C2H

I would like to know where some of you guys have been? SA overtook Dallas in population about 3 years ago and has been talked about to death many times on this forum and others, news, etc.

I still consider Dallas to be the larger city than S/A because Dallas has a larger skyline, larger density, larger metro, and more amentities. It just feels bigger to me. The only hope for Dallas regaining the 2nd largest Texas title is the implementation of the Port in south Dallas. That should bring more jobs to that area.

^^^ What about Houston's proposals? Mainplace, Discovery Tower, etc. Are you sure that list doesn't go by just height? How do you know?

19514 is right, a plan for a hotel was never set in stone. But then again, the residential componenet wasn't either since it was able to get scrapped so easily!

Maybe i just don't get it, but how can FTA say that Metro is turning the deal around when everyone originally voted for LRT back in 2003? The 2005 revised plan is what was turned around to do that crap BRT in the first place. I see a contradiction in this somewhere. Am i the only one?

Yeah i heard that this morining on 97.9 the box? I don't understand how he died but i'm guessing it was weight related. Like Citykid said, there's too many Houston legends just dropping off like fleas: Screw, Fat Pat, Big Mo, Hawk to name a few. Sad to say, pretty soon all we're gonna have left is: WHO? MIKE JONES!!!!

So what can we expect out of all this? Is light rail going to be delayed for another 5-10 years? I was really excited and hopeful for Houston that it was on its way to having an effective transportation system.

Hey thanks TexasStar. I would like to get to Dallas sometime in the near future to check out all the activity in Victory/Uptown areas.

I'm really surprised Houston outranked Dallas. I thought Dallas would be higher than Houston since they have more rail and more urban villages.

I like Charlotte's new line personally. And yes, judging from the photos, it looks better planned out than Houston's current line. I also agree that their lightrail cars look just like Houston's. They're no better, they're just newer.

Any new news on Victory. I was wondering how it was coming along since this thread has been sleeping for a while.

Seattle, NYC, Chi, SF, Boston, and LA are all laughing stocks for one reason or another. You can now pass this information all over the internet because now it has been said, written and read. It's too late, you can not un-read it now. Seattle has been branded a laughing stock forever. But don't worry, it may or may not be booming and have thousands of people pouring into it every month like Houston, but I'm sure it has potential too.

I laugh at Seattle. Now you can go on to a Seattle based web site and tell everyone that their town has been laughed at. It has been written and been established. Now that you've read it, the statement is just as legitimate as the 'laughing stock' claim about Houston. In other words PW, now you have more internet dribble to waste people's time with.

pretty funny there Mister X. I guess No one can really argue with logic.

and also since the weather doesn't really get cold here, i don't see how an outdoor ski park will work. No body will want to dress in overcoat and alot of clothes because they'd sweat to death from the warm weather. I don't think they'll want to go skiing in shorts either because if they fall on that fake snow, they'll get ice burn! I just don't see how this will work.

Now the one that was being talked about in Houston a while back, at least that one is indoors.

I already expressed my take on this in this thread http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/i...showtopic=12346.

I think the lighting thing is starting to look overdone in Dallas now.

I hope this topic doesn't get closed for no reason like mine did.

It's all becoming clear to me. This is another Disney ride, but instead of giving the impression that you're sailing with pirates or in a haunted house, it makes you feel like you're in an "urban city".

Pardon me for being horrendously blunt, but just how in the hell do you know? You do not live here. You do not see downtown during the day, at lunch, or at night. You are making sweeping statements with authority....authority you flat do not have. You are either flat out guessing, or you have taken the opinions of others as your own. But, since you do not know the context of their opinions, your opinion carries the weight of a guess.

Sorry if I offended YOU, but you frankly have no idea what you are talking about....even if you happened to guess correctly....which you have not.

Well i guess coming to grad school since last November doesn't qualify enough to know what i'm talking about. I guess coming back and forth to Houston on internships since 2003 that sometimes last 3-6 months don't qualify enough to know what i'm talking about. I guess my "GUESS" is just a ghetto fairytale!

But what do you mean by "more urban"? What scale are you using?

Definitely not new york or Chicago. But lets face it, Currently downtown Houston is DEAD, lifeless, and empty. Its only LIVE during lunch time and business hours. I'd be happy to see downtown Houston even become somewhat like downtown Denver in terms of pedestrian activity. There may not be overcrowded people on the streets NYC style but there is enough action on 16th Street mall to go hang out and draw people there. You do see quite a bit of people walking around. So if Houston could one day match the level of downtown Denver, i'd be pretty satisfied. I just hate to see the downtown of the 4th largest city in America lack so much life.

Sorry if i offended anyone but memebag did ask the question.

That sounds like C2H is more interested in how Houston looks to outsiders than how Houston functions. It also raises the question of what makes a city an "urban city".

Well, yes and no. True, I have a lot of respect for Houston and I do want it to get more recognition for the great city that it is. But i think you're wrong about Houston functioning one way. Houston is a plethora of many different cultures, people, and ways of living. You can't put a stamp on Houston and brand it as strictly business professional when other parts of the city don't function that way. I hear people saying that the thugs come in and chase people away from downtown. Or downtown should just be for adults and no children.

Downtown has been doing all these rennovations to help it become more urban, to help establish a sense of place. Houston isn't just one way and if downtown is to become more urban, it has to accept all kinds of people, race, agegroups, skinny, fat, short, and tall.

I agree, no main stream theatre is a good idea. I don't want to have something that ends up becoming a daycare for teens like the MarqE is. Anyone notice the large number of vacancies at that place?

The way i see it, patrons are patrons. There needs to be a good mix of teens as well as adults to give the impression of an urban city. (No i'm not a child molester)

Hell, even new york is not exempt from having its share of teens on the block.

I know, i'm frustrated that this developent is not including a movie theater in it like they have in Denver Pavilions. Angelika Movie Theater isn't really a movie theater to me, its an art show!

I agree with him Gary. As much as I like Houston, i have to give the hand to Dallas in the urban development field. Just the fact that Dallas has more rail alone makes it feel more urban. Houston better be careful and watch out for its little brother Austin. Austin is capable of overtaking Houston in urban development sooner than we all realize!

Just because a skyline is lit up Vegas or Hong Kong style at night doesn't necessarily mean its buzzing with people at street level such as with Dallas. Houston's downtown is much more developed & filled with activity than Dallas' is IMO.

I agree, but half of the battle is looking the part. Driving through Dallas at night gives the impression that Dallas is a more vibrant and entertaining city. It's something that's more eye catching and is prone to grab the attention of an out of town visitor. In reality, downtown Dallas is no more vibrant than Houston. Houston's night skyline needs work. I'm really banking on the Houston Pavilions to start a trend of developing nicer lighting techniques for downtown Houston. The generic Christmas light theme has always appeared ugly and cheap to me. I even sometimes wonder if the building owners are doing that on purpose to keep Houston's image down.

BTW: Kudos on the Hunt Tower lighting. That looks mad cool!

So hows the weather up there in Big-D?

I can vouch that mpope is a true houstonian. She always posts at City-Data.com and constantly defends Houston on a regular.

Uptown development booming

09:54 AM CDT on Friday, November 2, 2007

By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News

stevebrown@dallasnews.com

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dw...wn.346c5ae.html

If you want to know what a building boom looks like, take a gander at Uptown.

I'm glad for Dallas but all that overbuilding is just sucking life from downtown as we speak.

the mia bella people also own cava bistro but that isn't open as much as mia bella. mia bella is definitely a positive for the area. i think it is the only restaurant survivor of the LRT construction yrs. food quality is excellent with reasonable prices!

the supposed red cat move will be interesting. the mgmt of red cat doesn't have a good reputation when you speak with their employees. their employees are treated poorly and end up getting screwed for their mgmt's faults. (long hrs, etc) losing them from market square wouldn't be a loss IMO.

I personally hope the Red Cat doesn't move because if they move to HP , it will leave a big hole in that part of Market SQ

I'm starting to think that American Apparrel is never going to open up downtown. They were supposed to open up in February of 2006. That was almost 2 years ago! Everytime I visit Houston, the building still shows no signs of being converted out of the garage space. What's up with that?