Ross

I agree. The expense to keep old structures is high. Just because it is high does not mean they should be torn down instead.

 

How much of your money are you willing to give to the owners to rehab the buildings? Or, do you just want to use the police power of the City to force the owners to spend the money to satisfy your aesthetic values?

The old structural integrity cop out. 

 

How is it a cop out? Are you arguing they should spend, for the sake of argument, $4 million to have buildings worth $1 million? Sometimes, it just isn't economically sound to rehab a building.

 

There was an article in the Houston Press about Huntington Village and its HOA http://www.houstonpress.com/news/tipping-point-in-huntington-village-the-community-association-has-all-the-power-7998755

Trying to connect this with reality. How are there more options available in the Galleria than downtown.?

 

There are upwards of 400 stores and 50 restaurants at the Galleria, plus various other options nearby. As hard as it may be to believe, lots of folks prefer to wander around a brightly lit, indoor, mall with lots of shopping, eating, and people watching options than dodging panhandlers on the not so brightly lit streets Downtown. My colleagues who come here from South America and Asia have little interest in watching baseball or basketball, or going to bars, as those activities aren't reimbursed by the company. They do love to shop, often arriving with a half full suitcase, and departing with 2 nearly overweight ones. This is because equivalent shopping at home is far more expensive for them. On weekends, they generally head to the outlet mall in Cypress.

 

They will sometimes attend Dynamo games, since they love soccer.

 

It's popular with natives but there's nothing fun about it unless you like to shop. Downtown has infinitely more things to do than a mall.

It's apparent you never talk to international visitors, everyone of whom eould prefer the Galleria to Downtown. Not one of the dozens of foreign visitors I work with every year has expressed a preference for Downtown. There is very little fun to do Downtown, especially after dark.

You're wrong malls are dying across the country. I understand you have an opinion but it's simply outdated.

Deadmalls.com

 

You are so funny, Slick. The Galleria isn't going to close any time soon. It's a tourist destination, and extremely popular. It's also a whole lot more fun than Downtown, and will remain so for some time to come.

 

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not.. What makes uptown any more "interesting" than downtown besides a shopping mall? I hate to break it to you, but if theGalleria is one of Houstons most interesting things (sadly it is) then we as a city have a lot to work on in terms of tourism. And why that ugly hotel? Or is that part of your sarcasm..?

Out of towners, and especially out of country visitors, love the Galleria. They do not like Downtown at all, since there's very little to do or see, and no one wants to go to bars every night. Never underestimate the power of a major shopping venue to make visitors happy.

Oh, there's a plan alright.  The plan is to deed restrict as much land as possible in the Third Ward so that it remains low-income rental housing.  Are the plots owned even in the Midtown TIRZ?

 

 

No, the TIRZ, unless it's boundaries have changed, stops at 59/288. The properties are on the other side of the freeway.

 

To make things even more fun, the Midtown Management District collects an 11.81 cents per $100 valuation property tax for improvements the TIRZ doesn't pay for.

It's anti-gentrification land banking at the behest of Garnet Coleman who is bitterly opposed to redevelopment that might displace current residents of the Third Ward.

How many years ago was that?

This year

Both NW transit center and NW mall are bad locations for people arriving in Houston if their destination is downtown.

Downtown Houston has the highest concentration of office buildings and hotels that you could walk to after getting off the train.

When my office was downtown, most business visitors stayed at hotels near the Galleria. Downtown is overrated.

Poop bucket is on the aft part of the counter jib, away from the dining room.

 

On one extended business trip in the Middle East, I was staying in an apartment next to a building under construction. The crane was a luffing job type in the center of the new building. For a couple of weeks, the cab was at the same level as my apartment. The operator would lower a bucket on a rope, and then haul it back up. I assume there were trips for water, and to empty the "disposal vessel". The best part, though, was the days when the crane was being cleaned, and the guy doing the cleaning was walking all over the top of the cab, 13 stories up, and not tied off while he leaned over to clean the windows, polish the hydraulic bits, etc.

 

Anyone know how much the cranes cost? I assume it's a daily rental.

Went by and confirmed that they cut down at least 4 trees in the public right of way. I've sent pics to the Mayor and my City Council members.

Call the City Arborist. Council won't do squat. The Arborist can tell you if they had a permit or not.

Horrible.

The people responsible should be arrested.

 

Why? Their property, their choice.

There's very little in terms of residential neighborhoods along the route to the proposed Dallas location, which minimizes opposition and cost. From the maps and aerials, it looks like they have a pretty straight approach with few obstacles. Getting to Downtown Houston is much more difficult, with very little available space to build dedicated structures to hold the HSR tracks. And that's ignoring the impact on people who live next to the line. I am also skeptical that UP and BNSF would be amenable to allowing their RoW to be used, given the potential disruption to freight movement during construction.

 

 

There are many factors, but the more glaring one is the political pull that some landowners have along the route from the Houston station to Downtown.

So, it's your opinion that the people affected by a potential route to Downtown ought to just suck it up and give in, a sort of "best for the masses, so I'll screw up my life" approach?

 A subway would be deemed useless during floods.

 

Uh, no. Lots of low lying places have underground rail. You just have to build it correctly. Of course, that might be a struggle for METRO.

 

I doubt new digs would help Bracewell recruit any better. The legal market is still tight, and I don't know of many associates who'd choose a place for its building. Baker Botts has glorified cubicles for its junior associates now.

 

That's better than getting a glorified cubicle at random (no assigned seat) when you show up for work every day, which seems to be more popular with employers these days.

 

Don't answer him, you know the answers he gives.

 

You're no fun. 

 

Ok, but did they bring it up when they had the power in both houses of Congress (i.e. when they could pass it despite any Republican opposition)?

 

Or was it not really a priority for Congress or the President?

 

 

It wasn't a priority. What's your point?

 

Sounds like LA 30 years ago.

LA is full of cars. And always will be.

Definitely not particularly with the construction and hot lanes.

I find this comment from you interesting, being that you think driving on or through streets with the light rail is so tough. Hypocrite.

 

Nice piece of name calling, slick.

 

I think I said something to the effect that light rail makes it tough to cross through streets because the rail blocks cars from crossing the through streets, thus requiring a detour to the next available intersection that allows passage. On the North part of the Red Line, that's quite a few blocks out of the way, depending on where you are.

 

No. The northwest transit center and the surrounding area is extremely confusing.

No, its not. I've never had any problems finding my destination in that area. It's easy to get on 610 North or West, 290, Or 10.

One of the goals if HERO was to provide for the ability to bring an action in a local court rather than in Federal court. That's one reason all protected classes were included. Federal court cases are far more expensive to initiate, and may not be viable for poor plaintiffs.

As long as we're treating suburban neighborhood collector streets as arterials, we don't have a comprehensive plan.

What would you suggest for arterials? Widen Westheimer to 6 lanes like an LA arterial? Widen and straighten Shrpherd/Greenbriar? There aren't any good options here because of the way the City developed and the inconvenient placement of bayous and other drainage structures.