JLWM8609

I don't know whether to laugh or shake my head in disdain at someone who thinks a 24/7 Beyonce station is a "THUG hip-hop station."

Up until the early 90s, Mercedes-Benz used a relatively straightforward scheme based on engine size and vehicle body for their models. There were a few instances where the model number didn't match the engine size, but they fixed that by putting the engine displacement on the trunklid opposite of the model number. For example, there was the 300E 2.6, 190D 2.5 Turbo, 280SEL 4.5, and the 450SEL 6.9.

The new ramp that'll allow access from 290 to I-10 without muddling in the 610 mainlanes will be open by next week. http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/transportation/article/Ramp-opening-soon-to-directly-connect-U-S-290-to-5799346.php?cmpid=btfpm#/3

Makes sense as Johan de Nysschen, who was head of Infiniti when the Q-ization took place, is now head of Cadillac.

If the Elmiraj concept was built, it would've carried the Eldorado name with pride. With this new nomenclature scheme at Caddy, most of their vehicles will adopt a CTx scheme for new names in the next few years, with x being a number. The ATS and CTS will change into something like CT1 and CT2, but the Escalade will keep its name.

I was thinking of other names they could've used like Calais, or Sixteen. Heck, if they wanted to stay with the alphanumeric scheme and have a nod to the past, CT60 would've worked. The 60 would've been a nod to the 60 series from the days when Cadillac was seen as being on par with Rolls Royce.

The whole Griggs corridor has poor access now with the light rail. All of the crossovers have been eliminated, though a signalized crossover was to be added at Beekman according to METRO's plans back in 2006. At that time, traffic on Griggs would have a protected left turn phase to cross Griggs at Beekman. However, at the METRO Capital Programs Committee Meeting on September 17, 2014, the committee approved a crossover at Beekman that would allow a left turn movement from Beekman heading north onto Griggs going west to give neighborhood residents and those at Palm Center access to Griggs westbound. The interesting thing about this crossover is that it won't have a signal. It'll be gate controlled. They said a fully signalized intersection wouldn't meet traffic warrants.There'll be a stop sign on Beekman at Griggs and a railroad crossing gate will prevent traffic from crossing when a train is coming. I bet we'll have those genius drivers who will decide to enter the intersection to pull up to a lowered gate and block traffic on Griggs while a train crosses. They're also addressing the issue of having to go east on Griggs to the intersection with Long and Mykawa and the railroad tracks to make a u-turn to go back west. I've noticed ruts in the median from what looks like large vehicles trying to negotiate u-turns there. In the same meeting, they approved a crossover and a turnout for large vehicles like trucks and buses near the maintenance facility. A business owner located on the westbound side of Griggs complained that his tractor-trailers no longer had access to his business when coming from the west on Griggs. This new turnout would restore access that was eliminated when the tracks were built. One of the board members pointed out that these issues seemed like they should've been caught in the design phase instead of this far along. Another board member remarked that the line was designed to meet "the standards" and the standards have had an impact on the community and the design needs to be tweaked going forward. But, if you look at the design at Beekman as it is now, you can see curb cutouts that were built into the original design for a crossover, and temporary barricades instead of permanent barriers have been there for a while. It seems like this particular turnout was always in the design, but they didn't have approval or funding for it until now. If you want to view the video of the meeting, and the portion that talks about this particular issue, here's the link (It's discussed from roughly 4:00 to 16:30) : http://ridemetro.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=5&clip_id=928 The funny thing is even with these improvements, access to Cityside Crossing from the east is still cut off. I guess that goes back to the whole thing about traffic studies. Personally, when I would go to Palm Center or the Houston Texans YMCA before construction started, I used to just take one of the crossovers in the median and head back home west on Griggs. Last time I was there, I had to go east to the SNAFU intersection with Long and Mykawa with the railroad tracks to make a U-turn to head back on Griggs going west. Looking at the aerial view on Google Maps, I've just realized there's a driveway to MLK behind Palm Center and the Texans Y that will allow me to get back to Griggs while avoiding that mess. That'll make things easier until the turnout and crossover are built.

In another thread, I mentioned that a crossover on Griggs at Beekman hadn't been built. I thought it was left out purposely, but just recently, METRO gave the go-ahead to construct the crossover. I guess delaying the opening of the line would also make it easier for construction to proceed than to have construction of a crossover on an active rail line?

That's as silly as when an automaker touts their car as the most technologically advanced car in the world. How do you measure technology? Do you use a technologoscope to measure the technology in the car? Same with this list. Do you take a bore-o-meter and ride around town taking measurements with it?

There was a Grandy's at 9205 S. Main. It's now a Baytown Seafood. There was also a McDonald's at 9203 S. Main that's now a Shipley's Do-nuts. The Whataburger at 4616 OST closed down a few months ago. It's boarded up. I don't know if you want to include it since it was replaced by a brand new Whataburger about a mile down the road.

I'm asking what's going on in those areas. Those parts of town were left out in the photos. I haven't been to Atlanta since 2009 or 10, but from what I understand, Tyler Perry has put some investment into those areas and I'm wondering how that's been coming along.

I think they're replacing old high mast poles with new ones. If you take a look, you'll see they're being in close proximity with other poles.

I remember those old headers. We don't have them here anymore thanks to Google, who was awarded a patent on funny logos in 2011. http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/24638-google-kills-a-little-piece-of-haif/

I don't think that area needs a new name. For me, it'll always be known as downtown and there's nothing wrong with that. However, to play along, here are some suggestions. South Frost Town Viaduct Valley Overpass Terrace Offramp Heights N.E. Downtown (real original, right?)

Those pictures are nice and all, but they don't show what's going on in other parts of town. What about the areas in Southwest Atlanta around Campbellton Rd., Greenbriar Pkwy., Cascade Rd., and the West End?

Cadillac will call it's new, large RWD model the CT6. What an inspired name! http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/general-motors/2014/09/24/gm-cadillac-name/16169489/

Nope. I was on the way to NAPA on Long Rd. to pick up some motor oil they had on sale, but I did see the traffic on the South Loop at a standstill.

I saw METRO had a 2-car train on the SE line at Palm Center for testing on the 24th. It was pretty cool to see. One thing I noticed is that the rail line has eliminated all cross-street movements on Griggs between MLK and the Mykawa/Griggs/Longer intersection. During construction when the crossovers were initially eliminated, I would leave Palm Center by going east down Griggs and making a u-turn at that wretched intersection of Mykawa/Griggs/Long that's crisscrossed by three busy freight lines to head back west toward MLK. I thought that the absence of crossovers would be temporary and at least one signalized crossover would be built in the final incarnation, but it looks like I was wrong. From what I've read in this document from METRO HERE from 2006 on page 14, a signalized crossover was proposed at Griggs and Beekman to allow cross-street movements on that stretch, but for some reason, it wasn't built. Not far away, cross street movements were retained on the line on MLK between OST and Griggs so there is still crossover access to and from Stuyvesant, Courtelyou, and Ablemarle streets, so I'm not sure why they omitted this one crossover at Beekman.

What's going to happen to the old DeBakey site in Riverside?

I remember there being some sort of City of Houston facility at that lot, and it was maybe less than 10 years ago that it was still there.

Funny you should mention that. In 1984, METRO took delivery of some Crown-Ikarus 286 articulated buses and put some on the 77 MLK route. From what I remember reading somewhere, MLK was so crater filled that the new buses kept getting damaged and going into the shop and they had to discontinue sending articulated buses down that route. Here's one when they were brand new.

I wouldn't count on light rail necessarily leading to repaving. MLK Blvd. was mostly untouched when the SE line was built. It still has the same asphalt overlay and bumps from before the project with a shiny new light rail line running down the middle.

Development.

Like august948 said, that term is a product of its time. When white flight first occurred in the mid 20th century, it was mostly whites who had the economic means to move to the suburbs. Despite the Supreme Court's 1948 ruling in Shelley v. Kraemer, which held that racially based covenants were legally unenforceable by the courts, blacks who had the money to afford homes in the suburbs still had obstacles which kept them from purchasing homes in most suburbs, since the ruling did not prevent private parties from racial discrimination when it came to housing. These methods included sellers and renters just outright saying "NO", "respectable" realtors not selling to blacks (Jack Caesar had to use his white secretary to serve as a front to buy his home in Riverside Terrace in 1952), and brokers having ethics codes that stated that changing a neighborhood's ethnic composition was grounds for being expelled from the MLS, or neighborhood residents pooling together money to buy out black homebuyers.

White flight doesn't really imply that the "white man" held up the city as if they kept things in line. When white residents left the inner city in large numbers, businesses relocated, the property values dropped, and the tax base shifted, leading to a decline in city services and decay.