Simbha

Here's another view. She pulled together some more buildings earlier this night. This includes some buildings from Greenway Plaza, the American General complex, and some residential towers - specifically, some more from Uptown and the two large ones on Kirby - as well as the Memorial Hermann Tower at I-10 and Gessner.

So, one of my associates is learning various sketch programs because... well... she wanted to do so. She asked for permission to do so 'on the clock' and I told her I'd allow it - IF she produced a minor project each time that demonstrated her skill. She's now starting Google Sketchup. Her project is to consider the hypothetical question of "What would Houston's skyline look like, if it were less spread out?" She's chosen to start by moving existing models done by others into Midtown - beginning with the Uptown skyline. I figured I'd share it with HAIFers, so... here's the result: (Sorry if it's a bit difficult to see; blue buildings on a grey background isn't the best combination. ) The Uptown buildings are right-center of the image, more-or-less adjacent to Downtown. If I find that there's interest on the board to see how the project progresses, I'll post more in the future. Edit/Add: If anyone has any suggestions for placement of Houston buildings in this regard, please feel free to post them below.

OOPS! That was a typo. I meant something like "to-date." I wasn't paying attention to what I was saying. And, your comparison is a fair one. I neglected to calculate annual figures, which - you're absolutely correct - are less than estimates of HMNS's visitor counts. Fine! I give up on the Aquarium idea... (Actually, I still think it'd be a good idea, but it's correct that it likely won't be the draw I expected.)

@Tory: I think it's a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation. I think a weekend jitney would do for the time being - and I think it would be used. It should be accompanied by a map of the city core with clearly marked pedestrian routes too. Then, the jitney service could be a single circular for the time being - perhaps once an hour service at each stop. If someone misses the bus, they could easily walk to another nearby destination. As the usage increases, it could grow to be more frequent. I'm not advocating any particular private/public partnership, but I'm aware that the woman who runs the Washington Avenue jitney service has been successful at doing so. Perhaps her service could be approached for a partnership of this sort.

Awesome. Just awesome. Well, I see tourism itself as being filled with time sinks, so I'm not exactly sure what your point is... People visit cities from outside the city's region/state in order to visit interesting and diverse places. No single attraction is going to bring people in from the rest of the country or overseas, but it's the overall experience that beckons tourists - an experience that is composed of a milieu of time sinks. That's why I built the working document as I did. Each of those elements, individually, is not going to bring tourists into the city - but the overall experience can be made more attractive. It's hard for me to judge other cities in terms of their eclectic museum and arts offerings - while I've visited all the cities on the list, I'm sure I haven't experienced all of their minor museum offerings - but I think Houston stands out in this regard. And, it's growing; I don't know the exact status of these projects but... - The Mackey/Bigley vision for the Houston Museum of Drawing - Mark Lacy's vision for the Houston Museum of Culture - The Independent Arts Collaborative's vision for the midtown performing arts center - I'm aware Story Sloane has been interested in building a Houston-focused historical museum for some time. - This year, a start-up nonprofit was announced to begin fundraising for a Houston Blues Museum. ... and I'm sure there are more. My point is that we, as a city, can encourage more of this development and its effect on tourism, through several phases, as follows: 1. Develop a Metro/private partnership that provides regular bus circulars between key destinations - and encourage development of more destinations along this route (a la #1 above). 2. Create attractive and safe pedestrian routes for walking between nearby destinations, and publish these. (The Museum District does not, to my knowledge, currently do this.) 3. Provide centralized community support for the funding and establishment of minor museums and performance organizations. One way to do this is to develop a centralized clearinghouse for information in this regard - kind of like a Kickstarter for Houston - and advertise its existence. Then, encourage any and all parties interested in developing a museum or performance arts organization to post their vision on the site and solicit funds and assistance from site visitors. It could be coordinated by the Houston Arts Alliance (actually, as I'm writing this, I may contact Richard Graber at HAA to discuss this possibility). Finally, provide support from local real estate agents to assist in the identification of centralized land that could be used for development. 4. Increase the funding for public art and landmarks/monuments through public/private partnerships, and focus efforts on creating large-scale, unique experiences that are attractive to tourists. 5. Develop more large-scale offerings that are destinations in and of themselves - things like the Houston Energy Museum I've mentioned earlier. Do this using existing interests so as not to hinder their development (e.g., for the Houston Energy Museum, do it in collaboration with the Port of Houston, locally-based energy companies (I've heard there are a few), the Ocean Star, and HMNS). Everything costs money - but #s 1 and 2 above are minimal in their expenditures and would create a much more appealing environment for tourists using what is essentially existing resources. #3 encourages additional development on a small scale and expands the existing offerings - allowing for further growth in the future. #s 4 and 5 require coordinated efforts by top-level city leaders, but can enhance Houston's reputation at a national or international level. These strategic elements use Houston's existing strengths and don't require that we develop ourselves into something we're not (e.g., an historical or recreation destination). Although, having said that, coordinated efforts with Galveston and other surrounding areas can take advantage of their offerings to enhance the overall regional experience for tourists. Just my opinion.

I don't know, but the reviews on Yelp have trended downward - no 4 or 5 star reviews after September 2010. Maybe people got tired of going to the place and they lost enough business to shut down...

I agree that it will be a long time before we become a tourist mecca like NYC, LA or SF - or, apparently, Miami (had no idea it is competitive with SF) - but I do think there are things we can do to improve the city's status as a tourist destination. I don't quite know what those things are, however; hence, this document. Here's my current take on ways to improve in the categories, without having completed the document (or even getting close): - Logistics: This is something which will evolve - as you like to say - 'organically' as the city grows, both in population and tourism. - Media: I think the big ones here are film and television; print media will follow. Our most recent foray into the latter was Lone Star - a show that lasted on Fox for one week in September 2010 and was filmed in Dallas (but set in Houston). I'm sure there are people working on it, but why is Houston so far behind its sister Texas cities in film and television? - Landmark: I've somewhat addressed this in my above postings, but I think the city needs to do a much better job of developing public landmarks that are close to the core of the city. I hate to say it, but I think bigger is better here; landmarks such as the Palace of Fine Arts in the SF Marina District and Buckingham Fountain are large-scale monuments in beautiful locations. The best we have to compete with these are the Galleria-area Waterfall (which is surrounded by a stark park), and the Mecom-Rockwell Collonade/Cancer Survivors' Plaza/Mecom Fountain in the Museum District (which are not easily accessible to pedestrians, who have to cross busy streets). The San Jacinto Monument could have been one of these, but it's in the middle of the Petroplex - something which most general tourist don't want to travel to or be in. Some (more) solid, centrally-located monuments/fountains would help here, but they need to be accompanied by the large-scale 'functional' landmarks including recognizable skyscrapers with excellent observation decks and unique operational areas. - Educational: In addition to 'other' landmarks (above), I think this is where we can really shine. We have a wonderful museum district; expanding on this and our other educational venues (zoo, build a 'real' aquarium, botanical gardens) can really bring the tourists in. We can't do anything about our history or landscape (on a grand scale) but we can offer amazing opportunities for learning experiences. We may not be able to compete with NYC for art museums or Chicago for science museums, but we can offer a variety of large-scale, unique experiences that - overall - rival these and more. - Entertainment: This is another area where we can shine. We may not be able to build a Broadway, but we can build a collective of entertainment offerings that bring people in. We already have the Theater District. We need to build on that area and expand it to the other side of the bayou - and converge the offerings of Sesquicentennial Park, the Bayou, and Tranquility Park to offer a unique experience with entertainment venues. One option that I'd really like to see discussed is to build Sesquicentennial Park and Discovery Green into the city's busking homes (although I realize that may not fly). - Recreation: Outdoor recreation is something we can do little about, although we can certainly promote what we do have. There's talk - on HAIF and elsewhere - of building an entertainment pier in Galveston... something similar to the Kemah Boardwalk. Such ventures are cool, but I don't see them as doing much to draw non-regional tourists to the region. I had once suggested to turn Buffalo Bayou into Houston's version (i.e., bigger and better) of San Antonio's Riverwalk, but other, more knowledgeable, HAIFers gave good reasons why this shouldn't happen. Perhaps something over in the Warehouse District downtown could fly - perhaps something rivaling Chicago's Navy Pier or SF's Fisherman's Wharf. Well, I don't agree with this sentiment - but I respect your opinion, and I understand that you strongly believe that an effective city is grown organically (and I acknowledge that your insights, in general, are more informed than my own). Overall, I understand your points - and I agree that we don't have "the history and urban grit of NYC, Boston, Chicago or San Francisco" and that (i) our natural environment is not as appealing to tourists as Miami or SoCal, and (ii) our core industries are not as flashy as Hollywood or as momentous as DC's. But, I think we can grow what we do have - an eclectic but strong mix of museums and performance arts. These, coupled with some large-scale appealing monuments, fountains and park-like amenities, can turn the city into a strong tourist draw - even more than it already is. But, I think these must be focused on the central core of the city. That, at least, is my belief.

I'm not certain that this is the case. The Georgia Aquarium - according to its Wikipedia article - sold 290k annual passes in its first year, before closing down the program. And, it welcomed over 10 million guests within it first year. I seriously doubt all those people came from the surrounding region, but I could be wrong. Again, I don't know - but both SeaWorld Orlando and the Florida Aquarium in Tampa are within 'driving' distance (about 7 hours). Also 'near' Atlanta are the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga (2-1/2 hours away) and the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston (5-1/2 hours) - both of which house about 10k animals (roughly the same as the Aquarium Pyramid at Moody Gardens). Admittedly, all of these are further away than Moody Gardens/SeaWorld San Antonio - and most are further than Corpus Christi (and the Dallas World Aquarium) - but I still believe (operating word: believe, not know) that a truly world-class aquarium in Houston could help (operating word: help, not spearhead) any city effort to grow its non-regional tourism. But, if it's going to be done, it has to be done on a grand scale.

Sure, but just like any data, they're as valid as their criteria will allow. And, I suspect they're strongly correlated with other general sets of tourism data. This is a fair point. But, I don't think that's the way tourists would see it. I think we need to build a collective strategy to move the mindset of tourists away from regional tourism (Texas/Gulf Coast) to city tourism (Houston). To the specific examples you used... - Moody Gardens: Definite competition here. No question. - SeaWorld: I think tourists see this as being more of an amusement park, and less of a public aquarium. - Texas State Aquarium/Aquarium of the Americas: Both of these are hours of driving away from Houston - approximately 4-1/2 and 6 hours away, respectively. To put that in some perspective, the time from the Aquarium of the Bay (SF) to the Aquarium of the Pacific (LA) is about 6-1/2 hours... same order of magnitude. You mention driving distance; I think we need to start thinking in terms of bus distance or walking distance.

Just curious which team everyone thinks deserves to play against LSU for the national title. I'm assuming everyone's choice would come from one of the top 10 BCS-ranked teams: 1 LSU 12-0 2 Alabama 11-1 3 Oklahoma State 10-1 4 Stanford 11-1 5 Virginia Tech 11-1 6 Houston 12-0 7 Boise State 10-1 8 Arkansas 10-2 9 Oregon 10-2 10 Oklahoma 9-2 I'm not huge into sports, but Houston's record's got me interested. (Yes, I admit I'm jumping head-first into the bandwagon.) I'd love to see UH go to the championship game, but that's only because it's my alma mater. Not knowing much about this stuff, I've heard that Alabama may get the slot, but many people are arguing against that because they've already played this year - at Alabama - and Alabama lost (in overtime, 9-6). I'm curious about others' thoughts.

I still believe we should build a true public aquarium within the city. While the Downtown Aquarium is of decent scale, it's primarily a restaurant. I even have a site picked out... Yes, I'm quite serious. I think this would be the best use of the Dome, and it could become a world-class facility rivaling that of the George Aquarium, unlike the Downtown venue. Here's a visual comparison of relative sizes of these facilities: Yeah, Atlanta's got us beat - for now - in at least one category...

If anyone's interested, I have created a Google Doc for myself and any interested parties through which we can visualize the touristic attraction of other large cities in the US and compare them to Houston. I've included every US city listed on Euromonitor International's 2011 listing of top world cities, with the exceptions of Las Vegas and Orlando (which are purpose-built for tourism). In descending order of number of tourists, the cities are: - New York City - Los Angeles - San Francisco - Miami - Washington DC - Chicago - Boston - San Diego - Atlanta - Houston - San Jose - Seattle The spreadsheet is intended to compare the cities' tourist attractiveness within the following categories: - Logistics: An assessment of the factors relating to visiting the city as a tourist, including availability of information, accommodations, tours and transportation within the city - Media: An assessment of the city's positive media presence across film, television and print media - Landmark: An assessment of the collective set of landmarks not included in other categories - monuments/fountains, buildings and others - Educational: An assessment of 'live nature', museum, and historical landmarks - Entertainment: An assessment of entertainment venues/events within the city - festivals, indoor entertainment, and professional sports teams - Recreation: An assessment of other recreational offerings - outdoor recreation and amusement/theme parks Within each category/item, each city is to be assessed using criteria presented in the tab labeled 'Legend'; generally, only attractions within the city core are considered, as these are (in my opinion) the most appealing to tourists. The actual assessments by city appear on the tab labeled 'Master List'. On this tab, you can find the cities themselves (columns) with assessments in each category/item - from weak to world-class - denoted by color. Examples/contributing factors to the assessment are provided in each of the cells. If you're interested in a side-by-side comparison of cities, simply click on the column letter (C to N) for the cities you don't wish to view, right-click (on a Windows PC) and select Hide for the column(s). This list is a work-in-progress; I have only filled out NYC and Houston thus far (and even those are missing some elements). Furthermore, I acknowledge that it's an entirely subjective comparison that is reflective of (for now) my own biases in assessment. This is just a side project for myself and anyone else who may be interested in viewing/contributing. I'm almost certain that the city leadership has conducted a similar assessment, but - since I don't have access to it all in one place - I'm doing my own. I welcome any and all feedback - except that which simply tells me I'm wasting my time. (I'm not, because I'm enjoying it; it's just another way for me to learn about my own city and others, in the process.) If you have thoughts on how to improve this list, please let me know by either posting below or sending me an email (simbha07@gmail.com). Or, feel free to request editing rights by contacting me directly, if you'd like to contribute directly to this work.

First off, you have a beautiful home. Next -- I don't know much about residential architectural history or the Houston real estate market. What I do know is that Zillow's a great source for finding information on homes. Here's what I did: I went to Zillow.com and searched for Houston. Then, I used the following 'advanced' filters to find several homes in the city: - Only For Sale houses (no rentals) - Minimum 2,500 sq ft - Minimum 10,000 sq ft lot size - Year Built: 1933 to 1965 (since this is what Wikipedia tells me counts as an MCM home) - Home type: Single Family When I apply these filters, I see quite a few properties that pop up on the map. I suspect you'll be able to find something you like if you search well enough using this tool. Here's a link to my search results; I'm not sure if it'll work for you or not but - if so - it'll save you a bit of time... Link. Good luck! Edit: Oh, and I forgot to mention that sometimes the search results will come up with unmapped entries. You can find these records by clicking the link at the top of the box with the filters, once you've clicked Search. Edit2: Note that some of these homes may not be on the market any longer. However, most of them should be.

A statement about Metro's pet policy can be found http://www.ridemetro.org/Services/Bus.aspx. It reads as follows: Customers can carry a pet on the bus and the rail as long as it is caged properly. Service animals are allowed to accompany riders with disabilities. LOL I'm not sure a dog that can't climb the steps by itself will be able to pass as a guide dog.

Here's another concept my wife and I have been working on. This one's less developed than the Triumph of the Human Spirit, but here goes: Houston is one of the most ethnically diverse cities on the planet. As an abstract reflection of this diversity - and to also put Houston on the map - we propose that the city build a large greenspace composed of classic gardens from around the world. Specifically, this would be a park with winding walkways which would take a pedestrian through many gardens styled after - say, Andalucian, French, Japanese, Chinese, etc - gardens. To my knowledge, nothing like this exists in the world - although the adjacent Japanese and Chinese gardens in Singapore (Jurong Gardens) are not dissimilar in overall concept. I'm fully aware that Hermann Park has a well-developed Japanese Garden. This would be in addition to (but separate from) these gardens. I don't have a space to propose for this; I don't even have much of a sense of how large the space would need to be yet. It's just a seed of an idea at this point. One possibility might be Spotts Park. It's currently a recreational park, and I'm sure there would be community opposition to its move, but it does appear to be in an ideal location for something like this. One interesting idea here might be to also use the circles created by the jug handles of Memorial Dr. By sight, I estimate this total to be around 30-35 acres. Here's the space, for clarity:

Well, I simply don't believe that we can build a comprehensive historical museum of engineering/technology that would compete with the likes of the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, for example. That's why I suggested the concept of a museum of future technology. I recognize that it would require significant planning - both from a development standpoint (easy but tedious) and a from a exhibit logistics standpoint (harder but feasible, I think). However - like you - I'm a strategist; so, I'd suggest that what we (as a city collective) do is go through a process of strategic thinking and determine what, if anything, might be the best choice to meet our goals.

And, here's a geometric rendering of the Houston Energy Museum I did over the weekend... If it were actually built - even in this location - it would probably need to be a bit smaller, but... you get the idea. The 'little' things on the right are part of the Energy Garden which I'd mentioned before (but not by name). I meant one to be an oil derrick and the other a wind turbine - but I suck at design, so this is what you get. I think a combination of the Houston Energy Museum (here) and the Houston Museum of Future Technologies (above post) would be awesome for the city. Museums aren't everything - but they're important, in my opinion. I'll provide some more of my (and my wife's) thoughts in the coming days, as I have time.

Thanks for the clarification, Tory. A great vision. It's not dissimilar to one my wife and I have had for a while... Imagine a monument to the ability of the human spirit to rise to and overcome its challenges. Right here in Houston. The Triumph of the Human Spirit is such a monument. To be dedicated on July 20, 2019, the 50th anniversary of the day man first set foot on another celestial body, the Triumph of the Human Spirit is partially dedicated to man's desire to reach for the stars - and its ability to grab them. But, it is more than just a monument to human spaceflight. It is a monument to every man, woman and child who has dared to ask "what if..." and "I wonder why..." It is dedicated to the spirit of the thousands of people who have risked their lives to mine for resources - so that you and I may turn on the lights or drive our cars. It is dedicated to the professionals who dared to innovate in medicine, paving the way for open heart surgery - then using those advancements to install the first artificial heart. And, Triumph of the Human Spirit is not a monument to Houston alone. It is a monument to all of humanity - past, present and future. The monument is envisioned as being a part of Eleanor Tinsley Park, along the Buffalo Bayou. And, here's my addition - I think this is at least somewhat consistent with your own vision for a museum of this sort... And, situated one block from the monument is another Houston landmark - this one dedicated to the future. The Houston Museum of Future Technologies is a science and technology museum unlike any other - because its primary focus is on the technologies that will shape our future. Curators at HMFT work to develop exhibits that highlight the emerging technologies of today that have the greatest potential to bring about change in our world. Each exhibit is crafted to educate the public about scientific advancements currently happening all over the world, and what they mean for future engineering developments. And, here's a geometric rendering of these landmarks (the large existing building in the foreground is the Houston branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas): Incidentally, I'm not a designer. The actual inspiration for the shape of the Triumph of Human Spirit (actual design vision not shown here) is the interesting obelisk-like sculpture found in front of the UHD Commerce St building - which can be seen here.

I'm sorry to keep asking you to clarify, but I'm still uncertain of what you're looking to do. Perhaps this question would be better: What would the STEM museum address that is not currently addressed by the combination of HMNS and SpaceCenter Houston? Or, would the STEM museum 'simply' be a massive expansion on these offerings? I believe I know the answer to this question, but I'd like to hear your thoughts first.

Perhaps you could provide some more description as to what you mean here. What would the exhibition spaces be like, and to whom would the entire facility be geared? To be clear, I don't think either your idea or mine would be sufficient, by themselves, to lure tourists. In fact, as I obtusely implied in my previous post, Houston seems to have an image problem which prevents it from even achieving its 'standard' potential. No single museum is going to resolve that, but I believe an energy-focused museum should be part of the larger plan - but, perhaps, your vision for a STEM museum could better fill this position, so I'd like to hear more.

It doesn't - globally - but looking at cities in North America, it does. First, methodology: I took census population data from 2010 (for the US) and nearby years (for Canada and Mexico) for population estimates. I then took the Euromonitor International Top Tourist Destinations data for North American cities. I then ran straight-line single-variate regressions of tourists on population. Here's what I got: - Taking North America as a whole, the R-squared is about 0.30. Not extraordinary, but respectable. The z-stat on Population is 2.67 - very respectable. - Taking the US alone, the R-squared jumps to 0.63. Strong correlation there. The z-stat on Population is 4.48! - Finally, taking cities which were not purpose-built for tourism in the US (Las Vegas and Orlando), the results are even stronger: 77% R-squared and a z-stat of 5.82! Here's something else: I estimated the expected tourist value based on the coefficient estimates in both cases, for each of the cities - then computed the ratio of the actual deviation from this value to the actual tourists value. In the N America version, Houston does 2nd worst of all cities; according to these estimates, Houston's international tourism is at about 26% of its expected value (based on its population). (Seattle does slightly worse, at 24%.) I also did the same using only the US data. Here, Houston is the worst of the bunch - at 30% of its expected value... regardless of whether I exclude the tourism-built cities or not. I employ statistics professionally, and so I know the pitfalls of drawing causal conclusions from contemporaneous data. However, clearly population IS correlated with tourism, and I think this is a strong argument for believing that Houston's presence in international tourism will grow - regardless of its source (e.g., medical tourism). However, the second part of the analysis shows, to me, that Houston is definitely NOT taking advantage of its (population) size in order to attract tourism; it could be argued that it is, in fact, repelling tourists as the EXPECTED value is significantly higher than the actual value. I believe that we, as a city, can attract more tourists - and then some. But, it will take a focused effort from numerous parties. And that, brings me to your next point... I'm not suggesting that we promote ecotourism within the city or its environs - although I do think people do not have a clue how much the region offers in natural surroundings. I would instead argue, though, that Houston needs to do the following three things, if it wishes to increase its tourism: - Increase the number of tourist-enticing destinations in the central city and expand on its existing offerings. I have suggestions in this regard, which I'll highlight later in another posting. - Ideally, group its tourism offerings in the central city to the best of its ability - but also provide transport to the outlying destinations (of which there are many). I always found it funny that some of our biggest tourist destinations are away from the city's core: JSC/SpaceCenter Houston, Kemah Boardwalk, Moody Gardens, Forbidden Gardens (now defunct), etc. This is the nature of the city, but I think our city/regional leaders should do more to encourage this type of development in the center of the city. - Advertise our offerings. We've got some great stuff (and could use more) but we don't even tell the world what we have. Overall, I just think that Houston SHOULD and CAN increase its tourism by a huge amount, with relative ease.

@ToryGattis... I love the spirit of your vision, but I disagree with the specifics. As someone indicated in your blog comments, I believe that Houston needs to capitalize on one of its core strengths by building THE world museum on energy. I believe that this can also satisfy your vision for a museum of engineering and technology to a large degree; here's one way to do it: 1. Build a large-scale facility on the current grounds of the Houston Garden Center. The main (indoor) museum would be located on the northwesterly grounds, while an outdoor museum would be located on the southeasterly grounds (as shown on the map below). The indoor facility can be connected to the main HMNS building, thus creating a connected experience across the other HMNS exhibits and the energy museum. This orientation would also allow for more connectedness (either through skyways or pedestrian walkways to the Health Museum, thus forming a massive district for the sciences including paleontology, astronomy, anthropology, mineralogy, health sciences, and technology (as most represented by energy). 2. Relocate the gardens of the HGC to the Houston Arboretum, granting it equivalent (or grander) space than it currently has at Hermann Park. This would serve to also connect the two central botanical spaces in the city. 3. Relocate the sculpture garden currently on the HGC grounds to the median on Caroline between Hermann Dr and Southmore - through the heart of much of the central Museum District. Create a narrow pedestrian park along that median and be sure to allow for safe pedestrian crossings across the major roads. (Edit1: Here's most of the path of which I mention...) (Edit2: You'll notice that this path ends... (i) at the HMNS/proposed-HEM site, (ii) is within 2-3 blocks of the MFAH, ZaZa's, the Children's Museum, (iii) passes by the beautiful Clayton Library Center and Holocaust Museum, and (iv) ends at the block occupied by the Asia Society and Weather Museum.) 4. Develop partnerships with existing Houston-area tour operations focused on energy and energy technology, such as: - Bring the Ocean Star under the Houston Energy Museum banner. It can remain where it is, in Galveston (as it should, being a decommissioned offshore rig) but it can be advertised directly through the HMNS/HEM website as a satellite facility. - Develop a partnership with the Port of Houston Authority's Sam Houston Boat Tour, to provide museum-goers with scheduled Port tours with an energy focus. By doing it in this way, the city government could take the lead and reallocate space that is already owned by the government (including the Caroline median). The only organization that suffers (in a way) by this allocation are the HGC folks - whom, I believe, can be persuaded by providing ample and distinctive grounds at Memorial Park instead. I suspect - and I totally admit this is a biased statement - that many of the folks who actually control the HGC facility live in River Oaks or along Memorial Dr; a move such as this could actually be more convenient for them, without hurting other residents. (Also note that the Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens is also in proximity of Memorial Park and the Houston Arboretum.) I'll address TheNiche's comments - and other suggestions I have - in subsequent postings later.

Looks like Houston is heading for a BCS bowl game... I'm not big into football, but it's good to see one of the home teams making their way up this year. A friend of mine today - after the Tulsa game - pointed out that, while people are critical of Houston's schedule (and, perhaps, rightfully so), this team beat Tulsa by 32 points. That's more than the amounts by which Oklahoma St (26 points) and Boise St (20 points) beat them - and only one point behind the excess poured on by then-#1 Oklahoma at the beginning of the season. What do you all think? Is that a valid measurement of the strength of this Houston team?

I was at James Coney Island the other day with a friend, and I was wondering where the company was based... ... Imagine my surprise when I found out that they're based right here in Houston! (I had no idea!) So, this got me thinking: James Coney Island seems to have strong potential to develop into a national chain. Then, I started thinking about other Houston-based companies with a wholly or mostly regional presence that have a good chance to grow into national or international chains. Here's a short list of my candidates: - Cafe Express (currently, 21 locations in the Houston area) - HostGator (#1 web hosting provider in Houston, #21 nationally) - Shipley Do-nuts (220 stores across much of the South) - Leisure Learning Unlimited (Continuing education) I also think the following - which have a national presence of some sort - have the potential to become even bigger brands: - Landry's Restaurants - Francesca's Collections - Men's Wearhouse Just wondering what others think. What are your favorite local chains that have the potential to 'make it big'?

I don't know where I first heard this, but I remember someone once telling me: "People say about New York that 'It's a great place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.' I feel about Houston that 'It's a great place to live, but I wouldn't want to visit here.'" But, Houston's growing by leaps and bounds and Houston's reputation on the international stage does appear to be growing. So, I wonder... Should the 'city' (and, by that, I mean a combination of public and private entities) be building infrastructure and attractions that are appealing to national and international tourists? I'm aware that many on this forum would say no; they wish to keep Houston for themselves, in a sense - not wanting to deal with additional traffic, etc from tourists. But, the region's growing in population regardless - projected to add another million people or so within the next decade and possibly reaching a metro of as much as 9 million by 2030. As the region grows in population - outpacing global population growth estimates - it is likely to become even more prominent, internationally. I believe it's inevitable that tourism will grow. Should we take advantage of this growth by focusing our efforts on growing the tourism industry and providing the necessary infrastructure that would be appealing to tourists? And, if so, what must be done? Edit: I think projects such as the Buffalo Bayou Shepherd to Sabine Project are a great start, but I believe that greenspace is only one of many aspects of building a city that is appealing to outsiders. These sorts of projects (to me) appear to be more appealing to residents than tourists too.