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Subdude

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Everything posted by Subdude

  1. Subdude
    Wasn't there another dodgy looking motel right by the bayou on the northbound side before you got to Park Place?
  2. Subdude
    As I recall few if any of the posts from the original HAIF survived. The second HAIF started as a clean slate. Jeez, I can't believe I've been hanging around here 7 years!
  3. Subdude
    No, but the point is that whether or not density could "fit in", the local residents did fear that the proposal would damage the quality of the neighborhood and hurt resale values. They don't have special privileges. Anyone has the right to petition the government to fix what they think are wrongs. It just happened that these residents were more successful at it. Again, given that there is no city-wide zoning law it seems like they chose the most effective strategy. I fail to see what is so bad about this. You can't just expect everyone to roll over and play dead in situations like this.
  4. Subdude
    Note Sam Malone topics merged.
  5. Subdude
    I don't think NIMBYism is such a bad thing. It's only natural that people want to protect their neighborhoods. In the event, at least it appears to be a more successful strategy than pushing for a zoning ordinance would have been. Lacking a realistic shot at zoning, NIMBYism is the only way to go.
  6. Subdude
    Great article, thanks for posting. There was a time when Houston was considered one of the leading cities for architecture in America.
  7. Subdude
    Good news that this boondoggle is dead.
  8. Subdude
    Oop, my mistake then. Thanks for checking that.
  9. Subdude
    Are you saying it is only third rate?
  10. Subdude
    Sorry to quote myself but they must have read that post. Found this on GM Inside News Forum
  11. Subdude
    I guess that's fair to say. I'm sure the editors are very well qualified, but notwithstanding, I still think this is a bad call. Is your argument that the Hobby center is actually a great example of this century's architecture, or that we oughtn't disagree with the experts who write these books?
  12. Subdude
    Fat chance I'm afraid. You would think that after the experience with Ike this year there would be a huge program to start burying the lines. You would think, but you'd be wrong. They obviously knew that the ugliness factor would hurt Houston's chances. True story: when the Olympic selection committee reps were visiting Houston, their drivers were instructed not to drive them downtown via Hardy Toll Road, 59 or 45 so they wouldn't be bowled over by the miles of sprawl. They had to detour on the North Belt to 290 (I think), and make the approach from that direction.
  13. Subdude
    Sorry to hear it. I have to say that laying someone off via a phone call on Christmas Eve is about as low as possible. Who was your boss, Snidely Whiplash?
  14. Subdude
    Good recap from the Chronicle.
  15. Subdude
    First of all l must admit I dwell in the higher realms of geekdom and watch old car commercials on youtube. But look at the beginning of this ad for the exciting 1979 Datsun 200SX. Is that Houston ca 1978 in the background when the Datsun is on the roller coaster? Could this have been shot at Astroworld? It looks Houston-ish.
  16. Subdude
    "Bozo St Clair"? Naked boxing girls? Interesting find there. The mind boggles...
  17. Subdude
    You probably hit the nail on the head there. It's got to be easier just to pick out projects by the starchitects, regardless of merit. It bothers me sometimes when big commissions go to big names that go on to produce second rate work (Cf Moneo's Beck Building at MFAH).
  18. Subdude
    I went riding around to check it out once, and there doesn't seem to be evidence of the Milam Street extension to White Oak.
  19. Subdude
    Good points, although I would guess that the frontage roads make both the visual blight and traffic worse. The latter because they have the effect of steering local trips onto freeways. That is why every other city in the country has avoided them. like the idea of $1000 fines for littering. Unless we send a strong message that it won't be tolerated it will continue to be a problem. It's come up before in other topics, but one thing that I really think contributes to fugliness in Houston is the overhead power lines everywhere. IMO nothing does more to give that special cheap third world ambiance. Even my former colleague from Turkey was appalled that a city the size of Houston doesn't bury the lines.
  20. Subdude
    Welcome to Houston!
  21. Subdude
    The problem is that there are logonids and passwords for more than just bills. Just about every online activity requires them. To make matters worse a lot of accounts make you change the password regularly. Since password rules are different in different applications it is impossible to use a single password consistently. It's probably not the best solution, but on my home and work computers I keep a spreadsheet of all my passwords and logonids. Usually it needs updating 3 or 4 times/month.
  22. Subdude
    A blog I read regularly lists the architectural billings index as an economic indicator. It has been running at an all-time low, although to be fair the index has only been computed since 1995. It seems that right now everything possible is being put on hold as people wait to see how bad things get.
  23. Subdude
    I would agree that Houston has large stretches of ugly areas, although it would be impossible to make a meaningful comparison to other cities on that count. A neat visual appearance just has never been a big priority here. Littering has always been a problem. The problem is the "broken windows" theory kicks in. When people see an ugly trashed up environment they are more likely to trash things up themselves. Easy to pick out the problem, but hard to think of how a solution could be implemented. Note a long series of off topic replies and personal remarks was cleaned up.
  24. Subdude
    Posts peeled off of another topic. Perhaps not precisely bogus, but if the editors seriously think that the Hobby Center is one of the greatest buildings of the decade then one would really have to question their judgment. This was the building that one newspaper compared to a small town airport. Maybe they're not saying it is truly great as much as trying to get representative samples of buildings from a bunch of different cities.
  25. Subdude
    It's just a setting. Click on "Options" on the top right, and down the menu there are display modes. Click on standard and life will be good again.
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