TGM

I'm just dying to see what other MCM stuff is inside. Maybe I should get Redscare on retainer just in case.... Anyone up for a site visit?

The ideas are great, the reality of putting them into place is not. Asbestos abatement and subsequent liability are the major deal killers. I think the building is pretty swanky, and would love to see a mid-century mod office-plex. All that is needed is to convince the owner to come down $12 mil and the gov to grant a 30 year tax waiver.

Dave: Someone on Haif wants to turn the Central Bank Building into a mixed-use office space for startups.

Hal: Sorry Dave, but I'm afraid I cannot allow that.

you have to drive slow because you are in fear of running over one of the joggers.

There is slow as in, "I'm sticking to the speed limit because this is a neighborhood and there could be kids darting out into the road", and there is slow as in, "dude, I think I hear sirens, wait, that's just the ambulance at the assisted living center"

Ergo, the long-time moniker "Heightstonians" nails it.

LOL. It's just the fact that people drive well below the speed limit, it's the fact that she deals with more stale green lights in the Heights than anywhere else. "Yo Bro, the lights been green for like 10 seconds!"

Traffic is slow because people are terrified of the BRIDGE OF DEATH!

According to the wife traffic is slow in the Heights because everyone is stoned or something.

Behind it are old growth hard wooks (mostly oaks) which are very valuable to birds when paired with or in close proximity to waterways.

No, not the wooks, please!

The main hold up is they have yet to green-light Ocean's 14. When they do I'm sure this building will fulfill its best and highest use as an imploding Mid-century Vegas casino.

The building has some issues, however rumour has it that there is a few bottles of Louis XVIII stashed somewhere in the building so it may be worth a site visit. Just watch out for the occasional hole in the deteriorating floor...

Oh nothing.. it was just TheNiche having another existentialist meltdown.

They were meeting with s3mh, right?

Historic District Fight Club?

Damn, I just broke the first rule.

Correction, looks like they just moved locations elsewhere in Midtown. http://pinupcrossfit.com/

Wise move, much more residential.

I just moved from this area a couple months ago and saw this when driving by my old house last month. I don't know what happened to the Crossfit place... but this was a huge shocker to me.

My guess is that the targeted crossfit customers (20 something females), *for whatever reason* decided to stop patronizing this business/location, or complained loudly about it.

Having waited for many a green light at this intersection, and being privy to overhearing more than a few street conversations I have my suspicions. The typical conversation I overheard follows this theme: "Boy, I'd like to f*** her!"

Leaving their door open all the time probably did not help matters.

I guess the Pin-up workout place went out of business, which will disappoint the pervs that would gawk at women working out from across the street.

The good news is that they still have a reason to stop by and visit this convenient location. I applaud them on their smart location choice as we all know that the key to success is knowing your neighborhood and it's needs.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8441/7979675172_45eefe421f_h.jpg

Hopefully this will help anchor this area and bring in other businesses that would complement the current neighborhood trajectory. I'm thinking a checks cashed, pawn shop, smoke shop, self-defense school, or pain management center would synergize well near this location.

I also really dig their design choices. It's good to let people know what services you offer in big fonts. Heck the people that live across the street won't even need to leave their breakfast rooms!

Awesome...

Equally stunning is the study of teenagers that have lost their car privileges, and the resulting uptick in school bus ridership.

I recently went to Scotland and they have one public transportation agency accross the whole country. I think that a state wide transportation agency would be an improvement as well.

Why not start a national one for even greater efficiency?

http://thehill.com/blogs/transportation-report/railroads/248763-gop-amtrak-needs-to-get-out-of-the-commuter-rail-business

So you are saying to add more cars to the road. Is global warming not important?

It's very important, in fact you could say I'm the biggest proponent of global warming. I made it my life mission to fight global cooling ever since my grade school teachers informed us that we were on the cusp of another ice age. The warmer our winters are the less precious fossil fuels will be needed to heat our homes, which is why we've been burning 500 old tires a week since the late 1970's. Alternative energy is where its at and I encourage everyone to take responsibility and do what they can to prevent global cooling.

More cars on the road equals more tires, and more tires equal more rubber trees. (if you're into heirloom rubber that is) And we now know that trees cause global warming.(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2185493/Could-trees-causing-global-warming-Air-forests-80-000-times-normal-levels-methane.html) We owe a debt of gratitude those those that saved the rain forest for us by planting the next generation of trees.

Love this article: "How to ride Public Transportation without losing your mind"

http://lifehacker.com/5942185/how-to-ride-public-transportation-without-losing-your-mind

You'll be the first one to complain after their gone. Don't lie.

Damn straight I would, and they better have my money!

I can't be seen slapping employees with all them Metro cameras around.

Now that diesel exhaust has been medically and therefore legally determined to be a known carcinogen then it's highly unlikely that any vertical expansion of the PE will pass any DEIS.

That should not be a deal killer. Diesel particles have been the main culprit and now that diesel particle filters are fast becoming common place I think I would be more worried about diesel exhaust from the construction of the road rather than the ongoing use of it.

This means the building will be approximately 9 stories tall.

We ask anyone who opposes mid-rise (hi-rise to me) buildings in this spot;

Sorry, but it's not a highrise. You'll have to be content with referring to it as The Mid-rise of Madness rather than the tower of terror. The good news is that the domain name "midriseofmadness.com" is still available. Better snap to it.

So I take it that we should now refer to our street hustlers as performance artists.

Using Goldman Sachs as a moral compass may not be the most appropriate, unless, of course, you're some kind of a criminal.

Back off, the compass is mine. Go buy your own box of Monsanto corn flakes with the toy surprise inside.

This pretty much sums it all up, past, present, and future.

From Goldman Sachs Elevator:

#1: If riding the bus doesn't incentivize you to improve your station in life, nothing will.

it's not that LRT doesn't fit well as a transit option in Houston, it's just that METRO's plans for the lines, esp the Univ & Uptown, promise to decrease mobility along the routes.

and the primary reason for that is METRO's designs are for lines built and operated as cheaply as possible rather than as efficiently as possible. and the reasons for that failure of planning rest entirely on the money available given what was/is politically possible for transit in Houston.

Metro's biggest problem is itself. It's unable to deliver half-assed in half the time at half the cost. Even if you are the biggest rail fan in the world you'll be gone and buried before Metro moves their train set from grandma's attic to the real world. Mobility has nothing to do with rail routes, it's political influence from competing local special interests.

But building endless highways is okay right?

As long as they're private tollways that rely upon drivers to fund them not taxpayers.