Mister X

UTHealth School of Allied Health Sciences at 7000 Fannin Street.

This is just another "the grass is always greener" post. If 'Victory Park' would have been built in Houston instead of Dallas BUT Dallas had built a downtown baseball stadium (MMP), basketball stadium (Toyota), soccer stadium (maybe) urban park (Discovery Green), 3-block outdoor retail center connected to light rail (HP), a unique new 46 floor tower (Main Place), and had another 5 or 6 towers planned in it's downtown all within a few blocks of a large convention center (GRB), many hotels, bayou walk and a large theatre district... while at the same time, expanding it's uptown and medical center areas (Galleria, BLVD Place, High Street, West Ave, TMC)... and all in less than 10 years instead of Houston, then there would still be someone griping about how Houston has to play catch up with Dallas. In that case they would be right tho. Personally, I wouldn't trade all those things for a 'Victory Park' - ever! Just take a look at how far Houston's downtown, uptown and med center areas have come over the last decade and be greatful for it. This city is moving in the right direction. A 'Victory Park' in Houston would just be another thing on the 'going up' section at HAIF, nothing more.

I wouldn't be too surprised if there is a lawsuit over this either. The proposal to turn the dome into a convention hotel didn't just pop up last week or last month. For years now there has been talk of turning the Astrodome into a hotel, why weren't the Texans and the Rodeo complaining that guest going to Reliant would be spending money at the hotel before this, and that they would be adversely affected. The Astrodome Redevelopment Corporation has invested time and money into drawing up the project, locating financing and all this has been done in the public spotlight over the last several years. The Texans and Rodeo could have spoken up years ago that this project was going to be vetod. So, if the Texans or the Rodeo are not going to allow any project that would draw people away from their venues to be built in the Astrodome, what could possibly be allowed? Even a cheap flea market would lure some people from the games and cow torturing going on in Reliant on those few days out of the year they are open for business. If this plan is killed now, why would any other development corporation want to come in and spend several million dollars trying to get another project organized if the Texans and the Rodeo are able to just veto it after 5 years of work and effort. IMO, If this project is allowed to die then the Astrodome is gone.

That's a good question. If Metro is denied, what's next? Also, what are the chances of Metro getting the necessary federal funding for all this rail? 50/50? Please tell me it's better than that ...something like 90/10 in favor of rail is what I want to hear. Any thoughts out there?

At its best, HAIF is a great place to come to get some detailed info about what's going up in Houston. A lot of people with insider info and/or interesting perspectives cruise these boards. Sometimes there is more credible info posted here than in the chron or other publications. At its most entertaining, HAIF is a great place to come to see some awesome photos of Houston. The people who take the time and energy to go out on the streets and capture some great shots and then post the photos here are my favorite members. I think they perform a real service at this forum. At its most annoying, HAIF is a place to come to get someone's lame opinion and listen to people btch about things they can't possibly hope to change (like complaining that it's always too humid, the water in Galveston is brown, or that nothing ever gets built, ect.- HELLO, look around you - buildings going up everywhere, humidity here to stay, brown water going nowhere). It doesn't matter if it's true or not, unless you've got a real solution or the criticisms are constructive to Houston's problems, it's just pointless btching and wasted bandwidth. Equally annoying (I'm sure) are people (like me) who wouldn't be caught dead writing anything bad about Houston, which I guess drives people crazy too for some reason. At its worst, HAIF is a place to come to listen to people treat the city of Houston and the people who enjoy living here like a punching bag for no reason other than to vent some personal frustrations. I'm talking about the people who start topics or come here souly to get the poo flying. Some threads just start out agressive - as if they were written by someone with a chip on their shoulder - especially the ones that start off from the get-go with a long list of negitives. They invite hostility, and put everyone in a defensive mode. Equally bad (I admit it) are people (like me) who have a tendancy to get personal, forget that there are actual human beings with feelings reading these threads and write posts that go on too long - like this one. At its stupidest, HAIF is a place to start threads that are destined to go nowhere, serve no point whatsoever or will knowingly be deleted by the person who created it. Only thing stupider is responding to them. And before you start a war with me 214, I don't mean to imply or suggest that this will be one of those threads - just to be clear. I think this will probably be an interesting one, seriously. But, you did kind of include a nice list of negitives to get the ball rolling. Not that I'm saying there isn't some truth there, but I doubt that a thread that starts off calling people 'jack-asses' is going to attract more critical thinkers to this forum. You and I may be guilty of a few things on that list, but I mostly agree with your main point that the forum would be even better sans the BS. Here's your chance to lead us by setting an example.

Actually, Worldlyman, I think I may have to take back what I said about SF's skyline. Now that Rincon Tower is almost complete the SF skyline has become a lot more interesting IMO. Rincon Tower is about 60 floors and is built away from the other tall buildings. It has that Williams Tower effect going on as you come into SF from the Bay Bridge. There are no buildings nearby anywhere close to its height (for the time being) and it stands all alone, commanding a lot of attention. They built this tower really fast, back in April when I made that comment, the tower just barely stood out, nothing special, but over the summer when those upper floors went up, people really started noticing it. I don't think anyone noticed this building until it got up around 40 floors. Those last 20 made a HUGE difference in that location. The tower is practically built right on the freeway lanes of the entry to the Bay Bridge. I've never seen a skyscraper built so close to a freeway. They interviewed a bunch of local SF people on the news for opinions of this building. Many liked it, but there were several weirdos who were complaining about how they think Rincon has ruined the SF skyline for the exact reason that I think it has become much better. Some people were complaining that it just doesn't fit, and although I see why they would say that, I think it has made the skyline much more dynamic and dramatic. There are many tall buildings under construction in SF these days, the number of cranes in South of Market area are putting Downtown Houston and uptown Dallas to shame. And some of the ones planned could drastically alter SF's skyline for the better. I first got obsessed with tall buildings as a little kid when I saw "The Towering Inferno" and in the movie there is that awsome shot of the ficticious 135 floor building in SF with all the lights on viewed from across the bay, on the Oakland side. Rincoln tower has that same majestic effect when viewed from the east bay and from the bridge as you come in. The top floors of Rincon are tapered a bit, which really reminds me of the "Glass Tower". It gives me chills every time I see it as I come in to the city from the Bay Bridge. Rincon is the tall tower on the left side of the photo. This photo must have been taken 6 months ago. The exterior looks nearly finished today. The really tall one in the middle of the photo doesn't exist at the moment. It is just a rendering of a new proposed building that has been photoshopped on to a real photo of SF. If they build that one it will reallly change the skyline. I wish I could find a photo of SF from the east bay to illustrate my point, but I guess this will have to do for now.

What great photos! Thanx for sharing. I'm getting all goose pimply. This thing isn't even near done yet and it already has a dynamic vibe.

Pineda, why do you ask if F-2 is dead? Couldn't both projects happen?

What a liar you are nucklehead. You certainly have been paying a lot of attention to our puny little 'megapolitan' area for the last few days - to the point of obsession. I never made 71 post on HAIF in 4 days. You need some help buddy. Don't your kids need a little attention now? Have you eaten lately? Why would someone spend all this energy ripping this city apart if they didn't feel threatend by it. You act as if Houston is the most important metro area in the world. So maybe we should be flattered. Even I don't spend this much energy writing about it. People from NY, LA, and Chi never give us this much of their time. But you Dallas guys don't go a day without thinking about our wonderful city. Thanx, I guess. BTW please don't ever grow to like Houston, I would HATE having someone like you representing MY city on other cities' forums. But here is some more fuel to keep you going: Houston is ahead of or only a few inches behind DFW in any important catagory. Just look at the headline on the top post on this thread. On the other hand, as far a cities go Dallas isn't on the national radar screen. As Texas' 3 largest city, Dallas probably won't even be in the top ten largest cities in 2015. No sources are necessary, this is common knowledge. There, that should keep you up all night typing until you pass out.

I would love to, Musicman, but I find writing that dribble is much harder to do than I thought it would be. Thinking up one lame-brained idea right after the next and trying to put it all into a language that only a dim-witt could understand isn't as easy as it looks. Writing incomplete thoughts and shifting from one unrelated idea to the next comes more natural to some people than to others. But I'm glad you got the joke.

So, I guess it must be true that if you wan't to know anything about Dallas you don't ask Dallasites. And if you want to know anything about anything you DON'T ask someone named nucklehead.

I know you're right, and I also know better than responding to this garbage. But what can I say, my inner child always gets sucked into these Houston bashing threads and then I start to feel that it is my duty to defend and attack those who dare trash my town for no good reason. At first I thought it was just another insecure Dallas boy with lots of spare time. Then I was starting to believe that it was a joke. Later, I started thinking that maybe this was some new kind of OTTO MATION type deal, only instead of making relevant announcements, it just spewed out irresponsible nonsense like a machine. But now I'm starting to wonder if this is some kind of internet terrorist attack designed to draw people in and force them to make angry retaliating post with the intent of getting some of the more loyal citizens of Houston and HAIF regulars banned. I know I have a few internet enemies living in Dallas, so it is possible - insane - but possible. No, it couldn't be. Could it?

Your wasting your time Red Scare, this (see above) is the only thing that he (we all know who) can understand. Just ONE arcticle? That's would involve reading, so don't count on it.

Dallas has severe material and social problems. The rail system won't take people to anything entertaining. Just to work and back how boring. It already is known thru out the nation as one of the most boring cities in america. Why do you think that on the new monopoly board game, the only tourist destination they could think of to put on the board to represent Dallas is Texas Stadium. Texas Stadium won't even exist in another few years. Also, look where it is located on the board. It is the second most cheapest property. This says a lot about the national perception of Dallas. All the elevated freeways in Dallas will also stop it from growing in the future. And in a few years after the government is tired of pumping money down the drain on the Dallas rail system to keep it running, there will never be any trains moving on it. All the rail lines will eventually be torn up.

H. Ross Perot gave Dallas a severe black eye and ruined it's reputation forever when he lost his bid for the presidency back in 1995. Now when people think of Dallas they think about losers and people who shop at walmart. The Dallas office market is over built. I read on the internet that Dallas is going to suffer through a major economic depression from which it will never recover because there are too many unneeded buildings going up. Especially in uptown. There is doubt that the Mandarin will ever get built there. I also read that the Arlington superbowl will be a failure because it is so far out of town and people visiting there will have to drive too far in the freezing rain. This will ruin Dallas' image on a national level and there will never be another large national event in the DFW metro again. I read that on the internet too. Dallas is jealous of Houston.

But all of uptown Dallas could be wiped out in a matter of minutes if a tornado were to rip through it. I saw it on T.V. Dallas will never recover just like NO and Galveston never recovered. The trinity river project failure will cause the river to back up like a giant overflowing toilet all over the ruins of uptown Dallas and then what will you have? The water will have no place to drain and everyone will have to move to Houston just like when Galveston and NO were completely destroyed. The united states government will not allow any more construction in Dallas because it is such a risky area to build on. And then what about global warming. What will happen when the super dry hot summers in Dallas cause the tempreture to average about 140 all year long. Scientist predict that in 40 years or less the entire DFW area will not even exist because people won't be able to breath there in the summer. There is a giant ozone hole opening up, somewhere over Irving that will cause the entire metroprarie to evaporate. The seaport of Dallas will suffer a mega economic collapse and drag the tourism and fashion industry down with it. The ships sailing up there will have to turn around somewhere around Corsicana. People will then be forced to move to the Houston area where they will be sheltered in Reliant Stadium. Once again it will be Houston to the rescue. There, now we are speaking the same language. Why waste time looking up facts and digging up sources this is much more fun.

Well that's what the lady said who was moving from there in the summer of 2005. I remember this pretty well because it is VERY unusual that someone trying to sell a home would say something like that to a potential buyer. The lady told me the house flooded 3 times since she lived there but I don't remember her telling us how long she had lived there. I think she said her in-laws built the house, but I'm not sure. This person was in the middle of packing and moving when the realtor showed it to us. I also remember that she said she had the original blue prints of the house and was going to show them to us because I was tripping out over the incredible beauty of this house. She was having a hard time finding them, so I told her that it was o.k. I knew she was busy packing. I also remember her being very nice and friendly. I don't remember hearing, or noticing the traffic noise at all when I was there. I was too buzzed by the house itself to notice any traffic noise. The street noise would not have caused me to not buy the house anyway, but the flooding issue did bother me. The house is so close to the bayou that it made since to me that flooding would be a problem. It probably isn't a major problem as the house has been standing for decades and looked to be in very good shape. I am really glad to hear that they are reducing the risk of the bayou flooding the homes in that neighborhood. I wish I had known that at the time. It might have made a difference to me. I don't keep up with when houses go on and off the market but this house was definately on the market in summer 2005. One with a passion for mid twentieth century design and the city of Houston would remember the day that got to go into this house for a long time. I only clicked on this thread because I thought I recognized the address and wanted to see if this was the house I saw back then, and it is. I really loved this house and I pray that who ever buys it takes really good care of it.

I actually looked at this house when I was shopping for houses back in 2005. I loved it but crossed it off the list when the owner told me that it had flooded 3 times since she owned it. It's right on the banks of Braes Bayou on busy Braeswood Blvd. The realtor showing me the house was absolutely mortified that the seller volenteered that information. But aside from the busy road that it is built on and the flooding issues I sure did/do love this house and that neighborhood. I'm not too surprised to hear that it's still on the market tho.

O.K. I know that this is a total waste of energy but here goes anyway. See where all the rail lines converge on this map? That's downtown, NOT MIDTOWN. By your definition of hub, "the most convenient area to be in order to get around to every place where the train travels with as minimal of an effort possible", this would be Downtown, or more specifically the intermodal station which will be about a block north of downtown. This isn't the best map to show exactly where the rail lines will converge downtown, I think it's a little out of date or incomplete, but as you can see the only thing that will happen in Midtown is that the Red Line will intersect with the University line. Get off this midtown fixation, nuckle, it is not the hub.

:lol: I guess they never got all that ecstasy out of the Dallas water supply. Just kidding. You show up out of the blue today to tell us how Houston blew it by building a light rail line from Downtown to the TMC (two of the largest employment centers in the nation which are growing by leaps and bounds these days) by way of the nicest urban park and museum district in the state, with complete access to three professional sports stadiums, more hotels than I can think of, and a large university. And even though the ridership numbers are impressive it is still a miserable failure. Why would that cause anyone who lives in Houston to become defensive? It's so silly it's just laughable. I don't think Houston blew it at all with it's first rail line. Any normal person can see that Houston's red line may not be perfect (perfect would have been underground) but it IS a success. The University and Uptown lines (wherever they decide to build it) will also be 'incrediby wonderful' because people will be able to ride a train between all of Houston's best assets (some mentioned above) plus 2 additional universities, the largest mall in Texas, all the uptown residential towers, BLVD place, and Greenway Plaza (another big employment center and megachurch). It will all be connected by 2012. That's just the fun stuff I can think of at the moment, there's more stuff in the works as we speak. The other lines, although not going anywhere I want to go, will be surving thousands of people on the north, the east, and the southeast sides of town. Commuter rail will be going to the northwest and eventully out to the southwest and Sugarland. So what's the problem? Like someone said earlier, the only legitimate complaint is we have to wait for it, but make no mistake, in a few short years no one will care that Dallas had a few more miles of light rail built before Houston did. If the only way you can feel good about the Dallas light rail system is to compare it to Houston's first 7 miles of light rail, then there must be something wrong up in the plex (I mean besides the fact that the rail won't connect the plexers with any of the fun stuff out in Arlongton). I think this is just another simple case of the usual inferiority complex Dallas guys tend to suffer from. They should open a clinic up there. - I guess that's kind of what HAIF is.

What the hell are you talking about? When the freeways fill up with water, all you have to do is get in to your kayak and row down to the Stop n Go for snacks. You seem to be all over the place. It's really difficult trying to follow your reasoning here. 2 rail lines will meet in Midtown. I don't think that will make it a hub. I think the hub will be at the intermodal station north of downtown. Have you been keeping up with metro plans at all? And I don't get the connection of Midtown's developement to the success of LRT in Houston at all. Isn't the point here to attract riders? It's just about moving people from one place to another. What difference does it make where the lines intersect? It's just another station. 2 rail lines will also meet in somewhere near Uptown (University and Uptown/Post Oak Lines) that won't make it a hub, just a connection. I think the important thing is to connect the major centers of commerce - and Metro plans to do that. Who cares what streets the lines cross on? If the Wheeler station area in Midtown ever became a destination on it's own, that would be terrific, but I don't think it's all that important whats in Midtown if you are staying at a hotel in Uptown and want to get to Downtown, the Museum, TMC, Reliant or vice versa/whatever. The only 3 lines that really concern me in Houston are the Red Line, the University Line, and the Uptown (Post Oak) Line. Just about everything I might take a train to in this city will be within walking distance of those 3 lines. Downtown, Museum District, TMC, Reliant, Montrose, Greenway, Uptown. I kind of doubt I would ever use light rail to get to the airport ( it would take too long with all those stops) but there are plans to bring it there. As far as serving the suburbs, Light rail doesn't seem like the best option to me anyway. With all those stops, it would take hours to get to places like Woodlands, Sugarland, or Clear Lake. Heavy rail or commuter lines are the only thing that would be better than what they have now. I have no use for any of the destinations on the DART system. I saw Plano and Denton once, I wasn't impressed. That system won't even get people staying in Uptown Dallas hotels to the Arlington Superbowl game whenever that is. Sad.

I'm being sarcastic but deep down I want Houston to have a showy, train system one day, even if it isn't the most efficient way to move people around. I like trains for the same reason nucklehead likes trains - they're fun. Who cares how much it cost and if anybody is really riding them anywhere. Even the coolest urban rail line in the world is a pain in the @$$ during rush hour. I wasted 8 years of my life standing in crowded MUNI trains in SF. Light rail is only fun when you don't HAVE to use it. (Standing nose to nose with a bunch of smelly weirdos in the same spot for 45 minutes is not my idea of fun.) But they're great as a tourist attraction and they make people living in second tier cities feel 'important'.

Wouldn't it be fantastic if this developer decided to build his 3000 ft tower near the corner of Bissonnet @ Ashby?

The ghetto is where James, Florida, J.J., Thelma, and Michael Evans and their dy-no-mite next door neighbors Wilona and her adopted, and formally abused daughter Janet Jackson (who frequently got it up-side the head with a hot iron by her natural, mentally disturbed mother) tried to leave for 6 or 7 seasons but always failed, except for the last episode when they all moved to a fancy apartment building on the nice side of Chicago because Thelma's husband Keith got a job with the Chicago Bears after the injury he received on his wedding day healed. But poor James never made it out of the ghetto - he died in a horrific car crash while working down in Mississippi. Damn! Damn! Damn! Coincidentally, Wilona and Janet Jackson moved to that same fancy apartment building on the nice side of town too where they all lived happily ever after. Years later, Janet Jackson made it big time with about 2 dozen top 40 hit records. Right on! Unfortunately, the rest were never heard from again. I think Arnold and Willis originally came from the ghetto too.

I never realized that saying Discovery Green and Central Park in the same sentence was such taboo, but o.k. That rendering in the Chron showing a patch of green surrounded by skyscrapers just made me think of it. It's not like I said something insane like Houston was getting the next Times Square or something. I'll drop it, but I don't think I'll be the only one (especially when it's finished) to think of Central Park when they see photos or take a stroll thru DG.