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Downtown Needs To Market Itself


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The Niche nailed it way more eloquently than I could have. He's spot on.

I've traveled the world. I've been a high school social worker in the Bronx. I've been on a panel as an out gay person on a PFLAG presentation at Texas ATM in 1990 at a mandated sensitivity training for the athletic department. I worked at a coffee shop in Manhattan right after college and I don't drink coffee nor do I know anything about it. I've had a camel attack me in Egypt. I've been stung by a scorpion 3 times.

None of those things were as bad as the feelings I had working in Honolulu. It is an odd place but not in a good way. If I never have to go back there again, I will be pleased. I traveled there for work for over 5 years, sometimes spending as much as a month at a time. I didn't make a single friend. Not one. And, people LOVE me. I am awesome.

If I were you, and I am not, I'd choose the Bay Area. If you're worried about price and wanting an adventure, look at the East Bay. Oakland has some neat spots and the views if you can get a place up in the Oakland Hills/Berkeley are amazing. Plus, it's less pretentious than SF proper.

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Well, I was in Boston a couple weeks ago. It had been on my list, but not so much now. Even with all the family I have in that part of the country. I can't imagine people being any less friendly or helpful than there. Also, pretty sure I couldn't handle the snow and seasonal changes. Anyway. Go on an adventure in Hawaii for a couple years. If it doesn't work out, and I end up in the Bay Area, that's fine as well. I'll have some notches on my life experience belt and hopefully some great photos. I don't want to look back in 50 years and wish I'd moved around more. We've decided against kids, and freedom to move at will is a major benefit of that decision.

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Woolie, everywhere has a set of problems, but Kinkaid is right. Honolulu is especially problematic.

<>

(Please note, my perspective on the matter is that I lived with a Samoan emigre for a couple years, and he and I had talked about this. He hated Hawaii for pretty much all the same reasons that Kinkaid stated, citing lots of examples from within his own family.)

Learn something new everyday. I think some of the pros of living in large, diverse city like Houston (or LA) can be overlooked or not appreciated sometimes.

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Well, I was in Boston a couple weeks ago. It had been on my list, but not so much now. Even with all the family I have in that part of the country. I can't imagine people being any less friendly or helpful than there. Also, pretty sure I couldn't handle the snow and seasonal changes. Anyway. Go on an adventure in Hawaii for a couple years. If it doesn't work out, and I end up in the Bay Area, that's fine as well. I'll have some notches on my life experience belt and hopefully some great photos. I don't want to look back in 50 years and wish I'd moved around more. We've decided against kids, and freedom to move at will is a major benefit of that decision.

Well this just proves that different people can have completely different experiences with the same city. For the year I have lived in Boston so far I have found people to be nice enough, certianly not worse than the average Houstonian.

If you want to go live in Honolulu, then go for it. Don't be discouraged by other people's experiences. If you like the city, people, and lifestyle, then go for it!

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

With the recent housing numbers and other positive indicators, Houston is on the verge of exploding with new development. We are all part of a renaissance.

The only thing that scares me is that I lived here during the 80s, right after the explosion of new developments cratered, along with the whole city.

color me optimistic, yet reticently so.

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  • 9 months later...

Although the previous poster did seem trollish, Downtown Dallas has really come a long way. I was just up there in February and they have really created quite a nice little scene there. Uptown Dallas is now merged with downtown where it seems that most of the activity between both places has spilled over into eachother.

 

The previous poster could have mentioned how downtown Houston could take notes from downtown Dallas. That would've made him/her seem less trollish. I will say that Houston has done alot inside the core of it's downtown, but when it comes to areas around and right outside of it's CBD, we are simply lagging. There is nothing wrong to admit where Houston  could stand to improve. Moving that darn Greyhound station would probably do wonders for that section of midtown to where we see newer type of developments like what we see around downtown Dallas.

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I doubt the greyhound bus station would solve problems. Dallas Greyhound station is right next to their Amtrak station, and both are centrally located in their CBD. It would make sense to put in a donut shop, or a police substation across the street, but moving it? It's centrally located, and has multiple connections via public transit to other parts of town.

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I doubt the greyhound bus station would solve problems. Dallas Greyhound station is right next to their Amtrak station, and both are centrally located in their CBD. It would make sense to put in a donut shop, or a substation across the street, but moving it? It's centrally located, and has multiple connections via public transit to other parts of town.

Putting in a substation would be a good idea. I've seen that done elsewhere in places I wouldn't think were as much of a problem. Is it a matter of a landlord donating a space or is it more complicated than that?

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A few articles in the past month about how abysmal the downtown Dallas commercial market is.  Yes, if only we could be more like downtown Dallas   

 

http://www.city-data.com/forum/dallas/1847291-downtown-dallas-infamous-vacancy-rate.html

 

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/columnists/steve-brown/20130314-downtown-dallas-retail-space-still-lagging-as-residential-and-office-population-grows.ece

 

http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/article/Downtown-office-market-struggling-4413709.php ("Downtown Dallas, for example, has nearly 27 million square feet of available office space, which is almost equal to San Antonio's entire office inventory. There, the vacancy rate is more than 27 percent . . . .")

 

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Well, i'm starting to think that Dallas is making it work for them. Despite their excessively high vacancy rate in the CBD, the Uptown area is healthy and is booming, and now with the completion of the park, it's bridged the gap to feel like one unified place. I don't think your average person will really be able to tell the difference.

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So, why won't actual companies move to downtown if it is "working" for them? And, why is all of downtown's retail empty? And, the BIG question: Is it "working" if your skyscrapers are empty and your storefronts are empty? This reminds me of citykid bragging about Miami's condo towers back in 2008, wishing Houston was more like Miami and Atlanta, when both were ghost towns. Downtown Dallas sounds more like a Potemkin Village.

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Is the topic "Houston", or "How to revitalize downtown Houston"? I don't see why we wouldn't consider what other cities are doing for the topic of how to revitalize Downtown Houston, pros and cons.

 

Consider away, but by long-term policy we don't do Houston v Dallas catfights here.  Any trolling post about Dallas is inevitably going to hijack the discussion. 

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You know, that dfwcr8ive dude never posts THOSE Dallas articles.

 

 

:huh:

 

That's because, as a downtown resident, I'm more concerned about the livability of the neighborhood rather than commercial statistics. Most of my focus has been on parks, community groups, and infrastructure/transportation improvements (jealous of the Houston bike-share program). Downtown Dallas has a long way to come, but it has improved a lot in the past decade and there are more residents taking an active role in its evolution.

 

We're experimenting with ideas that are successful in other cities and celebrating the small wins. Things like parklets, two-way street conversions, bike lanes, "glass box retail" and even busking programs do improve the urban experience. Out of curiosity, does Houston have grass roots organizations or city support behind these types of urban interventions?

 

Both cities could learn a lot from each other.

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Well, one of the things about downtown Houston is it seems to be tourist-antagonistic. I don't know if there are any observation decks in Houston, and better yet: do something completely crazy. Like use those parking lots to build a http://www.thegoddardgroup.com/blog/index.php/now-it-can-be-told-the-star-trek-attraction-that-almost-came-to-life-in-1992/'>full-scale Enterprise replica.

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That's because, as a downtown resident, I'm more concerned about the livability of the neighborhood rather than commercial statistics. Most of my focus has been on parks, community groups, and infrastructure/transportation improvements (jealous of the Houston bike-share program). Downtown Dallas has a long way to come, but it has improved a lot in the past decade and there are more residents taking an active role in its evolution.

 

We're experimenting with ideas that are successful in other cities and celebrating the small wins. Things like parklets, two-way street conversions, bike lanes, "glass box retail" and even busking programs do improve the urban experience. Out of curiosity, does Houston have grass roots organizations or city support behind these types of urban interventions?

 

Both cities could learn a lot from each other.

 

Parklets are lame. Perhaps they are interesting to look at...once. But, having a couple in your downtown will not make it or break it. Oh, and yes, they were proposed here a couple years back. They are old news.

 

Glass box retail is OK...if people still bought newspapers. They would be a good place to buy smokes, but since I quit smoking 69 days ago, I really don't care anymore. Maybe someone could sell coffee out of one or two of them.

 

Bike trails are big deals in Houston right now. They are garnering us national attention. We have more than one very active and vocal cycling advocacy groups here. They have achieved much, and are still going. There biggest triumphs have been in getting bike trails paved along our bayous and parks. Bike lanes in the streets are not that great.

 

While it is great that you are advocating for residential amenities, it is still a Central Business District. I question the viability of a business district that still sports a 27% vacancy after converting numerous buildings to other uses.

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Well, one of the things about downtown Houston is it seems to be tourist-antagonistic. I don't know if there are any observation decks in Houston, and better yet: do something completely crazy. Like use those parking lots to build a full-scale Enterprise replica.

Well, we'd certainly have a lock on the Trek conventions. Not sure that would be a good thing, though.

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Sorry to go off topic here, but...

 

They would be a good place to buy smokes, but since I quit smoking 69 days ago, I really don't care anymore. 

 

Congrats Red. It's a tough monkey to get off your back. Realistically, it's taken me 2 years and I don't wake up in the morning wanting one any more. I also don't feel the need when I see other people doing it any more.

 

Of course, we're all different in the way we adapt. 

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Sorry to go off topic here, but...

 

 

Congrats Red. It's a tough monkey to get off your back. Realistically, it's taken me 2 years and I don't wake up in the morning wanting one any more. I also don't feel the need when I see other people doing it any more.

 

Of course, we're all different in the way we adapt. 

 

Thanks, and you are correct. It is quite the monkey. In March, I would have been smoking for 30 years. Tried to quit several times, but failed. I finally became concerned for my health (yeah, I'm kinda slow), bought some nicotine gum and quit for good. As a reward, I bought myself a new urban bicycle, and use it to take the bike trails into downtown. That is how I know of all the work done on cycling trails.

 

Nice segue back to the topic, huh?    ;)

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Yes, two buildings with observation decks Monday through Friday business hours.
 
And therein lies the problem. With the buildings and tunnels closed on the weekend, there's not a lot to do but go to a bar (not that that's a bad thing). With the light rail connecting to the Museum District and zoo, which do get tourists on the weekends, the connection issue is already solved. Go to the Museum District—ride the train up to downtown.
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  • 10 months later...

In regards to downtown awareness, I think our downtown leaders are kind of like a fish in the water. They're so used to the water they don't realize it's there anymore.

Okay, corny analogy, but the reason I think that is they need to market themselves and they don't.

They must think everyone in Houston knows about downtown and what it has to offer, but that is far from the truth. Having a website is not marketing.

I just spoke with a colleague that lives on Bagby in midtown and he didn't even know downtown had places to live. That's not his fault. He probably thinks that because he went there on a weekend and he said nobody was there. He has been to discovery green but didn't know the name of it and he didn't know Market Square existed. He has been to the House of Blues but didn't know it was in Greenstreet.

Spring Branch has a few billboards, why doesn't downtown? Why not make commercials or give incentives for downtown businesses to make them? Although people live near or drive by downtown often, they don't know much about it.

Simply, they need to be more aggressive in educating people about downtown. Don't sit back and wait for the Chronicle to write an article.

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