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woolie

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Everything posted by woolie

  1. woolie
    I hate the tunnels, but I don't think the Skywalks are so bad. The TMC has plenty of skywalks but (few: 1 or 2) tunnels. We usually walk on the street to have lunch, but if it's unbearably hot or raining we do take the skywalks. I think you need to have both good streets, but also make the concession that Houston is a mother____er in August and I don't want to walk 6 blocks completely in the heat.
  2. woolie
    I really dig this, actually. It's quite nice. Definitely my tastes. Let's hope it gets built (of course, standard cynicism applies.)
  3. woolie
    I agree about Midtown, though. It's why I moved here. Eagle @ Caroline. I get to ride the choo-choo every day.
  4. woolie
    Make a table of the largest 100 cities in the world and the % of trips by car... American cities and in particular Houston/Dallas/Phoenix/etc really are unique. Cars are popular around the world, to be sure, but in most cities the entire fabric that holds the region together won't dissolve if oil supplies are severely diminished, because most trips are either already done by other modes, or discretionary car trips can fall back to other (if less convenient) methods.
  5. woolie
    Alright, yes, I wasn't articulating my thoughts very well, but to me the quest for urbanism isn't about fitting some hip ideal, or wanting Houston to be like other cities. It's about sustainable development. The auto oriented suburban city gives me pause because it can be vulnerable to fuel supply disruption, which I really do fear is going to become critically important in the coming decades.. it's about climate change disrupting our economy on a large scale and displacing people all over the world, leading to unstable countries where the rule of law is declining in importance. It really boils down to an issue of Security, much more than environmentalism. The comparison to Detroit (and Pittsburgh, and St. Louis, and Buffalo, etc.) is this, which everyone missed, is the lesson from history, that a structural change in a society or an economy can easily turn a boomtown into a burned out shell. What gives me pause about Houston is the dependence on a single mode of transportation which requires a huge petrochemical infrastructure to support, and the dependence of the local economy on this industry, which although has improved in recent years is still quite heavy. And we can talk about alternative fuels or electric cars playing a role in the future, but we need to be moving there in substantive ways now, with more than just re-branded ag subsidies to corn farmers. Basically I think that global warming and peak oil are going to become important issues in the near future and we should already be moving to restructure our cities and transportation networks to prepare now, while we still have excess resources and are a prosperous society. When I think about building throwaway structures like a WalMart or CostCo, though, it's just pure sadness, that our built environment is reduced from being something people care about and discuss, to simply the cheapest possible air conditioned shelter accessible by freeway.
  6. woolie
    I still like the tin shacks. They remind me of British terraced housing.
  7. woolie
    *bang* It's always the magic phrase, "I want to leave Houston" that lets the wolves out on this forum. No one would be here if they hadn't intertwined their city pride with their own identity. So to say you want to leave is akin to insulting someone's mother. Why, isn't Houston the greatest city on Earth? How can anyone complain about delayed projects -- they're just icing on top of perfection!
  8. woolie
    Haha, alright. Personally, I wouldn't spend too much time there. Unless they had a really good, inexpensive restaurant like Niko Niko's. I'm not exactly their target market. I hadn't considered the train tracks, you're right. But, traffic aside, uptown has fantastic potential for exactly this kind of development. It has the right "kind" of consumers in the area. (I am admittedly not a large consumer of clothes, fashionable stuff, useless crap, etc., kind of stuff that these developments like as tenants.) The thing about CVS is this: it doesn't matter if it's a CVS or Burger King, or CostCo, or whatever. It's simply the construction of suburban-type structures in an area the city has bent-over-backwards to outfit for proper urban infrastructure. It's basically, "oh, hi, thanks for investing so much in this neighborhood. but we can't afford an architect, and our accountants say no risk is acceptable, so we're just going to use a standard acre-footprint design." At least I was able to stay because there was an excellent graduate program here. The TMC is one of the few things about Houston that I think is exceptional, and that I would really miss elsewhere.
  9. woolie
    What kind of work experience are you talking about? A Ph.D. is based on the work you accomplish. The coursework is a minor component, at best. Houston has them all, but they're all heavily dependent on the oil still flowing. You're still my favorite here... Alright, I'm guilty of ranting a bit while waiting for my builds to complete, but it's just out of frustration with development in Houston. The illustration was inspired by the Elgin CVS thread. Developers put up renderings showing beautiful mixed-use centers, with wide sidewalks, structured parking, residential, etc. What we actually get is a suburban big box store surrounded by parking. I'm thinking more and more, the renderings are just for the press to get excited about.
  10. woolie
    You left out the most fun part by assuming oil is a perfect commodity. The geopolitics of oil complicates any economic model like this. The US will go to war to capture remaining oil resources before the price gets too high. The resource war will be considered a wise investment. It'll be viewed as having a better return on investment than changing our infrastructure to reduce dependence on petroleum. Anyway, color me skeptical about alternative fuels. Corn ethanol has an EROEI of 1.3 and is really just an ag subsidy. Coal-to-liquid is an environmental cluster____. Biodiesel is marginally better. Sugarcane ethanol is realistic and has a positive EROEI but doesn't grow so well in most of the US. Everything else is hypothetical at this point: cellulosic ethanol, algal biodiesel, nuclear-powered DME production, etc. I did want to leave, but my girlfriend still had 2 years left (1 year of BS, 1 year of MS)
  11. woolie
    No one else is sick of being promised this: and getting this instead? So excuse me for lack of faith. It's clear no one with the power to build anything worth caring about is interested in building anything worth caring about. Seems that talking about walkable environments in Houston is the equivalent of snake handling and drinking arsenic.
  12. woolie
    Not even CERA makes that claim.
  13. woolie
    MidtownCoog is internet tough guy. Since you want to know, I'm 24, and leaving Houston as soon as I finish grad school.
  14. woolie
    You completely missed my point. Anyway, here's an exercise. Detroit hemorrhaged when the domestic auto industry collapsed. What will happen to Houston when there's no more oil to drill or refine?
  15. woolie
    The nightmare traffic in the Village doesn't seem to deter many people. Anyway, what I think is that these mixed-use renderings are just buttering city officials up for the Best Buy or Target that will eventually be built on these plots. Much less risk involved.
  16. woolie
    I'll be surprised if even a single one of the "grand projects" approaches anything near the original renderings. HP had its residential component sheared off. The HISD site will be a CostCo. I'm just waiting for the disappointing news on West Ave., Regent Square, BLVD Place, etc. Which will be cancelled or turned into a WalMart first? I'm just wondering if Houston is ever going to join the 21st century, or if it's a lost cause, the first Detroit of the sunbelt.
  17. woolie
    Score another one for Houston! edit: lol, gmta trae. we posted at exactly the same moment.
  18. woolie
    A ____ing boat load, like, $400k. Mosaic is crazy psf.
  19. woolie
    There are two cranes; one across the street from the main buildings (next to the art building or whatever, the one with murals) and another crane in front of the main building, which was a parking lot until now. They are building a ~4 story (trying to recall from rendering) new main building in front of the old main building and between its two 'eaves' on the former front parking lot. I don't know what the other building is. Anyway, it's in my neighborhood, maybe I'll go take some pics.
  20. woolie
    My objection to the surface parking is purely aesthetic. The runoff argument is a bit silly, actually. Let's take a look at how much surface parking is already in the area. This also shows how little of an "almost historic" neighborhood even exists -- and how little borders BCM. About 10 or 12 houses. In an area that's already been replaced with giant townhomes. These are some older renderings showing the approximate massing and scale of phase 1 and 2, respectively. They were posted earlier as attachments, but not in-line with the thread.
  21. woolie
    Gah, scooped. Here is an image I took earlier today at the BCM Family Celebration. This rendering is from a different angle. Agreed that the surface lots MUST GO.
  22. woolie
    it's amusing -- currently the facade of the other buildings are still intact, but they've been completely eaten away from behind.
  23. woolie
    cool pic, sharpfan.
  24. woolie
    That was my first thought as well. But animal facilities in the TMC typically have very high security and 24h guard staff. One I know of even has anti-truck bomb barricades.
  25. woolie
    I saw the smoke from the Kirby fire today as I boarded the train. It was several huge puffs of black. Didn't see the St Lukes fire, although we did gossip a bit about the fire at the new UT-HSC building that occured a few months ago. The rumor is that it was arson by one of the contractors.
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