102IAHexpress

The courthouse extension is the only thing that makes sense in this taxpayer boondoggle of a plan. The lack of access to the courthouse was a glaring oversite that I mentioned over three years ago in the Metro Rail East End/Southeast Line Downtown Construction pics and updates Thread. Also, I'm not sure why you think the CoH courthouse might be relocated or demolished? Absolutely zero chance for funding of a new a courthouse anytime soon.

Very happy for UH and the city on the new medical school. As to the location. I can see arguments for both. My wife is a professor of medicine at Northwestern. At NU the medical/business/law schools are in Chicago, but the main campus is up in Evanston. There are times when my wife will have to take the shuttle to Evanston to work on something, but 99% of the time she stays on the Chicago campus. Expansion is an issue here for the medical school. There is only so much real estate in this part of Chicago and construction costs are very high (it's basically like the Galleria (mag mile) and med center (NU med center) rolled into one very expensive area). However keeping talent and attracting top students in this part of Chicago is easy. Tons of amenities in this neighborhood. The concern for UH Medical would be if professors, researchers, post docs, etc. would want to commute/live in that part of Houston?

Not sure about a base but a Space Force Millitary Academy would have been a boon for the local economy and a boost in national reputation. Not going to happen now with Culberson gone. Oh well, citizens have a right to vote against their own interests if they want. That's democracy.

Would a waterway canal ststem be any less expensive than building new rail? We at least already have a bayou system in place, so some of the capital costs are accounted for. They are both centries old technologies. Zero emissions too. What other ancient technology can we spend billions on to “modernize” Houston?

19th century transportation technology v. 21st century space technology. Which would you rather your city be associated with? Houston will never become a world class city if it keeps shooting itself in the foot. Culberson was right about Metro and more importantly he is right about NASA. Science and space exploration are the future. After the party of science led by Obama gutted US human space exploration Trump has been bringing it back and that will only benefit Houston. Losing Culberson; Houston has lost it's best NASA ally and it's best hope to remain relevant in the future. Sad.

If we would have known Amazon wanted split cities for HQ2 from the beginning, does anyone think a split Houston/Dallas HQ2 could have met the tech talent demand? Or still probably not enough available tech talent between the two?

Produce delivery will require a certain level of trust, true. A trust that some are not ready to embrace. However, general grocery delivery does not require that same trust factor. A box of cheerios is a box of cheerios, etc.

Instacart is not a grocery store, it's a third party delivery service. Peapod, instead is a direct supplier of online groceries that directly delivers its products. But yeah I get what you're saying. Grocery delivery to your door is the future. One other benefit, besides the time savings, is buying in bulk. In car-free urban environments, you are hindered by only purchasing the groceries that you can hand-carry with you on your walk home. You mentioned curbside pickup. Something like that could work in downtown if HEB offered it. Up here Peapod offers a pickup service too. The pickup option is still not a grocery store but allows you to pick up your order at a small Peapod distribution center. If your order is too small and not eligible for delivery then this is a good alternative. I could see HEB having a small footprint pickup center (not a store) in downtown, where downtown residents could pick up their groceries.

I think the opportunity has come and gone for a large scale full size grocer in Downtown. Grocery delivery services are upending traditional grocery chains in urban neighborhoods. Here in Chicago, In an absolute shock, long time Chicago grocery chain Treasure Island Foods announced they are closing all their stores by next week. I think the best downtown can hope for is Peapod delivery (if it ever comes to Houston). https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelinemaynard/2018/09/30/in-a-surprise-chicagos-beloved-treasure-island-grocery-chain-says-it-will-close/#3a952f3d11bb

Light rail is less expensive than commuter rail. Also, heavy commuter rail could not work in Houston like it "works" in Chicago (metra ridership numbers are plummeting in Chicago) because Houston has multiple business districts. In Chicago all of Metra's lines terminate in Chicago's core. In Houston only a small fraction of the population works in any one of the major business districts. But I agree I don't know why Houston is so focused on light rail. With a lack of zoning, spread out geography and a booming economy making automobiles accessible to the masses the focus should instead be on buses, not light rail. Cheap, clean, safe busses for citizens to use until they can afford a car.

Beat me to it! https://twitter.com/united?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author I agree that IAH doesn't always get new routes like some of other hubs but I think the "shaft" should also include allocation of newer aircraft. When including aircraft types, I would say ORD gets shafted the most. Some of the United planes flying out of ORD are junk.

I agree the French, especially Parisians are rude. But have you flown United lately? It's a nightmare. A rude AF employee doesn't compare to just one UA flight attendant on a power trip. The worst euro carrier on its worst day is far better than the best US carrier on its best day across the Atlantic. CDG I agree with you has issues, but most airports outside of Asia do. When I flew through CDG in March I paid 60 euros to rent a day hotel room inside the Airport. I slept for several hours, took a shower, got refreshed then cleared security in less than 2 minutes (because it was the middle of the afternoon). Made CDG much more pleasant.

I think for just two? Continental merged with United in 2010 then United cut IAH CDG in 2012. It is true Continental and Air France operated the route just fine for many years but I assume that was because they were both SkyTeam partners. Actually, I think United's and Continental's combined operating certificate was not complete 'till late 2011, so AF may have still been benefitting from a CO code share even after the corporate merger but before the "FAA" merger. But I may be misremembering. Now, in 2018 they are competitors in every way. In my opinion I would rather have AF fly the route that UA. I am not a huge fan of UA.

I'm worried about United and AF competing on IAH-CDG. AF is my favorite euro carrier out of IAH (at least when I'm flying on my own dime). Their premium economy product is the best out of IAH. Not just the seats, but overall on the plane and at the airport it's a damn good product. I would hate for AF to reduce frequency at IAH or leave all together.

Once United starts delivering 787-10 to EWR later this year, then I could see how that will open up extra aircraft for the other United hubs, including IAH. -If- IAH will indeed get more United European routes then I hope it's something other than Paris. It's fun to speculate, but United has a lot of hubs with a lot of needs, lets hope IAH doesn't get left out.

Harris County should be grateful it has spent as little on light rail as it has and be done with future expansion. Instead, Metro should pour more money into maintaining and upgrading existing local/commuter bus routes. Cars are just too inexpensive and convenient for Houstonian's to give up for public transportation. Outside of the region investing 25 billion for a regional mag lev and or hyperloop, people are not going to start riding Metro in high enough numbers to justify the costs.

Metro's 40 Telephone Rd bus from downtown to Hobby is actually faster than a light rail extension costing hundreds of millions of dollars. lol. https://www.ridemetro.org/MetroPDFs/Schedules/BusSchedules/n040-Telephone-Heights.pdf

Yes, typically if you abandon the easement right of way, then it reverts to the landowner. However, tell that to the landowners who got screwed over in the rails to trails nightmare. https://www.supremecourt.gov/qp/12-01173qp.pdf

I haven't researched all the filings. However, the fact that they -do- have power of eminent domain gives them a lot of leverage when "negotiating" with a private party. In a sense they are taking advantage of their eminent domain, even if they do not exercise it in every transaction.

False. It is not status quo because the property is less valuable now, because it has now become incombered with an easement. Future buyers will want a discount on the property because the easement will likely run with the land.

No. They have the power of eminent domain. Now, it's true, Texas Central can first -ask- for an easement from the landowner. But if the landowner politely responds with, no thank you, Texas Central can then politely reply back with eminent domain proceedings.

Interesting documentary on Smithsonian Channel regarding the Japanese Shinkansen. Free to watch. https://www.smithsonianchannel.com/videos/shinkansen/61264 Incredible amount of resources/money in order to maintain the train safe and operational. Much more than I would have thought.

More power to Texas Central if they can build it without taxpayer funds. However, there are still two major concerns, or "attacks" as some call them: 1) Eminent domain has been used to acquire land. Fair enough, Texas statute allows TC to do that. However, if the project never materializes, then those homeowners got their property taken against their will and it wasn't even developed for the stated eminent domain claim. Incredibly inefficient. 2) Let say the project materializes. Great!. But then fails to sustain itself financially at some later point. Not to worry, taxpayers to the rescue. The "questioning" of this project is not "odd" considering the potential pitfalls to Texas citizens. Again, if Texas central can get this launched and operational without taxpayer funds, then more power to them.

You make it seem as if there is nothing there. However, currently NW mall (even though it is vacant) is well served with Metro's: 33 Post Oak, 58 Hammerly, 66 Quitman, 71 Cottage Grove, 85 Antoine-Washington and 26 Long-Point Something indeed. Other than Metro's transit centers, park and rides or downtown, how many places in Houston have as many public transportation options as NW mall? In any event, I doubt many Texas Central passengers will ride public transportation to/from the station. At most, it will be as many people who ride the 102IAH to Bush airport or 40 Telephone to Hobby airport. Basically just the workers of those airports/train station who don't have cars yet.

Wrong again. Apparently Texas Central cares. Amtrak and Texas Central partner to provide ticketing and bus shuttle service: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/dallas/2018/05/04/amtrak-jumps-board-texas-bullet-train-ticketing-shuttle-partnership