Nick_G

In answering this before, I forgot the obvious response: the Astros started out as the Colt .45s! In the major leagues, Tampa Bay recently shortened their name, and a number of teams renamed when they relocated. So there are precedents for franchise name changes. I kind of wish the Astros had gone through with it.

What name would you have gone with?

I am in the camp (it may only have my tent) that I do not like the Houston Texans name because it is not really Houston specific. I wish they were the Oilers. Naming the NFL team the Texans just gives whoever is watching them play the generic Texas brand promotion.

I ask those who are reading this thread, what is the generic Texas brand that the Texans promote when they play?

The Superbowl is over, the Mannings have another trophy for their already cluttered mantel.

Looking forward to baseball season (where we could use some more clutter) and since this is a community environment.

I would like to point out the astros.com season ticket partner zone, which is a free service that allows you to get in touch with others who would be interested in sharing season tickets.

http://houston.astro...ex.jsp?c_id=hou

a little off the recent posts:

I really don't see what everyone is getting so huffy about. The Niche states that the o/p came and launched a barage of this and that!

The o/p doesn't like downtown. Is that so wrong? I'm from Houston born and raised and after visiting other cities, I think our downtown pretty much sucks, although getting better, still has a long way to go. With the recent closings and everything off Main such as Cabos, El Rey, and a few clubs that have died over the years, i have gotten a little skeptical over downtown. Still remain hopeful though!

I am not sure what o/p is but if you are referring to me I actually do like downtown, and again if you are talking about me am really confused why everyone is taking it like I said I didn't. I have made suggestions on how it could be improved but that by no means says I don't like it, if I didn't like it I wouldn't care.

I appreciate the vote of confidence and I can only assume the barely intelligible rants bit was toward me, to that, I'm working on it, multitasking has never been a strong suit.

So, but to a lesser extent, are the sports venues.

81 Astros home games are played every year. Ever been to one of the home games when say the Red Sox come to town? It's embarrassing, there are more Red Sox fans there than Astros fans so anyone who feels passion for Houston should go to Astros games just so people know what city they are in (looks around at everyone on this site). They are actually a lot of fun anyway, and cheaper this year (see thread in Sports and Stadia).

Back to the point, 81 days of the year there is the possibility of 40,000 plus people being in downtown specifically for entertainment. That is a huge potential that we are not fully capitalizing on. I think a stronger push to coordinate events like public shows to both promote the Astros and get people to do something other then just walk to their car before and or after the game would be huge.

Here is another place where the commuter rail would be ideal as well, as after the game people can sober up on the train on their hour journey back to the Woodlands.

bowling at HP is not for serious.

my friend and his faience went after it opened, excited to bowl without having to drive across hell's half acre to go bowling. They rolled their roller bags with balls and shoes to the door guy and were almost turned away because my friend had a baseball cap on (he just took it off instead of leaving).

lanes are about 5' short of regulation, so if you expect a hook, well, it ain't gonna happen.

point is, they should just turn off the score monitors and maybe make the computer for inputting names like a drink ordering station or something.

I've only been inside once for about 30 seconds looking for a happy hour menu as I am no bowler but if what you say is true maybe part of the problem is the execution of the vendors. Everything I have heard about Lucky Strike bowling sounds a little bit off and that is taking up a pretty sizable block of HP.

Then you started reporting us to moderators and getting on-topic content containing substance deleted from the forum.

Others reported you, I have not reported one post you have made, was not even aware that was an option until the moderator jumped in. Actually, nothing you said was that insulting and quite a few things made me laugh.

The two weeks or so I have been here I have only reported one post in total and that was made by RedScare after posts were already being deleted and things calmed down when I felt he was just trying to get a rise out of me and I had already gotten the point.

Thanks for the post from someone who has lived there, Andrew. I have fought the stereotyping of Downtown for years. I went to school downtown in the 80s, officed there in the 90s and 00s, and have conducted business in downtown for the last 16 years. I have even owned and operated a restaurant in downtown. Invariably, the whining and carping about the "dangerous homeless" population comes from people who neither live nor work downtown. After 7 years of posting on this forum, I know well that no matter how much information is given, and no matter how many resources are devoted to downtown, there will still be those who freak out at the site of a homeless person.

There is really nothing one can do to stop it. A large segment of the population lives in suburban, largely segregated areas, and will never be comfortable amongst those who look different from themselves. The only "urbanity" that they can handle is the faux urban areas built in the suburbs, such as Sugar Land Town Center and Woodlands Market Street. That is fine. I wish them no ill will for that preference. What annoys me is when they venture into downtown and criticize it for not being as sterile and segregated as the faux urban areas they prefer. Some of the complaints even come from people who never come downtown at all! The 'I never go downtown because...' crowd are the worst.

I try to ignore the misinformation posted by the occasional visitors from the clean, new and orderly parts of town. But, then the misinformation and hyperbole begin, and once again I rush to downtown's aid. I do not particularly care that the poster or the moderators think I am bullying. It is more important that a forum that is read as often as this one not be full of uncontradicted misinformation and exagerations from those who cannot handle buildings and sidewalks over 10 years old. So, I respond. Sometimes I even point out that the only time I have been robbed was in Rice Village, not downtown.

Some people simply need to look in the mirror and admit that they are not cut out for downtown living or recreation. It's OK. Downtown will survive without them. Houston Pavilions, maybe not.

I actually appreciate your defense of downtown, it was the manner you went about it that was the issue. I made observations and because I was frustrated I posted them. I still believe you have the wrong impression of me, not that I am not partially at fault for that, as I jumped blindly into a forum world that has been around for a long time and you have been a part of for a long time and started off with a subject that is obviously a bit sore. There is a "why do you lurk" thread somewhere on this site and that would be a good reason to do so. Truth be told I have never even really read a forum before. One comment that was meant to be an insult that you made a few days ago but actually (unlike most of what you have tried to pin on me) is true is that I do lack the historical perspective of someone who can remember the city 30 years ago. I would say that goes for pretty much anyone under 34. It would be great if you could provide that historical perspective without attempting to insult me at every turn in the process. I am sure I am not the only one on this board or reading it that would find it useful.

Had to edit the wording a little as I am not trying to argue, just stating some observations.

First off, If you want to live downtown than you should consider it. I have lived in downtown and I now live in midtown for the past few years. Sure there are bums. but most of them reside between McGowen and Jefferson, Bagby and Dowling. There are lot of bums on Grey between Baldwin and Smith and that is an extremely attractive area thriving with affluent nightlife. It has been going strong since 2000 despite the frequent bum activity. I have also spent a lot of time around the pavilion area and I hardly ever see bums over there. I think until you have lived down here for a while its really hard to judge the area.

Next. A lot of people that work downtown have families and don't necessarily make executive pay. They commute in everyday from the burbs because it is cheaper to have a roomy house with land for their family. Not to mentions all those activities their children are signed up for. Houses or large space in the Motrose/neartown/midtown/downtown area with land start in the high $400,000.00's and go up from there. Even if the areas look run down the land value is worth a lot down here so to me it does make sense why a large portion of the people that work downtown leave the area after 5pm.

I am on board with you about bringing more to do downtown and I think, like midtown, the area will start to take off.

I also appreciate this post. The panhandler conversation (again I am not even sure if they were homeless) was blown way out of proportion and I really don't want to get into that again. I am hoping for the area to take off and since that post was made there have been several discussion to varying degrees about how that could have been or could be encouraged.

The Greek god posters on foam board pedestals don't scream classy and chic?

Haha you don't like the Greek and or Roman gods? Unless you can prove otherwise I think their ethnicity it up for dispute.

The building doesn't look bad from a distance though especially when compared to the faded-by-design red panels of the four leafs.

(This post does not in any way attempt to justify the blank walls, I also agree they should not be there and I hope this new building does not follow suit)

Per a construction search engine, it is saying there is an office building with an estimated start date of March 2012 in the 77056 zip code. Bid date says "ASAP." It was last updated Jan 24.

The only other buildings under construction in the Galleria area is Skanksa and BBVA, no? And they have already broken ground.

Nancy's article a few weeks ago mentions a 2008 article, which is HBJ's. In it says,

http://www.bizjourna...f=et63&ana=e_du

Something at BLVD place could however be a culprit.

Meanwhile, the availability of inexpensive and easily accessible housing in the suburbs places downward pressure on housing costs throughout the entire region, which enables someone like myself to live in a cool place and still afford to dine out, travel, buy consumer electronics, save money, etc., and in so doing, stimulate the local, regional, and national economy.

Can I quote TheNiche from Swamplot on this topic?

"COMMENT OF THE DAY: MOVING ON FROM MONTROSE

With that constraint in mind, I would propose that outer loops are actually synergistic to the effectiveness of park & rides that connect radially into the urban core, and I would further suggest that the greater the number of people that are situated within aboutan hour of our urban core, the more attractive the urban core is to commercial enterprise. The benefits of an efficient regional transportation network are diverse; many are indirect and hard to quantify, but I know that they exist.

It's happening so at least there is a silver lining.

Believe it or not - I am for regulating the industry. This is where government belongs. Not in deciding what to build downtown. I don't particularly like breathing benzene and other byproducts of refining and have quite a bit of personal experience of what runaway pollution can cause.

If we were to regulate it, I would want it to be on a global scale to ensure all markets have similar advantage. If this could be done then I would absolutely be for it and I think all enough of Houston would as well. You do make a good amount of excellent points on how to do it on a local scale that I left out in the quote, if you can fight that battle I would be behind you, but I don't think it's something that would be easily won.

As for downtown developments, an area where I believe we can agree upon is ensuring cross walks are where they should be, are well lit, inviting and work properly. Which was the problem samagon was having at HP.

I'm sure that your calculations are more or less accurate and that if you add up all of the highway projects being undertaken by all of the involved entities, they far exceed the revenue of the gas tax. But I don't see the relevance...

I believe he was talking about this bit.

And samagon, state law specifies that gasoline taxes must be used for highway projects. Texas' is a pay-as-you-go system. The federal government, counties, municipalities, toll road authorities, and special districts can issue bonds, however TXDoT cannot.

and stating money is going into highway projects that could have gone elsewhere.

Nick, the City of Houston is not contributing any amount of funding toward the Grand Parkway and, as only a miniscule amount of it is within the city limits, the City of Houston doesn't get much of a say about it. The funding source is TXDoT. The constituents that will benefit from it are paying for it via their gasoline taxes to TXDoT, however, have been allowed substantial constructive input.

It is not constructive to say that Houston needs to do this or Houston shouldn't be doing that, without understanding who is actually doing what.

Fair enough, thanks for the input.

I still believe commuter rail lines would be a positive option for the metro area. It's more choice not forcing people to choose, the system we have now is forcing people to choose cars. The TX dot may be funding that but correct me if i am wrong, those are tax dollars that could have been diveretrd elsewhere, you are right in that I am not paying those taxes and I am living in the city limits and as such would not make that decision. Their choice however does still affect us.

As was mentioned, Houston and Harris County are miles better than they were a few years back. But what else is missing from this is the realization that these "cars and industry" are the whole reason that Houston as we know it exists. If the petro-chemical complex over to the east was not there, Houston would be a mere shadow of itself. All the cool skyscrapers down Louisiana would not have been built due to the profits from the strawberry fields in Pasadena. Houston is not the prettiest place in the world to live, but it is a good place to work. Always has been.

You want the government to tightly regulate the air so it is safe to breathe - then move to California. Oh, wait - there's no jobs there because all the industry is shutting down due to the regulations. (How many refineries have closed in CA in the last 10 years vs. opened/expanded?) But at least the air is clean because it is so regulated by the government there. Oh - wait -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution_in_the_United_States

Haha yea I'm not looking to California for any type of example. They clearly have not got things right.

I also would not be for regulating the industry, nor would Texas allow for that.

Where I would like to see more options, sorry RedScare for making a "wish list" but looking to discuss how Houston spends future money, are commuter rail lines heading into the suburbs instead of new gigantic loop roads. A commuter rail is not really something a consumer can choose if it's not there. Hense not even given an option. A lot of people drive a lot in the city, that's not a criticism that is just true. If we cut down on emissions from personal transportation I believe we can make a difference. I also believe we should be thinking about it and planning for safe pedestrian travel (which yes we are working on but HP is a pretty new project and samagon pointed that it was not fully thought out).

Folks, it's basically a huge hospital. What do you expect other than hospital food?

I'm interested because I have unlimited access to one of the garages right on Fannin very close to a train stop and I was thinking it would be a great location to find a restaurant and sober up before getting in the car to complete the trip.

I had hope because of these statistics

"The Texas Medical Center receives 160,000 daily visitors and over six million annual patient visits, including over 18,000 international patients. In 2010, the center employed over 93,500 people, including 20,000 physicians, scientists, researchers and other advanced degree professionals in the life sciences."

So I figured I'd ask.

They're probably just increasing their space in that same building. I worked a contract position there for a short while.

Yea that's what they decided on but the article mentioned they were looking into a new building before they made the call.

Either way more demand for office space is a good thing.

The oil and gas exploration and production company signed a new lease this month for 132,000 square feet, which was rolled into a lease renewal for its existing 365,000 square feet, bringing its total square footage to 497,000 at the Post Oak Central office complex.

Houston-based Apache (NYSE: APA) had been considering its real estate options, including possibly pre-leasing space in a proposed office building that would not be built without a commitment from a lead tenant.

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2012/01/31/apache-expands-office-at-post-oak.html

Good news that Apache is using up more office space, however I do wonder which office building they were looking into.

That awkward moment when you try to save the thread from chaos.

I'd like your post 5 more times if I could.

I liked it for you, as I was inadvertently part of the problem.

Anyone ever been to the Yao happy hour? If I recall from walking by they gave some pretty good discounts, how is it there?

Lol, 'I am not yet a politician'. I just knew if I hung with this thread long enough, I'd learn something relevant!

haha yea yea, but you have to be to post on the thread so it's nearly relevant?

This is my last response to you, as every other time I have tried to introduce honesty into a subject, I get called out on it. But, understand that my posts were not "attacks". They were corrections of misstatements made by you. I will now leave you to describe your Shangrila without the burden of reality.

The reason I call you out is typically your wording and tone and especially your need to take things I have said out of content or put words in my mouth, whenever you put in useful pieces of information I have never responded as though I was attacked even if you disagreed with me.

You throw in some comments that attempt to make your posts thoughtful, but the reality is that you are throwing out a wish list without regard to what has already been done, what is currently being done, or what is feasible in the future. I try to ignore your posts, as the "I wish Houston would do this" threads are so tired and unimaginative. There are a dozen or more of those posters here, and because they trend toward the assumption that Houston sucks, and its leaders suck, and other cities are so much better, these posts are trumpeted as some sort of enlightened and thoughtful remarks. But, they are not. They are shallow.

I am sorry you feel my posts are shallow but as far as Houston sucking I would like to point out to you that in my encouraging tourism thread where I said I love the city, because I do, this is my home. I also made that thread and the ones about the overpasses all of which you dismissed as useless because I do not want to sit just making a wish list I would like to see if we can get anything in place that would help. Like I said before maybe we can maybe we can't but it can't hurt to try.

Also lost in the shuffle is that they are considering changes to Tal's Hill, which I assume means the elimination of it.

How do you feel about Tal's Hill?

Again, no comparison. Not only does your lack of historical reference impede your ability to see the unparalled improvement in downtown over its condition from 30 years ago, and even 15 years ago, but apparently your office and residence impede your ability to compare downtown's environmentally friendly character versus Uptown's non-environmental character. 40 percent of downtown workers use public transit to get to work. METRO not only has light rail running through downtown, but numerous bus routes, and nearly every Park&Ride bus comes downtown. Those P&R buses carry 35,000 commuters daily. Plus, virtually all downtown workers walk in downtown. They may use the tunnels, but the important point is that the 60% who drive to work largely leave their vehicles in the garage all day.

Almost none of these activities occur in Uptown. Uptown may be newer and prettier, but environmentally, Uptown is a catastrophe.

Redscare, I have made enough posts about downtown, the trains and whom I would like them to serve, funding for them and pedestrian improvements and where I would like tax dollars to be spent at this point that I hope my stances on them are already clear. I really feel as though you comb through my comments looking for ways to attack me if it makes sense with everything I have ever said or not.

Also please read my comment above again as I can tell you are not getting at my point.

"or maybe because most of the market is only presented with options that are cars first pedestrians second as samagon was noting even in downtown. In my view it is the city's responsibility to make pedestrian travel safe and enjoyable and I really feel we could be doing a better job of it."