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CaptainJilliams

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Everything posted by CaptainJilliams

  1. CaptainJilliams
    Thank you, I too have seen that documentary and it makes it thankful that our situation isn't nearly as bad as Seattle's.
  2. CaptainJilliams
    Houstonia also has an article on homelessness: https://www.houstoniamag.com/articles/2019/5/17/2019-homelessness-count-houston-harris-county-coalition-for-the-homeless-way-home New Data Shows Promising Decline in Greater Houston Homelessness When the data is arranged visually, it really does look encouraging to see that progressive downward trend!
  3. CaptainJilliams
    Thank you! And there we go, new renderings, and honestly, it's different but it still looks pretty good in my opinion.
  4. CaptainJilliams
    Very true. It just sucks that these gathering places are in prominent areas of downtown (Main Street, Minute Maid Park) and along pathways that connect Downtown to Midtown, causing people to feel limited in how far they can safely/comfortably walk.
  5. CaptainJilliams
    Darn, thanks for pointing that out. Here's hoping they make minimal changes to what we've already seen.
  6. CaptainJilliams
    Dang, just a few weeks ago this was a grassy plot. Awesome to see this move so quick!
  7. CaptainJilliams
    Ah, now I see it...if this is the redesign it isn't very drastic at all. But I do see what looks like a pedestrian bridge and I thought that was scrapped.
  8. CaptainJilliams
    Thank you. I can’t tell you how disappointed I would be if they tease us with the old rendering on signage and then build something different.
  9. CaptainJilliams
    No, I’m not surprised too much. Houston’s homeless situation is actually far better than many other major American cities. Of the top 5 most populous, I think you could argue Houston’s in the best situation in terms of managing numbers. And you also read stories about places like San Francisco, which already had a massive homeless population, see a 17% spike from last year to this year. But Houston is primed to have some massive changes take place the next 5-10 years, more specifically the decommissioning of Pierce Elevated and the plan to sink the highway near Downtown and Midtown. Once the projects take place, there will be an inevitable scattering. And I acknowledge we need more affordable housing/shelters and mental health facilities to assist these people. My question is what part of town could have these facilities and not receive major pushback from nearby residents?
  10. CaptainJilliams
    I see a rendering on that signage, is it any different from what we’ve seen?
  11. CaptainJilliams
    I wanted to touch on a topic that has been weighing heavy on my mind recently, and I'd like to hear peoples thoughts. It's ironic that I discovered both these posts today. First, I read a somewhat encouraging article from Houston Public Media about a 5% decline in the homeless population from 2018 to 2019. You can read more in the article here: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/city-of-houston/2019/05/15/333384/homelessness-down-5-in-houston/ . Obviously the stat on mental health spending was a little depressing, but to hear that Harris, Fort Bend, and Montgomery counties experienced a 54% decline in homelessness since 2011 was surprisingly positive news. But shortly after that I ventured over to the Houston Reddit to find a post entitled "Walked down Main St. from McGowen to Congress yesterday afternoon", which can be read here: Simply put, the post did not give me the warm fuzzies, especially since the area in question stretches all the way down Main Street. Sadly, I have seen the sights described in this thread, maybe not so much the smells, but definitely the sights. I've experienced the yelling, the drunkenness, and the tents/garbage lined up under the freeways. Downtown and Midtown are experiencing decent growth and development right now, yet the presence of the homeless continues to linger and in some cases grow. Certainly new development is helping clean some of these areas, but it seems as though these people simply relocate to other areas close by. For example, when I first moved to Houston in 2017, the entrance to 59 South from Richmond looked like any normal feeder. But for the past 6 months it has become overrun with garbage and filth, and this is right across from the Post 510 apartment complex. You can check the Yelp reviews for the place and see the problem is creating negative reviews from the tenants. This isn't the only complex experiencing the issue in the area, and I feel as though it will continue to keep people away from potentially relocating to Midtown and Downtown. But again, I want you guys to tell me your thoughts on the matter. What is the best course of action the city can take to curve this issue? Does anyone living in Midtown/Downtown echo these sentiments and have their own experiences to share? How will this impact the growth of Houston going forward?
  12. CaptainJilliams
    They were installing brown siding today on the western side facing Timmons.
  13. CaptainJilliams
    Wow, this is great news! Granted the design isn't anything spectacular, but it still creates those neighborhood connections that allow for more walkability.
  14. CaptainJilliams
    If you are talking about the Uptown Transit Center, scroll up and check ekdrm2d1’s post from May 2nd.
  15. CaptainJilliams
    So this thing looks dead?
  16. CaptainJilliams
    Darn
  17. CaptainJilliams
    Agreed on the Midway + HEB, that will be exciting. But do we know that BB&B is gone for sure? I mean, there are quite a few young families that live in the area and to my knowledge the only other close one is in Meyerland. I’m all for redeveloping the land, but I’m sure they are still getting decent business. They may linger around a little longer.
  18. CaptainJilliams
    Skeptical, but I want this tower to happen so bad.
  19. CaptainJilliams
    The Camden website for their Houston apartments indicates the Downtown tower should open by November 2019.
  20. CaptainJilliams
    I could be wrong, but technically I believe it is designed to flood.
  21. CaptainJilliams
    I wasn't sure if a separate tourism thread exists, so I thought I'd present the information. Houstonia posted an interesting article on tourism numbers from 2017 to 2018. The original article can be found here: https://www.houstoniamag.com/articles/2019/5/3/houston-had-23-million-visitors-in-2018 Here's some interesting numbers: The number of booked meetings and conventions rose from 429 in 2017 to 498 in 2018. About 19 million of our visitors in 2018 reside in the U.S., a 10 percent increase from what was reported for 2017. Of those 19 million, about 75 percent stayed overnight and 25 percent came for day trips. Roughly 72 percent of domestic visitors came to Houston for leisure activities, 18 percent came on business, and 10 percent came for other reasons. Millennials continue to comprise most of Houston’s domestic visitors, a trend reported in both 2017 and 2018 by an Omnibus study conducted by Omnitrak. Meanwhile, the 3.28 million international visits to Houston in 2018 is actually a 6.3 percent decrease from 2017—likely due to foreign policies and a strong dollar—and it’s expected to decline again in 2019. One truly big draw for Houston was Comicpalooza, which brought in a record 50,778 attendees from 47 states and 18 countries in 2018 with an economic impact of more than $20 million. Since I'm not native to Houston, I'm curious to hear people's thoughts on these numbers.
  22. CaptainJilliams
    You have to push the "show historical imagery" button on the tool bar. When you do, the satellite imagery will change to 2-23-19. That being said, you won't see any updates on the 3-D imagery that normally pops up in Google Earth. That probably won't be updated for another 2-3 years.
  23. CaptainJilliams
    This talk of gondolas is nice and all, but where in the plan does it specifically state that gondolas (or light rail for that matter) are going to be incorporated into the project? I mean, it's a fair thing to assume some form of public transit will connect East River to the rest of town but are there any tangible plans on what may actually happen?
  24. CaptainJilliams
    I wonder where they plan on building it in Houston, any guesses?
  25. CaptainJilliams
    I completely forgot they were coming downtown, that's a huge improvement over whatever is currently at the location.
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