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j_cuevas713

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Everything posted by j_cuevas713

  1. j_cuevas713
    http://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/Changing-streets-11177181.php Great article on the rebuild of Lower Westheimer. What I don't understand is West Alabama was expected to start reconstruction in late 2016, already fully funded, and nothing has happened yet. And with these new designs for Lower Westheimer, my concern is when are any of these actually going to begin? Both are fully funded and so I don't understand the delay or lack of urgency from the city or local TIRZ districts. From the article, "For too long, the city has lagged behind private developers in building cityscapes at the scale of a person." With all the new development happening around us, the thing that's keeping many of these new developments from flowing together is better infrastructure. Does anyone have any additional info on this?
  2. j_cuevas713
    So where is this development at with the overall build? I haven't been in this area in a while. I know it's being done in phases but what phase is this on? Really excited to see this city become so damn urban.
  3. j_cuevas713
    True, good point.
  4. j_cuevas713
    So you're telling me if the car hadn't been produced, White Flight wouldn't have happened? I doubt it. It definitely helped push people further away from the core, but Houston was already experiencing a form of White Flight in it's early days.
  5. j_cuevas713
    Actually it wasn't the automobile specifically that pushed people from the city core, it was White Flight. The car was an accessory to this movement but not the cause.
  6. j_cuevas713
    I like it tbh
  7. j_cuevas713
    You said this waaay better than I was about to lol
  8. j_cuevas713
    THIS IS AMAZING!
  9. j_cuevas713
    Very nice animation.
  10. j_cuevas713
    So what exactly is the city of Houston's planning and development dept doing?
  11. j_cuevas713
    It just seems that entire Uptown area is getting a major overhaul. You have the Galleria expansion, Post Oak Blvd project, Uptown Park redevelopment, a number of new highrises in the area, and now there is talk about redeveloping the strip centers in to mixed use development. The next 5 years will brings lots of very good change.
  12. j_cuevas713
    Will this be a walkable center or similar to that shopping center at the corner of Canal?
  13. j_cuevas713
    With the new Whole Foods Midtown and this new grocer on the East End, these two spots should lure further development.
  14. j_cuevas713
    When does reconstruction of West Alabama start because the corner of the building has a very nice pedestrian crosswalk? I'm just ready for the whole damn street to look the same. Great project.
  15. j_cuevas713
    YES!!!!!!! I noticed this weekend that business seemed no existent. Great news!!! Place was a dump!
  16. j_cuevas713
    So is the parking garage the only parking? I'm only asking because I hope all of that is pedestrian space to walk. AND how could they make this area more accessible to actual Heights residents??? You have to cross 10 to get there if you live in the Heights. The way they have it set up is walkable but not inviting. It would also be nice to have large signage showing when you enter a district.
  17. j_cuevas713
    Then what would you have done? There seems to be criticism for everything this city tries to do right. Things like this are a long term investment. If you were expecting a quick turn around, think again. Businesses aren't going to move in just because a street was redeveloped to be a retail district. You have to account for street presence and foot traffic. With downtown pumping out more places to live and with more hotel space bringing more visitors, you can expect to see more retail soon. You also have to account for how the city is perceived. Just because you want dry goods doesn't mean that particular retailer feels it's in their best interest until they know they can get a return on their investment. I'm glad they have a planned area for retail downtown. The city did this right, and with the infrastructure in place, we have a solid area for development.
  18. j_cuevas713
    Me? lol
  19. j_cuevas713
    Neither am I but NY, SF, and Chicago all benefit from good bus service because rail is their backbone. If you rely solely on buses, you're stuck in gridlock just like anyone else. Rail CREATES shorter bus trips, which is what you want. Commuter bus is not efficient at all. You need rail to carry most of the weight while buses act as an extension of that system. That's how you get people moving. If Houston did not have rail, the bus system would suffer greatly and the cost to maintain such a system would suffer along with it. The ONLY way buses move people efficiently is when given the right of way. The system goes a follows. Great infrastructure starts with sidewalks and roads. Getting people on foot efficiently is the first mode of transportation in any city. Second is a solid bus system. The only issue with buses, is that as the city grows, the system needs to expand. You can't have 200 buses for 1 million people and then 200 buses for 4 million people. So the third thing is rail. Rail acts as the glue to the first two modes of transportation. All 3 together work great. Is rail cheap initially, no. Over time the system pays for itself and that's the trade off.
  20. j_cuevas713
    That's your argument? Yeah because the culture has been set to rely on the automobile. How do you expect to change the culture of a city that has relied on the car for everything? Businesses are going to be disrupted regardless, but building a transportation system outweighs any short term affect it has on those businesses. You can argue all you want that the train itself didn't spur development but it's clear to see that it did. How much immediate development is an argument we could have forever. The truth is that many developers specifically stated that they built next to the train as an incentive to those wanting an urban lifestyle. It's CLEARLY a benefit to live adjacent to great public transportation. I don't need to go in to detail when you have proof in cities like Chicago and NY. And if you want to argue that in 13 years very little development has happened, then that's totally fine. It's going to take more than 13 years to fully redevelop most of the areas affected because of negligence from the city. The train isn't going to fix it all but it sure as hell is a great starting point. You can argue for people and their cars all day but I'm in an overly packed train in the morning and evening. People want options, plain and simple.
  21. j_cuevas713
    Hold on a sec! So you view rail as a lack of progress and view buses as progressive. So why weren't "progressive" buses creating more foot traffic and helping these businesses succeed? Why aren't those same roads that thousands of cars travel on daily helping serve these businesses that somehow took the total loss due to light rail? To me it sounds like those businesses we losing regardless, whether light rail was there or not.
  22. j_cuevas713
    I'm sorry for your losses but has the rail help your business at all or no? My thing is, what is the city to do? How are we expected to progress considering losses are a part of that process?
  23. j_cuevas713
    You're STILL going on about this while the rail carries tons of passengers daily. So..........?
  24. j_cuevas713
    Wow the Sakowitz finally gets good use!
  25. j_cuevas713
    It's just a rough animatic. What were you expecting Pixar?
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