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KinkaidAlum

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Everything posted by KinkaidAlum

  1. KinkaidAlum
    Moronic. Voter Fraud isn't a major problem. Voter suppression, which is what "True to Vote" is all about, is problematic. Just google "voter suppression Texas" and see what pops up. There are already complaints about over-zealous "poll watchers" hovering over people, trying to turn people away, and using other intimidation tactics. Channel 13 already has a report about it. The tactics these groups use are quite simple. They tell voters that there will be background checks before they can vote. They tell them it is illegal to vote if their current address doesn't match their voter id card (that isn't true). They talk of fines and jail time. They prey on minorities and the poor who are more likely to move around, are more likely to be afraid of "authority" figure types, and are less likely to know their own rights.
  2. KinkaidAlum
    The Financial District in Boston is pretty lame. It's mostly just office towers and is very dead at night. It's close to really great spots (Boston Common, North End, Back Bay/Newbury Street, South End, Beacon Hill, Chinatown), but there's really nothing there after 6ish. That said, lots of tourists stroll thru it on the Freedom Trail getting to and from historical sites and to check out Faneuil Hall (total tourist trap).
  3. KinkaidAlum
    It's a beautiful old building. In the early days of downtown rejuvenation, It was going to become a Ritz-Carlton. I cannot even imagine how nice they would have shined her up. A real shame it didn't go through. A few years later, it was slated to become a Renaissance Hotel. I believe that is when the original work was done to remove the structure that stood on what is now the empty block but I am not certain. I believe their plans called for building a new garage and motor court entryway.
  4. KinkaidAlum
    We can promote until we are blue in the face but we'll NEVER have a tourist culture even in the same vicinity as New York. It will never happen. The cold hard fact is NYC is the biggest/baddest/most iconic city in America. Until King Kong climbs the old Texas Commerce Tower, we'd be dreaming to think we can promote a building ala the Empire State. I don't understand our preoccupation with trying to make things "like" somewhere else. I love downtown Houston. I love the Discovery Green. I love Market Square. These are authentic places. I don't need someone else to like them to make me feel better about my liking them. And, to be honest, if thousands of tourists started flocking to downtown Houston, in my opinion, they'd ruin in. Times Square SUCKS now. The only thing worth visiting is a Broadway show. There is nothing left that is authentic to New York. While it used to be a fun place to visit with hookers, adult bookstores, excitement, dive bars, gay cinemas, etc... it is now Toys R Us, TGI Fridays, the Disney Store, and other generic USAville. Maude and Harold now stroll around taking pictures of Coca-Cola ads whereas up until the 1980s, Harold and Maude would be watching their backs but loving every minute of it. Sure, downtown could use some more chains, hotels, and main stream venues, but NOT at the expense of becoming a generic Seaside wasteland.
  5. KinkaidAlum
    Yes, I have been to Times Square HUNDREDS of times. I went to college in New York. I lived in NYC for half a year after college and then worked there multiple times during my 12 years in Boston. I have hundreds of friends that live in the City, and NONE of them go to Times Square for anything other than work or a show. Trust me, those people that you saw taking pictures of flashing advertisements weren't locals. The folks sitting in lawn chairs weren't there from Tribeca. Those were TOURISTS and a vast majority of them were staying in the nearby 16,000 hotel rooms. It is because of those hotel rooms and the Broadway Venues that street performers like the Naked Cowboy pop up in Times Square and not say, down on Wall Street. But those tourists don't just come for Times Square and Broadway. They also come to see the nation's largest city, the Empire State Building, Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, the UN, Ground Zero, SoHo, Greenwich Village, some of the nation's best museums, etc... Houston doesn't have 16,000 hotel rooms concentrated in a small cluster. Houston doesn't have over 50 million tourists a year. Houston doesn't have 39 theater venues located in just a few square blocks. Houston isn't known for first-run stage theater either. We don't have the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building. The MET isn't here nor are we home to NYU, Pace, Columbia, Fordham, CUNY, Parsons, Cooper Union, Hunter, Barnard, Baruch, Fashion Tech, Hunter, Marymount Manhattan, Juilliard, etc... (the schools just in Manhattan proper). We'll never have a Times Square. The best we could ever hope to do is be like Dallas and develop something like Victory Plaza, which, by most accounts, has been a huge FLOP.
  6. KinkaidAlum
    Are we nothing but moths to a bulb? I'd argue that people are in Times Square because of the following; 1) BROADWAY. Over TWELVE MILLION folks go to the shows every year. Those folks often like to eat/drink before and after so it makes sense for there to be tons of restaurants and bars next to the THIRTY NINE VENUES. 2) HOTELS. Times Square is a convenient spot for a biz traveler. It's pretty much in central Manhattan making trips to Wall St, Midtown, Downtown, UWS, UES, etc... a breeze. It's also a place in which tourists feel uber comfortable because they "know it" and once they get there they see the TGI Fridays, Bubba Gumps, etc... and feel at ease. That's why there are 16,000 hotel rooms in Times Square! Times Square hotels annually acount for 25% of all hotel stays per year in NYC. I am telling you, if Houston had 39 theaters that drew in over 12 million a year with the auxiliary restaurants and bars that catered to that crowd in downtown and over 16,000 hotel rooms to go with those figures, downtown would be buzzing even if it were candle lit.
  7. KinkaidAlum
    I went with my gut and voted "no" on prop 1 today. It seems like a good idea but something just wasn't passing my smell test.
  8. KinkaidAlum
    I am very torn on this propostion. I can see the arguments both for and against it. I just really don't know how to vote on this one. Totally confused. So confused that I ditched my plan to early vote today so that maybe some of you smart posters could convince me one way or the other. So, let's bring back this dead thread...
  9. KinkaidAlum
    While ExxonMobil does have a large presence in the Greenspoint area, the majority of employees work elsewhere in the region. These are the following offices that I could find; DOWNTOWN 800 Bell St- Main Office for ExxonMobil Pipeline 800 Bell St- Main office for Exploration and Producing Operations 800 Bell St- large concentration of in-house legal counsel 1200 Smith St- Main Office for Seariver Maritime Financial Holdings division UPTOWN 5555 San Felipe- Main Office for Univation Technologies division GREENWAY/UPPER KIRBY 3120 Buffalo Speedway- Main Office for Upstream Research Company ENERGY CORRIDOR 13501 Katy Freeway- Main Office for ExxonMobil Chemical BAYTOWN branch offices of ExxonMobil Chemical, and home of Technology and Engineering Complex Other offices are located at 4500 Dacoma and 233 Benmar.
  10. KinkaidAlum
    I also forgot to mention that Houston is also home to Exxon Chemical. The Irving Headquarters is really just a shell that houses some execs who appreciate being close to DFW (makes it easy for folks to come to them).
  11. KinkaidAlum
    Exxon has a MUCH larger presence in Houston than it does in DFW. The headquarters would have been a nice feather in our cap, but unless Exxon releases that its 27,000 Houston employees (out of 82,000 employees worldwide) from the Upstream Division Headquarters (provides about 70% of operating revenue per year for the company) are moving out of town, then this is no big deal.
  12. KinkaidAlum
    Nice to see an authentic "town center" that isn't full of (insert generic chain store/restaurant here).
  13. KinkaidAlum
    I love how developers now just fling a "green" or "sustainable" development tag line on anything now. How in the world is paving over a pine forest green? How is building 5,000 mostly single family suburban style housing units outside Beltway 8 sustainable? Yeah, I know, they're leaving a "park" next to the creek...
  14. KinkaidAlum
    "Home" is hot. Love that song. Lots of different influences in there and that video is totally kickasssssssss.
  15. KinkaidAlum
    Metro wasn't able to start work on the Main St./Red Line until March 2001. Construction was delayed due to a couple of lawsuits (one from Rob Todd?). Planning for the first rail line began in the mid 1990s if not even earlier. I highly doubt that the folks who purchased the old Rice Hotel were unaware of the future potential of light rail being located right next door.
  16. KinkaidAlum
    Really? Memorial City got one new highrise condo building. It sits about 4 or 5 blocks off of I-10. From the looks of things, it appears to be quite empty. Isn't One Park Place within 5 blocks of the light rail? Isn't that "new?" I guess you might argue that the building isn't "condo" since it's a rental, but those apartments and their 85%+ occupancy are a way bigger project ($$$ wise) than the Memorial City condo bldg. Additionally, what about all of the loft conversions downtown? Commerce Towers, Hermann Lofts, Rice Lofts, Franklin Lofts, Capitol Lofts, etc... Sure, while none of those were "new" from the ground up, it's really disingenuous to claim that the rail didn't spur highrise residential development in the area when all of those conversions add up to HUNDREDS of millions of dollars of investment.
  17. KinkaidAlum
    Totally agree with you. Boston has both and the LRT is > the BRT.
  18. KinkaidAlum
    The center lane changing directions depending upon commuter patterns and time of day is a terrible idea. It was promised as a temporary fix until the new Spur was completed. The Spur has been complete for awhile now... I hate that I can't turn left now onto my own damn street so that others who don't live in the neighborhood can whiz on by more quickly. I also hate that the bike lane that I used to ride on to UH is gone. That said, my biggest complaint with West Alabama occurs on the West side of Kirby Drive when the road configuration turns into 2 westbound lanes, a turning lane, and a single eastbound lane. People driving East simply drive in the turning lane for very long stretches when they see the backup at Kirby. My mom lives on Ferndale and she's been hit head-on while she sat in the turning lane. Unfortunately, the real issue is that people are simply terrible drivers (and/or selfish people who assume laws don't apply to them). Eventually, there is going to be a major head-on collision. I've seen people drive at full speed for blocks while in the turning lane. This also occurs on West Alabama between Kirby and Shepherd. I'd love to see traffic cops on the scene one day to issue citations similar to the sting they set up on the West Loop/59 interchange (busting all the drivers who fly down the Bellaire/610 South lanes only to dangerously cut people off who had patiently been waiting in traffic in the northbound lane).
  19. KinkaidAlum
    Ugh, the sad news in Nancy's update is in regards to the old Sheraton site!!! We're gonna get a "lanscaped" surface parking lot! Yippee. Look for 3 crepe myrtles to be planted!
  20. KinkaidAlum
    I've been wondering about it for awhile too. My guess is that it's the physical plant for MD Anderson that I have heard about... but I am not certain.
  21. KinkaidAlum
    That thing is kinda cool looking but damn, that must have some major blind spots.
  22. KinkaidAlum
    I guess I will have to vote for rail; again. The biggest thing is we might be turning down FEDERAL MONEY; again. Will Houston be as idiotic as Guvnah Perry? So, in the interim, does this mean we will live with torn up roads, that UH moved 100s of trees for no reason, and that our area wont be employing thousands in lucrative construction jobs? Yippee!
  23. KinkaidAlum
    Actually, what's funny to me is that people are surprised that other folks are commenting on BRUTALLY painful architecture on an architectural forum! Isn't that what this forum is for?????
  24. KinkaidAlum
  25. KinkaidAlum
    90% plus occupancy in the Galleria area and all other planned projects for the area have been cancelled. Seems like a roll of the dice but one that I would play if I had the cash on hand to build it. This will be the first office high rise to be built in the Galleria submarket since the 1980s. It'll fill...
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