BWSchultz

Its only a shame that most of it will be wiped out one day. Hurricanes are a whole lot more dangerous to this area than they used to be because of subsidence.

So you're just assuming that Clear Lake will be wiped off the face of the Earth? While Galveston Bay poses a threat, it's not quite the same threat Galveston island faces in the hurricane season. Miami has an even greater chance of being destroyed. Should we feel sad for them and just shake our heads and say "What a shame...?"

have any of you all been to the town center in Frisco just a few miles north of Dallas on highway 121? That place is the hugest shopping center i have ever seen. They have a mall surrounded by every shop, restaurant you can think of such as Wal Mart, Target, much retail and and even a Dave & Busters. Residents there never have to leave that area. I wonder if the planned shopping center in Pearland will be that big?

I don't know how big the Frisco town center is but this Pearland development doesn't sound like quite that scale. The restaraunts are the big question mark at the moment since all we've heard about for the 288 corridor has been retail. I do know that Shadow Creek Ranch just made a change to add more restaurants along 2234, about 1/2 mile west of 288. It was originally slated for apartments but now there is a sign posted asking for restaurants. If you drive west on 2234 away from 288, there is a lake on the left hand side. I believe there will be a "restaurant row" along the west edge of that lake. You can see the rectangular lake on google maps - it's about 500 feet wide by 750 feet tall. (thanks google maps!)

I hope to see at least one UNIQUE restaurant. But I'm guessing it will just be Chilli's, Applebee's, Bennigan's, etc. The same stuff you can get anywhere else. There's already an Olive Garden across 288.

I'd say Chicago is more like 4th. In my experience, Miami/Orlando/Florida is second in people's minds, especially people in Europe and South America. And the people I've met in Asia are more interested in San Francisco than LA. But then, I haven't met everyone there yet.

That's kind of irrelevant, isn't it? Comparing Florida to Chicago?

When I think of US cities and how big they "feel" to me, and I have been to most major cities, I would rank them this way:

1. NYC

2. Chicago

3. LA

4. SF

5. DC

6. Houston

7. Dallas

8. Miami

9. Atlanta

I put Miami so low because it is far better known for Miami Beach than the city of Miami itself. When I was there in November, the city is practically shut down three blocks in on the mainland at night. Of course, this is all subjective. And for me, the question is what does it "feel like" when you're walking around the core of the city. I haven't been to Boston, Philly, or Detroit so I wasn't able to place them on the list.

Yes, instilling the belief in teenagers that the price of the stadium you play in is more important than the effort given on the field promotes a healthy environment. And, $1,000 per student (including pre-K) plus interest, sounds like a prudent amount of money to spend on an extracurricular activity.

I can't wait to see HISD's new $225 million dollar stadium complex.

Is it just a financial decision for all the schools around to here to share sports complexes? What ever happened to home field advantage? Why can't each school build their own modest gym and modest football field? I just don't get it.

You are a train lover? Funny, the railroads were the thing that got the city started before there was oil the Cotton trade and other materials on rail lines. many of those former rail lines are no longer here.....

You bet. I love me the trains. I've done a few cross-country trips on Amtrak and just love it. Going via train is very relaxing but you have to accept the travel time is part of the vacation, unlike say air travel, which is an absolute burden.

Of course, what we're talking about here is train travel WITHIN a metro area. Different animal entirely.

Strange that no one else has tried opening up a coffee shop in Midtown. It seems like a fairly simple business.

Here's why Starbucks will keep winning. It's a very difficult small business, especially today with ever-present laptops with wireless connections.

Slate.com

That is an impressive spot for Houston to be in right now. Just look at the company we would gain with just one more "point." I would agree with most of the ranked list and I like that it's seperated into groups. It may be difficult to rank one city over another but it's conceivable to put them into groups that make sense.

Some I thought would be lower: Frankfurt, Brussels, Minneapolis

Some I thought would be higher: Vancouver, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur

As skwatra noted, tourism is not directly stated but it is certainly implied in these rankings. I knew nothing of Houston before I moved here from Wisconsin other than 1) oil/Enron and 2) Houston, we've had a problem. 3) the sports teams. Not that it's a bad thing but that's what it was. I now know a lot more about the city and the metro area and have found many positive aspects. As a huge fan of trains, I'd love to see more of them connecting the city. It's certainly an expensive procedure (financially and emotionally, in terms of construction affecting business and traffic) but I believe it would really change Houston for the better. Just remember there are no overnight city makeovers. Have a vision, make solid decisions, and then give it an appropriate amount of time to develop. If Houston really wants to be a "alpha" or a "beta" city, it can do it but it will take a couple decades of strong leadership willing to follow the same goals of their predecessor.

The last few years have given the country a moment of pause....a chance take a look at how import Houston really is. When the oil stops, the economy stops....... the role of Houston in the world and this country is larger than you think. Just isnt well known i guess because those in control "speak softly but carry a big stick" A wise man said, dont mistake meekness for weakness..........Houston goes down, it will bring all of the so called well known and great American cities to a halt! That being said, we dont need any stinking olympics.....we already have the control :):):)

So basically, you're saying that Houston will only be important if there is a castastrophe? Like the Houston Port gets blown to smithereens? That's a bleak outlook. Houston can be "significant" with or without the oil industry.

The price of gas is so high there because of all the European taxes. They are taxed to the gills there.

That's very true. That's why it's more typical to drive smaller cars and live closer to your job. I've read that it would take $5/gallon for about three years here to really change the suburban/exurban lifestyle in the US.

But hey, this is an Olympic Thread! Houston? I hate to put numbers on this sort of thing but my instinct says 15% chance in the next 15 years and 35% in the next 30 years. Wild guesses but I don't think Houston is quite ready for it. But Houston is moving in the right direction. Lots of positive changes in the short 2.5 years I've been here. The Olympics are not the Super Bowl. Houston needs more time to stage such an event.

And yes, as someone said, if the Olympics are in Houston, they should be held in the late September/early October timeframe.

Quite frankly, and I mean no disrespect to anyone, if I had to live in something like that, I'm quite confident I'd shoot someone. There's density and then there's pilling people on top of each other to the point where it looks like everyone's sharing the same four walls. This looks like where they put dead people who haven't decided if they're going to heaven or hell.

That is... purgatory.

If you showed me a picture of Chicago and Barcelona, I'd suggest that Chicago was dense on a scale that makes far more sense.

But that's just one poor schmoe's opinion.

That is a stereotypical European landscape isn't it? Mostly four to seven story buildings as far as the eye can see? American cities build up. It's the skyscrapter culture. It's the identifiable "downtown" full of corporate headquarters and the like. Of course, these are all generalizations. But one way that European structure could improve life is that you can live closer to your job. And with gas about twice as expensive over there, that's an important consideration. But I'm just guessing on that. I've never worked in Europe and only been twice for vacations (London/Edinburgh, Sevilla/Granada).

There are some sports celebs back there, Golf Course is pretty decent, those guard gates used to be functional.

I drove down Palm Royale the other day and their are some freaking huge houses along there. There was only one gated section I saw, Grand Manor drive. From zillow.com it looks like about 20 homes back there. But some of the ones in there and along Palm Royale have to be in the 12000+ sq ft range, some of the largest around. One looked to be pushing 20k based on a total random guess. It looked about 200 feet wide.

So who are these ath-lebrities?

I'm not sure if this has been linked before, but here is the PDF of the proposed Pearland Town Center with the Dillard's and Foley's anchors at the SW corner of 518/288.

CBL - Pearland Town Center

Pages 8-9 have the design layout. You can see the expanded 518 plan there, too. However, bear in mind this document is about a year old. So who knows what the plan looks like now.

This sunday's edition of the Chronicle says that CBL is going forward with the project despite not having the financial support of the city of Pearland. so, this project with the macy's and Dillards anchors will go on as scheduled.

By the way, the article also mentioned a project located in Clear Lake called the Spectrum(1,000 acres). any information on this project?

The Spectrum project is not in Clear Lake, but rather at the SW corner of 288/B8. But it right along Clear Creek in Pearland, just south of B8. I don't know much about it but it's supposed to be mixed commercial/residential. The last time I drove by it looked the land is cleared and leveled and they may be getting ready for some ground breaking.

The truth of the matter is that its only liberal Democrats that are ones bashing in these threads. I challenge anyone to find a thread about Democrats that was started by Republicans in an effort to smear more mud.

That's largely because the conservatives don't have quite the "political capital" that they used to have. I know no one likes polls but the latest one has Bush at 36%. Republican Congress polls even worse. Red was correct before when he said the nineties were the best time for Republicans. They said they could do better and well... look where we are today. The only scandal we HAVEN'T had in the last five years has been a sex scandal.

I'd like to go back and see all the clips of Libby up to this point again. I think she might be a compulsive liar, and very good at it.

upper left - the disease worsens with treatment - I think we are about to see more than a sick baby.

something about travel time not possible with 108 - isn't that the amount of time between alarms?

That's just saying that the "Staff" hatch is too far away to accurately survey within the 108 minutes. Which means that it is obviously more than a 54 minute walk to get there, but perhaps not too much more.

However, SOMEONE did do some surveying. The "Swan" hatch is meant for two people, so one could leave while the other pushed the button. The orientation video suggested taking turns with the button such that one person would have 216 minutes. But the implication has been that the Desmond and Kelvin were not supposed to leave the hatch (Quarantine) but that doesn't explain how they picked up supplies.

There are some major mysteries about the hatch(es) yet. What bugs me is why haven't the 40+ Losties done some major surveying of the island themselves? That's preposterous that they've been there about 70 days without trying to make maps. Didn't Rousseau have some crazy maps at her hideaway? Go steal hers for crying out loud. I realize part of the island is "off limits" now as warned by the Others. In the preview for next week, looks like Jack and Kate are going to try and cross that line and make a trade: Henry Gale for Walt. We also saw Locke trying to remember the map in the preview. That's going to be tough since he only saw it for 10 seconds. I can't wait for the episode a few ahead simply titled: "?" clearly referring to the center of the map. Only four episodes left (I think).

I have a feeling when the Boeing 787 comes online, you will see these destinations and more from IAH.

I'm not exactly sure which cities will be available to a 787 from IAH versus the existing 18 777-200ER models. The 787 should get a few hundred extra miles, somewhere in the low 8000 nm range. Of course, just having more aircraft that can fly long distances will help tremendously towards adding destinations. I think Continental has plans to purchase ten 787s at the moment, the only US carrier to do so. However, I'm sure EWR will eat up some of those additional long range flights.

The develpment will be for TELFAIR the new Masterplanned Community that is being developed by newland communities......about 5000+ homes.

5000+ homes on 112 acres? That's an average lot size of less than 1000 square feet. You probably meant 500+ homes.

So does that mean they won't build it?

No, I think they'll build it eventually. But they're going to wait until other projects in Pearland are further along. It's too much to bite off at once.

Although technically not a "wine list," going to Spec's gets me all giddy inside. Endless rows of wine from all over the world? Yeeeehah!

Brennan's of Houston has an amazing wine list as well. They have a specialty wine dinner, where you set the price point and they serve 6 courses with 8 wines. (minimum 4 people)

http://www.brennanshouston.com/wine_dinner.htm

I'm no expert but I was certainly impressed with the wine list at Mark's. The sommelier was top notch as well and really added to the atmosphere. It's currently my best dining experience in Houston. But it did cost a fortune so there you go.

Acccording to the Houston Business Journal, Pearland has suspended support for the Macy's/Dillard's lifestyle center so whether it actually happens remains to be seen.

Yes, and here's the link:

BizJournal

They say they need to focus on other projects already in work. That could be. It's best not to have your hand in too many things at once. Besides, they should probably complete the 518 rebuild west of 288 before they make a mall there. That's just common sense. I suppose they could be done in parallel but in my opinion, the road should come first.

You two are in the same situation as my husband and I are in. I head toward downtown and he takes BW8 to Clear Lake. And yes, he is eagerly awaiting the Kirby and Kingsley extensions to BW8.

My goal is to leave by 6:45 in which case I can usually make it to downtown in about 25-30 minutes. If I leave at 7:00 to 7:15 it's a 35-45 minute trip. You see the trend here. Better to leave early or leave after 8:30.

If she's leaving downtown at 6:30 then she's probably pretty clear to head home. The traffic starts to thin out after 6:30ish. It probably takes about 30 minutes to get home if you leave downtown before 5 pm and after 6:30.

Of course there are a lot more people moving out here which is going to make those high congestion areas even worse (in the am FM 518 to W. Orem, in the pm Holly Hall/610 to W. Orem) and I haven't seen any definite plans to widen 288 or make bw8/288 interchanges. I know it was on some of the Pearland city council platforms and there have been some feasibility studies, but haven't seen any news. In fact I have a call in to the 288 txdot project person to find out what the plans are, if any, and when that might happen.

Thanks Rem. The Kingsley and Kirby extensions to B8 will help some, but as far as I know, they won't have entrance ramps to the mainlains of B8 so you husband and I will still be stuck going through the stoplight at 288/B8 which is annoying. Just a product of the feeder road/toll road system.

I'll pass on that information to her. I figure that we'll have very similar commute times; I have a longer distance than she does but her traffic will be slower.

If you ever find plans for widening 288 or making the B8/288 connectors, definitely post it on this site, especially because it sounds like you've already started asking questions.

So I'm kind of curious, do you guys go around looking at open houses even though you're not in the market for a new home?

Sounds kind of fun. I'm always looking at what I can't afford.

I'm in Silverlake so I am very interested in the widening of 518. I heard from one of the councilmembers that the widening will start "sometime this year" but TXDOT is in control of that so it could change.

If you're in Silverlake, do you really use this side of 518 (west of 288) that much? There's nothing too much over there right now besides a couple entrances to SCR.

I can't imagine they'd keep any of the original 518 west of 288. The entire road needs to done new as perhaps a four-lane divided road all the way to 521. Kingsley has almost extended to 518 now and I would guess that will open in the next month or so.