j_cuevas713

5 hours ago, texan said:

The best opportunity will likely be during confirmation of Whitmire's nominees by the Houston City Council. Hopefully there's enough transit advocates on city council to derail (pun intended) King's appointment. Otherwise hope he doesn't have enough influence to create more transit dissidents on Metro's board. (Now back to UNITi, we can discuss this in another thread)

Yeah let's keep it on topic. Let me just finally point out that none of this is official. This is just word of mouth I'm hearing. If it's still Sanjay then good but we'll see. When is this supposed to happen? 

1 hour ago, clutchcity94 said:

Not familiar with Bill King. Is he from the Culberson school of thought?

Yep same train of thought. I responded to a lot of his nonsense on Twitter and made it a point to let him know that voters approved the bond. We can't let the Culberson mindset ruin this again, which means anyone and everyone in this forum needs to be as vocal as possible, whether by social media, in person, or however you wanna do it. 

I think we need to pray the University Line get's built. Last I heard Whitmire might appoint Bill King as Metro chair. We already know politicians can derail anything regardless if voters approved $3.5 Billion in transit expansion. 

I wish Tilman would invest more around the Rockets facilities. That garage is such a massive eyesore. Adding some ground floor retail and changing that awful color would go a long way. 

9 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

Why not HEB?

Maybe HEB but there is one right down the road from here

4 minutes ago, Nate99 said:

FWIW, the last time I walked by, the Sakowitz garage looked to have only county vehicles in it. 

Well I guess that's a plus

What a great save for the neighborhood

Fiesta 

We're never gonna get people using transit if we keep building parking lots for literally everything

Yeah I've never been there but it's always packed. I also don't have any desire to support people like this. 

46 minutes ago, bobruss said:

Monarch, For a city that has nothing going for it😜, like Dallas and Austin, we sure seem to get our share of World Series, NFL Super Bowls, Mens college Final Fours, World cup games, and now College football playoff championships. I guess we need to work a little harder and then we might get a few more opportunities.

Oh, and did I see where they are planning a St. Regis residence tower off Memorial Drive on the Welling property.

 

Yep we seem to be getting all the big events 

12 minutes ago, steve1363 said:

Whitmire strikes me as a practical person.  If something is for the greater good I believe he will support, so long as it is utilized.  UH people hate him for blocking the “Freshmen mandate to live on campus” initiative pushed by Renu Khator but his rationale was that that kind of rule would make UH less accessible to the underprivileged.  I’ve also heard him criticize places like The Heights asking for wider sidewalks when there are low income neighborhoods in Houston without sidewalks at all.  He portrays himself as a man of the little people…we shall see.

Man I hope so. His comment about Metro buses today made people scratch their heads. Unless he's saying we need to stop forfeiting 1/4 of Metro funds to other counties and use that for here.

1 minute ago, Justin Welling said:

From what I have heard, Whitmire will not be very transit focused. I hope to be wrong, but I am worried how METRO will stand during Whitmire's time. 

For example, during his Inauguration today, he literally said "we will make METRO pay for the roads that their buses tear up". I guess he forgot that 1/4 of METRO's current sales tax revenue does go to the county and city to spend on road projects. He has also made numerous anti bike lane comments and anti transit comments in debates. Doesn't seem promising for METRO and transit for Houston. 

In one of those debates he mentioned having options to move around. I mean we'll see where he takes us. I'm still on the fence with him. I was in a meeting recently with a well known Houstonian who follows things like this and he said Whitmire's focus will be public safety and development. As a cyclist myself, I'm nervous but we'll see. 

The development has really become a focal point for the city to build around. This is definitely our version of the Ferry Building like in SF.

Mayor Whitmire is going to be a development focused mayor. Turner was more social issues and infrastructure. I expect the city to really take off during Whitmire's term. 

Downtown was really making a turn before the pandemic to be more restaurant focused but now it appears to be heading back to a club atmosphere. It's not happening in every area of Downtown but Main specifically. 

Love the sidewalks! 

On 12/30/2023 at 8:27 PM, IWantTransit555 said:

All these suburban proposals should be commuter rail IMO.

I wonder how the city getting more power over funds will affect this. I could see it becoming commuter rail for sure. I think they just want to see what options make the most sense but commuter rail seems to be priority. 

Yeah I didn't see this as a long term idea. The land is way too valuable. 

Is that why the scaffolding is surrounding the old Sakowitz building as well? I drove by last night and was curious as to what was happening. I remember the DMD wanting to possibly convert the building to residential. 

2 hours ago, Brooklyn173 said:

When I was growing up my mother would have special dishes, bath towels, and furniture that were strictly for "special guests" and off-limits otherwise.

I think the fountains fall into the same general category. Only for guests and special events. Not for the people who live here every day.

I think I'd feel ok with that idea if it was in a different part of the city, but most visitors are going to be downtown first. 

Parking Minimums inside the Loop are just stupid 

This will likely be replatted 

Why does it keep going out to begin with? 

On 12/28/2023 at 3:52 PM, hindesky said:

At the second Planning Commission when it was approved there were a majority who did want it and they outnumbered those who didn't 2/3 to 1/3 and this was people who lived in that area.

That's great news!