Jump to content

Pleak

Full Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    618

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    8

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Pleak

  1. Pleak
    One other thing to point out. Some of the biggest promoters on here of destroying elevated freeways also want elevated rail and complained to no end about the fact that Metro put in surface rail that has to stop at every light. I just think that is very interesting - because the end result would be exactly the same. An ugly structure that divides whatever neighborhood it traverses. But because one is a form of transportation that meets their agenda, it is acceptable while the other is not.
  2. Pleak
    Not sure if using one of the biggest cock-ups of a construction project in recent history (massive overruns in both time and expense - makes Metro look highly efficient) is actually going to help out your arguement. Once again - cost DOES matter in analyzing the sorts of projects. What would be the actual quantifiable return on the billions invested to sink I-45? I pretty sure your rail dreams could all come true for less than that cost.
  3. Pleak
    It's a free market. Outbid the charities and buy the land and put up more cheesy townhomes. What's really funny is about 20 years ago, the only people in Midtown were the homeless and the charities who took care of them. It was an unwanted wasteland that everybody quickly drove through to get to downtown. But then it became cool and hip and now the people that were living there (the homeless) are a problem.
  4. Pleak
    You (and the US Gov't) are going about this all wrong. The end result is wanting to change peoples behaviour. So for the last 30-40 years, they have been trying to ineffectually raise the mileage requirements for passenger cars to save gas and reduce emissions, blah blah blah. But meanwhile leaving loopholes that you can drive a SUV through. And this wasn't a Republican or a Democrat problem - it was both. Meanwhile, Europe got it right. Tax the crap out of fuel. If it cost $6-8 a gallon every time to fill up your tank, you would make darn sure that when you bought a vehicle, it was sized just right so that there was a butt in every seat. In a short time, we would be awash in small and micro vehicles just like the rest of the world as people vote with their pocketbook. It would also help with the deficit in highway funding for a while - then as we switched to a more-efficient fleet, funding would decrease and would have to be made up for some other way. This is the common sense way to change people's behavior. Instead, we have a mucked up CAFE system full of rules, loopholes, etc which hasn't changed squat in the last 30 years. I don't like paying taxes any more than anybody else - but this would put the ball in my court - If I want to drive a honking big truck - fine - just pay the gas taxes to do so. If I want to save the taxes - fine - just by a Vespa. It's my choice. I like that.
  5. Pleak
    Good to see I'm apparently not the only non-hip person on HAIF that didn't get the memo.
  6. Pleak
    Whenever I see this slogan I think they should substitute Pasadena for Houston - especially when the old paper mill (is that plant still around) is exhaling full blast.
  7. Pleak
    and somooow served with applewood smoked bacon and chipotles.
  8. Pleak
    I like that ConocoPhillips one. Maybe Phillips 66 will bring back the design when they build their headquarters.
  9. Pleak
    But now that restaurant is becoming "authenic". I mean this is Houston. If your outdoor furniture doesn't have mold on it - it must be contrived and fake. Beware - that restaurant might become infected with hipsters.
  10. Pleak
    Maybe even with fountains shooting up over the train. That would be kinda cool........
  11. Pleak
    Not really. They were set up this way conciously. They wanted to be little glorious enclaves of homes without any (or very small) areas set up for commercial or industrial. This would keep out the riff-raff and other undesirables. The down side of this is your tax base is pitiful. So they latch onto any source of funding that they can and they will fight tooth and nail to keep it - because the only alternative is the property tax on their housing stock which no elected official wants to touch.
  12. Pleak
    Me thinks there is a bit of a typo in the third paragraph.... "The property sits on .03 acres...." I think that would be a little more than 1300 sq. feet - which seems a tad small of a footprint.
  13. Pleak
    If only they had built this, they would have made so much more money.
  14. Pleak
    Activity at this site this morning. Looks like something is finally moving on this. Fence is going up around the site. The old asphalt sidewalk/path is torn out. And the oak trees along the street nearest the Williams Tower garage are being cut down. Don't have a good estimate on the caliper inches being lost though...
  15. Pleak
    Houston Airports System has started including a monthly update on construction projects at the airports. http://www.fly2houston.com/0/3919863/0/83280D83283/ There is a link to a .pdf at the bottom. It's has some pretty nice pics and timelines and some cool embedded videos of the IAH Terminal B construction.
  16. Pleak

    Spirit Airlines

    Pleak replied to Mr. Mojito's topic in Planes

    Yeah cause that HSR is doing so well between LA and San Fran.
  17. Pleak
  18. Pleak
    Well - that's one way to also solve the jail overcrowding problem. Kill two birds with one stone, so to speak......
  19. Pleak
    Is the building really in that bad of shape? Or is it just an excuse?
  20. Pleak
    Got it. Makes more sense now.
  21. Pleak

    Spirit Airlines

    Pleak replied to Mr. Mojito's topic in Planes

    So we are losing a couple of United puddle-jumpers to College Station and gaining a new competitor on the route to DFW. Still waiting for the big bad punishment to drop. (And no - United ending the round to CDG doesn't count either - that route has been losing money since Continental quit Skyteam for Star)
  22. Pleak
    You will notice a huge difference. During college I lived with my aunt and uncle in Bellaire. So I got the privilege of pulling out the 40-year old pancake thin blown in insulation originally installed. We then went with 12" of batts. Did nothing else to the walls of one of those old three-bedroom half-brick, half-shingled bungalows. Probably cut his electric bill by half and made it "feel" significantly warmer during the winder also. But if you had a choice - why on earth did you pick summer to do it?
  23. Pleak
    I think I just might have to steal that screen idea.
  24. Pleak
    And it's so much worse than a strip center with a nail salon, mailbox etc, liquor store, dry cleaner and cell phone store.
  25. Pleak
    ^^This doesn't make sense. In the same sentence, you say raise the speed limit to 70 mph and then have cops enforce the laws as they do on the Autobahn which doesn't have a speed limit. And then you throw in China. Which I don't remember what the speed limit in urban areas was - but it really doesn't matter. Because even on expressways, no matter what time of day, traffic was crawling. Imagine the worst wreck during rush hour during Christmas Season on the West Loop in front of the Galleria and you are about 1/3 of the way there as far as bottlenecks. And any existing traffic laws are totally disregarded. People back down freeway exit ramps, go the wrong way on cloverleafs, get out of their cars in the main lanes and go into stores on the side of the road for snacks. Cars, pedestrians, bicycles all using the same expressway lanes and all traveling wherever they wanted at a snail's pace. And yet, I never saw anything more than a fender-bender - mainly because you can't do much damage at under 5 mph. It was also the most entertaining traffic I think I have ever been in.
×
×
  • Create New...