skyphen

The Houston Press just ran a story on this very topic. College Immaterial for High School Students in Vocational Training

haha, yes, judging from the treeline in the reflection of that bldg, yes, that must be it. thanks. and it's "she".

Great news! This is long overdue. We are in sore need of grocery stores over here. Glad to see it's Whole Foods! Never understood why they wouldn't put one in the Heights though.

I don't know, that's why I'm asking! I noticed there's a big hole in the ground there this past weekend at the art car party that I somehow missed the first time I went, in my excitement, I guess. The same side as the lake. Lemme see... Checking the map, I guess this would be on McKinney and LaBranch, not Austin. Whatever it is it looks to be taking up an entire city block, or more.

Dallas came in at #14 on the list. http://www.bizjournals.com/specials/pages/168.html

Lakeside, right across the street at McKinney and Austin (I think)? I meant to post this in Going Up! Will a mod please move it? Thanks!

Is this for glasses, contacts, or both?

I thought they did that on purpose, to psych us Houstonians out into thinking it was natural instead of manmade. I think of it as bayou-colored.

LOL at this thread

Yeah. Can you imagine what it would be like once summer rolls around without trees? I went there for the first time on Saturday. Great park! It looks like the trees are blocking the view from the angle that picture was taken, but they're really not when you're out there on the ground. You can see the stage just fine.

False dichotomy alert. When did I place Houston's "demographic geography" over the "education of our citizenry"? If the museum truly wanted to educate Houston children there are many other options and avenues for doing so. I'm tired of pandering to our suburbs at the detriment of the continued revitalization of our inner-city core. Sprawl is not good, we should be trying to mitigate it. You can argue that this is one way, but I would argue that they should've chosen something else to put there to encourage walkability in their contrived town center. Don't those people have any imagination? No, this is a matter of the suburbs want, they got the money, so they get. Money talks too much in this city. Call me naive, but it's my opinion and I can express it. This POV would be a no-brainer in most other cities I've lived in. Just because it is relatively close doesn't mean the children of South Park are able to go to it. Many don't have cars, parents who work long hours or are disinterested, and buses are unreliable. I could have inserted Acres Homes or any other far-flung low-income community and my point still stands. Your point about The Woodlands' children being more likely to become energy executives reveals a great deal about where you're coming from, so I won't even begin to approach your classist assumptions on that point. The HMNS is not just an energy museum; that is only one component of many.

The problem, just like with the unfettered suburban growth itself, is where will it end? I don't have a problem with the Houston AREA expanding. What I dislike is how the suburbs continue to dominate the city, robbing the city of a proper central core. Nobody thinks of the Inner Loop when they think of Houston. They think cookie-cutter, strip malls, billboards, etc. It was my hope that with increased focus on expanding rail, making downtown a destination, and all the other projects that go along with building an urban core, there wouldn't be a need for such projects that further dilute what culture the City of Houston has. Obviously I was mistaken. Besides, I highly doubt this project is solely concerned with educating more people. If that were the case, they would have built a satellite location in South Park.

Very nice pictures! Is the giant Rubic's cube (I had the same thought!) really a public restroom? I remember visiting San Fran years ago and wishing we had those in Houston instead of the ever-so-classy Port-a-Potties.

Supremely bad idea, just as bad as opening a branch of the Children's Museum in Sugar Land. Houston is too diffuse as it is; with the trend toward high-density this and that, the City as a whole needs to hop on that bandwagon and consolidate its assets. It would do so much for nurturing a sense of Houston as A place rather than placeS. I'm growing more and more tired of living in such a center-less city.

Wow, excellent photos! Very nice work!

Woooooooweeeeeooooooo~! It's the ghost of Ella McKinney!

Sweet! I'll have to go take a look-see.

Any updates on this? Is it Braes or Brays??

Oh, okay, thanks!

Yeah, I was wondering this, too. I had a hard time finding them in your blog without going back through your archives. Can't you make a tag for "photos" or "bike tour" or something like that?

Echoing the others.... very neat project!

Is anyone going this year? Has it changed (i.e. improved) any since Katrina and our new citizens from New Orleans?

As a native Texan, I have traveled to Austin often and have enjoyed myself there, but I really haven't gotten what was just so great about it that it has become what it has become. I can understand the attraction of the outdoors, but I feel like the Inner Loop of Houston and even parts of Dallas are no different than Austin as far as the people and things to do. That is, you can find in pretty much any large city what you can find in Austin. I think it is just packaged a lot better in Austin than in other Texas cities, and maybe comes in a prettier, smaller, less intimidating package too. Austinites seem to disparage Houston and Dallas a lot, saying there's no other place worth living in Texas because they are so conservative, so I just really began to wonder what they were doing that was so much more progressive than Houston and Dallas. I'm liberal and I haven't had much of a problem living here. I have my gripes, and I think we could stand to be a little more vibrant and touristy (Houston especially)... I thought maybe I was missing something, but !he consensus so far seems to be they're not doing much of anything differently, as I had thought based on my visits there. San Francisco, Portland, Seattle... these are cities that ARE progressive and DO most of the things Austin seems to only talk about. Thanks for the opinions and keep 'em coming!

Wow. Bummer!

Austin is often lauded as being a progressive oasis in the state of Texas. Is this true or is it just Austin boosters blowing hot air? What is Austin doing differently than Dallas and Houston to mitigate sprawl and make for a more walkable, dense urban core? Is it working? What about its metro area? It seems people move to the suburbs there just as much as the other Texas cities and the traffic is just as horrific, if not more so. How are they managing their growth? What do you think Austin will look like in five to ten years? What is the difference in the way the city of Austin is managed and the way its citizens vote than the larger cities? What about racism and environmental concerns? I guess my question is, is it really all that different? Just what is really different about Austin? My first inclination is to say "nothing", that there is only a greater concentration of some of the things that other cities have. I mean, is it really a San Francisco or Portland in the middle of Texas?