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Sparrow

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Everything posted by Sparrow

  1. Sparrow
    While it's refreshing to have a duo other than Slick Vik and IronTiger fighting it out... Can we tone it down a bit guys?
  2. Sparrow
    Perhaps he since he can't tell us what it is, he can tell us what it's not?
  3. Sparrow
    Since financing is the issue, why don't they create an "Astrodome Parking Lot Redevelopment" TIRZ and sell/auction/lease off plots of the massive parking lot? Of course there would be stipulations/deed restrictions/zoning and of course minimum parking requirements. Create a walkable urban street grid. Surely with several dozen downtown size blocks created and developed the tax increment increase could fund just about whatever we wanted to do with the Dome.
  4. Sparrow
    I'm not sure of the likelihood of a "Willowbrook area" station along 249 and the Beltway, but if the station were to be built there it sure would brighten up the economic outlook for the FM 1960 and Greenspoint submarkets. There are vast political, economic, and social consequences riding upon the eventual planned station locations. More is at stake than solely the economic prospects of the HSR line itself. The HSR line station location, when decided upon many, many months from now, will be a game changer.
  5. Sparrow
    I've got it. Forget an indoor park... indoor ski slope... casino... Grand Hotel... Houston's Eiffel Tower... STEM museum... and all of the other unfunded ideas for adaptive reuse. I say no to all of them. The highest and best use for the Astrodome is to let it sit idle for another decade and a half..... and then........... ......make it a baseball stadium again. Remember the Astros only played there 35 seasons. Minute Maid Park already has 15 seasons under its belt. Another decade or so and it'll be time to start planning the next home for the Astros.
  6. Sparrow
    A bit of a soapbox observation I suppose, but the city is so much more beautiful with power lines hidden from view. Beautiful shot Triton. I'm embarrassed as a Houstonian every time ESPN shows the Downtown view from the new TDECU Stadium due to the visual blight of the power lines along Scott. Opportunity missed.
  7. Sparrow
    Perhaps the Westside Mall at I-10 and Grand Parkway is finally going to happen??
  8. Sparrow
    Isn't there supposed to be another outlet mall coming to Rosenberg or somewhere down 59 a ways?
  9. Sparrow
    I was just thinking the METRO site because the BNSF option comes in on the map south of I-10. Not sure anyone had really considered such an option--you'd think such property would be easy to obtain or make use of jointly. I'm pretty sure there are plans to create a North Canal at that location at some point down the road--that would be an obvious obstacle. A pedestrian bridge to the Red Line at the UH-Downtown station wouldn't be that far fetched.
  10. Sparrow
    Look, I'm not siding with the neighborhood on this, but at this point I think the developer should consider options for getting out of this location. Offer to "donate" the property to the locals with the sole purpose of creating a park, only if a similar size property can be purchased by the community nearby in a location the community and the developer thinks will be more appropriate. Midtown? Kirby? Museum District? Medical Center? Uptown? By creating a park the developer could save face while also still getting to build the designed building at another location. There is just too much other competition for residential high rise in Houston right now to build where sales may be harder to come by because of the high amount of negative PR.
  11. Sparrow
    It's interesting that they indicated two place holders for Downtown Houston instead of just one circle. One desired location is most likely the post office site. Does the METRO site just north of the bayou seem to be the other?
  12. Sparrow
    BW-8, 610, or Downtown for the single station location. The problem with too far in is the folks in the edge cities might as well drive themselves instead of taking the train. Why drive an hour into town, say from The Woodlands, when your purpose is to get north of town? On the other hand with a station too far out, why take a train that'll leave you nearly an hours drive from your destination in rush hour traffic when you can fly directly to Hobby and be 20 minutes away? Of course the prudent, practical solution is to build the middle option at 610. It's the Goldilocks rational. Frankly it does make a lot of sense, if other connections are supplied. Dropping off passengers within an easy transfer to both Uptown and Downtown would be ideal if METRO can get moving on their Uptown BRT (with a extension necessary to the new station) as well as a Washington or I-10 corridor BRT/LRT/commuter rail route. On the other hand, the pie-in-the-sky solution is for them to find development partners who realize building all 3 stations would provide the greatest possible ridership and greatest possible real estate development return while providing a second stream of income via a commuter rail route.
  13. Sparrow
    What does Downtown's 380 agreement have to do with affordable housing?
  14. Sparrow
    In order to get DLI money, they would have to include mixed-use don't they?
  15. Sparrow
    A downtown block comes in just under an acre and a half.
  16. Sparrow
    TCR initially had 9 alignments for the Dallas to Houston route they were screening and have reduced that down to two feasible alternatives that are highest ranked.
  17. Sparrow
    They wouldn't be coming to see the rail system, they would come because they are familiar with the exact same system in their own country.
  18. Sparrow
    You are right in that airplane ridership is the HSR primary customer--direct competition. One would think the HSR folks hope to gain near 100% of that market. But also consider that some folks who drive will be willing to pay a little more to get there faster without doing the work themselves. Some folks riding the bus between the two cities will pay a little more to get from here to there. Perhaps the pivotal question will be how much will a ticket cost. SWA has one way for about $85 if you buy in advance. What does "competitive with airfare" exactly mean? Driving will cost (per car, not per person) give or take $18-$36 for just gas with current prices depending upon your mpg. Will HSR come in somewhere in the middle, or does "competitive" really mean "about the same". Also consider some people who would have had zero intent of going to Dallas may now consider the trip because the HSR will provide an easy, relatively cheap option. Induced demand if you will. C'mon, let's be honest here, is there one person on HAIF that won't venture a leisure trip or two up to our neighbor to the north once/if this is built? Houstonians and those in the Metroplex will be curious to see this new-to-us technology. Frankly Dallas and Houston may have a bump in tourism from across the country to see the new high speed rail. Perhaps we'll even see increased tourism from Japan because of their familiarity with the system. As far as parking goes, let's hope transit via cab, light rail, bus, as well as rental car are all options. You are right that otherwise the station parking garage will need to be massive.
  19. Sparrow
    Sure would be great if they plan on putting as much of the rail in a tunnel under a land bridge as they can as well. Those high voltage power lines too.
  20. Sparrow
    I'd lean more towards between Huntsville and Bryan-College Station if venturing a guess at a possible Aggie area station. Anyone realize the Japanese meaning of the name of the town about half way along 30 where the rail line crosses? It's rather symbolic if you think culturally about it. Pure speculation, but it'd only be fitting to have a clean, new station built here with the birth of a new city around it.
  21. Sparrow
    #1: Check your info again. Your own source shows 131k people flew from DFW to HOU in 2009. What about DAL--HOU, DAL--IAH, and DFW--IAH? Fact check please. Garbage in, garbage out. #2: Let's for just a brief moment assume that someone did a bit of data analysis when studying between which city pair in the US to build their technology, and came up with a slightly better number than 2-5% ridership, especially when contemplating spending upwards of $10B.
  22. Sparrow
    Based upon where the scheduled meetings are, it seems likely the proposed route to the west of I-45, between Huntsville and College Station was the preferred route (website does not have details as of this hour--but will soon!).
  23. Sparrow
    Wait, I'm confused. In the article Burney says they hope to add a grocery store in 3 to 5 years, implying that would be separate from the 22k retail space they are building now. Perhaps they want to repurpose the existing parking garage in the future?
  24. Sparrow
    Dr. Khator also mentioned in her speech a "proposed parking garage near TDECU Stadium." Any chance this proposed garage may be the mixed use transit center that has been described in the master plan literature? GFR anyone?
  25. Sparrow
    I respectfully disagree. Dr. Khator stated in the State of the University speech that "down the road" they intend to build a "community-based" medical school. The intent is not to copy the existing medical schools, but to "focus entirely on community-based research and training." With as many gains as the University has shown with it's ambitious master plan, it would be a disservice to build a satellite medical school. When UH comes around to building a medical school, I have high confidence it will be within the campus sphere to better serve the communities of the Third Ward and the East End--not to mention the thousands of students living on campus.
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