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TheNiche

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Everything posted by TheNiche

  1. TheNiche
    I also believe that Westheimer is aesthetically pleasing. All up and down. The thing is, aside from a tiny little pock mark (and even then, within it), my Westheimer is the Westheimer that you profess to know and love. Were it to become lined with lick-and-stick inauthentic urbanity, the kind that is as overprescribed by architects to cities as Ritalin is by psychiatrists to young boys, you'd tire of it quickly. I'm sure of it. We'd need a new drug, a new paradigm. And then what? Life would seem a little emptier, I think.
  2. TheNiche
    If he's going to bother with video at all, he should bother with better production values. The point will be lost on an audience that is too used to well-polished productions. To that end, text is the great equalizer.
  3. TheNiche
    The land was purchased from Coventry Development Corporation, which offices out of New York City. I know that Exxon certainly has had previous dealings with that company, but was under the impression that this was an arm's length sale.
  4. TheNiche
    Those people are doing it wrong. Setting retail along Westheimer back from the street even just a little makes it safer and more accessible to people using the back roads to access it. So, the fact that some pedestrians act so dangerously that traffic has to slow down is supposed to make it okay because other pedestrians stand to benefit? No. That's utterly insane and unacceptable. This is not Calcutta.
  5. TheNiche
    FWIW, when I walk around in the vicinity of the Westheimer curve, I avoid walking along Westheimer. It's too ugly and loud. I'll walk along Lovett or California, or a different parallel. Same goes for Montrose, which isn't as ugly but is still loud; typically, I'll walk along Yupon or Mt. Vernon instead. If walkability is adversely affected by the volume, speed of traffic, and narrowness of sidewalks relative to already-narrow lanes, then Westheimer is doomed. (Westheimer is doomed!) Traffic calming could be an option, but I think that it's easier from a planning perspective to just let traffic be traffic and to let pedestrians and bicyclists take the next street over.
  6. TheNiche
    Thanks. I guess I'm not the only one, eh? They're all from the Summer of 2008. Nothing thereafter.
  7. TheNiche
    TheNiche's Westheimer Theory of Relativity states that all multi-tenant retail relates to Westheimer as a strip mall. A limited number of isolated exceptions exist under direct scientific observation, then revert to a strip mall when not so observed. Therefore, even if this project had zero setback from Westheimer, it would still be set back by at least 25 feet. Think about it.
  8. TheNiche
    I just noticed in a space below my avatar that I have evidently been given four warning points. I don't usually look at my own identifying information and it did not trigger any direct communication to me (as occurs when someone likes a post), so I can't tell how long they've been there or what they intend to warn me against. Would Editor or any of the moderators care to explain the purpose or functionality of warning points? (I've told y'all for a long time that if you don't like something I've said, you should tell me so that I can modify my behavior. Instead, all I ever see is passive aggressive ridiculousness that periodically boils over in needlessly dramatic ways. It's not just me, either. Does it really have to be like this?)
  9. TheNiche
    What is the problem with the development's relationship with the street? It is scaled up enough vertically relative to the distance that its still imposing, yet isn't so far from the street that it should be off-putting to any but the most lazy and slothful of pedestrians. It's not the Target that faces San Felipe or even a CVS Pharmacy in Midtown.
  10. TheNiche
    "Okay, so today I'm going to talk about..." is a bad opening. "And then there's Bayou Place, which brought some, uh, stuff downtown." That's one heck of an attribution! "One of my ideas for downtown is that we could do something like an open house for downtown where... [nose twitches] ...where we have each residential building on one day has open apartments..." Yeah, they already do this from time to time. Except they don't shut down the street grid because it would confuse the attendees. And that would be stupid. "Now, here's where I think I'm gonna put together the reasons why downtown living isn't growing." Weak opening. You didn't mention land prices or prevailing parcel sizes. That's why the patterns of growth are different. There were moments where I wasn't sure whether this was a manifesto for urban developmentt, or an advertisement for tourists or exurbanites. Figure out your audience, then address them. Develop a better script. Don't indulge yourself in cliched opening lines and transitional phrases. Turn off the music and introduce it as a separate audio track later on in editing (if its appropriate in the first place). Lastly, make your points more precise, less vague. If a specific entity has done something right or wrong, call them out as a case study. And lastly, try to be more original. Develop your own unique perspective. Right now, you're just rehashing information and others' perspectives. It just isn't particularly interesting.
  11. TheNiche
    So...after spending beyond our means forcing undesirable tradeoffs in the level of service, then (many years later and presuming that we still have those buses or that they still run) we can spend even more beyond our means on vastly more services. No, that doesn't make any sense at all.
  12. TheNiche
    At only 278 apartment units and 99,000 square feet of office space, they're being way too conservative. The market will easily absorb it. They need to push this entire site plan upward by an additional story and not leave money on the table.
  13. TheNiche
    Until the Wal-Mart had come along, townhome construction had fizzled out in the West End. The new Ainbinder development was obviously just the shot in the arm that this area needed to kick-start new residential development again. Also, you're probably referring to Post Midtown, not "Midtown Post Oak," which does not exist. (This indicates to me that you probably have no idea what you're talking about and are just parroting third-hand propaganda.) It is called Post Midtown because Post Properties is the owner/developer. Post had the opportunity to acquire the Wal-Mart site. They did not. The reason that they did not was that developing something of that nature, scaled up, in that location would've been thousand dollarsing stupid. The land is still there, it is not a quarry that can be depleted. When pigs learn to fly, maybe it'll get built up with something like the Burj Dubai.
  14. TheNiche
    Hey, I have to put up with bad drivers (and yourself), too. We all share the road, and even the best drivers impose an element of risk upon others. We only drive in order to get something out of it, that is to benefit personally. So if it's okay to impose risk on someone to satisfy our self interests, then...in for a penny, in for a pound.
  15. TheNiche
    Oh, no. Don't mistake me for one of the slow (or light) vehicles. Also never forget that the formula for kinetic energy is that it equals mass times velocity squared.
  16. TheNiche
    Just got home, myself. Yes.
  17. TheNiche
    I don't know jack about being cool, and being an individualist by way of excessive communication with someone else just seems oxymoronic and ridiculous. I do it to multitask, save time, and better serve those that rely upon me. I understand, accept, and share in the risks to myself and others. The costs and benefits of my extra productivity are asymmetric, that's for sure. But that's life (and sometimes death) on this pathetic and inconsequential world of ours. Live with it.
  18. TheNiche
    No, this is stupid. Moving freight is not currently expensive. (It is a mere fraction the cost of moving people around efficiently.) When the ordering, manufacture, and delivery of something massive is critical within a one-day margin for error, that only means that a product should really just be manufactured in the same city in which it is being demanded.
  19. TheNiche
    I unashamedly text and e-mail while driving. My clients are deserving of a quick response to any form of communication from them.
  20. TheNiche
    So...it hasn't been that long since the last renovation of HPD's headquarters tower at 1200 Travis, and it is on the market for sale. This is apparently to satisfy pension holders, which have a lien on the property. I have to say, this sounds frickin' stupid. I hope that they're at least trying to structure a sale-leaseback arrangement, which should be lucrative for them since the property will remain exempt from property taxes for as long as they maintain their presence there, and given that that would result in a higher sale price. HOWEVER...in addition, they seem to want a sprawling new campus at the corner of Houston and Washington Ave. I also think that sounds frickin' stupid. Granted, the facilities are very dated, however if anybody is going to build an expansive automotive repair facility, I'd like to suggest some less expensive dirt. The courts and the jail can go on more expensive dirt with structured parking that is engineered to accommodate additional level and offices above that in the future (in case the City should continue growing); that'll be fine if they do so compactly and sell off the residual land to a developer. http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/New-downtown-campus-on-HPD-wish-list-3615043.php
  21. TheNiche
    Go figure. That's what they get for keeping such an auspiciously ironic name, is disunity.
  22. TheNiche
    Would it be fair to say that a company that has a business unit whose marketing is driven by internet traffic and that incentivizes early bookings is managing to effect price discrimination against 'the great unwashed', a practice which feeds back on itself by increasing demand from the 'washed' as they respond to a more comfortable demography?
  23. TheNiche
    I couldn't help that you weren't noticing the loss of Niko Niko's, Georgia's Market, or Phoenicia Deli...because those things weren't lost, they were gained. OTOH, Scott Gertner moved in, but then Scott Gertner sucks. White people (i.e. the establishment) caught up with y'all...and it was pretty obvious what your perspective is. I only asked to be absolutely sure. Here you go, for your enjoyment: http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/154102/flippity-floppity-floop
  24. TheNiche
    Anybody have a list of good standbys along Bellaire?
  25. TheNiche
    In the long run,everything is an interim use. However...in the long run, we're all dead. This is what TOD looks like on Bell Street. Yay, light rail...
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