gto250us

Mills is history. They need to turn that crappy mall in Katy back into rice fields. That place is a sorry excuse for a Mall. It is no wonder that Mills went BK

JFK spent his last night on earth in the Rice Hotel in Houston. Does anyone know what that room is used for now that the Rice has been converted to lofts? Does someone live in it, is it a museum or a storage closet?

You would be correct. But the cart doesn't come before the horse. Before you start seeing resident-oriented retail, there have to be residents. I recall that Finger tried at one point to get subsidy from the city, but didn't have any luck with raising funds to build housing for the wealthy. Just wasn't politically saleable. So with that in mind, I'm doubting that the City is really going to be willing to directly subsidize the downtown population growth. They'll only skirt around it by providing nice amenities like parks and street improvement projects...but those will only serve to drive up land values, which potentially makes actually building the towers more difficult.

Yeah it is a chicken and egg type of problem.

There have been a number of loft conversions planned and executed within the downtown. How many of those have fallen through because of a lack of retail? How many potential downtown residents put it off because of a lack of retail?

What do the developers think?

What are your ideas regarding the lack of retail in the downtown area. With the growth of residential in the downtown, this may be a problem. I would like to hear what the downtown residents think of this topic.

Most retail in the downtown district is in the tunnels and is only open till about 3-5 pm. Thus it is geared towards commuters in the office buildings. It seems to me that for those who now live in the many downtown lofts, you still need a car to get anything.

If you're into pricing human value I suggest you hook up with Herr Niche.

Hey, don't tell me the Bush didn't make a decision to go to war with out thinking about the relative costs in terms of lives. Obviously, King George thinks that the value of the lives lost and those yet to be lost is less than the consequences of not going into Iraq.

So, as long as that is the case why not send less valuable folks. It is just plain stupid to waste the lives of our young people in this foolish endeavor.

I think we should get back to the topic of the relative value to society between the homeless bums on the street and in the library, and the US soldiers in Iraq.

Why not look at it objectively. Lets see, what would the estimated lifetime earnings value be for the typical homeless person and the typical soldier.

How about the social welfare costs?

How about the crime costs between the two groups?

Or even the library cleaning costs?

"Not only are we going to New Hampshire ... we're going to South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico, and we're going to California and Texas and New York! And we're going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan. And then we're going to Washington, D.C. to take back the White House, Yeeeeeaaaaaargh!" -- THE SON-OF-A-delicate flower BIT ME!!!

YYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ! ! ! ! ! ! !

He's getting ready to bite the head off. Just like his Black Sabbath days.

Seen this guy in the library?

Watch out for the Dems

It wasn't nearly as hot as the day you were going to the 'Wizard of Oz' festival. You were FIERCE that day !

FRANCE - No need to say more.

I'm curious as to how you view what FDR did with our "valuable young adults" that he sent to be slaughtered?

You obviously have no clue why we went to war in Iraq, who voted unanimously to start this war, and who we send to fight for us when we are in a war.

I'd also like to ask you, when is it appropriate to send our soldiers into harms way?

Just what is being accomplished in Iraq by sacrificing our soldiers? Do you still actually believe that they threaten the US? Do you also believe in the Boogey Man?

We would all be better of if we spent 70 billion dollars a month on teaching our young people, rather than giving it to Rummey.

The only similarity that Bush has to FDR is that he is handicapped. Bush was born without a brain.

Now this I think needs a little clarification. Just what constitutes one life being less costly than another?

good question. I don't have an answer but the Bush administration must have an answer since they have no problem with killing 2800 of our soldiers. Apparently Bush, et al thinks that they are worth less than whatever they hope to achieve in Iraq. Since I don't see much of anything in Iraq of value, the value of those who are dying must be quite low, in the eyes of those who are responsible for sending them there.

In my view the bums on the street are of less value to society than those who are dying in Iraq. The bums do not contribute to society they only drain it. So send them off to war.

This has to be THE most asinine statement EVER on this forum. How do you determine what the worth of a human life is ? Who are you to determine that ? Homeless humans are less valueable than other humans ? While I don't like the thought of Bums on our streets and panhandling, I also know that the majority have mental problems which accounts to why they are in the situation they are in, so I have a hardtime holding them accountable.

Now, deathrow inmates, and child molestors, there is a sub-human species for you. Forced them to go over there, but they don't get M-16s and grenades, they get a pointed stick to go patrol and conduct raids to look for terrorists being housed.

OK we can refine the criteria. However, Bush has no problem sending valuable young adults over there to be slaughtered. It seems to that as long as we are willing to have our citizens murdered in Iraq we ought to sacrifice those who are more in need of killing, such as you say child molesters and congressmen.

Hey Mark, don't worry about TJ, I caught him running through our neighborhood park last month.

wait a minute - Is that the landscaper from the other thread?

Probably why they do THOSE things there at the Gym, because they know someone else is gonna come clean it up. After all, isn't that why they pay their dues. I mean, that's why I got marrried, ,AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA ! ACK! OUCH! hi honey, hey hey, put that frying pan down, I was just kidding. YIKES ! ! !

Why should we continue to kill our young adults in Iraq, when we can round up all the homeless and send them off to be murdered by the maniacs. As long s Bush is unwilling to stop the murder, we can clean up our cities and supply the Iraqi nut jobs with less costly targets.

That's interesting...I just call them Lottery Winners because it looks like something that would be built by former residents of a trailer

It goes to show you that one must be careful about buying in that neighborhood. Apparently the home owners associated does not have the wherewithal to enforce the deed restrictions or they do not have the restrictions to begin with.

Nothing's going to happen to the block--at least not as long as the Lottery Winners are still in the Grey Monstrosity! LOL!! That horrible house....ugh......

Most of those houses are likely having maintenance issues because people haven't taken care of them in recent years--so they're selling them (and probably to builders). That one on the corner--I doubt it will get sold to a residential buyer. It's too bad, too! Nifty mod. Needs help, but nifty anyway. The one on the corner of Electra and Memorial sold and was recently treated for termites, and is now being re-painted--so at least that one is staying!

I checked up on the guy in the Gray Spook House. He is from Mexico and is into scrap metal. I guess that fits with the house.

The house for sale on the corner of the Toll way and Memorial looks like a wreck. Several other homes along Memorial have been sold or are in the the process of being worked on and flipped.

The Houston Business Journal mentioned that Ken Lay had his office on the 50th floor, which I think is the top. His desk was positioned to face the old Enron building, probably to remind him of his glory days.

Nobody lives at the top of the Heritage Plaza building. The highest floor is 51 and it is vacant, along with 50. Ken Lay had an office on 49. I think is step-son has a company on that floor. One floor below, on 48 are the law offices of Learach Coughlin who are running the class action suit against Enron.

That's the longest run-on sentence I've had the pleasure of spotting in a long time.

Yeah, Weed will do that to you.

There are at least 3-4 old hotels on the south end of downtown that need to be torn down. Not too long ago the Days Inn in question here, belonged to Mahrishi Yoyo whatever. It was supposed to be some kind of vegan, transendental crash pad.

Unfortunately, money is THE ONLY issue in Houston.

A myth exists in Houston that the only way to make money is to build bigger and newer and provide ample parking right out front so nobody will have to walk more than 500 feet!

Funny thing is, cities all over America are finding that historical preservation, smart growth, mixed-use, and green buildings can be wildly popular and wildly PROFITABLE.

Unfortunately, by the time Houston developers pick up on this trend, there will be nothing left to convert.

On the bright side, in 25 years when the fake stucco strip malls, vinyl siding suburban style condos, and drive thru pharmacies start to show their age, maybe we can just bulldoze most of the Inner Loop crap and start all over?

Look at what happened to Market Square in Downtown. But, unfortunately Houston has always been run by developers.

I can't make out the street name in order to find the location on a modern map.

While you are at it...what ever happened to Cleveland Park and Cleveland Park Lake?

There is a Cleveland Park near the Depelchin place near Waugh. I think that the Bayou has been straightened since then.

I looks to me that Cleveland Park and Cleveland Lake were located where the Cloverleaf is on Memorial and Heights. I almost appears that the current street that goes south bound on Waugh to Westbound on Memorial was Eugene Avenue along the North-Northwest side of Cleveland Park.

This is the only map i have seen to offer any clues.

This is from the 1924 Sanborn map. I will hypothesize from the orientation of the lone park structure shown, that the circular canopy may have faced the lake. Thus the lake would have been in the part of little white oak that is currently under I-45.

I am not so sure that the location of the lake is now under I-45. Looking at Yahoo Maps - Beta and evern better yet the City of Houston map with aerial photo at:

http://pwegis.pwe.ci.houston.tx.us/viewer1.htm

you can see a funny bend with an Island in Little White Oak Bayou, in the middle of Woodland Park. I have never been to Woodland Park and I am wondering what the large building is on the north end, on Parkview Street.

I am not so sure that the location of the lake is now under I-45. Looking at Yahoo Maps - Beta and evern better yet the City of Houston map with aerial photo at:

http://pwegis.pwe.ci.houston.tx.us/viewer1.htm

you can see a funny bend with an Island in Little White Oak Bayou, in the middle of Woodland Park. I have never been to Woodland Park and I am wondering what the large building is on the north end, on Parkview Street.

[/quote

I now see that the building in question is the Woodland Community Center.

If you don't mind me asking, how did you get this info?

An official who wishes to remain annonymous due to the sensitive nature of the information.

I think that I can safely say that the house was either the home of Charles H. Milby or it's a house that was named after him the same way that Milby High School was.

Milby Mansion was along Milby Park. Back in the 60's one could score some good acid at the place. Good rock concerts at the park at that time. I think I remember that.