Metro Matt

 

 

OTOH, I once had a Mexican-American friend in Houston who moved to Dallas.   Once, upon coming back to Houston for a visit, he said "I'm the only Mexican in  Plano" ... and he was unhappy about how he was treated because of that. It surprised me, especially since he never complained about being discriminated against while living in Houston.  Actually, he was from an affluent, well-educated family, so there was nothing in his behavior that I think would make people treat him differently.  OK, a disclaimer:  this was 20 years ago and I know that Plano has become much more diverse in that time.  For all I know, things are much different there now.

Plano East or Plano West?

There are two different sides to the city.  Its very segregated.

East Plano is mostly minorities (Chinese, Koreans, Indians, Hispanics, & Blacks).  

West Plano is largely Caucasian.

IMO the outling of buildings with neon, LEDs, or whatever is just wrong. It is banal. The "ziggurat" of the Heritage Plaza building should be uplit like the "tempieto" of the Esperson Building. This would better show the geometry that makes the building interesting in the first place.

Running strings of light around the tops of tall buildings is just unimaginative. Perhaps a stage set designer could come up with better ideas - or a third grader.

The whole building isn't outlined with lights, just the shoulders. I agree they do need to at least flood light that whole top feature if they're going to outline the shoulders.

Those are probably LED's spaced really close together on a string or difused in plastic tubes made to look like glass neon tubes. I highly doubt they would go back to the old neon. Its not as energy efficient & its a safety hazard with the high voltage transformers used to power the neon. The downside of using LED's is their life expectancy can be cut drastically short if allowed to over heat, over powered, or just not designed properly. Neon actually burns brighter as ambient temperature gets hotter. LED's are the opposite, they in theory like cooler temperatures below 80 degrees & burn much brighter the colder it is. In places where it stays hot all the time LED's are not a wise choice. Texas kinda falls in between that fine line.

I like those cool white lights a whole lot better than the warm white Christmas lights they normally turn on during the holidays. Wish they would turn on the "eagle" that used to outline the top in white neon. There was a time after they turned it off they just lit the small top portion of the roof in white neon. It looked dumb,

I haev noticed that the Continental Airlines building lighting is back on this month, which is good.

With the white or blue floodlights?

it would be neat if the buildings would coordinate with the sports teams.

For instance, Baylor when they win a game, the light one of the buildings gold, and green for a loss (IIRC) they have a lot of green during football season, but it would be neat to have something like that, with all the different color options they have.

Why would Houston have a building do that? Baylor is in Waco.

Just sayin.

Wells Fargo Plaza will light up in different colors for holidays & special events only. During the rest of the year they'll probably just keep it white like it used to be is what I'm guessing.

Wells has always had a band of white neon around the top ever since it was first built, but on two occasions it hasn't been on. Shortly after the collapse of Enron because their building also had a similar band of white neon around the very top & Wells Fargo didn't want to have that kind of bad image. The second time several years later after people finally got over the whole Enron thing they started lighting Wells Fargo Plaza again then Hurricane Rita came & wrecked havoc on the fragile glass neon lighting up there. I'm sure with that insurance money they used part of it to get their new color changing LED setup.

http://www.tylerpaper.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=TP&Date=20101005&Category=NEWS08&ArtNo=101009955&Ref=AR&MaxH=270&MaxW=360

UPDATE: Phase I Of New Heart Hospital Already Started

Trinity Mother Frances Hospitals and Clinics announced this morning that it will build the $18 million Louis and Peaches Owen Heart Hospital.

The free-standing, seven-story structure will be located adjacent to and connect via sky bridges to Mother Frances Hospital.

During a breakfast at the hospital's Wisenbaker Conference Center, the Owenses were praised for generosity.

“This is a legacy gift that will go on for generations,” Lindsey Bradley, TMF chief administrative officer, said.

“Our goal is to have a nationally prominent heart hospital,” he continued.

Mrs. Owen said that in 2001 she received a quadruple bypass at Mother Frances Hospital and credited the hospital staff with saving her life.

She said after she and her husband celebrated their 55th anniversary, they decided to make the donation as their gift to each other.

Mr. Owen, a founder of Petrofac, said he was blessed to be successful in business and is now trying to help others.

Bradley said the Owen Heart Hospital will be focused not only on treatment, but also prevention and education. The entire family will be incorporated into the health care of the patient, he said.

TMF officials also announced that tonight they will launch a capital campaign for additional funding of the facility.

Hospital officials said they believe the $18 million gift is the largest private donation ever to a medical facility in this part of Texas.

The Louis and Peaches Owen Heart Hospital at Mother Frances will be

completed in two phases. Phase One is currently being constructed inside

Mother Frances Hospital-Tyler's Ornelas Tower and is scheduled to open this December. Phase Two will begin construction in the spring of 2011 and should take 18 months to complete. The Heart Hospital will be seven stories, include numerous cardiac, thoracic and vascular services and stand east of and adjacent to Mother Frances Hospital. It will connect to the main hospital in several locations, allowing specialists and clinical personnel to easily access both buildings. Architectural plans are still being revised to determine square footage, number of beds and total cost of the project.

James Caccitolo, MD, Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Trinity Mother Frances, said the new approach to heart care is a major improvement for heart surgery patients and the physicians and medical staff who treat them.

"The traditional approach for caring for heart surgery patients requires transporting them multiple times during their hospital stay, meaning a patient might be taken from the Chest Pain Center to the cath lab, to surgery, to recovery, to CICU, to step down and then to a room. All of this can take a lot of time and potentially slow the healing process,” said Dr. Caccitolo.

Updated Tuesday, October 5, 2010 at 3:16 p.m. CDT

http://www.tylerpaper.com/article/20...WS08/101009955

I dont think the opinions of the ten people in this thread are going to matter/change too much of downtowns lighting.

You never know...

There are probably more high profile guests floating around on these forums than we realize.

So are Chase Towers new LED lights still lit? What color are they now?

Did Wells Fargo ever turn their back on?

I think its pretty obvious Rap music in general promotes violence. Law makers have been trying to ban it altogether since its rise to mainstream popularity in the early 90's. Hip Hop can be clean & fun without all of the violent lyrics. See Devin The Dude.

Why would the radio station fire them for playing a Houston artist? Doesn't make any sense.

Yeah, I'll verify this too. The rumor somewhere on here was that the LED on Wells Fargo was damaged by Ike, and the small LED piece that came on was probably malfunctioning due to the damage. I have noticed recently, however, that the same small LED piece has been cycling through different colors. I never saw it cycle through colors when the entire top of WF was lit.

I fear I'm the one who got that rumor started. It wasn't until after Ike though that those white pieces started going out.

Yes, I'm absolutely sure that it's Wells Fargo, and the one LED piece constantly changes color, just going through the spectrum. It could be a new LED or the LED that was already there just on the fritz (which wouldn't surprise me given the trouble they've been having with those). I thought the lights were neon too until I went to a function at the top of One Shell a few months ago when Wells Fargo's lights were actually on. You can actually see the little lights that make up the LED strips.

Sorry Governor, I didn't mean to doubt you. I was actually just down in Houston for the weekend & made it a point to check this out. Sure enough, you were right. Those are color changing LED's on top of Wells Fargo Plaza!

FWIW it looks like Wells Fargo could possibly have a bit of a different lighting scheme. It looks almost like an LED is either being tested or malfunctioning beause its one small piece that's on and changing color--similar to the new lighting on the Phoenix Tower.

Say what?

Wells Fargo has always had a sometimes functioning, sometimes not functioning band of white neon around the very top. Are you sure you weren't seeing the Reliant Energy tower with its color changing LED's in the background? It wasn't till after Hurricane Ike those pieces of white neon started to go out.

I snapped a couple of photos tonight. The Wells Fargo tower has a different side lit up now and the side that had pieces lit up is now dark. If someone charged them to fix the lights they need to get their money back.

My guess is the white neon was damaged from the hurricane last year & never fixed. Fragile glass neon & high winds &/or hail don't go too well together.

I don't hate it. At first, I hated it because of what it stood for, now I am growing to like it from a more artistic point of view. I don't see it as unproportionate, in fact I think it fits the building well. Also, the lighting, fluorescent or neon, reminds me of many works of the minimalist Dan Flavin, who of course has a permanent installation in Richmond Hall at the Menil Collection, but on a much larger scale.

Its not lit with fluorescent or neon...its LED's.

The electric cross is butt-ugly, just like the one on I-45. But, I don't care if it stays lit. We have uglier things in this town that need our derision more.

Like all of the strip clubs lining I-45 with large search lights pointing to the heavens? I'm sure those abide by city code very well too.

The Chron reports that the bell tower upon which the cross stands is 140 feet tall.

Source:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/side2/5657809.html

Sixth paragraph under "Growing community".

CoCath is an awesome church! I've attended mass there a couple of times in the new one & once in the old one across the street.

If a corporation were to propose putting its logo up on the side of a building like that along with backlighting, it wouldn't have been allowed a permit from the City of Houston for reasons stated in the Sign Code.

Why does a religious symbol get a pass when a corporate logo or other advertisement does not?

Maybe because churches & other religiously affiliated businesses are exempt? How come I don't see an uproar on here over the newly constructed Co-Cathedral Catholic Church in downtown? The cross on top of that thing has got to be at least 200 feet in height & is clearly visible from the Pierce Elevated.

Yep, just the same as Spec's on Washington Avenue.

Gotta love this city's lack of zoning laws. If we had zoning, it wouldn't be Houston.

I thought there would be more information on it, but here's one of the several approved permits:

Project No: 09042254

Date: 2009/05/12 00:00:00

USE: O/S N3 ILUM 1FC 63X3X70 ST. JOSEPH PROF

Owner/Occupant: *ST JOSEPH

Job Address: 2000 CRAWFORD ST 77002

Valuation: $ 0

Permit Type: EG

FCC Group: On Premise;New Sign;Wall;Internal Light

Buyer: *SOUTHWEST/BLM

Address: 1512 W 34TH ST 77018

Phone: (713) 699-4488

So there you have it folks! St. Joseph's sign is perfectly legit & up to code.

Carry on...

Well that seems like a pretty weak analogy IMHO. I don't think anyone said that the big white cross should be illegal. Of course we're "free" to burn a flag, but any business owner who paints a big burning flag up the side of a 15-story building and light it up with red neon at night would be rather naive to think that wouldn't generate a little internet forum discussion... to say the least.

(And I don't think it would be legal to go to the St. Joseph's lobby and burn a cross. They're legal, but not on other people's property.)

If someone hated this country that much to do that to their building they shouldn't even be here in the first place, especially after 9/11...now that's just a little scary. Yes, the lobby might be pushing it just a bit, I think you should go right now to St. Joseph's & walk down the street on city property burning a wooden cross. Go, go, go!!! I'll have my eyes glued to the TV for the 10 o' clock news I promise!

I don't see what the big deal either.

My only wish is that they didn't quite make it so bright, lower the voltage a bit.

Voltage has nothing to do with the brightness of a light source, its the wattage. LED's typically use only 24 volts vs. 15,000 for neon. Kudo's to St. Joseph's for "going green" on the exterior lighting.

If a corporation were to propose putting its logo up on the side of a building like that along with backlighting, it wouldn't have been allowed a permit from the City of Houston for reasons stated in the Sign Code.

Why does a religious symbol get a pass when a corporate logo or other advertisement does not?

Do you know exactly whats stated in the Harris County sign code law? If so, enlighten us a bit, no pun intended...

I've always heard & read its on buildings over a certain height, in which case St. Joseph's might not qualify only being an 18 story building. Houston is allowed to have X-rated billboards on the sides of its freeways, when a cross on a building gets peoples goat? I don't get it.

Some people just need to get over their insecurities about religion in general. Its a free country, get over it already. If you want to burn a flag or a cross as protest you're free to do it, so if a cross on St. Joseph irks you that bad, go burn one in the lobby, just be prepared to show your face be on the 5 o'clock news.

Whats the big deal? I drove by St. Joseph's on I-45 the other night & was immediately drawn to it. Its practically one of the only buildings in downtown that's lit up anymore besides the Continental building.

I remember a similar distaste not too long ago from some Dallasites about One Arts Plaza's large square which is lit up the same way using bright white LED's.