Highway6

Houston is challenging the numbers. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7442563.html The city of Houston will ask the U.S. Census Bureau to change its official count, raising questions about whether some apartment complexes or even entire neighborhoods were missed. Houston's population is 2,099,451, according to Census data released last week. That's more than 100,000 fewer people than earlier estimates, and slightly below the 2.1 million that triggers an expansion of City Council to 16 members.

Union Station at MMP is pretty much always open and has a pretty nice interior.

The wording of the original post was so bad, I couldn't tell if the OP was pissed that public money was being spent on public art, or if he was pissed that the money that was usually spent on public art was being eliminated. Regardless, Kinkaid's blow-up was hilarious and choke full o tolerance. Then Barracuda comes out of left field with the "TeaParty", because if we're talking Intolerance, that must obviously be what the conversation is about. All the statues are facing South towards the vacant land that will eventually be built on by the Aga Khan Foundation Center. (Not an accident by the way, since the foundation gave a lot of money to make it so)... with the obvious artistic message being to "Show Tolerance towards those with different beliefs." Anyways, While I'm sure they'll eventually put up a lovely building, my hopes now are that they'll eventually be forced to sell, that the land gets scooped up by the Tea Party that chooses this location for their National HQ/"America is Awesome" Museum just so I can watch the heads of my haify liberal friends explode.

Tolerance's warm embrace never felt so good.

I'm just a semi-frequent passenger. Thanks for the clarification on the attainable speeds and distances.

Not to a developer it isn't. They don't slap down mixed-use projects for the fun of it or out of the goodness of their hearts. They do it to make money. What you describe is important.. but it's not going in a brand new mixed-use development.

Citiy Pops, not MSA Houston : Up approx 145,820 (+7.5%) to 2,099,451 Chicago : Down approx 199,900 (- 6.9%) to 2,695,598 Still separated by nearly 600k With those numbers, It sure makes the old "Houston to #3" debates seem rather silly. With those rates.. We're not even passing Chicago by the 2020 Census. And honestly, maybe I'm looking at the numbers wrong. But our 10 yr increase of 145k seems very low. Where did all our N.O. residents wander off to ? At their July 2006 ( Half Decade? ) estimates, the census had us at 2,144,491, which means a ) Houston has lost lost population the last 5 years. b ) The Census' half decade estimates are way off. c ) The Census really has no clue what they are doing and the numbers are all made up. d ) I screwed up the numbers. You are confusing City populations with MSA rankings. We might well have passed Phili in the MSA rankings, but that would make us #5

I have minimized it. Ignoring and minimizing are both fine solutions ... but at the point which everyone does that ( and given the deluge of cr@p, They will).. what's the point of keeping that Sidebar there? I'm guessing Mr. No-Name Haifer who has graced us with over a dozen twitter-fed status updates (including profanity) in his week long life as a Haifer probably has zero idea he has been sharing. Nobody swims in a polluted stream. Its value becomes zero.

I used to feel the same way, until I stated working on the beltway, and now work on I-10 inside the beltway. There are so many office buildings and office parks withing 3 miles of there, it is a good location. Look at all the new retail that has sprouted up along I-10 between Wirt and 8 since 10 has been rebuilt. There is plenty of demand for retail and commercial in this part of town. Its not inconvenient to get to at all. I can understand why most urbanistas would frown at it, I used to be the same way. Lord, It's outside the Loop. But I've learned that even if you choose to live someplace innner loop in a walkable community, if you're lucky enough to have a job and its located outside the loop, it's all for naught. Plus.. another thing I've come to realize, 610 isn't a magical line and "suburbia" is relative. The old suburbs in the 610 to 8 zone is where you're gonna find all the great ranch homes of houston. I have lots of family and friends in the western 610 to 8 zone, and lots of them love the new CC. New mixed-use development isn't only for urbanistas on their bicycles. Even though midtown would be the more ideal place for a mixed use development from a transit-connectivity standpoint, who is going to shop there? Middle-class shoppers with money. I don't see dollar stores and fiestas going up in a primo new developments. I don't see 3rd ward contributing to the development's viability. Neartown, the Musuem district and the couple of thousand DT residences.. Thats it.. Contrast that to CC, surrounded 360 degrees by Spring Branch, Memorial, the Villages, and the Kirkwood/Dairy Ashford area, all by residents not afraid to drive a few miles to shop. CC is a developer's wet dream compared to Midtown. PS. "Far out" is relative if you're on a brand spanking new freeway. It takes me longer to get from my home near the Menil to I-10 than it takes me to get from Shepherd exit on 10 to the beltway. The new 1-10 is dreamy.

A submerged freeway is still a barrier unless its covered over with at least park land... ( and that would then be a tunnel, which so many houstonians think is impossible) Regardless, just look at 59. Montrose is no more connected and at one with University Place just because you now get from one to the other via an aesthetically pleasing bridge instead of an underpass. Even if 59 were fully submerged, you'd still have the 6 block long GRB acting as a huge barrier for 1/3 of the way. Downtown and Easton shall never be one.

I enter the front door when I'm on a desktop and I hate em. They used to be good, The community bulletin board filled with the occasional Haif-centric message made by someone who made the conscious decision to post for all HAIF to see. Now we get untargeted "Shaking & crying whenever there's a Chris Lilley post... " and random tiny urls from strangers. That being said, if I have to choose between watching HAIF die because they no longer get crossover traffic from FB.. or putting up with a flood of nonsense.. I'll choose the latter.

I'm not sure why everyone keeps referring to it as sheet metal. Its a railing/guardrail system made up of thin tubing and it looks just fine.

Chron article mentions a dedication ceremony today. Is the bridge now open? I know it wasn't on saturday.

I agree. Awesome. I had no idea the funding was in place to realize that much in the near future. 3 more bridges plus rebuilding the entire trail system plus bringing the Sabine area blue/white lights along the entire stretch to Shepherd... Boom Boom Pow !!!!! Concerning the sculptures: From the artist's website - http://www.jaumeplensa.com/ This is another installation, but our half dozen statues are similar to this.

http://www.houstonar...__1#entry315596 Dammit.

Red.. if Easton ever takes off.. I'm taking full credit..... If it doesn't go anywhere; it's all yours.

oh yeah.. and i think the bridges look great...simple and beautiful... much much better than that twisty crap we were gonna be stuck with.

i saw the statues this weekend too. They're not bad for public art. The sidewalk and access improvements are really nice - You can now get from Spotts Park and the N bound side of Studemont to the Buffalo Bayou Trail. There is also a new ramp going from Sawyer St around the southern edge of Glenwood cemetary to the trail. There's still lots of work to go though. I look forward to the day the whole trail system there is hardtop - at least asphalt. - The stretch under Memorial is still terrible - Hopefully that will eventually get paved, lighted and landscaped.

You started the whole stupid conversation. UGH

Over-Analysis Fail - Just read the back and forth on the demographics and if this is the center of Houston. People, It's a name. It's marketing. It's no more the center of the city (in any form) than West Ave is in West Houston.. and it doesn't matter. The developers could have named it Philadelphia Center or TurdBurger Plaza.. There is Zero meaning behind the name.

Yeah. nevermind. Zooming into various feeders on google maps, I'm way off. I've been way off for years. All the feeders on the West Loop are W Loop S except for the North-bound stretch between Old Katy Road and 18th, which is W Loop N.

Yup. First direction is which of the 4 sides of houston you are on, 2nd direction is which of the two headings is possible for any one of those 4 sides. Galleria would be West Loop South Reliant Stadium would be South Loop West Least that's what I thought until I plugged in Hotel Derek... Shouln't that be West Loop North. Maybe I only thought I knew what I was talking about.

How long did BAR Houston last? Whats the typical life span of clubs here? Unfortunately, I think this place is destined for failure. I agree that their plan is appealing to the fresh out of college 20 yr olds. I think this building design dictates that any club attempt has to - It's hard to imagine anything swank, uppity, pricey or classy there. However, know what else is appealing to young 20 yr olds, fresh out of college - free and abundant parking. How long did City Streets last - a decade plus ?

Bayou Place is getting some new clubs and it certainly appears it will be in the spirit of the old City Streets... http://blogs.chron.c..._tenants_a.html On the second story of the downtown entertainment complex, Wednesday afternoon, workers were refashioning 18,000 square feet of space that will house four different night clubs. They're also going for volume business, meaning they want to pack the house with low prices such as $2 happy hours, $5 cover that gets guests into all the clubs and no drinks priced higher than $7 The first of the clubs, slated to open in March, will have a country western theme and feature a mechanical riding bull. The club will be called PBR, as in professional bull riding. The other clubs are a cigar lounge called Chapel Spirits targeting business people; Shark Bar that play '80s and '90s music; and Lucy's Liquors, that Maher described as "laid back, relaxed and fun club." They plan to build an outdoor patio to wrap around the outside of the building and have an open bar outside at the top of the stairs that lead to the main club entryway.

I always thought sequencers were more advanced hardware you get after you have your basic setup. I admit, i don't know much about them. Are you saying they could replace the software (PT, Reason, whatever) and you can assemble tracks and do all the mastering and output to various formats independent of a computer ? You are correct on what I'm doing now.. but eventually I'd like that to evolve.... I'm eventually going to be recording acoustic instruments and will eventually need better software. Though, in the Probably-don't-know-what-I'm-missing Department, I have no complaints about Mixcraft.