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editor

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Everything posted by editor

  1. editor
    I can't remember ever being able to dring down Westheimer past the Galleria without being hassled.
  2. editor
    The Chronicle won't stop the trend, because it is the Chronicle that started it. The reason we have people roaming through traffic trying to sell stuff is because that's what the Chronicle wanted. It used to be illegal until the Chronicle took the idea to court in order to allow their people to roam the streets selling papers. The Chronicle argued that not allowing it restricted the freedom of speech. Naturally, once their vendors were allowed to roam the streets, other people followed and what we have now is a situation that makes Houston look like a suburb of Mexico City. Since the Chronicle spent all that money on lawyers trying to legalize street peddling, they're not about to dump that investment. It should be noted that other cities also permit this, but many require the vendors to have a permit that they hang around the neck which is only good for a limited time and must be re-applied for. That helps cut down on companies like the Chronicle who "outsource" their operations to people who then outsource them to vagrants. The Chronicle should be ashamed of itself for creating such an ugly blight on the city is supposedly loves. Think of the hundreds of tourists each day who roll up their windows and lock their doors in fear at the intersections. Thanks to the Chronicle, that's their last memory of Houston as they drive home.
  3. editor
    This web site receives dozens of letters each month from people trying to research bits of Houston history. A letter I got today was from a woman looking for information on Epsom Downs. She found an old poster and wanted to know more about it: So, here's what I wrote back to her. I thought the group might find it interesting. --- Epsom Downs was an upscale horse racing facility. It was open just three years from 1933 to 1937 and was considered one of the top two race tracks in the state (along with Arlington Downs). Those dates coincide with when the state legislature approved betting on horse racing, and then when the legislature outlawed horse betting. Pari-mutuel betting was allowed once again in 1987, which allowed Gulf Greyhound Park and Sam Houston Race Park to open. The first race at Epsom was Thanksgiving Day, 1933. Its last race was March 27, 1937. It was the largest of the Texas tracks, with seating for 10,000, though 25,000 people showed up for the first race. Epsom Downs was located in the southeast part of the city in an area near Jensen Drive. Epsom Downs was named after a race track that the British royal family still visits in Epsom, England.
  4. editor
    Do you think the warranty would be voided in the event of another Allison-type storm? I wouldn't want to be the one to fish the gators out of Main Street.
  5. editor
    ABC News did a piece on this company over the weekend. It's run by a Canadian immigrant who says he saves tons of money by making clothing in America for Americans because shipping is cheaper and faster, and the clothing is far better quality than anything you get by sending it to another country. It was quite interesting.
  6. editor
    Chicago is only a few months older, so it's more like they're twins or cousins.
  7. editor
    A large skatepark might have a functional purpose -- put it next to one of the repeatedly overflowing bayous and let it act as a retention pond during heavy rains.
  8. editor
    While it's unlikely that the radio station pulled it out of thin air, it's possible someone else did. It's possible that some city official somewhere thought it might be a good idea and asked someone to look into it, and some council member got wind of it, heard only half the conversation, and told a reporter that the city is planning to move the bus station. The reporter then just repeated that, "Council member X says the city is moving the bus station." Not entirely the reporter's fault because strictly speaking the sentence is correct. However, it's probably been years since anyone on KPRC or KTRH double-checked a fact or bothered to get the other side (like an official comment from Greyhound) before going to air. The last good reporter KTRH had was Dennis Spellman, and he's in TV now.
  9. editor
    And according to the article, those cameras don't even point at the parking lot. Nice. Now all of those people who were doing the right thing by using the Park-and-Ride are going to squeeze themselves onto the freeways to get to work now. Thanks, Metro. Thanks for nothing.
  10. editor
    This could be a step in the right direction. Pretty soon downtown Houston could look like downtown Seattle.. then downtown Montreal.. then downtown Chicago.
  11. editor
    What is it about colleges that so often attracts the worst elements. Almost every college I have visited or attended has always been surrounded by crap neighborhoods.
  12. editor
    I think he's saying that the pole extended two stories into the top of the building for support. Or at least that's how I read it. I guess you could have a larger flag if you made it out of mesh so the wind wouldn't get so much force on any side. But maybe that would keep it from fluttering since the larger the flag, the more wind you need to move it. Amazingly, the FAA doesn't list this flagpole as an aviation hazard even though 63TS, the America Tower heliport, is right there.
  13. editor
    And even beyond the cultural connection to Mexico, Houston also has very strong business connections to Mexico. Think about all the Cemex trucks you see driving around, or the International Bank of Commerce branches.
  14. editor
    It's not awful. It's not great. It seems to rely too heavily on the wire services instead of in-house reporting. And when you do see stuff from Chronicle reporters they tend to be from the same ones over and over. They should hire more, or make some of the slackers a little more productive. Also, one thing that separates the big newspapers from the second-tier like the Chronicle is that the other papers do big, important "think-pieces" and major investigations that have national impact. The Chronicle spends too much time staring at its own bellybutton. It seems to have no idea there is anything in the world beyond Southeast Texas and Mexico City. In short, it feels like a small-town paper because it acts like a small town paper.
  15. editor
    Dunno. Possibly. Possibly not. I went to a private school growing up and they encouraged prospective parents to visit and see the classes in action before paying for their child to attend. If the local public school is hostile to you wanting to take a tour, how they treat your request might speak volumes. Be sure to call before you go. I think they might freak out if you just showed up.
  16. editor
    Same with Chicago - it's structured much like Houston with a central core and then a number of outlying suburbs with their own papers. But Chicago had two major daily newspapers (Tribune and Sun-Times) plus three or four smaller DAILY newspapers (Defender, et. al.) plus a dozen or two weekly Houston Press-type rags. I think it goes to the fact that Chicago is a "good media town." There are several good media towns around the country. Cincinnati (four daily newspapers by two owners), New York, Seattle, and LA, in my experience, are good media towns. Houston, Nashville, Miami are not. What makes a good "media town?" Usually a long history of stable TV and radio news anchors, stable radio formats, and competition between newspapers that have learned to hate each other so much over the years that they'd never consider buying each other. This makes the local media part of people's everyday lives. Regular people end up paying close attention to the media and holding them accountable for their actions. Not all towns remain good "media towns." Minneapolis and Philadelphia come to mind. It tends to start with radio churn, then TV churn, then the newspapers. People aren't able to follow all the players and the moves and they lose interest. It happens. I don't think I've ever seen a city go the other way.
  17. editor
    While we're on the topic, here are the companies whose employees visit the site most while they're supposed to be working: Amegy Bank of Texas Houston Metro Wills Bros Civil Engineering Contractors Here are the colleges that visit most often: Houston Community College Texas Southern University Texas Tech If anyone's wondering, that's about as specific as the server logs get. There's no threat of any kind of privacy problem.
  18. editor
    If anyone wants to be an architecture critic, there's still lots of opening for bloggers on the Houston Architecture Blog.
  19. editor
    I just got new numbers last week, and it looks like a verifiable 45,000 unique people per month. Think of it as 15% of the Houston Press' claimed print circulation. The Chroncile claims 36.8 million page views per month. HAI/F is about 440,000 page views per month.
  20. editor
    Deleted this member. Also banned his e-mail address, and user name and similar ones. Also, he was coming from a computer in the Philippines, so I banned the entire ISP. I should probably ban the entire country. I know other web sites ban all users from Russia, Romania, and a number of Asian countries. I wonder if that would help here, too.
  21. editor
    We can only hope. Prada has a history of putting up really impressive architecturally stunning buildings that draw tourists just to see them. Of course, if they just stick it in the mall then it will look like every other store. Might as well be an Orange Julius.
  22. editor
    What did Disney do in downtown Chicago?
  23. editor
    Yes. While doing some research a few years back I found that the term Midtown in Houston goes back to the 1800's when it was an exclusive enclave where the rich people would go to get away from the hurly burly of downtown.
  24. editor
    I've seen snapping turtles in Buffalo Bayou by UHD that were bigger than a tricked-out Escalade hubcap, and twice as scary.
  25. editor
    Like there isn't already a ton of room for development in Houston?
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