WesternGulf

So Richmond is to Westpark as Fannin is to Almeda? None of the above routes are the least bit comparable.

If that comparison was not good enough I would then say Braeswood Boulevard. It seems like they both, Almeda/Westpark and Fannin/Richmond are on seprate ends of their respected business districts and one runs through the heart of it rather than the outskirts. Although you would have the barrier of 59 to go under dealing with Westpark.

IMO, the LRT shouldn't be a glorified bus route (which is what we have now), it should actually strive to save commuters time so that more would be willing to use it.

Honestly, I do not think the current LRT is that bad if you are not using it for full commuter purposes such as riding from Fannin South to Main Street Square. Parking is still too cheap in downtown and 30 minutes on a tram is not better than spending at the most 8-10 minutes driving 288 to downtown. With that said, for anyone who has visited Portland and has been on the yellow line, it is very comparable to the current Red Line. The Red line goes to Downtown to Reliant Park and the yellow line goes from downtown to Portland's Expo Center. Both are about the same distance and average out to about 30 minutes for the 7 mile ride. Now why does the Red Line have almost triple the number of passengers a day as the Yellow Line in Portland? Our glorified bus route is doing something right.

Why not indeed! That would be even better, but it seems like the powers that be (public and private) want it on Richmond or Westpark. To make Houston world-class it SHOULD be on Westheimer, but I fear that will never happen.

I think the argument of being world class and aesthetics and overlooking what is sustainable does not get people very far. This is why I cringed when one man in the Pro Richmond Rail crowd was on multiple news stations stressing how is Houston going to be world class if...........? Personally I started to tune out. I would also love for rail to be on Westheimer but it will not work for obvious reasons that most can see on the surface.

The fact that some on here are talking about Westpark having fewer stops and longer stretches of grade seperation is very telling. It almost sounds like we are talking about commuter rail rather than neighborhood transportation. The argument about placing light rail on Westpark rather than the heart of places like Greenway Plaza is like placing the current line that goes through the TMC on Almeda vs Fannin.

I had lunch at Au Bon Pain today.

So did I. Meaning yesterday.

Ummmm... BLVD Place and the Whole Foods shown in the rendering, will be a good 5 miles from the Pierce Elevated.

I was getting confused too.

You can see the steeple from 288.

Anyone have pics of that place?

It has some crazy photo shop but I believe this is it:

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=372546757&size=o

But my question in return to that answer is...where are all the parking spots for outside dwellers of BLVD Place? How can they shop there if there's no space for their cars?

Well from what I have seen the only setrbacks for BLVD Place will be on Post Oak. The Whole Foods will be stripped with parking, just not as abundant as your average Houston grocery store. Plus I am pretty sure there will be several parking spaces in garages for BLVD Place.

Might be fixed.

Question.

It's BLVD Place thats anchor is going to be a grocery store, right? And that's supposed to be a small "walkable" community, right?

Well, why can't downtown get a grocery store then? Doesn't downtown already have a population bigger than what BLVD Place intends to house?

You bring up an interesting point, but like Niche pointed out, the obvious answer is the grocery will not serve the development alone. Plus as far as amenities, I think the options in BLVD place, as far as retail and residential are a lot more denser than downtown as a whole. I am sure someone can take a few adjacent blocks in north downtown that consist of hotels such as Magnolia and Hotel Icon, residences such as Hermann Lofts, Bayou Lofts, Franklin, Byrd's, and others, retail such as Market Square and the rest of the historic district and justify a grocery coming in such as BLVD's Whole Foods, but the surrounding demographics have to support it also.

Is this it? Center right:

Haven't seen this month's Texas Monthly but here is a slightly larger pic of Parkside.

Same with sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles. I've always had more 'issues' being 'accepted' by co-workers than anything else.

A lot of companies in this part of the region still have issues with adding sexual orientation to discrimination policies.

I have a cousin in Atlanta that had the same feelings as you. His immediate family is pretty open minded and progressive but what he feared the most were his friends. The sad thing is, it took an act of attempted suicide for some of his friends to accept him. With that said I find it unfortunate how so many have a blind eye to suicide rates in this country because they still think someones sexuality is as black and white as a choice.

Maybe having a taxpayer get conked in the head might motivate the city to insist on some action.

I fell guilty but and probably true.

Is that a residential component to the south of the library in WG's last image? Looks like it to me. In the meantime, I love the building's design. Very nice.

Think so. 200 units, 500 space parking garage, and 50,000 sq ft of retail.

I can't tell -- does the rendering include a parking garage?

I believe there is suppose to be two floors of parking below the library.

Here is another angle from McGowen and Main. Notice the HCC building in the background.

I was looking at the Kirksey website and it looks like there is some sort of library proposal for the superblock in midtown. Here are the renderings:

From Main Street

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/8931/235w18pc2.jpg

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/3900/409fargoym3.jpg

Layout of Library. McGowen light rail station at upper right.

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/7892/407heightshj3.jpg

Anymore info?

Either way it goes, I think we would have to evolve as a society to see the benefits of gun control. Australia has had severe gun control for generations.

You know this is really starting piss me off. Just because someone says that a city is dirty shouldn't spark a fued. People say way worse things about Houston all the time and are they slammed to death.

I know what it is and i don't want to say it.

**COUGH** Because he's black! ***COUGH***

Let me be the first to say this is a story that would be buried in the newspaper in my view, but I seriously do not get this statement.

Philadelphia does Mayor Nagin a favor to show how former blighted areas were turned around in urban areas, but his main gripe, don't know if he should have one at all, is how ugly Philadelphia is. How many situations have you ran across where public officials have done this? Specifically about Houston? He has a right to his opinion but you do not see anything barren about this situation? How race was brought up is beyond me in this particular case.

It has all the infrastructure such as: Subway, Train Stations, Video Screens, and all the flashy stuff but something is missing.

You love it. Like I said earlier, if any of it was proposed or planned in Houston, it would be used to defend the city QUICK. If it is located anywhere else, the response would be "it's aight."

Only historical condo buildings in downtown. Some have balconies on their backwalls though such as Commerce Towers and Bayou Lofts.

I saw this on TV last night. Not the most informative report.

I am pro choice but late term abortions have always made my stomach almost literally turn.

BTW, here is an interesting map:

Wow, it takes Haif just 8 posts to go from talking about a lighting scheme on a new building to questioning the character of Dallas.

Stay classy, Houston.

Don't worry. I hate to say it, but if it was in Houston, it would be on our resume QUICK.

Nice looking tower.

Google is criminally outdated. Here is a more updated photo of the area. Indika to the right.