desirous

Not freeways, but I get a big kick out of calling 1960, Jackrabbit Road; and calling Westheimer, 1093.

I refer to freeways by their numbers, except the West Loop, which ends where it meets the North Loop; and the Gulf Freeway, which goes by that name all the way to Cuba.

Nothing important got flooded. They evacuated their equipment onto street level and tied it to the fence.

Well that didn't get rid of them, they placed them back up. Right now they look fine.

We'll see what happens in a few months. Hopefully nothing goes wrong.

We lost a lot of trees.

Didn't notice much damage on the north side. I was too lazy to walk around to the south side.

The site flooded.

I didn't know there was a Chipotle there. Okay, I am not gonna get derailed with thoughts of their delicious pork burrito.

And I certainly am not gonna drive downtown for THEM!

At the Rice Hotel. Doozo is good, but driving here just for them... you must love food.

Hell, I've had people that thought the medical center was "downtown". I've had to correct quite a few people on that one as well.

I kinda' wonder what people think downtown was when they pass it by.

The converse happens too. This one lady was wondering when she was going to be in the city, when she was already in the city. She said most of Houston looks like "countryside."

Excuses! Run around! Do something!!

:lol:

They're right about the line. The Chipotle downstairs here takes twice as long, and their line looks shorter than the Doozo line.

oh my ,oh my ,where will the new residents of OPP shop or socialize or eat?

I think he's saying West Ave is a drop in the bucket within River Oaks' plentiful retail, whereas HP makes more of a splash. Rice residents are pretty excited about HP opening too, at least some of my neighbors are. It's not just OPP.

West Ave. will have a much larger pool of nearby residential to gain customers from. But it does have some competition with Highland Village.

Highland Village will have High Street and Oaks District for competition as well. They have more to worry about than West Ave.

Buttinsky?

That sounds vaguely Polish when pronounced correctly.

Nothing, Mr. Buttinsky. I was asking madmann101 for the reasons he chose Houston, reasons that apparently outweigh his desire for rail transport.

Maybe for a reason similar to mine, for moving back down from Chicago: I get a posh 1-1 in the Rice for the same price as my roach-infested dump in downtown Chicago.

Besides, Houston's got the best Chinese food between the two coasts, and the chode of a rail line isn't bad when you live next to a station.

Good luck. Let me know when you need a ride.

Does anybody know how many parking spaces HP will have? The unique problem with retail downtown is that parking is a huge hassle for visitors. Nobody wants to pay for parking.

Do you honestly believe this tripe? Or are you just trolling for the kind of response that'll get me banned from HAIF?

It's so outlandish, you need not get riled up by it. I could see how it's hypothetically true -- if, through a divine act of God, there is suddenly light rail everywhere in greater Houston, many people would be dissatisfied. Case closed.

Houston is too big of a city to have only a 7 mile rail system. If you don't want rail, than don't live in the core. If you think Houston is a great walkable city when you have so many streets without sidewalks and not much pedestrian traffic,than your wrong.

I don't think anybody thinks Houston is a very walkable city -- I live downtown and still drive to places. Guess what? All my friends are in the burbs. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with driving. It's a free democracy; if you like urbanity, vote with your real estate choice; if you like rail, vote with your Q Card. Then vote for the rail propositions and make sure all your neighbors do too.

One huge advantage of public transit: you can nap on the way. That applies to buses too; I got a pretty good snooze in riding the 255 Kingwood bus.

Huh? You're wishing for some sort of donut shaped asteroid impact?

Why do people pick Houston as a residence if they want everyone crammed into downtown? It's never going to happen.

It's called wishful thinking. Every city has sprawl around it... except maybe Hong Kong.

Enjoying density does not mean killing suburban growth. The two concepts are not mutually exclusive.

There are "town centers" within the beltway? I can't think of any. Anyway, a "town center" is just a mall without a roof.

Most "town centers" are mixed-use developments.

CityCentre. BLVD Place. High Street. Regent Square. Oaks District (sp?). Even West Ave roughly fits the mold. All the new upscale retail inside the Beltway are going into "town center" developments. In the investment profession, past behavior does not reflect future performance. In cities, past development does not reflect future growth. It is a fallacy to assume continued reduction in density just because that occurred in the past; a fluctuating equilibrium of density may be in play, and right now it is shifting toward city centers. Every major city is experiencing rapid core growth -- are you sure you're speaking for others, and not yourself?

A big chunk of Los Angeles County is denser than Neartown Houston neighborhoods. I'd say at an entire Metro Houston's worth of LA County residents live in neighborhoods denser than the Inner Loop here.

there's a lot of empty retail over there now perhaps?

I agree. A few new strip centers just entered the market in the area. They're still pretty empty right now.

Why go downtown when you can go to the mall?

Malls are on the decline, at least within the Beltway. "Town centers" are all the rage. Downtown, if developed correctly, could end up being a whopper of a "town center."

not for long. how old are you?

I'm 21, and teetotal. The stereotypes are screaming murder.

Anyone notice the car is ready to drive back on to the sidewalk again in the third photo after being fixed in the second?

Who said Houston doesn't believe in recycling?

Hooray, is that a Barnes & Noble I spy? About time I get an alternative to Waldenbooks.

They're all outdoor malls. Real town centers surround private property with public space. Real town centers have cops instead of security guards. Real town centers scare people.

The same people that make right turns from the left lane and change colors with a bum two furlongs away. I, DT resident, know full well.

The electric taxis run on tips. Metro is still cheaper where applicable.

PTC isn't a town center, it's an outdoor mall.