GhostDog

Wow that old MacDonald's brings back memories...

My father, brother, sister and I did all the tile work on that place when the built it in the early 80s...maybe 83?

well my dad did the actual real laying of the tile cause we was kids but we mixed the mortar, stacked tiles, grouted and all the other things a laborer would do.

interestingly enough my sister managed to get on the radio- i believe 79Q or something doing requests but since she was a kid they gave her a song to dedicate and told her what to say...

it was Babe by Styx...

ahhh memories of childhood...

now dont tell me anything else is gonna happen to that check cashing place up on 45 north at Aldine Bender on the west side of 45...

I will say that traffic is pretty bad in Houston- worse than most cities i've visited and lived in.

I would love for the freeways and city streets to be traffic and mainly construction free...

that being said- outside of just b!tching to b!tch traffic is what big cities are all about.

the nice thing about houston is that in the areas that are construction free traffic is only really obnoxious during rush hour...

so in that aspect houston traffic really isn't that bad.

most cities aren't that bad.

Cities like LA have bad traffic anytime of the day anywhere in the city...Houston really is not even close to that bad.

LA's got 15 million living in there and probably has several million tourists at any given time patrolling the highways and streets of LA.

Houston fortunately for traffic reasons has very little tourism...

The Los Angeles area is approx 3 times the land size of the Houston area perhaps more.

We've got TONS of underdeveloped areas

Take Highway 6 south past Fort Bend Toll Road...

Pearlands building but there's lots of room.

Alvin

South down 288 all the way to Lake Jackson/Freeport.

With all the developing on the westside and IH-10 construction to be complete in a couple years it wont be long before the Katy people move to Sealy to get away.

Also up 290 after Cypress there is plenty of room to expand to hempstead.

Bottom line is that as communities grow- employment areas will follow...

There is also plenty of room inside loop 610...

I'd like to see highway 6-1960 have elevated toll lanes from Humble all the way down past Sugarland...

When the Westpark was built, it was to be the be all and end all for Katy Commuters however most of us knew it was going to be too small.

It seems to be progressively getting worse, taking as much as an hour to get downtown. Heck, if it's going to be an hour communte, we all may as well stay on I-10 into town. It just irks me to be paying top toll dollars to SIT still on the Westpark. Me thinks they made some mistakes with this road.

What are your thoughts...could they have done anything differently to have avoided these congestion problems?

Just throwing something out there for discussion.

Trying not to be an ass here but if you work downtown and live in Katy no matter what the highway situation your commute was not a high priority on your quality of life list.

Seriously tho I really think the Westpark could have been 4 lanes 2 each way with a contraflo 3 lanes during rush hour traffic had they done it right.

I also believe they should have spent the extra money and not had it merge with 59 right before Chimney Rock.

Also the main problem outbound rush hour is the exit at the Sam Houston with that damned stop light.

that's really what backs the whole thing up...

Gary, you are so right. Atlanta has 39 new highrises since 2000. Hotlanta. I do understand the markets there have cooled off, so I would imagine until they lease up some of that vacant space that there won't be quite so many. Of course, here in Houston, can you say $70 per barrel for oil????

well I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say all those buildings that have been completed in houston were done so well before $70/barrel.

i used to commute from pasadena to the energy corridor in the mornings so barker cypress isn't much further really.

i've done several routes...

westpark to hi 6 to 10

westpark to eldridge to 10

westpark to 8 to 10 to eldridge...

the best quickest easiest route is westpark to bw8 to 10 west....

you'll be going against traffic for most of the way...

i'd take greenbriar up to 59 to get to westpark as opposed to 610 around.

what time you leave in the morning w/be very pivotal as to how much traffic you deal with of course as you know.

i just hope they don't tear down too many of those old buildings on Washington.

i hope they rehab most of 'em for commercial and residential use...

i happen to really like washington's potential...if it weren't for that train line it'd be really good IMO.

i'd like to see all of washington lined to the curb with shops and restaurants etc with the parking lots in that back...all the way from downtown to westcott...and multi floor units so that there can be living space above the commercial development- not 10 floors or anything but 2-4 additional floors...

i really do not understand why houston developers never do this...

ok- i grew up in pasadena school district.

i went to pasadena high school for 3 years.

i had considered transferring to HSPVA the performing arts high school after junior high but did not.

i decided to transfer to HSPVA for my final year in HS.

i applied.

i auditioned.

i was accepted.

while i lived in Pasadena, i was able to catch an HISD school bus at an elementary school right near the border of pasadena and houston (paterson elem in meadowbrook).

i made my own decision to start my music in 6th grade and despite my folks carting me to take music lessons everything i did was on my own via my own motivation.

i was not afforded the best instruction nor had the best equipment to work with.

also when I auditioned, it was late in the year and i was told at the time that there was only 1 spot left in the school between all the competiting disciplines and there were several hundred other qualified candidates on the waiting list to get in.

but i got in.

so essentially i experienced both regular school education and magnet school education...

fire away if you have any further questions.

Metro Area population is what really counts...

I mean really all the people in the area essentially consider themselves a part of a metro area...

If someone from Sugarland were telling someone from another place where they lived that person would say where? OH- Houston...cool...

I personally feel that Clear Lake offers TONS of possiblities for the future...even tho the past to right now isn't all that.

THe pros: Its near the Bay and offers the feel of a seaside community.

Lots of seafood restaurants in the area. Fairly close ot galveston

The cons: Too suburbian not seaside enough...Not ecclectic enough. Too far out from corporate centers of downtown, galleria, westchase, etc...too many suburbian restaurants...not enough of an identity...

I think Clear Lake has super potential with the future. I believe the high-rise condo that is going in quite possibly will push other people to build condos on the lake and the bay...that should change the identity of the area.

I think CL should really push to attract some major corporate buildings in the area...High rise office buildings w/be IMO very attractive to the area...

CL is about 10-20 years away from being something special likely...

fox- given that you posted on the pasadena southmore thread, head out to the Monroe p/r...

i used to take it to downtown and it was wonderful...

wasn't necessarily much quicker- but i didn't have to hassle with parkin or NOTHING...

i'd rather have express trains, but i'll take an express bus...

pasadena voted against Metro period years back cause metro wouldn't guarantee them service i believe...

personally pasadena has LOTS of people that would defeinitely use the bus system...

to include deer park and laporte too...

doesn't make any sense to me.

sure is, could you imagine the forehands not running that one and the one on spencer?

i used to love that food but its really pretty bland

the main thing with the Bentworth's and Waters' is that they make it nice enough so they can increase rents enough to keep out trash and subsidised housing...

It would have been nice if someone owuld have bought out all those apts in that block and theones near Wilcrest and razed 'em and replaced them like the nice ones on westheimer and stuff...

oh just dreaming.

There is nothing they could ever do to the Bentworth to make it a class A property. I'm sorry, but no way. I know the property well. It has been rough as hell for years. In fact I would consider it a D+ or C- right now. Don't hold your breath for a radical conversion.

Ultimately the owners of those complexes don't give a damn about the people in the "established areas" nearby and what they do or don't welcome. They are only worried about how much money they are bringing in every month.

Since I live right there, I've seen what they are doing ot the Bentworths' and all I'm seeing is they are replacing all the windows and doors and repainting the outside...

Probably dolling up the insides, replacing doors and carpets and kitchens/bathrooms,,,

I agree that barring bulldozing and rebuilding a Class A property Bentworth and these Watters won't be Class A HOWEVER if they renovate them nicely and raise rents a good deal that alone should really reduce the amount of crime in that area...

I am not expecting radical conversion but just enough to keep out the ****** crime that goes on over there...

I grew up herein Houston and voted Houston (recently moved back to Houston)

I lived in Phoenix for a while and absolutely love the city.

as for size wise- Phoenix has a long way to go to come close to being the size of Houston population wise I believe.

Phoenix has much larger suburbian communities than Houston with much of the population of the area being in the east valley- Mesa, Scottsdale, Chandler and Gilbert.

Phoenix does not have a major downtown like Houston- in fact its not even close, probably closer to the size of the Galleria and still not that big.

Phoenix is not a concentrically located city like Houston nor does it have as major corporate structure like Houston...

Phoenix has lots of manufacuring facilities places like Intel, Boeing, Motorola (used to be), Honeywell, etc that are spread out throughout the city in various locations not necessarily in Phoenix proper.

Tourism is also a major employment industry in Phoenix.

that being said Phoenix has lots of other cities that make up the area- these cities seem to house a lot of employment so I'm not sure you'll ever see a revitalization of inner Phoenix like we've seen in Houston...

That was my fave Luby's. And the Casa Ole down the strett was pretty good, too.

I spent a lot of time in this area in the 70s.

Casa Ole was my first job- bus boy...mid 80s...

well i grew up off pasadena southmore and my folks still live there so i'll chime in.

1- area used to be a middle class caucasian neighborhood of workers that worked in the chemical plants, steel mills and such in pasadena, baytown, laporte, deer park, texas city, etc.

was a very blue collar sort of town.

not very much commercial business other than a few grocery stores, fast food joints, etc.

back in the 70-80s is when the transition began where the caucasian population began to move out and primarily hispanic population moved in. due to the KKK presence over off Red Bluff the african american population never really was keen to moving to pasadena even tho i believe they bolted in the late 80s to vidor (not sure, just remember that store front no longer having the sign)

in the late 80s to early 90s seems like there was a 50/50 mix of caucasians/hispanics. i was in HS at this time and gosh it was pretty dicey there for a while as the 2 groups were battling each other. i saw kids at school often times with guns...i left there and tranferred to another school- there was burgeoning gang problem but it didn't seem overtly obnoxious to where you couldn't walk down the street...

seems like there was very little commerical development in the area and likely the ownership of properties had owned the properties for years...they did very little in the way of improvements.

most of the people in this area shopped off of 45 even tho pasadena town square provided a small amount of shopping.

there was a point where it seemed that whole area of southmore all the shopping outside of hte mall was virtually closed up.

fast forward to about 3 years ago...

i returned to the houston area and spent much more time in pasadena- seems like the demographics of southmore is likely closer to 90% hispanics...

the old sears was tore down about 10 years ago and a brand new walmart supercenter replaced it, seems all the shops around the wal mart were full and plenty of them renovated.

its not a glamorous area of town, but IMO since the population is predominantly one ethnic group, seems commercial development has increased....

Is the Luby's still there?

yes

and they still have a tea lady instead of 'waiters' where you have to tip.

Glad to see- however I think the Bentworth's across the street were supposed to be renovated to Class A status.

also I hope this bleeds over to Crescent Park and someone buys those out too...

Great stuff...

I live in a condo right in that area and this should aid in our property values increasing!

are you sure they weren't talking about Virgin Airlines?

Exxon being based in Irving is kinda misleading.

I mean the corporate HQ is definitely in Irving however the majority of corporate offices and employees (in NA) is based here in H-town.

Chevron in Houston has a much larger presence than in SanRamon.

same with

BP which has a fairly large office in the Chicago suburbs however has far more corporate employees based here in West Houston...

Can you explain the logic? Perhaps I'm biased or just thick-headed, but wouldn't you want HQ to be as convenient to the greatest number of key personnel as possible?

And is Houston considered a "division"? I thought that we were home to a number of their "divisions", as well as tiny fractions of countless other larger "divisions".

Mobil's HQs I believe were based in Irving Texas before the merger and Exxon was based here in Houston.

I'm guessing Lee Raymond wanted to live in Dallas as opposed to Houston when the merger happened....

Are you talking Villa de Matel the convent?

me thinks so

This is good news for that area.

I've been an Eastside fan for a while now- especially Idylwood and had always thought a coffee shop would go great there and a couple of small things...

I was thinking a while back about buying those 4 plexes next to Idylwood there and really doing something with them, but never really pushed thru with it.

What is that big white complex just up the road on Lawndale with the gate around it?

I'm gonna go to this coffee place this weekend...

My only problem with apartments is when they are not kept up and are 20 years old or more...

When they get that old, noone really wants to live in them so the rent goes down to the point where a vast number of undesirables can afford to live there...

i know you guys know this, don't know what Niche was asking exactly...

look at all those apartments on Broadway near Hobby in Glenbrook Valley...

you can look at the style of them and know they used to be really nice places...

time and mismanagement led to their downfall...

if they do not clean up the westchase apartments on wilcrest, hayes and kirkwood that place will really get bad....

they are no longer taking leases and have not been for a while.

i remember when i first moved to the area i could hear gun shots there and at Crescent Park- that hell hole closer to westheimer...