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H-Town Man

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  1. H-Town Man
    You still with her?
  2. H-Town Man
    You didn't answer my question: Tell me what skill, other than computer literacy, will computers teach students better than books can? In fact, you didn't answer anything I wrote in my post.
  3. H-Town Man
    You keep imputing things to me that are only slightly related to what I'm talking about. Just because I like areas with a sense of place, and think that urbanism helps this, doesn't mean that I hate all the cookie-cutter neighborhoods, etc. I think, Niche, that part of the difference in our outlooks is that you drove through those places. Houston is an absolutely wonderful city for someone who never wants to leave the car. Downtown really does look dramatic through those windows, and I have often peered up at those buildings when driving through there myself. But an urbanist - and I think I speak for 99.9% of those who call themselves urbanists - an urbanist does not just want a place that looks neat from the car. An urbanist wants to be able to walk through a busy environment of other humans who are out walking and doing things. There is a certain excitement that comes from this, that you can feel in cities like New York and Chicago, and occasionally, certain parts of downtown Houston. People like us enjoy being around those other humans that you find so boring. We think that a street full of people is more exciting than a cow pasture. Now Niche, it may be that YOU ARE NOT AN URBANIST. Or maybe you consider yourself an "urbanist," but by a different definition of the word. Fine. You are welcome to your view. But this whole conversation got started when I said that I could see why an urbanist would be pessimistic about development in Houston. And ever since then you have been trying to tell me (without success) why it's wrong or foolish or trendy or false to be an urbanist. Can we just agree to disagree, and go our separate ways?
  4. H-Town Man
    Sorry for the friction, Houston 19514. To tell you the truth, most of the mixed-use I have seen in Dallas was just from spending time there. There is a whole urbanized area north of their downtown that reminds me almost of Chicago. I don't know the name of the developments though, except for Victory, Mockingbird Station, and the West End district. As far as Atlanta, my experience comes mainly from seeing pictures on forums like this of things that were being built there. They looked very cutting edge, overall; very in-synch with urbanist principles. I also remember that when we had the big furor on here of the suburban CVS that was being built in Midtown right next to the urban Post apartment complex, people talked about an urban CVS store that had been developed in Atlanta. The implication was that CVS could build urban if it wanted to, it just didn't make sense to do so in Houston. Things like this help create the sense that we are behind in this trend.
  5. H-Town Man
    Mixed-use is not a style the way Mediterranean, French, and Victorian are. It's a pattern of development that clusters multiple uses in the same place to ensure a constant stream of human traffic and, thus, vibrancy and sense of place. What I don't like about Milam St. is that there are a bunch of austere office towers and little else (I'm thinking mainly south of Texas Ave.), so that what you end up with is a dead environment. In fact, most of downtown Houston is like this (except for the historic district, which was built when mixed-use was still a "necessity"). You said that all you cared about as far as urbanism goes is density, "pure and simple." Well downtown Houston is plenty dense, but it does not, for the most part, offer a lively environment (again, the historic district is the exception). The return of mixed-use is an attempt to recognize what made the urban environments of the past "tick" the way they did, and to undo the deadening effect of all the single-use developments of the 60's and 70's. If you don't like it, fine. Enjoy Milam St. I frankly don't know why we are having this conversation. I started out by saying that I can understand why an urbanist in Houston would be pessimistic, given past defeats of mixed-use development. If you don't like mixed-use development and don't understand why other people do, then there are plenty of other conversations on this forum for you to stick your head into. Insinuating that people like myself who do like it are "faux-people" is not constructive in any way, and will only add to the reputation you have earned for yourself on this forum.
  6. H-Town Man
    Yes, many students here at Texas A&M decide to take it at Blinn Junior College over in Bryan. A lot of the lecturers who teach it here also teach it over at Blinn, but the standards are of course not the same. The sad thing is that the ability to write is probably the one skill that is in drastic decline among college students, and that most separates this generation from their parents. People here who have taught composition for twenty years will tell you that the quality of student has declined steadily, partially because high schools aren't as rigorous about teaching writing, but mainly because students today did not grow up reading as much. I probably only get about five students out of a 25 student class who I would say are able to write well, and maybe two that I would say could write very well. This is at a school whose average entering SAT score is the second highest among public universities in the state (somewhere in the 1100's), and most of whom were in the top 10% of their high school class. Put it all together, and you begin to face the scary truth that America is on its way to having an illiterate culture.
  7. H-Town Man
    Actually, they are: http://chronicle.com/free/2004/07/2004070901n.htm Tell me what skill, other than computer literacy, will computers teach students better than books can? For the rare case that computers are able to teach students something they can't learn any other way (I can't think of one, but I'm sure there are a few), we have computer labs. The rest of the time, computers are nothing but a distraction, and distributing personal laptops ensures that the distraction will be constant. I for one cannot get any reading done when the temptation to play games or surf the net is right next to me, and I love books - I've devoted my life to teaching literature. I can't imagine a 17-year-old reading 400 inky pages of A Tale of Two Cities when a laptop is sitting right next to him. And please don't tell me that what he reads on the internet will do as much for his mind as Dickens will.
  8. H-Town Man
    I don't know what the names of the projects are, but it is common knowledge that many mixed-use developments have been done in both those cities. Sarnoff even mentioned in that recent article that such projects were more common in those places. If you think that Houston with its two mixed-use projects under construction downtown and its one mixed-use apartment complex in Midtown is not dead last among major American cities in this category, you can go on believing that, but I would like to clear up that misconception if I can. Delusion will not make Houston a better city. Niche, if you don't like the idea of mixed-use development, that is fine. You are wrong about it being a 21st century fad - it has actually been around ever since people started building dense cities, and its continuing importance in the age of suburban development has been understood at least since Jane Jacobs wrote her book ca. 1960. And if you think that all that is important in urban development is density, "pure and simple," then enjoy your pleasant urban stroll down Milam St. I will continue to hope for something better.
  9. H-Town Man
    Once again Niche, we are talking about mixed-use... I don't know what an outpatient center, renovations to Hermann Park, or most of the other stuff you name have to do with any of this. By contrast, everything proposed for the superblock has failed, Pointe Center Midtown failed, and the mixed-use developments discussed by Metro at Wheeler and in the Medical Center as far as I know are history. If you recall the hubbub before the opening of the Main St. line, it was supposed to spark a renaissance of new urbanism in Midtown. Remember the Main St. Master Plan? So far we haven't seen one development go up on Main St. in Midtown. I'm not saying that good things aren't going to be built - they're starting to be - but I can understand why people would be pessimistic about the success of mixed-use of Houston. Since some of you are so adept at making lists (whether the things listed are pertinent to the discussion or not), would someone please list for me all the mixed-use projects that have been built in Houston WITHOUT government aid? Yes Houston 19514, we are behind peer cities in this regard, specifically Dallas and Atlanta.
  10. H-Town Man
    Some of you need to get a whiff of reality... there is absolutely no problem with kids coming out of high school not knowing how to use computers. Kids acquire computer literacy on their own time - they need it to send e-mails, read about their favorite musicians, set up their myspace page, look at porn, etc. What there IS a problem with is children who have never read a book in their life, and can't write a three page research paper to save their life. I teach freshman composition in college, so I know a little bit about this. And the culprit, in my opinion, is delusional high school teachers who put aside those "boring, old-fashioned" writing projects for "fun, advanced, exciting" technology projects. Remember those days in school growing up when the teacher took you to computer lab? Every student in class knew it was a joke, and spent most of the class period playing games or stealing the rollerballs out of the mouses. There probably wasn't a day in the school year when you did less work or thought less hard. The irony is that the school district spent tens of thousands of dollars on those labs that could have been spent on important things, like hiring more teachers or putting more books in the library, and now they are determined to spend even more money, because they think that otherwise, kids won't learn how to use computers!
  11. H-Town Man
    I wouldn't put expansion of medical and educational institutions in the same realm of uncertainty as mixed-use projects and urban developments. People on this board tend to be pessimistic because urban projects have a horrid time getting off the ground in this town. There has started to be a few successes, but those of us who watched one proposal after another fail for Main St. in Midtown can understand why an urbanist in Houston can be pessimistic. A recent Chronicle article about the financial difficulties of mixed-use projects and how Houston has fallen behind peer cities is not encouraging either. But I hope you're right, and that this and other proposed projects will get built.
  12. H-Town Man
    Don't jump to conclusions about me, KinkaidAlum. I didn't say that all the press was liberally biased. I said that the press - as an institution - is inherently liberal. It is what allows the public to mobilize itself against the misdoings of those in power. Freedom of the press is, historically, a liberal idea - it's only been around for a couple centuries - and its tendency has for the most part been towards democratization and the breaking down of established figures and institutions, which I consider a liberal cause. The reason why most journalists tend to be politically on the left is that journalism attracts left-minded people. They aren't satisfied with how things are, and love the idea of attacking corruption and the establishment. Go hang out at a major journalism school sometime and tell me how many conservatives you see. The people you name in the media are basically a reactionary movement. After the 60's and 70's, much of the country decided that the press had gone too far. In the process of exposing real corruptions like My Lai and Watergate and championing worthy causes like civil rights, the press had become so cynical of government leaders and traditional American values that one could not take them seriously. This reaction coincided with a larger conservative shift in the country - the "Reagan revolution" and its aftermath. So by the 1990's, a number of new media outlets were arising to offer an alternative - talk radio, Fox News, etc. So yes, a large portion of today's media is conservative, but in the larger scheme of things, the media will always be predominantly liberal. As well it should.
  13. H-Town Man
    Those of you who don't think that a paper can be high quality and do well financially should check out the Dallas Morning News. As to the comments regarding political leanings, I would contend that the Chronicle is NOT neutral, but does try to give an appearance of neutrality. This is more true of the editorial page than anywhere else. Nick Anderson could easily be the political cartoonist for a left-wing newspaper, and I cannot recall any staff editorials that did not take the liberal side of an issue (at least for those issues that could be divided between liberal and conservative). On the other hand, all the recent recommendations they have made in presidential elections have been Republican, but read their editorials for a few weeks and tell me if you think any member of that staff votes Republican. Their editorial recommending Bush in 2004 read like a litany of complaints, with the last sentence essentially saying, "But we're recommending him anyway." The way the editorial had been going, it probably should have read, "And we hope no person with the name of Bush even sets foot near the White House ever again." I really don't expect their views to be any different - the press is an inherently liberal institution - but I can't help but shake my head at the dissemblage and fakery. If I ever had to write an article like that in order to make a living, I would probably go home afterwards, rip up my college diploma, throw away all of my books, and get rid of any mirrors I own so I wouldn't have to look at myself. Even if the editors aren't so much concerned about selling papers as they are pushing readers towards their own views without giving those views away, I don't see how people can fight their cause so dishonestly.
  14. H-Town Man
    Now I'm wishing I hadn't wasted that pedant comment on Niche...
  15. H-Town Man
    It's safe to say that old designs like that will never get built. The site that building was proposed for is the current site of the ChevronTexaco Heritage Plaza (or whatever they're calling it these days). When it was proposed, we were at the height of the oil boom and very brash about building skyscrapers; even then it was a bit too brash for us. I'm not even sure we'd want a building like that: you'd have to make all of Sam Houston Park into a giant parking garage for all the cars, and it would be much better for a variety of reasons for the same number of office workers to be spread out in five smaller buildings in different parts of downtown. If we want downtown to be a neighborhood instead of just an office park, we need mid-size buildings, not just supertalls.
  16. H-Town Man
    In my experience, most people I meet in other parts of the country don't have either a good or bad image of Houston... they simply don't have an image of Houston. There is very little that they associate with it, except maybe "Houston, we have a problem," or if they're a sports fan they might be familiar with one of our teams. What they do have an image of is Texas, and they know Houston is in Texas, so we get assigned all their ideas about Texas. This city will have to develop a very strong, unique identity if it is ever to step out of the Texas shadow.
  17. H-Town Man
    If we could get this one, I would not care about any of the others. IMHO, this is the one block in downtown most in need of development. I would consider donating out of my teacher's salary if I thought it would help things along.
  18. H-Town Man
    I'm just going by the fact that it is a block away from the bayou. I don't think the jails should be there either. If you look at the Buffalo Bayou Master Plan, this little neighborhood is projected to pretty much be the heart of it all, with a channel being put through the site of the existing Metro bus barn. As one of the planners mentioned, this is the only city where one finds jails at such a strategic spot for urban development.
  19. H-Town Man
    Another one here, but it won't let me post the image: http://texashistory.unt.edu/permalink/meta-pth-5865:159
  20. H-Town Man
    Thanks Subdude.
  21. H-Town Man
    Someone recently posted two pictures of the topping off ceremony at Wells Fargo on here, but I can't for the life of me remember where they were. I have tried the search function to no avail.
  22. H-Town Man
    Well, no cranes yet, but I guess this is close enough... They did it. No residential, but they took out three parking lots, which is an achievement no matter how you slice it. H-Town Man hangs his head in shame. :closedeyes:
  23. H-Town Man
    If they were going to demolish this and put up a trendy mixed-use development, which they ought to be doing in that location, I would have no problem. But I doubt that will happen. More than likely another jail (or parking).
  24. H-Town Man
    How many of you read Tory Gattis's Houston Strategies blog? houstonstrategies.blogspot.com It's a good source for sensible discussion on issues affecting Houston, especially as regards planning issues, traffic, economy, and how Houston stacks up to other cities in various areas. What annoys me about this site is the constant paranoia about zoning or any form of planning ("We'll end up like San Francisco!"), and the sunny gleefulness about the free market and how much it has done for our city. I am usually a free market partisan myself, but this guy and his cohort of frequent posters (most of whom seem to care more about the sanctity of the free market than about Houston) are starting to push me the other way. There is no acknowledgment of any negative effects of townhome incursions or insensitive developments in older neighborhoods, nor does there seem to be any sense of aesthetics or quality of life issues (terms which get ridiculed quite a bit there), but rather just a continual cheering of how cheap things are in Houston compared to other cities, and how we have avoided those cities' oppressive bureaucratic regimes, tyranny of the majority, economic stagnation, etc. (all of which are the inevitable consequence of any form of planning, we're told) I'd be interested in comparing thoughts with anyone else who reads this site.
  25. H-Town Man
    Reading and writing are at all time lows, and we think we'll improve education by giving every student a laptop. Amazing.
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