ricco67

Well, there are a pair of them on Fannin @ Wheeler, been meaning to ask on here, but I kept forgetting about it. Ricco

"WHACKED??" What are you, A soprano? Looks good. But each neighborhood or user have their own section and then a commented would be posted there? Would the comments be read in the "regular" forum in it's own section and subjection? Ricco

Well, I think you have a good view on what's going on there. I may not know all that's involved about STARTING a an association, but you seem to have started with contacts and are on the right track. Ricco

Well, well I think either a "midtown" blog or any neighborhood blog would be a great deal of importance to the people involved. If it's spread out to neighbors and such, it will create a source of information that the residences can get to. There is always something going on in a neighbhood that even the nosiest of neighbors don't know about and this will help them find the relative information. Of course, that could also bring more users here, which would help Daddy, and maybe he can get more sponsors. Ricco

I think it would be a neat idea, but I would think carefully as to the format of it. I think that it they should "add" to their diary on a single page and then go to a seperate "forum" to discuss the latest entries. Let's toss it around for a week or so. But of course, it IS your board, Ed. I'm but a humble poster that likes to have an oral case of the runs from time to time. Ricco

That doesn't sound like a bad idea. How about a "pizza" and "T-Dancer" buttons. I can think of times those two buttons would come in handy. Don't feel bad, my coding abilities are almost nonexistant. I've been thinking about opening up a board like this one, but a totally different (cough) subject. Ricco

I suggest the the blogs themselves should be insolated and posted as "articles" and have a connected discussion group ATTATCHED to the article. That way a chain of events can be read readily without the constant "interruptions" by people in the peanut section. (i.e. me) Ricco

From The Medical Center News Memorial Hermann to Construct Area's Largest Medical Office Building Jamie O' Roark memorial Hermann Healthcare System With the turning of dirt the shovels at a ground breaking ceremony later this month, Memorial Hermann Healthcare Sysstem will begin construction on the city's largest commercial construction project - the $155 million Memorial Hermann Medical Plaza. When complete, the building will be the largest medical office in the Texas Medical Center area. Designed in partnership with one of Houston's leading health care developers, Mischer Healthcare Services, the new facilty to be located at the corner of Fannin and McGregor Strees will encompass more than 500,000 rentable square feet. This includes office space for up to 200 physicians, and a 2,400-vehicle parking garage. Services offered include an onsite ambulatory care center with either surgical suites, four endoscopy suites, and a full-modality imaging center. The ambulatory care center will occupy 100,000 square feet on two of the project's 30 floors. Another two floors on the lobby/concourse levels will be filled by retail shops, services, and restaurants and will conveniently connect, via the existing skybridge, to comprehensive resources at Memorial Hermann and Memorial Hermann Children's Hospitals. Also easily accessible via skybridge are The University of Texas Health Science Center Professional Building and UT-Houston Medical School. "With its modern design, sophisticated construction, state-of-the-art services, and skybridge access to the TMC's founding hospital, this facility will be home to the best and brightest in Houston's medical community," said Dan Wolterman, Memorial Hermann Healthcare System president and CEO. "It represents, once again, our system's leadership commitment to innovation." The Project will create 375 construction jos during the two-year construction period and 191 permanent jobs upon opening.

Well, after 9/11 it was no big deal at all. Before that, I always had the tickets issued to me by the secretary or whomever told me to go wherever I need to go. They'd give me the ticket and I MIGHT know where I'm going the next day. Ricco

You'd think. But also consider people that have a tendency to only have their tickets issued at the airport. I know with my Eticket, I had a delicate flower of a time getting to the terminal (of course, this was right after 9/11...) Ricco

You make some good points in regards to that. As far as telling visitors, I'm sure something at the airport would suffice. Business travelers will catch on quickly. The occasional traveler isn't really all that well informed on movements around unless they're visiting someone here. As far as the locals that are going to the airport, I would imagine just hopping onto a bus would be interesting unless you have a serious load of luggage. In regards to parking your car...I couldn't tell you. It will be interesting to know the logitistics behind it. Perhaps a megagarage for only people that have airline tickets? Ricco

Amen to that, it'll give us men a chance to put the bags away and rest while the women run and test the melting point of various credit cards. Ricco

What is interesting, is when the topic of the Dome being turned into a Hotel, I BELIEVE the reaction here was universal in their approval (including myself). I was rather taken aback by this article initially, until I reread it and saw the sound logic in the article. I rarely post MY personal opinion after I make a post from the chronicle to see where everyone stands, and I find the reaction just as interesting. My personal opinion is the fact that I was initially pleased about the Dome conversation, but now I face it with a bit of apprehension as to whether or not such a thing would be good for the city of Houston. The reasoning for my hestitation for an overall blessing of this project is due to the fact attendees would be rather hesitant to go to downtown and spend more money and spend time in downtown if all that they really need is at the Dome. One also must take into consideration that not everyone will be booked at the "Dome Hotel" for a variety of reasons, a factor in that decision would be the cost of housing for attendees to be in that hotel. Knowing how some of these things are booked, the people going to a convention may ASK to be put downtown "trying to save money", but the cost ratio to productivity (and common sense) would vary from company to company. I've known companies that put up their people at a hotel 6! As far as the George R. Brown being underutilized goes and competing with the Dome Complex that is difficult to say, I just hope that we're able to get enough convention business to be able to keep both places busy. Ricco

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/f...hoffman/2836077 Oct. 9, 2004, 11:33PM It's time to lobby for a shuttle stop at Hobby, as well By KEN HOFFMAN Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Q: Thanks for pushing for sensible public transportation from Bush Intercontinental Airport to downtown. Maybe you could convince Metro to extend an express route all the way to Hobby Airport, too. It would be convenient for travelers needing to change airports in Houston. ADVERTISEMENT Jay Badugu, Houston A: Metro is thinking about starting a true, nonstop express bus between Bush Intercontinental Airport and downtown, which is so overdue it's ridiculous. The bus will run from the airport to the Downtown Transit Center on St. Joseph and Travis, which is really several blocks south of the touristy part of downtown. Reader Bob Martin sent an e-mail criticizing (correctly, in my opinion) this plan. He said tourists aren't going to shlep their luggage several blocks just to hop a bus to the airport. He said the bus should make three stops downtown (two at centrally located big hotels and one at the convention center) and then go directly to the airport. That's how they do it in other big cities. Metro needs to think smarter. Q: When does three strikes mean you are not out? Answer: when you are Ken Caminiti. Apparently this rule does not apply to baseball players since his agent said he has a great future ahead of him. Maybe he should have added if he keeps his nose clean. Just wondering. Mary Booker A: Caminiti was found guilty for violating his parole agreement on a drug charge and sentenced to 180 days in jail. Since he already served that many days (and more) in jail he was released. The conviction stays on his record. However, the Atlanta Braves shortstop recently was sentenced to jail ... as soon as the Braves are eliminated from the playoffs. And it looks like a Baltimore Ravens running back will have to go to jail ... during the offseason. It's unfair and ridiculous. No wonder some pro athletes think they're above the law. Last weekend I completed the MS150 bike ride from San Antonio to Corpus Christi. I did it very slowly. I was perfectly paced to get rained on the entire first day. Did you see the lady riding with two dogs in baskets? She passed me with ease. Repeatedly. Wave when you pass me next spring on the MS150 to Austin. Or join me on the Sun and Ski team and we can ride, slowly, together. Jim Tidwell, Houston From now on, I'm riding with an umbrella

that IS funny. Hope you enjoyed your smoke, I had to fight temptation to buy something. Ricco

Midtown_res.., I dropped by McCoy's thinking about you. I talked to the owner and they said they're open from 10-6pm and stay until 1am on fridays. I think they also offer a delivery service as well. Ricco

I took after taking the train to the med center, I decided to take a quick trip to downtown to see what all was happening. I was there briefly for a bite of pizza and seemed like there wasn't that much activity downtown. What's up with that? I was there at about 8-9pm, so I figured it was early, did it get busier as the night went along? I did notice how COOL (Temperature wise) and people seemed to dress appropriately. Ricco

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/e...outlook/2838216 Oct. 8, 2004, 10:30PM Astrodome dream is a nightmare 1,000 new hotel rooms would mean certain doom for George R. Brown center, many downtown hotels By BRUCE H. WALKER Houston's downtown hotel industry is vulnerable to a devastating financial hit if the proposed 1,000-room Astrodome renovation project is approved by Harris County Commissioners Court. The city's hotel industry is already oversupplied and will not correct itself for years. If they approved such a project, Houston City Council county leaders would be ignoring economic realities and jeopardizing the viability of all the hotels in the downtown area. The Houston hotel market is typical of what is happening in cities around the country. There are more hotel rooms than occupants to fill them. In Houston, aggressive hotel growth plans were caught by a national economic recession. Since 2001, the downtown room count has grown by almost 130 percent, from 2,200 to more than 5,200 today. Occupancy levels, however, plummeted from 79 percent in 2000 to 47 percent today, well below the break-even mark. This uncontrolled supply growth is responsible for today's hotel depression. This glut of new rooms was caused in large part by the city of Houston when it built the 1,200-room Hilton Americas next to the George R. Brown Convention Center with public funds, and offered tax abatements to entice hoteliers to build another 1,258 new rooms. Simply put, an additional convention center hotel like the proposed Astrodome would cannibalize the already struggling private and publicly owned downtown hotels. The city had good, but misplaced, intentions when it entered the hotel business to attract more and bigger conventions. The rationale for Houston putting on its capitalist hat was that a new headquarters hotel adjacent to the existing convention center would make the city better able to compete for conventions. However, the evidence shows otherwise. Low convention demand First, current national demand for convention space is about half of what it was through the 1990s. Convention attendance has been deeply depressed for the past four years, with few signs of a recovery. Trade Show Week reported an average of 111 million convention/trade show attendees per year from 1995 through 2000. Today, that number has been cut in half. There are a number of reasons for this, and the economy is only one of them. Others include a fundamental change in how business does business. Improving teleconferencing and other trends in technology and supply chain management all contribute to lower demand for conventions. For example, Home Depot and Lowe's have largely replaced local store owners; consequently, the need for conventional hardware trade shows has lessened. Second, local governments all over the country keep adding convention space, worsening the oversupply. Since 1990, some 80 cities have significantly expanded their convention center space and added convention hotels. Third, the evidence so far is that adding a convention hotel does not increase a city's demand for convention space. What worries hoteliers Because Hilton Americas' rate of earnings is currently about half the rate the city must pay on its bonds, the project will probably not be able to cover its bond obligations, resulting in a cash drain for Houston. Consequently, Houston hotel occupancy tax receipts will probably have to be used for the cash shortfall, resulting in little or no marketing funds left to promote Houston! Most worrisome to hoteliers in the downtown area is that all the market gain in room nights sold has gone to the new public Hilton rather than to privately owned hotels. The promise that major new convention volume was on the way has not happened. So, what's in store for downtown? Even without an Astrodome hotel, a dismal 47 percent occupancy rate is expected through the first half of 2005, meaning red ink will prevail. Look for hotel closures or conversions to residential usage. Lesson in earlier mistake Many cities have the naive notion that if you build it they will come. But, city leaders need to consider the overall impact that development will have within the city. Private operators knew the Hilton Americas hotel was a probable failure and so would not develop it. The addition of another convention center hotel next to a private convention venue would mean certain doom not only for the city's George R. Brown Convention Center and the attached Hilton Americas, but for the majority of the privately owned downtown hotels. For the city of Houston, what should have been a straightforward analysis has turned into a costly mistake. It is one local leaders shouldn't make again

I'm sure Houston will grab it today, I have to eat a bit of crow when it comes to Backe, then I read and heard the analysis and came to the realization that backe had the advantage because he's a relatively new player and there are few tapes on how he performs, so every pitch is a surprise to the opposition. hopefully, atlana won't score much, but I'd be happy with a 3-1 score. Ricco

Yeh, I might have to agree with you on that one. I'm not sure about the new kid's arm yet. Aside from some of the vets on the team, I'm not confident in some of the newer arms. Oh WHY did that Hernandez have to slide HEAD FIRST into 2nd base?!?! WHY GOD WHY! He COULD have been awesome!

actually, the S&B buliding is on Rice, the univision buildin is a bit further down. I pointed out the sign on old HAIF a number of months ago but no one made a comment about it. <shrug> Ricco

Well, I'm sure a few other apartments will come up eventually and then SOMEONE will come up with an idea of ground level retail to lure in not only THEIR tenants, but the tenants from the surrounding communities AND be able to make a little money from it to boot! Ricco

For those that don't want to click off site. <scowls at 2112> Houston Ballet

This is most excellent news! The construction along main should be interesting, though! The one thing I hope is that they put the emergency entrances AWAY from main, and it will be a relief for people who can't, for one reason or another, are able to make it to the med center proper. Ricco

The one I REALLY miss is Yakov's Deli. It was THE place to go. I cried for a couple of days after I found out he left. He was supposed to open another shop, but he never got around to it, I guess. Ricco