis]

Atlanta certainly set a bad precedent. But my understanding is that they want the Summer Olympics actually in the *summer*, which is mighty unpleasant here, both for the competitors and the spectators (even Sydney, in the southern hemisphere with reversed seasons, only got a delay until late Sept - their early spring). If we could defer to say, October, it could be very nice - but not June thru Sept.

[musicman]

Houston has almost no public transportation. The busses are for residents. That system would fail under the strain of hundreds of thousands of visitors that would be here over the course of several weeks.

The rail system consists of The Superbowl Train. It has served it's purpose already - it shuttled Superbowl visitors back and forth between the Superbowl and the downtown hotels and restaurants.

If Houston were to even come close to having a chance, real-world mass transit would have to be in place and fully functioning - able to handle the load without delays - usable to the thousands of visitors from around the world. Not just short lines to and from downtown or the Galleria.

They could start with two lines going to and from the airports - where all the visitors would be coming from.

LOL. the first two sentences had me ROTFL. so you're suggesting that that we build public transportation for visitors only? A public transportation system is built to support residents of the city primarily, at least those that i'm familar with.

[SecondTour]

so you're suggesting that that we build public transportation for visitors only?

Obviously not.

I'm suggesting that the lack of an existing, substancial, mass transit system (rail) that could handle an influx of hundreds of thousands of visitors is one of the reasons this city is often overlooked.

[moni]

Houston should forget the Olympics. Summers are too hot and humid. All southern cities are too hot and humid to be attactive to the OIC. One of these days, mass transit will occur in Houston in spite of itself, and then many more things will be possible. One of the pitfalls of having so many different cultures in a city, is that in third world countries most individuals don't care about their environment and they bring that mentality to Houston. Schools must teach the youngest of them all about the importance of keeping their city clean. It has to begin early, then believe it or not, the kids will police the parents. I have seen it happen. Just my thoughts on the subject.

[musicman]

Obviously not.

I'm suggesting that the lack of an existing, substancial, mass transit system (rail) that could handle an influx of hundreds of thousands of visitors is one of the reasons this city is often overlooked.

so a substantial mass transportation system consists of rail, not buses.

[TheNiche]

Houston has almost no public transportation. The busses are for residents. That system would fail under the strain of hundreds of thousands of visitors that would be here over the course of several weeks.

We seemed to get along surprisingly well in September and October of 2005.

Infrastructure and facilities are our strong points. The Olympic committee mentioned that distinctly. It was the intangible aspects that killed our chances. And frankly, I'd rather that we not even bother to go after Olympics. Not only does it place a large financial burden on our residents, but where's the long-term benefit? Look at Atlanta...how was it made a better city?

[713 To 214]

so a substantial mass transportation system consists of rail, not buses.

1. What do you think a substantial mass transportation system consist of?

2. Do you think the City's transportation system would be better off with rail lines that served both of Houston's airports, allowing passengers to take a train ride downtown?

[musicman]

1. What do you think a substantial mass transportation system consist of?

2. Do you think the City's transportation system would be better off with rail lines that served both of Houston's airports, allowing passengers to take a train ride downtown?

a transit system is a combination of things, not just rail.

at this point, the ridership numbers wrt the money spent would be way off kilter i.e. it would benefit few. Currently there is an express bus to both hobby and IAH. i've only used the IAH one and it worked fine.

[SecondTour]

so a substantial mass transportation system consists of rail, not buses.

Yes

[713 To 214]

at this point, the ridership numbers wrt the money spent would be way off kilter i.e. it would benefit few. Currently there is an express bus to both hobby and IAH. i've only used the IAH one and it worked fine.

The Houston Airport System served more than 44.8 million passengers in 2004. It is the 4th-largest multi-airport system in the U.S. and the 6th-largest in the world. Bush Intercontinental is the world's 12th-busiest airport.

Source: Houston Airport System

I find your statement really hard to believe.

[SecondTour]

We seemed to get along surprisingly well in September and October of 2005.

Not even remotely similar to the stresses the Olympics places on a city's infrastructure and resources.

Here's an article on how a city is affected by being the global stage for several weeks and the amount of work that goes into it.

Atlanta Olympics article

[NewMND]

I'd rather see the city go after more Superbowls than the Olympics. But whatever happens, the city has to do something with I-45. Most people coming from the airports end up on 45, and well, if that is there first impression of the city, it won't be a good one. That is one butt ugly stretch of freeway. I'd like to see the portion of 45 between Bush Intercontinental and 610 tunneled, just put it underground, then un-tunnel it (I don't know the correct terminology) near downtown, so people come out of the tunnel, and the bam, the giant Houston skyline is right there, I think that would be cool. But I know that would never happen, it would probably cost 3.7 trillion dollars. So maybe do it at least like the Southwest freeway near Shephard, that's nice.

[TheNiche]

The Houston Airport System served more than 44.8 million passengers in 2004. It is the 4th-largest multi-airport system in the U.S. and the 6th-largest in the world. Bush Intercontinental is the world's 12th-busiest airport.

Source: Houston Airport System

I find your statement really hard to believe.

Yeah, I don't like musicman's statement either. I'd prefer it if it were changed to "it'd benefit a whole lot of people, but not very much." And I'd like to suggest a corollary that goes "Screw visitors--it'd be a burden to millions of taxpayers that actually live here."

We'd probably be better off subsidizing rental cars for our visitors, if it really is so important that they think highly of us. Me personally, I don't care what they think.

[flyingman]

We can begin by banning the 8430598450 billboards and business signs than uglify the highways.

[musicman]

The Houston Airport System served more than 44.8 million passengers in 2004. It is the 4th-largest multi-airport system in the U.S. and the 6th-largest in the world. Bush Intercontinental is the world's 12th-busiest airport.

Source: Houston Airport System

I find your statement really hard to believe.

i agree with your statement...the airport system serves millions of passengers. you've made a leap to assume they'd ride public transportation. so in dallas all the passengers that arrive at the airport ride public transportation? will you claim MOST of the passengers ride public transportation?

[713 To 214]

i agree with your statement...the airport system serves millions of passengers. you've made a leap to assume they'd ride public transportation. so in dallas all the passengers that arrive at the airport ride public transportation? will you claim MOST of the passengers ride public transportation?

Let's play the numbers. . .shall we? If only 10% of the passenger traffic coming through the HAS took public transportation, then that would be 4.48 million people annually using the trains/buses (based upon 2004 numbers). Do you think that 10% is an unreasonable number to take advantage of public transportation? If so, why? Please provide sources or some type of reference information this time. Thanks in advance.

[pm91]

ok the weather thing about it being too hot and humid isnt a factor. athens when they had it i remeber it being 96 and humid there like the whole time. and beijing, thier weather surprisingly enough is similar to ours. i have grandparents that live and work there for over a year now and they say summer is prettty much the same there as it is here and winter is a little bit colder than here. weather isnt a factor for the summer olympics..

[TheNiche]

Let's play the numbers. . .shall we? If only 10% of the passenger traffic coming through the HAS took public transportation, then that would be 4.48 million people annually using the trains/buses (based upon 2004 numbers). Do you think that 10% is an unreasonable number to take advantage of public transportation? If so, why? Please provide sources or some type of reference information this time. Thanks in advance.

Even if 4.48 million riders were generated by the Houston Airport System, that would only amount to about 12,600 riders per day, and it would require a significant expansion of our rail system both to the north and the southeast to obtain even that.

Why bother with such a massive investment when express bus routes are quite possibly faster and can provide direct service to a greater number of locations in our region, all while requiring basically no up-front capital costs? It just doesn't make sense.

[musicman]

Let's play the numbers. . .shall we? If only 10% of the passenger traffic coming through the HAS took public transportation, then that would be 4.48 million people annually using the trains/buses (based upon 2004 numbers). Do you think that 10% is an unreasonable number to take advantage of public transportation? If so, why? Please provide sources or some type of reference information this time. Thanks in advance.

so you want me to provide references for YOUR proposal?

at 12300/day, this is less passengers than are expected on the north line (13.9k) which METRO has changed to BRT because the lower ridership won't likely gain LRT funding. extending this to IAH will certainly make any proposal too costly and not likely to gain funding.

[Houston19514]

Let's play the numbers. . .shall we? If only 10% of the passenger traffic coming through the HAS took public transportation, then that would be 4.48 million people annually using the trains/buses (based upon 2004 numbers). Do you think that 10% is an unreasonable number to take advantage of public transportation? If so, why? Please provide sources or some type of reference information this time. Thanks in advance.

Keep working those numbers. As you surely know, at Hobby and even more so at Bush Intercontinental, a substantial portion of that 44.8 million is NOT origin and destination traffic, meaning they are just catching a connecting flight. Those people are not going to care about mass transit into downtown Houston, no matter how nice or convenient it is. I don't have the numbers at hand, but someone can probably find them.

[Boognish]

houston has attempted to get the olympics twice. why doesnt it get very far in the race? i think the oylmpics would do great here. any idea why the commitee thinks it wouldnt?

Probably because we don't have any mountains nearby and it hardly ever snows.

[webdude]

ugly, flat, dirty? who knows

The ugly truth about Houston

By DANIEL B. BARNUM

"After all the tours and visits to the proposed venues and other sites, on the last night of the Selection Team's final visit, we were sitting in a club together, chatting about Houston and what they had seen. I turned to the team member beside me and gently asked, `Well, what are Houston's chances to make the cut?' He looked directly at me, and without a pause, said, `Not a chance!' To my surprise and shock, he said, `Look, you have a great offer, among the best, and you have really great venues, a good financial plan; all that stuff's great. But, you don't have a chance because Houston is so ugly! The freeways are ugly, the major streets are ugly, the billboards are ugly, and we can't bring the world to all this ugliness!' "

This statement was made by a member of the Houston Olympic 2012 Host Committee. In spite of a wonderful plan, great venues and a well thought out presentation, we missed out on a chance for the Olympics in 2012 because Houston is ugly!

Now, in less than six months, the Super Bowl community will be descending on Houston, and we are finally waking up to the fact that much of our city is, in fact, ugly. ("See ugly? Leaders see the blight/Freeway landscaping part of Super Bowl plan," July 20, Page One). Why does it take a Super Bowl to wake us from our slumber? Can't we see the ugliness around us every day? Are we forever condemned to being this way?

....

In the details of the building and rebuilding of the highways, streets and sidewalks around Houston, the details are mostly awful. Look at the I-10/West Belt interchange -- it's ugly. Drive out Westheimer from Chimney Rock to Highway 6, or take I-45 north to the North Belt and just try not to be offended by the ugliness that lines these roadways. Is this the Houston we want to show the world?

.....

[KinkaidAlum]

While it is true that many of the 44.8 million passengers are just making connections, Houston is a large O & D city.

Additionally, we are forgetting how many airport and airline employees might want to use the rail to get to work. Continental and Southwest have thousands of pilots, gate agents, flight attendants, mechanics, etc... who would probably love to not have to pay to park at the airport. Then you throw in the janitors, the food/retail workers, FAA folks, freight folks, etc... and you are looking at two huge employment centers.

[Houston19514]

While it is true that many of the 44.8 million passengers are just making connections, Houston is a large O & D city.

Additionally, we are forgetting how many airport and airline employees might want to use the rail to get to work. Continental and Southwest have thousands of pilots, gate agents, flight attendants, mechanics, etc... who would probably love to not have to pay to park at the airport. Then you throw in the janitors, the food/retail workers, FAA folks, freight folks, etc... and you are looking at two huge employment centers.

Anyone know ridership numbers at the MARTA station at ATL? Found them. MARTA claims an average weekday ridership at the airport station of 17,000. Not bad. But assuming that Houston has similar O&D traffic (and that should be a fair assumption), Houston would have to build rail to two airports (one of which is substantially further from the center of town than is ATL) to have access to similar numbers of passengers.

Don't misunderstand. I would love to have rail to both airports. Loving the idea, however, does not necessarily make it financially feasible. Right now, I think the numbers who take the "express" buses to the airports are very very low. Of course, that's not really a good test because (a) they are not actually"express" by any stretch of the imagination, ( they seem to do everything they can to keep them a secret, and © the illogical, but well-known, rail bias. In any case, before spending a gajillion dollars getting rail to the airports, I would really like to see them make a serious effort to implement and market a true express bus servicew