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__nevii

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Everything posted by __nevii

  1. __nevii
    Damn. I kind of wished that this thing got nuked — start over without the parking garage.
  2. __nevii
    I've always loved the eastern/northern views: lots of historic density + new additions clearly visible. The southern view also shows good density. In contrast, the classic "western wall" shots are now bland and outdated by modern standards.
  3. __nevii
    Please tell me that the developers of this project were aware of EaDo's parking minimum exemption?
  4. __nevii
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brays_Bayou#/media/File:Aerial_view_of_Hermann_Park,_Harris_Gulley_and_Brays_Bayou_looking_north.jpg
  5. __nevii
    Yep. Starting upstream, the Memorial area is/was riparian forest, of which loblolly pines are a prominent species — going farther down the Ship Channel on Beltway 8, look on streetview and you can literally see another whole swath of forest on up until 2018-2021 (clearcutted afterwards). Cypress trees used to grow in the bayou too like in Louisiana — they were known on Buffalo Bayou, even harvested to build the "Freedmen's town", and specimens also existed on White Oak Bayou as well.
  6. __nevii
    This is true — the Buffalo Bayou was much clearer in the past before alteration via early 20th century flood control projects. Removal of streambank vegetation from many areas (altering erosion, sediment fluxes, etc) + alterations in runoff ecology (alterations of flow rates, and downstream contributions to erosion, etc) create what we see now. The "clarity" was not "blue babbling mountain brook," but more in the form of the subtropical/tropical "blackwater" ecosystem — an iced-tea/coca-cola type of clear, particularly when passing through the thicker pine riparian forests that existed (pine needles in particular leach alot of tannins into the water to create the "discolored" clear). The waterways around Lake Houston/San Jacinto watershed, such as Luce Bayou, provide a good example. Further east in Texas, Village Creek in Big Thicket is another good example.
  7. __nevii
    This thing actually should be included in the TOD minimum parking exemption that the city has had since 2020. Either the developers came up with this plan prior to the exemption and haven't changed it since, or they are simply lazy copypastas from national standards.
  8. __nevii
    I agree, the way this is all playing out is pretty off.
  9. __nevii
    The ARPA-H is a research funding agency within the National Institute of Health that supports biotech/healthcare breakthroughs. Since 2022, they announced expansions into different areas of the country, with places from Philly to North Carolina all competing for bids. In the end, the three hubs selected included Dallas — this shocked a lot of people here, given the presence of TMC/related buildouts in Houston. But, closer look at the three hubs reveals that the main HQ is going somewhere to DC area, the investers catalyst/innovation is going to Boston. Then Dallas gets whatever the "customer experience hub" entails (seems to be related to clinical trail delivery): In that respect, I don't exactly see any conflict w/ what places like MD Anderson and UTHealth already do w/respect to clinical trials. And considering that TMC3's inclusion of a startup/investment engine, the Boston model is on approach as well.
  10. __nevii
    @Amlaham @steve1363 @BEES?! Honestly, all the same "pessimism" and "distate" for Houston used to be exactly how I felt when I was much younger growing up in the area. I used to agree "how undesirable" it was to be the "humid, flat swamp" of Houston. However, I eventually gained interest regarding plant life and the associated agriculture, biodiversity, cultivation, gardening, and ecology. And suddenly "the humid swamp" became "a teeming collective of enjoyment." In contrast, all the clamoring of "aridity" and "dry heat" that I subscribed to in the past started to ring more and more hollow: especially in dry spells like in this past summer, where post after post on social media was lamenting the lack of rain and heat. Indeed, it was then that I recognized that enjoyed the climatologically rainier climate (data averages) of Houston vs elsewhere in the state: even "comfortable dry heat" like Palm Springs in CAwould still be too persistently dry and dessicated for my ideals. I digressed a little, but what I was trying to get at is: ad populum is a fallacy for a reason. Much of it is built on the specious and the superficial: lots of nuance regarding true outcomes can be missed when only relying on surface-level glances. A great example of what I mean is with recent policy changes taking place across cities in the US and Canada regarding "zoning reforms". For ages, many publications, including from self-avowed urbanists kept fignerpointing Houston's "tacky lack of zoning with stripmalls next to houses." Many a sensationalist article of Houston Chronicle showcasing the "takiest" things that they could find. Indeed, I've heard numerous times about people in their urbanplanning college courses learning about Houston as "an example of what not to do." Then, when YouTubers like NotJustBikes speak on the issue regarding the strictness of regulations on mix-use, missing middle, etc, combined with the general issues of affordability, housing costs, now the cities try to make many of the same "deregulating" moves ... that already were legal in Houston to begin with. If anything, the fingerpointing actually causes more harm than good. It's a form of blindness via sectionalizing an issue to "oh, it's just that place" only for "surpised Pikachu face" to happen when those very same issues manifest on their doorstep. Places like Austin tout how "their environmentally liberal policies kept them from sprawling like Houston and Dallas", ignoring the fact that the sprawl across Texas is facilitated by the highly subsidized road industries from the Federal and State (legislature effects on TXDOT) level. Anyway, I digress. Back to TMC.
  11. __nevii
    @monarch @steve1363 @LosFeliz @stuckINdallas @CREguy13 @Amlaham @Fortune @Twinsanity02 Depending on what exactly is taking place with the "customer experience hub" (if it's more patient care, or if there are more specialties regarding the clinical trials), I do find it quite strange to see TMC passed over for this thing despite the healthcare, biotech expertise present in the area — especially considering the activity of MD Anderson, combined with ARPA-H's emphasis on CANCER. I truly don't know if there are any dysfunctionalities regarding Houston's leadership. Whether they are slow on the uptake in some form. Either that, or the "customer experience hub" is not necessarily what it's being promoted as, and just simply didn't align with functionalities regarding the TMC. Indeed, when the bids were announced, I thought only a single place was going to get the full experience (i.e. all the HQ, innovation, along with the "customer service") — instead, this evokes more similarity regarding Elon's Tesla "relocation" to Austin only as corporate HQ, even though the main talent stayed in California. I still think that TMC3, Helix, Levitt Green, etc can help Houston on the biotech front. I don't really care for any "reputation" or "stereotypes" of Houston that might be seen w/ the "establishment — the map is not the territory, and the results are all that matter at the end of the day. The Houston collective can take a page from SF if it means having to invest in local univesities, build out R&D, innovation, homegrown (not to mention connections w/ BioBridge from elsewhere).
  12. __nevii
    The "East River" site never even flooded during Harvey, the area is above the flood plain. The site was already previously developed in the form of the "KBR", so all the risks, assessments of that area regarding flooding would already have been dealt with.
  13. __nevii
    What exactly does "customer experience hub" entail and how important is it? Because that is what the Dallas area got regarding this ARPA-H ordeal. Meanwhile, the main innovative catalyst/engine already selected Boston (huge life sciences hub, DARPA tech, etc). And the main operations obviously stayed DC given the Federal location.
  14. __nevii
    Not necessarily. Retrofits, rebuilds, etc happen: for instance, just as larger lot older homes are being demolished in favor of multiple, smaller lot townhomes, the buildings of the city with more parking (either surface lot or garages) can gradually get replaced/infilled with denser, walkable builds. A lot of what is preventing the walkable builds today is not time-period/automobile adoption in/of itself ... rather, it's the codification of such lifestyle in local, state, and federal levels. The local stuff is dealt with regarding changes to parking minimums, lot sizes, setbacks, FARs, etc (not to mention road-widths, which apply to the greenfield stuff that you allude to): that takes care of the development within the city limits. Meanwhile, the state (TXDOT) and federal stuff are what contribute to the suburban development outside the city across the metro: the "low prices" of suburban homes per sqft are heavily subsidized by both those governmental levels, the homes would be more expensive if they bore the full cost (i.e. sewer lines, electrical lines, and other such infrastructure emanating from central city). Changes at those levels would bring about the most significant change in terms of the metro as a whole (and not just the city): as it stands, the central city obviously can sitll infill/grow, there just also will be growth in the burbs too.
  15. __nevii
    As @004n063 alludes to, the "15 minute city" is the ideal: all the needs, especially basic ones, within close access. It isn't just simply a matter of desire insomuch as it would provide demonstrable benefit/access compared to the current sprawling regime: for instance, mitigation of commute distance, food deserts, infrastructure upkeep for the given population, etc. Since dense urbanity takes less space than corresponding population suburban sprawl, it wouldn't necessarily lead to the full using up of 500sq miles Beltway. For instance, stuff like Ghandi District, Chinatown, Space Center that is currently more spread apart can effectively "concentrate closer" as they shift into the denser contructs (just like how the Houston Maritime Museum moved from it's old location into the new East River development), Meanwhile, the excess land freed up can be dedicated for greenbelts, parks, resevoirs, etc.
  16. __nevii
    The townhomes alone over the years contribute to added density. Removal of the remaining aformentioned regulations allows the development to continue in a way that finally makes true walakble form possible (hence, we can really see how much "inertia" is at play, if nothing else). Regardless, the Inner Loop has the most coherent grid, so is most salvagable. Within Beltway 8 is definitely more iffy as there is more super-blocks, cul-de-sacs, and other road/block designs that make it harder to retrofit urbanity (if not outright impossible). On the other hand, the same lot-size reforms that allowed townhomes in Inner Loop were extended to the Beltway in 2013. It's possible that Gulfton, Ghandi District, Chinatown, Uptown, etc are dense enough clusters (development-wise) to work something out. Outside the Beltway is a lost cause for sure, though. Sorry Kingwood. Sorry Clear Lake/Space Center. Sorry SW/Funplex.
  17. __nevii
    It's just the bad regulations, as "no zoning" in/of itself (no mandated separation of uses) is what would easily allow these "ground-floor retail" walkable holy grails. But any parking minimums, FARs, setbacks, etc requirements can prevent full-blown utilizations of those potentials, and so need to go ASAP. As of now, Downtown, Eado and Midtown are the only areas exempt from the regulations in their entirety. Other areas like Heights and Montrose are also exempt, but, as of now, only in areas proximate to transit lines (Walkable Places Ordinance)
  18. __nevii
    It's possible that the developers already knew it's a good idea, but stuff like parking minimums/setbacks/etc held them back.
  19. __nevii
    @august948 looks like an oppurtunity for coordination. Particularly the case with this sort of policy, which tends to be enacted via city council decision.
  20. __nevii
    Yea, abolishment of those requirements could be done right away w/ the stroke of a pen: a complete wipeout of those rules even out to Kingwood and Clear Lake City. Even better, framing the entire thing as "market-based parking/setback methods" should soothe even the most "commiephobic" of the suburbanites.
  21. __nevii
    I also forgot to mention: I think quite a few of the Houston mayoral candidates (Gilbert Garcia and Robert Gallegos to name two) will help alot when it comes to transit, as they did have experience regarding local affairs. Of course, with SJL as the most well-known face in the race, she would overshadow others ... but I'm not sure her stances regarding transit, YIMBY urban development in general to know if she would be a detriment. I was too young to know much of leadership under Annise Parker, whether she was a detriment regarding urban planning affairs.
  22. __nevii
    With all due respect, this is demonstrably false. Nope, this is a fallacy of composition/division (well, just division in this case). That there are overall issues with Houston's built environment does not directly equate to "lack of zoning" is a problem/contributor to that. You are also indulging in sampling bias wherein you are ignoring the earlier parts of those 150 years wherein the city was much more pedestrian-focused, without all the issues of autocentric sprawl that we think of today. As well as ignoring that cities are overall dynamic entities continually changing in every-waking minute of the day (hence, premature to come to te conclusion that "it failed"). In prior comments here, I've specifically mentioned both the overarching factors (USDOT and TXDOT), as well as local factors (i.e. city ordinance minimums in parking, setback, and other such stuff) that have directly contributed to the problems that you speak of regarding Houston: all of these regulations are the end products of government intervention, much in contrast to the market-driven lack of zoning.
  23. __nevii
    @j_cuevas713 @samagon Indeed, the interference that Culberson and people before him (Lanier, Delay, etc) have caused definitely set the city back in many ways. Getting rid of Culberson during the 2018 race for Lizzie Fletcher definitely helped alot. Especially since the restrictions that Culberson placed on Houston Fed rail funding got totally wiped out the next year.
  24. __nevii
    I understand that this post was made over a decade ago, but I would say that lack of zoning (in the context of how US zoning laws have been used throughout history) is pretty much the polar opposite of "pro-sprawl": all the mixed use that everyone likes the celebrate in Europe and older parts of American cities are exactly what is possible without the restrictive forms of American zoning. Houston's main barriers are really just parking minimums (and any FAR, setbacks, etc that exist, although I think those have more variances than the parking minimums).
  25. __nevii
    @Brooklyn173 @j_cuevas713 Some of these cases though seems more like the intervention of larger entities, rather than any individual city's choices. In the above mentioned case, it was USDOT that initiated the partnership with Austin, so will aid in facilitating some of the projects in that city. In much the same way, pretty much all the issues in Houston regarding sprawl (as well as with the other TX cities) is the end product of TXDOT and mandates regarding highway expenditures (controlled by the state government). A lot of ire should really be directed at the state government: I've always found it interesting how much people try to separate politics from discourse when it has such a major impact regarding outcomes (especially societal concerns like transportation/overall infrastructure, etc. The city's themselves would be in control of things like minimum parking, and other zoning/building codes that can affect mobility outcomes.
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