crunchtastic

Gulfgate got some air time yesterday on channel 13, a piece on the East End mgmt district and Precint 6 partnership to put in a storefront and patrols, resulting in the lowest crime incidence of any mall in Houston. I don't know if there should be some distinction between a 'mall', like the Galleria or Memorial City, and a shopping center, like Gulfgate. And, wouldn't it be much easier to manage crime in surface lots than parking garages? Greenspoint, to no one's surpise, topped the list. Don't they have an HPD storefront inside the mall? Perhaps they don't have patrols.

It really does look like that if you're riding at any sort of speed! Me and my brother (in the olden days, like 10 years ago) had very crude helmet cams rigged when we would ride parking garages or single track. Way more bumpy but the speed was about the same.

What I find totally amazing is that one of the brochures touts Lindale as "only three miles from the Rice Hotel." Talk about a landmark.

True, true. All of these plans can be viewed on the B.B. Partnership's website. The Riverwalk-style section is actually a canal that serves primarily as a flood control project between Buffalo and White Oak bayous. The plans are there, the obstacles are funding and rights of way. FWIW, having lived, until recently, in SA the past 10 years, and having family roots there, the Riverwalk is a wonderful place and central to the city's identity. Locals go there, not just tourists, and it anchors all the city festivals (not to mention all those Spurs championship river parades, but that's another topic ....) In the 70s with the exception of a very small stretch, it was nearly as nasty as Buffalo Bayou. San Antonio's latest struggles have been maintaining local ownership of the dining and retail along the river, and trying to keep some shred of local authenticity. Hardly a surprise, this all came about from Mr. Fertitta attempting to throw enough money around, and turn the riverwalk into a mercado-themed Kemah.

Every time I've been in Specs (and I won't say how, um, frequently that is ) there's a uniformed HPD in front. could that be the deterrent?

This building is gorgeous! But as a marketing hack I have to giggle at that mailer "live like a Titan". Do they mean like a giant other-worldly god? "Hey, this is Cronus, kickin' it in my penthouse, you should see the spire we have!" Things ended rather badly for the titans, as I recall.

only 2 small sections left to take down; the rest of it is just dirt at this point. I've got a perfect view of the entire site out my office window. If I remember will take a couple of pics before it's completely gone. I worked in the same location 12 years ago and just recently returned. The velocity of change is amazing. Of course then the north side of the bayou was still grain elevators and abandoned industrial. Cool stuff.

Do you work for Wal-Mart? Kidding. I would not think much differently. It's public money for private profits. Show me the data where the 'public' in that equation comes out ahead. Back to the context of sports stadiums.....if you are suggesting that the city is giving up new jobs, etc by not funding the stadium, you would be wrong. Thanks for the transition.....btw. A very cursory google turns up quite a bit of academic research from the past decade that refutes most every argument the sports teams throw out trying to get taxpayer funding. This is a clearing house of various academic abstracts. The summaries indicate a mixed bad but the majority refuting the idea that sports teams create economic growth, etc. http://studentwebs.coloradocollege.edu/~m_...e.htm#superbowl More academics: http://www.news.uiuc.edu/news/04/1117stadiums.html Yet more pointy-headed academia, but this time from the law dept. Oh, and it says the SBC park in San Francisco is the only recent all-privately funded stadium. http://iblsjournal.typepad.com/illinois_bu...people_hav.html

Good question....I should go look that up. I'd hate to think that every municipality in the same situation keeps making the same mistake, over and over.

I'm one of the few sports fans who apparently takes the hard line on this. Privately owned team, privately funded stadium. Simple as that. Whether a team 'deserves' a stadium or not should be irrelevant. But that's precisely how voters were manipulated into believing that funding stadia with their tax dollars was a good thing. I have yet to see any respectable stats on how the city benefits financially from the halo effect of simply having the team in a new home. Now, once the stadium is built, then I agree, we may have an excellent opportunity for the wise use of city funds for re-development in the area around the stadium.

One of my problems with this is Luck's quote about "the preponderance of the money," whatever that is. A possible deal in two weeks but no idea how much they've got or are willing to pony up. So that they can negotiate the biggest chunk from the city as possible? I'm all for this team and a stadium getting built, but I hope Mayor White sticks to his guns--not with city money. And just because we went down this road before with the other teams is no excuse for doing it again.

Really! The acts booking Continental and a potential HoB ? Let's play, Roy Head and Barbara Lynn couldn't fill Thursday on the small stage?

Not even. HoB could and will agressively book small regional acts. Direct competition with Continental (which I frequent) . They will have the small room , close to Continental's capacity. Problem? No, downtown can accomodate more acts at any given time.

Very similar to Hard Rock. I think there is some variation among outlets, but the basic set up at the HoB I went to (New Orleans and Vegas) is restaurant, store, small and large stage areas. I would say capacity is similar to the small and large areas at Warehouse. At first I felt like a complete chump going to HoB in New Orleans, of all places, but I quickly got over myself when I realized the authenticity police weren't going to come bust me, and lord knows the Marsalis family doesn't care as long as you're spending money and supporting the music.

The theme-food, gospel brunch and company store crap is offensive, but House of Blues would provide booking competition for Warehouse and Continental Club, which will be a good thing for live music fans. And, possibly reach people who wouldn't have ventured downtown at all. Good example, recently my 65 year old dad in Katy wanted to go see Johnny Winter, but his only experience with the venue was ads in the Houston Press, and was not sure what he was getting himself into. Same show in HOB he would've gone without a second thought.

Ouch. Missed free throws, bad.....hyperextended elbow, worse!

The Yucatan was entirely too skanky for me. Although I did see a great, free Smithereens show in the parking lot. After the 2- and 3-fers were outlawed, I spent the first half of the 90s on a barstool at the Richmond Arms. Loved those expat boys. I miss those days. Talk about crazy sports--they used to open at the crack of dawn for satellite feeds of FA cup games. Nothing quite like a bar packed to the rafters at 9 on a Saturday morning. And they weren't drinking coffee, either.... Sociologists and Starbucks call it 'the third place;' I just call it a great local bar where you know everyone.

Ha. This is the short version of my early-mid 20s: "3 for 1" "free dinner buffet" "Ladies drink free!" ah, good times.

But will it have good lighting?

well this thread has gotten more interesting. Someone define for me, please, the measure of a downtown district's 'success'. Seriously. Residential and associated amenities? Percent office space leased? Balance sheets on all the major companies HQd here? This thinking that everything has to be a fun zone in order to rate---come on. People in town on business will find a way to spend a couple of hundred bucks. I will still go to Warren's and remember when it was un-ironic to get a cheap drunk on. I will pay parking and associated pre- and post- entertainment costs for sporting events. I will even, grudgingly, give Tilman Fertitta my money because the steak house is pretty damn good. Assuming I don't have any desire to live there, and I don't work there, exactly how is my downtown failing me?

I'm beginning to get this style/substance divide on HAIF..... Wacky metaphors aside, I get your point, Dallasboi. But I couldn't disagree more. I've already got natural vibrancy to spare, and it didn't come from a shopping mall or a destination restaurant. Those are just as transient in a downtown showcase complex as they are in a strip center off 1-10.

Mac's the first pure retail outlet in town for both Kreiss and Hastens, I think. I suspect he'll do well, if he's eliminating an expensive middleman for aspirational buyers looking for only a piece or two.

I think memebag understands perfectly well. Some glossy building with overpriced t-shirts targeted to a fickle market somehow magically qualifies as urban, and therefore good?

Just curious if anyone knows if HPD has an event or big announcement today.... About an hour ago I was on an errand and the Montrose and Waugh bridges over Allen Pkwy were closed, figured maybe a motorcade was on the way. A while later coming back down Kirby, lots of officers were at a residence on Kirby and Del Monte. Easily a couple dozen motocycles parked in formation and as many cruisers. No sign of media. Looked like a rally, except cops instead of bikers!

we advance---it was point based and we needed a 2-0 or 3-1 win.