crunchtastic

Any other afficionados of really small, inexpensive cars? I'm all about a 5 door with great gas mileage, currently driving a Scion. I'm getting about 32 in the city and can't justify a $25K new car hybrid for a bump in mileage. But, My BF saw a new Kia Soul up close and was fairly impressed. I also noticed the new Suzuki AWD compact/crossover, but I'm guessing the mileage is crap. I love that Kia ad with the gerbils.

If you watch tv, you know that the majority of new shows are cheap- to- produce reality shows, CG animation, and other stuff that studios can market without investing huge money, time or equipment in. In order to make a giant sound stage and production facility viable, you have to keep it filled. You also have to attract high-budget production. I don't believe that Judge Judy, an occasional Scary Movie franchise shoot, and Bret Michaels' newest VH1 embarrasment will cover the costs to the county of giving away tax incentives for a facility that is half-filled half the time. I know it sounds really shiny and cool, sort of like jumbotrons downtown, but none of the people promoting the studio have provided any reliable data which says we have a market for this. Again--what are are Louisiana's numbers looking like? They did a very similar thing in Shreveport. They're also a few years in on it. Either they are making money, or not. I'm not saying it's apples to apples, but it would be instructive. Now, The Astrodome Grow House, on the other hand, would be an all-around attraction. Do you know that other major cities do tiny, simple things like install rooftop vegetable gardens on their municipal buildings, and get press?? Do you know why Houston has hit some recent 'best of' lists? Discovery Green. Green space. Emphasis on green. An 'attraction' is kids coming in from all over the region on field trips to learn about ecological science. Turning a huge, crumbling urban arena bathed in a sea of concrete into a ag-based business in the 4th largest city in the country -- in an oil town nonetheless -- would be an attraction. Foreigners would eat it up. Taping Barney is not an attraction. Sorry. Not picking on you, City Kid, but I smell amatuer hour with the people promoting this movie studio deal. And I'm completely serious about Dome Grow House. I think it's viable.

You are correct. There's no vision. We'll probably will do the same ole thing, pump a bunch of capital into something we're not sure we can lease to capacity, subsidize it with tax favors, and on top of that, pay someone a cut to market it. It might as well be a mall.

Running Man!!

No one is talking about this, but does Houston have a talent pool to support large scale filmmaking? The LA area has an entire economy that supports the film trade. Filming on location is one thing--but when it comes to soundstage work, or (especially) post-production work, why would a producer pay to relocate his talent when his talent AND his facilities already exist in the same location? I am concerned that 'Build it and they will come' won't apply, since, like the convention business, you're not attracting increasing buisness, you're trying to take the existing jobs away from someone else. Especially once you stop handing out the tax incentives. Has anyone looked at how much revenue from the film business Louisiana is pulling in now that they let the tax sweeteners expire? Who knows, it they can still make profits, they must have a good model. I still say the best use for the Astrodome is agricultural. A giant grow house. We have abundant agricultural and engineering talent to make it state of the art. It would create jobs and consumables for the local retail market. And in terms of civic promotion, a massive public project contributing to sustainability would be much more newsworthy than a facility which exists to create yet more crappy content for the airwaves.

SecondTour, thank you for ditching those damn Yanquis, and welcome home. (From a fellow long-suffering Astros fan since childhood in the 70s...) It's going to be a bumpy season for us, I think.

Man, I wish I could skip out of the office for opening day. Go 'Stros. Here's hoping Zambrano doesn't have a repeat of last year!

The park location sucks for this event. A woman I work with is on the board of a number of arts groups including the festival. According to her, they are trying to have both the spring and fall events downtown but it's .... complicated. My partner and I have friends who fly in to show at the festivals, and everyone we talk with, visitors, artists, patrons, dislike the Memorial Park venue. I think it's just a matter of time.

That's because in Colorado Springs they fatten up the animals with air force academy cadets.

My thoughts exactly! 5 shrimp makes it what--a Eighth Loaf?

There are still plenty of cheap steaks in that location-- the Hofbrau is now a Saltgrass.

Ooooh, major beef of mine. I have the freedom to make 3 different appointments with an ob-gyn, over a time span of 3 months, only to get them cancelled because a far more profitable c-section was scheduled for the day of my appointment. So I'm looking for a new doctor, and the cycle starts all over. My plan is to find someone who doesn't do obstetrics, but there aren't many. There's no money in providing preventative care (unless you're the lab processing the bloodwork). I wish there was a better network of nurse practitioners and PAs for routine doctor visit stuff.

lol Jax, you crazy Canadian socialist!! Despite the fact that global statistics like the report above routinely disprove us, Americans cling to this notion of government bad/private enterprise good when comes to healthcare. Healthcare is not a right, it is a product. At this very moment, corporately-funded doctors are probably busy revising the cholesterol guidelines down yet again so that pharma can sell more Lipitor, etc. before their patent rights run out. And when they sell you the Lipitor, you get the added gift of a 'pre-existing condition' going down on your record. Which means that the insurance cartel charges you more for less coverage. It's the American way. Maximum profit taking for all! As long as you're not the guy who has a heart attack when he can't afford to go to the doctor or pay for his meds after he gets laid off, because can't afford COBRA, because his-preexisting condition means his rate is $500 a month.

they must still be tied up. dang, it's palm tree and pool weather today.

What are those things sticking up behind the scaffold--isn't that the pool deck back there?

Is it the same Guadalajara as over on 59 at Kirby?

Brownfield site? Now that I think of it, that was the site of the old Cameron Ironworks.

A place such as HP might encourage more development with the promise of addtional bodies in a the general area, but that development is likely just going to be another stand alone retail pod, or hotel. Proximity isn't the same thing as connectivity. So how do you go from one to the other? I don't see how without a permananet resident population, which is why I am underwhelmed with HP.

I'm sort of surprised more people haven't zeroed in on the lack of tunnel connectivity. (Or maybe they have.)

That's great that you looked at some of his houses in the neighborhhood--you are correct he does nice work--not your typical flips! We apprectiate that he is working with houses that would otherwise be destined for demolition. (you should have the seen the one one Walker St before he started the job!) Neighbors on Rusk that we've talked to (they are right the old warehouse space) are not concerned. Keep in mind there's a railroad between Rusk and and the site-- in your backyard, essentially. There seems to be agreement that it will be safer and nicer all the way around with the retail as opposed to empty space. Depending on the lot you're looking at, there is some quite heavy brush between the Rusk street homes, the rail, and the warehouse. There's already a lot of foot and bike traffic in the area from people who live there, and the bus is well utilized, which might increase once the stores are in--but less so on Rusk than other streets.

and all this can be yours for a low, low $750,000!

Is that 2 story building in the foreground the Thirty Sunset Detention Center? I can't figure out what else would be so big and only have 3 tiny windows.

I should think it's a vital public service to have a source for the latest *cough* epicurean tools conveniently located at the intersection of Westheimer and Montrose. .....cool. I'm derailing a thread with talk of The Rabbit while listeneing to my CEO talk of eventual layoffs and the potential new structure of our company. The internet rocks.

wow, for someone who is not The Rabbit's target market, you certainly do know a lot.

The Rabbit isn't hot anymore?? It's so difficult keeping up with these things.