Houston1stWordOnTheMoon

That'll keep the thread short.

Zoning is stupid and im very much against it! Im not quick to put more power in the hands of a few short term and mildly informed jackasses, "city council".

Only thing that should be encouraged is the creation of deed restrictions in areas that currently dont have them. That gives the residents of those areas a voice in thier communities as to how things should be run without the lunatics in city government touching it.

In our area, Champions/Champion Forest/Northgate Forest, we have VERY STRONG deed restrictions and they work just fine for us. The same can be had in other areas of Houston free from excessive government legislation.

I dont think he is a racist. I do think he is a jackass

Being locked in has nothing to do with it. Most of the new MRT developments are on other islands. Contrary to popular belief, there's lots of available land in Hong Kong (and Hong Kong SAR is more than just one island). Also, New York wasn't nearly as dense as it is today when the PANYNJ started the WTC back in the 60's. The land that eventually became WTC was virtually worthless. And the fill from the project became Battery Park City.

Let me expand a bit.

This isnt NYC or HKG as i said earlier. We are Houston with ample amounts of land. People here are reluctant to spend more money and get less for it, unlike NYC and HKG. If the goal is density, the city and METRO are going about it the wrong way. You dont use tax payer dollars to purchase property inorder to drive up the value to create density. Only an idiot would subscribe to that mess when theres tons of beautiful land to be had elsewhere in the city for cheaper prices. The low prices will be the key to creating density, not over inflated prices caused by bad business transactions from METRO, the organization whos primary focus should be mobility.

I will never sign off on this mess. They have spoiled it for me with that dumbass proposal to raise fares. If they have so much excess money to venture into realestate, they should forget all together about raising fares.

Again this isnt NYC and certainly not HKG. We are not locked in land wise. Theres plenty of room for expansion. Theres no need for METRO to venture into something like this especially when it isnt air tight. Too many what if's and maybe's involved.

OUR tax dollars!

I would have said "our" but there are some here that dont mind this wreckless use of thier tax dollars, like you and i do

according to the article METRO is paying $64/ft for land appraised at ~$36/ft in 2006. METRO Real Estate dude Mason says METRO's purchase will accelerate the appreciation of that parcel, and, presumably, nearby land.

if the thought of a tax-supported govt. agency purchasing private property with your money to drive up the taxable value not only of that property but of other privately owned properties nearby doesn't bother you, I can only assume you've never paid property taxes in this state.

This is a good post. METRO hoping they will make a profit or break even is a stupid gamble with my tax dollars.

UofH? Wrong school man! Should be attending the best school, Rice University! Give me a discount on food and drink and i will forgive you for choosing the wrong school,J/K. Welcome to the forum and i wish you well in school

Just called the old bird. He says its a barber college and they do a great job. The side street is Caroline St.

Caroline @ Wheeler St. Just a short drive from TSU

My gramps goes to a place located on the adjacent street to Fiesta. The location of the Fiesta store is the corner of San Jacinto and Wheeler. I dont remember the name of the side street, but the shop is right even with the store on the adjacent street, opposite side. Its cheap and he loves it. I think he only pays $3 or something like that.

If they would do the proper thing in the beginning there wouldnt be a problem. Send these rat bastards to the death chamber and call it a day!

I would use my bare hands and beat that jackass to within an inch of his life. The human body has so many bones and so many sensitive spots. He wouldnt live a normal life ever again > >

As for her, theres a whole host of unconventional methods of punishment that come to mind > >

Ah since they have all this excess money to buy up land and hold it for a developer, that should mean they dont have to raise bus fares. If they can buy land to help a developer, surely they can back off raising bus fares which will help out the poor people and students that are dependent on them for mobility. Mobility is thier primary function,no?

It will be completed right before the Christmas holiday shopping season.

(I really have no idea, but I thought that would sound good to you.)

That would be a happy and most welcomed thing!!! If only it were true.......

As many as 1,000 Houston households getting city trash service now would lose it under policy changes proposed by a mayoral task force, while thousands of others whose situation has been uncertain would be eligible, officials said Tuesday.

For years, as more densely platted properties became increasingly common, the city had an arbitrary system for deciding which properties got city pickup and which required private contracts.

The proposed ordinance could resolve much of that ambiguity, city officials and task force members said Tuesday.

Existing policy requires municipal service to residences, including town homes, so long as they sit adjacent to a city street.

That's left some densely platted subdivisions, such as rows of town homes with only a few units facing a public street, without service. Others with homes on private drives also have been excluded.

Similar properties in other neighborhoods, however, have been granted service because pickup bins were delivered mistakenly.

article

Looks like some of the denser developments will be paying for their weekly trash pickup. The city will require them to get private trash collection.

The city needs to get a hold of its operations. One hand doesnt know what the other is doing. They had a large problem with this in some parts of 3rd ward with new townhome developments. Seems the residents were getting a different answer to thier trash collection issues each time they talked to a different person.

But who pays back the bond issues? In most cases (and certainly in Houston's case) they are not paid back with general tax revenues, but are paid with airport user fees and other airport revenue.

The recently passed Prop G proves nothing. All that did was remove the airport system from the revenue restrictions imposed on the city government. It made no sense to apply revenue restrictions to the airport system because all of their revenue is self-generated, NOT taken out of general tax revenues.

There is a small subsidy implicit here, of course, in that the airports have access to the government bond issues, which will get them a better interest rate. If that's all that you have in mind for a TGV system, I'd be all for it. Establish an railroad authority to build the infrastructure with proceeds from a bond issue and then recoup the costs out of user fees. The problem with that is, at least as of the early 90's when the Texas TGV was seriously attempted, even with that level of subsidy the project was not feasible.

Ah, someone with some actual knowledge. I held out hope that if this thing went on long enough, someone would get it right

You may be technically correct on that. But the user fees pay the vast majority of the costs, and the rest of the money is generated by other airport activities (e.g. retail space rent, rent and fees from rental car companies, etc.) At least in the case of Houston, the airports are not supported by any general tax money.

Good job. You get to wear the smart cap today

AA and CO would join just to spite SWA.

No Luv lost there.

Good one

Look, just explain your position. If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong. But how am I supposed to be a fair judge of the issue if all you tell me is that I should know better in between personal insults directed at Red and I? I don't think we're being unreasonable, here. I want to know why you think that we're so far off! Tell us, dammit!

Then you should be very happy with a Texas TGV proposal. It would reduce the amount of runway congestion at IAH and especially at Hobby, freeing up plenty of capacity for general aviators like yourself (as well as for cargo and military operations).

Time to don the black dress and read the eulogy. This dog you are beating wont hunt

Actually, it would be immensely convenient (for Houston at the very least) to use the TGV for USPS freight. Bear in mind that Metro's intermodal terminal will be within about a mile of the main post office. Postal freight is also unique in that what is being transported is information as opposed to production or bulk goods. With bulk goods, it really doesn't matter how fast they get there, so long as the cost per mile is kept at a minimum, because every shipment is the same. With information, speed is of the utmost importance.

WHAT?!?!?!?

Good point. By serving as a terrorist magnet, these airlines keep our malls, cafes and Starbucks safe from harm. We should give them a medal....or maybe just an interest free loan.

A little early to be off the deep end, no?

I guess 9/11 didn't happen in Britian's World History books either ? OY VEY !

Whats 9/11? Wasnt that entire day a Hollywood trick? Thats what has been reported in some areas of the world. Shouldnt be too hard to figure out just which areas they are.

Yea and never-mind that airports are used to haul freight all over the world.

Just ask the Port of Dallas about that one.

I doubt much freight will be hauled on this fancy train.

To add, never mind these airports serve a military function as well as the private commercial airlines serve a military and defense function. Also never mind that the vendors and airlines themselves support the cost of day to day operations...never mind any of that.

Next time theres a need for global troop and support machines to be moved, perhaps the fix based highspeed train can do the job.

I humbly ask that you excuse my ignorance, oh wise one, but would you please explain what "that" is?

If i thought you were of the usual dumbasses that cut and paste without knowledge, i would.

I found something on government subsidies for airlines.

http://hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/001001.html

Ah, a blog.

If what much of this blog says is true, im taking my kid out of Embry Riddle and demanding a refund since the government automatically provides the training, hilarious