C2H

I confess, I am one of millions that love Las Vegas for the gambling AND the lighted buildings, billboards, strip, etc.

Las Vegas never ceases to amaze me. I love the audacity if the innovation and creativity the designers put into building it up. The skies the limit! For years I have bragged about Vegas being like a huge movie set built up in the desert. Each casino trying to outdo or compete with the other for tourist with stars and $ in thier eyes. Call it too much glitz and glamour but I lust it! It has everthing one could want that has an interest in entertainment. I could spend hours just checking out each and every dazzling billboard. So, maybe I'm in the minority but I love the madness of the lights and excitment, in the blood I guess.

Thank you for helping to strengthen my point . I was a travel agent for 6 months and was able to see many surveys conducted on how Las Vegas's lights are considered a tourist draw within themselves. Las Vegas isn't the only gambling depot in the U.S. Here in Colorado, there's several. The closest one from me is an hour away at Cripple Creek and Denver also has one about an hour away from there called BlackHawk. Casinos are a dime a dozen

I don't think BRIGHT lights would be high on the list of wants...

I've said this before and i'm going to say it again. I'm not suggesting that Houston be like Vegas or anything else. I merely pointed that out as an example as to how lights can have an impact on the city and make it more of a 24hour place.

I've talked with many travelers and yes, they go to Vegas primarily to see the entertainment shows and gambling. On the other hand, most of the time when they do talk about Vegas, they asscoiate, "I just love the lights and walking the strip at night".

Now for Houston. No you don't have to be Vegas, NYC, Tokyo, Atlanta, Dallas or anything else. There are many cities that light up their skyline tastefully without being too bright. Examples are: Denver, Portland, and Austin. But Houston could at least stop lighting virtually every building with Christmas lights and replace it with something else. That's all i'm saying.

^^^ and just because the 2 of you don't travel to see the lights doesn't mean that other people around the world don't. Many people love lights and flash. As i said before, gambling can be done at your nearest gambling depot (unless you live in Texas). Vegas wouldn't get half the recognition the hype if it wasn't for the lights and flash. Face it. Musicboy, i think you know that, you're just being difficult for the hell of it.

I'm done with this now!

you're explanation is weak. think about it, do you honestly believe that adding lighting is going to make a large number of people want to head downtown? or would adding some nice restaurants/shops/etc cause people to go downtown?

honestly, a little bit of both. Now i don't make the rules. Don't ask me why people and out of towners are attracted to lights. Don't ask me why so many people visit Vegas a year primarily to see the lit up strip. Most states (besides Texas) allow gambling, so if you think about it, they can do that anywhere. Don't ask me why so many people like Time Square's lit up scene. It is what it is.

lit buildings don't determine whether it is a 24/7 place. people make it that way.

I give up!

Some people just don't even want to try to understand. I'll let someone else take it from here.

PRIORITIES, people!

In the end, I don't care about decorative lights. I prefer the offices to be lit from the inside!

You're missong the point. True, Decorative lighting doesn't define a city, but to help downtown be more of a 24 hour place like Central Houston wants it, decorative lighting that's tasteful wouldn't be such a bad idea !

We all expect that kinda of post from him and if he changed and started making his posts logical and readable, the rest of us wouldn't know what to do with ourselves.

Sorry plastic but i had to laugh on this one. It was funny!

Yeah, it must be cool to see that buglamp from 30 miles away.

You can hate on Dallas all you want but Dallas's colors look better in the night sky than Houston's christmas lights. It looks too much like lighting was an afterthought.

I'm not saying that H should try to be like Dallas, but Houston's building owners need to hire some lighting architects to where they can light up the buildings in a tasteful manner without being too gaudy or showy.

This topic is something that i've always been in support of. I started a similar topic related to this long time ago on the old HAIF thread before it crashed.

Everytime i'm in Houston, i wonder why the City doesn't highlight the best aspects of the city (i.e. the Skyline). I think its great that they started to light the Buffalo Bayou with the blue flood lights. I think they should do it every night instead of a few nights every month. They should also paint the columns under that portion of the freeway and clean the Bayou more. Last time i was there, the Bayou was starting to look neglected again.

As far as the skyscrapers, i can't help but wonder why some people in this city don't think that Houston's night skyline needs improvement. I didn't at all understand Redscare and Musicman's opening comments at the beginning of this thread. When i was watching the MLB World Series last year, i was a tad embarassed when they showed Houston's dim lit skyline in the back when comparing it to the light show Chicago did. I don't know what it is, but people like lights. It makes a city seem more vibrant and upbeat. Take it from someone who visits Houston quite frequently like myself. I always like hanging out in the Uptown/Galleria area because it seems like the center of Houston's activity. Downtown sort of seems like it sits in Uptown's shadow. Yes, partly the reason is because of the way downtown Houston is so poorly lit at night. Even though Main Street is lit up nice, everything surrounding it makes it seem like Pleasantville.

To improve Houston's skyline at night, the first thing that downtown owners need to do is to remove the white christmas lights from the rooftops. Whoever thought that would look good needs to be fired. Christmas lights on a building doesn't even flow well for a skyline. Its like they just light it for the sake of lighting it so an airplane won't crash into them. The Christmas light concept might work well in smaller cities like Baton Rouge, Fort Worth, or even Tulsa. If Houston wants to be treated more like the 4th largest city, it needs to start acting like it. For a visual example, Houston should look to it's neighbor 238 miles north.

Scarface, you have my support. I've already written a letter last time this topic was brought up several years ago. I still think the more letters that get out, the better chance of something getting done. Let's do it folks!

PS. Thanks for the address

Central Houston: New Phone #(713-650-3022

Robert Eury

909 Fannin Suite 1650

Houston, TX 77010

There are a number of business failures as well. It is a risky place for small business. I wish instead of advertising and putting icing on the cake, that the Chronicle would report it in more depth. That is partially a problem from the community in the "sales" state of the union approach. For example, the number of jobs - it is better to report " quality jobs" rather than jobs.There are so many college students working in the stores, I have no idea how many real jobs there are. This is of course normal in malls. The rent is high and there are probably many businesses on the edge. The occupancy rate looks really good and that in itself is good news for The Woodlands.

As far as i'm concerned, jobs are jobs. Anything that's added is good in the long run. Other cities promote any positive trends in the job industry whether they're corporate, retail or not. I don't blame the chronicle for putting this in a positive light.

Keep it on topic. One more time - this forum is not about Dallas v Houston comparisons, so don't try to steer it that way. Got it?

Relax dude. Don't give yourself an anurism.

I apologize everybody

Thank you! Finally someone who agrees with me! And Welcome to HAIF!

I agree with you too

It just seems that some Houstonites have just settled in mediocrity.

I wasn't getting defensive at all, that comment was too silly to get riled up about. And your explanation is just as silly. Parks and two urban projects are not going to cause Houston and Dallas to suddenly turn into twin cities. There's a whole thread in this section of the forum that discusses how Victory and HP are different than one another. I'm sorry, if I came off denfensive, that truly was not my intention, it's just that the very idea that Houston announces something first and then Dallas copies it sounds like the ramblings of a seven year old.

Well call it what you want. I think its even more silly for you to take that comment i made about Houston and Dallas sharing too many similarites out of context. There are a lot of things Houston has done first and then Dallas did. The Galleria is an example. Then again there are things that Dallas has done that Houston shortly followed such as: Mass transit and Urbanization. There's exclusives that Dallas has such as Victory Plaza Screens, which is something that Houston doesn't have and doesn't have any intention of getting. The only real exclusive i think Houston has is the beach and that's really Houston metro, not Houston.

Maybe my earlier post came off a tad confrontational but Point is, i think each city should have certain things that can't be found in the next city, especially since they represent the same state. That's my opinion. If that sounds like ramblings of a seven year old then that's too damn bad.

That's right, Houston and Dallas are the only cities with the insight to put parks downtown. What city was Houston copying, maybe Chicago, when it decided to put a park downtown? How silly.

Quit getting so defensive, I was really talking about cities in Texas.

If you want to get that technical, then Dallas Victory is copying off New York times square.

My point was is that it seems that shortly after Houston announces one thing, so does Dallas. Dallas already has one of the hottest developements in the country, Victory. It just seems that Houston can't have one unique thing on its own without Dallas getting it too.

I wasn't flaming, i just want Houston and Dallas to have some exclusives that can't be found in either city.

PS: slfunk, i noticed your comment, but i wanted to tell Mr. defensive here my reasoning for my comment.

Work is starting on the park at this area or downtown... here's the new proposal: http://www.dallascityhall.com/committee_br...ainStGarden.pdf

Way cleared for downtown Dallas park

Landmark Commission first votes to deny, then OKs demolition permits

11:30 PM CDT on Monday, April 2, 2007

By DAVE LEVINTHAL / The Dallas Morning News

dlevinthal@dallasnews.com

It took four votes, a few hours and plenty of argument and accusations along the way.

...

Dang is there anything that Houston can do without Dallas doing it also? First it was Houston House of Blues opening up and then Dallas has one opening up shortly after. Now Houston gets a park, now Dallas gets a park. Not to rant, but its taking away from the uniqueness of these two cities.

Wow, this is good news! The one in San Marcos/ San Antonio area is niice. So is the one in Castlerock right outside of Denver CO.

"On Earth ???!?!?!

You $#$%^&*@$%&.

It's the greatest city in the galaxy. Dallas gets no respect."

Maybe I'm missing something. But, wasn't that obvious sarcasm?

Just go back and review his previous posts in the past and you'll see why i made that statment. Judging from his history of jumping on anybody who says anything about Dallas, i know the comment couldn't have been sarcasm.

On Earth ???!?!?!

You $#$%^&*@$%&.

It's the greatest city in the galaxy. Dallas gets no respect.

SpaceCity no disrespect but why don't you pack up and move to Dallas. Leave your name/ title behind because you sure do be on Dallas's nutsack!

I think its dumb to always accuse someone of flaming just becuase they post some information about their city. Some people on this forum need to get off it!

BTW, that is interesting how Atlanta's GDP is higher than Houston's and they aren't larger than Houston (YET). The chart did say that was just for 2005 though!

I'm excited about this development. Can't wait to get to Houston to see all these projects popping up out of the ground like weeds!

Don't Worry about Atlanta surpassing Houston in terms of population. I heard that as soon as Atlanta gets close, Houston is going to annex all of Southern Louisiana. That should keep Atlanta at bay for another 5 years.

Just like Dallas snatches all of innocent little Fort Worth and all their city amentities and try to form it as one to boost Dallas's image.

Seriously, grow up man!

I think the past few years, Atlanta's outstanding growth was just really because it was Atlanta's time. I think Atlanta is still growing healthy but has slowed down a bit. Houston's time was in the 70s and early 80s and still maintains a heathy growth rate its economy continues to diversify. Someone said earlier that Houston's economy depends too much on Oil, but within the past 30 years, its diverted to Medical Research and other things. Houston is an international city which also draws foreign immigrants. The Port is also a huge advantage, and when the Port extends to Dallas, that will make it even easier for goods to come into the state, contributing to further jobs, thus resulting in further growth.

Yes Atlanta is very capable of passing Houston but i just don't see it happening in my lifetime as long as Houston maintains a healthy growth rate.

I still wouldn't go so far as to say that downtown Dallas has more riding on it than downtown Houston has w/ HP. Downtown Houston is about to make a HUGE turnaround. Downtown houston is already about 10 years ahead of downtown Dallas in terms of development. With all these projects: Discovery Green, HP, and 1 Park Place, its about to see another renaissance.

All in all, i think both cities downtowns have very promising futures and i'm proud that both will represent some of the best of what Texas has to offer.

all these replies to this? Is there an official announcement or is this some some hearsay hype? " I heard Coyote Ugly is opening up downtown". I won't believe anything until we see some type of source.

Jeez, so I screwed up by adding an extra letter . . .

But yes, I will change it would my next update with Montrose1100's additions, I am just lazy this morning.

I was just giving you a hard time. You're doing great work.... keep it up!