citykid09

In Houston, a Party Corridor

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/05/31/travel/31surf600.1.jpg

Benjy’s is among the new arrivals on Washington Avenue.

By YASMIN GHAHREMANI

Published: May 31, 2009

A DRIVE down Washington Avenue in Houston reveals mere remnants of the decay that pervaded this three-mile strip just a few years ago — a bail bondsman sign, a lone pawn shop and a handful of vacant lots hint at what used to be. Sites like these once dominated the street, but today, Washington Avenue has been transformed into one of Houston’s most popular nightspots.

Full Article: http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/travel/31surfacing.html

Shhh. Don't give away the secrets. He might stop posting those award winning posts of his.

Why would I do that? Even if light rail can convert to heavy rail, Houston's will never be able to because its located on the streets. Even more reason for me to continue my award winning post. Hah! take that! LOL

I have a question that may sound stupid. Can light rail, particularly DART light rail, be converted into heavy rail in the future? Has this ever been done with other systems? Am I the first to think of this?

Also, does anyone have the original DART heavy rail plans. They were old newspaper clippings.

I wonder how the taxi drivers would feel about this (I remember a few years ago they were furious when this was brought up)

The article mentions that.

Incentives with an expiration date can be used to encourage particular projects, however if these were implemented uniformly to all projects then market prices for land would only rise on order to restore market equilibrium. The subsidy intended for all developers (on its face, a bad idea) would be captured by all owners of developable parcels. Depending on which parts of the City were or were not considered eligible for such a program, there would probably also be supply-side market distortions resulting in some pretty bizarre patterns of urban growth.

As for the Sonoma project (which Randall Davis is no longer involved in, btw), I don't believe that the City ought to be subsidizing housing for wealthy people. The retail component, maybe, depending on the net fiscal impact. But the retail component doesn't represent the bulk of the taxable value of Sonoma as it was proposed.

Thanks for explaining! I should have paid more attention the economics courses. Are you a economics major? or marketing, management?

It seems like a lot of projects are going forward now. The new hotel downtown, Regent Square. So the tax incentives really work. The city should do it for all of its proposed developments. Even the Randall Davis Sonoma development.

yes it might cost of course, but you have to think about the future, 20 years ahead and how the problem will get worse and worse if nothing is dont quickly. Money is not the most important factor behind the motives of a project sometimes, but more about the impact and good it will do towards a city.

I don't think adding 10 miles to a system thats pretty much useless will work anyways. As I have said before, Houston considering its the 4th most populated city in the US (top 10 metro), needs a heavy rail system "urban" transit system! The people that truly care about the city would agree. Name one world class city without one.........You can't, they don't exist. I just can't believe a city the size of Houston could be so far behind other cities when it comes to mass transit, all because of the interest of a few bad seeds. I really feel sorry for the city. The fiscal conservatives on here will bash the hell out of me for posting this, but its the truth! I guaranty you that even with the light rail as planned, that Houston will begin to fall behind comparable cities and lose population. All of this will happen as the nation moves away from its car/oil dependency. People will move to places where they can get around without a car, and a small toy train pushing down the street won't cut. So is it too late to start over with a new transportation agency? I would say yes, it is. At this point its too late. Houston will never get a true mass transit system, it will never compete as a world class city. It has had plenty of chances in the past, but has always failed. If only the citizens of the city would have taken charge and not let people with special interest and greed takeover. At this point I will just sit back and watch this disaster happen.

Never heard of Monica Pope, so I looked her up and found this video: http://revver.com/video/785966/marcus-davi...ie-block-party/

More U.S. airports add rail service to downtown

By Roger Yu, USA TODAY

Portland, Ore., is among major metropolitan cities in the USA to have a public rail system that runs from the city's center to the airport. The number of travelers using Portland Metro's service to the airport grew 7.7% in 2008.

Riding the rails between downtown and the airport is becoming a reality for more U.S. travelers.

With their roadways jammed with cars and shuttles, a growing number of domestic airports are building or have plans for a rail link that will connect passengers from the terminals to regional metro-rail systems, allowing road warriors and vacationers to ditch their cars.

"There is a consensus building that this is a desirable piece of overall strategy to deal with ground transportation challenges," says Matthew Coogan, director of New England Transportation Institute who has written extensively about the subject.

Direct rail connections to Seattle-Tacoma and Dallas Love Field are expected to open later this year. Other large airports with an approved rail project that will be completed in the next few years: Salt Lake City, Phoenix Sky Harbor, Miami, Dallas/Fort Worth and Oakland.

Full Article: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/200...er_N.htm?csp=34

Atlanta has the benefit of having it's major inner city employment being served by one line. I don't see how it would be possible to do so and connect TMC, Downtown, Greenway Plaza, and Uptown with one line in Houston. Furthermore, making it heavy rail would change the function of our inner city system. Seems to me we need an inner city system that has many stops to capture all the activity of inside the loop, which would exclude heavy rail.

So you don't think the red line could have been built like MARTA's Central line? Why not? The red line where it goes is fine, but it should either be underground, above ground or in its own right of way. Heavy rail is just a much better solution for a city the size of Houston. I don't see the light rail as it is, being enough to handle Houston's future rail ridership. Due to block sizes, METRO rail will never be able to add more than 2 cars per train on a regular bases, when it rains to hard the trains will shutdown, if any event is held downtown the trains will be shutdown. There is nothing you could say to convince me to say that light rail (the way METRO has planned it) is right for Houston. The truth is, they are cutting corners, and giving the 4th largest city in America and one of the top 10 metros the crappiest rail system in the U.S. if not the world.

commuter and heavy rail should be a part of it once we get our LRT up and running.

That's not what METRO says, they say they are planning commuter rail not necessarily heavy rail. But they have been saying commuter rail is coming for years but you never see any results or plans. If Houston had a system like MARTA in Atlanta, light rail would not necessarily be needed. I was just in Atlanta last month. I stayed downtown and rode the MARTA to some station??? Well I was going to the Dogwood Festival in Piedmont Park. The MARTA got me as close as it gets to the park and I rode a MARTA bus to the Park. I would say that this type of system would be a better fit for Houston. It fits lots of people and it doesn't have to have stops everywhere, you can take a bus to get exactly where you go after the rail takes you as close as you can get.

I think street cars like Portland has could work to get to exact locations after you get off the heavy rail.

If that were all there was to it, then the system expansion that is planned (which is being paid for in no small part with federal funds) would be far superior to the Red Line. ...but that's not the case.

The water table in Manhattan is above the subway lines. They were built without the benefits of modern technology and leak like a sieve. They'd fill up completely in only a few days if it weren't for the sumps. Now consider that Houston's water table is actually deeper than Manhattan's and that we don't have to excavate through bedrock.

That's not to say that subway is the best option for most of Houston. It isn't by any means. In fact, the only places I can think of where it would be appropriate is the Texas Medical Center and Post Oak Blvd.

Yeah, I would say Metro should use subways in Uptown, Downtown, The Medical Center and pretty much any inner loop stops.

Here is something I made when I was bored, just now:

The reason why we have what we have is because we paid for it locally and thus it was built on the cheap. It was also, most importantly, to demonstrate that people would ride rail, and they do. People weren't so sure 10 years ago when gas was a dollar a gallon. Had the referendum asked for the money for grade separations the fiscal conservatives (hey, I'm one for the most part but I understand that necessary infrastructure is not free or is going to become a moneymaker) - they would've killed it. Then we'd be at Phase Zero today instead of Phase One.

Grade separations are really what drives up the cost of LRT where it's built. Other cities have at-grade rail too and get along with it just fine - we are not the only one that has it. Hell, even in "world class" San Francisco the trolleys and some of BART runs along the streets. And people here are learning not to run red lights or make illegal left turns in front of the train.

I understand NYC and Atlanta have some/most of their system underground, but they're not sitting on clay with a high water table. People think LRT is expensive - they should see what trying to build a subway here would cost.

Yeah, but the rails in SF that run on streets are all secondary systems in addition to the signature BART heavy rail system. I'm told that it is a myth that Houston can't have a subway. there are cities around the world that are below sea level and still have subway systems. Houston isn't even below sea level. So those Downtown tunnels must be some kind of myth, because with Houston's clay and water table they can't possibly exist right?

And to that end I agree. But it must be supplemented with an inner city rail system that has more stops (just not as many as the typical bus route).

Why do you need that supplemented? New York City doesn't have light rail running on their streets, and they never will. I could see street cars like the ones in Portland in addition to the heavy rail. METRO should have modeled their rail design off of MARTA in Atlanta. This is the type of rail Houston needs. I would say that MARTA is a mix of commuter and inner city rail. Each of the trains have like 15 or 20 cars and they get pretty packed. The inner city sections are underground, but when you get out into the suburban areas its above ground but always in its own right of way.

Here is a picture of a MARTA train:

Yeah, really, you can say a lot of things about our rail line but you can't say nobody rides it.

Lots of people ride Houston's Light Rail. All the more reason to push for a heavy rail system.

Yeah, I have been reading the comments. Most people agree with me. Light Rail in the form that METRO is making it, is not right for Houston. Many people have made comments about their mass transit experiences in other major cities and wish that Houston could have the same. So at this point if this guy can stop METRO I personally am all for it, if it will force them to build a heavy rail system like a city the size of Houston should have.

I don't see why METRO won't have a town hall meeting broadcast on all major local channels and held in one of the large arenas, so that they can hear what the people really think about light rail and their plans for it, and what people really want the city to have.

It's kind of cold how the Chronicle has an Ashley Furniture advertisement popup on the front webpage, directly above a photo of the fire.

LOL, I noticed that last night.

Gallery Furniture #1 Trend on Google search at the moment. This is big!

Does anyone know if the fire has spread to the showroom?

As of right now, Gallery Furniture is the 3rd most Twitters thing in the world!

Thought I should bring the rendering to this page. Will it still look like this?

I just watched a show on PBS about transportation in America. It talked about how we went from street cars and mass transit to cars and then now we are transitioning back to street cars and mass transit. They took a look at Portland, Denver and New York City and their pasts and future plans. I saw all the things that Portland did early on when freeways were popular that was the opposite of the rest of the nation. They have commuter light rail, those ski slope people movers, street cars, etc. Their street cars are what Houston calls light rail.

I saw an (I think) IBM commercial that was naming cities and Houston was named.

Any ways, Here is a new song that has Houston in it. Its by Canadian artist hip hop/r&p Drake and its called Houstalantavegas, or HoustonAtlantaVegas, or Houston, Atlanta, Vegas. He has a lot of good music, and a lot of His inspiration comes from Houston artist as you can here in some of his other songs. Some of the younger people in here might know him from the Canadian teen show Degrassi.

Should have known.

Read on Swamplot that this is not happening.

http://swamplot.com/on-the-shelf-that-gran...ter/2009-05-19/

Next iPhone - Rumors

* 32GB and 16GB storage (up from the current 16GB and 8GB models)

* $199 and $299 price points to be maintained

* 3.2-megapixel camera (up from the current 2-megapixel camera)

* Video-recording and editing capabilities

* Ability to send a picture & video via MMS

* Discontinuation of the metal band surrounding the edge of the device

* OLED screen

* 1.5 times the battery life of the current models

* Double the RAM and processing power

* Built-in FM transmitter

* Apple logo on back will glow

* Rubber-tread backing

* Sleeker design

* Built-in compass

* The camera, GPS, compass and Google map combined will identify photo and inform about photo locations

* Turn-by-turn directions

Rumored release date July 17th 2009

I thought they would have video conferencing. Its the year 2009, video conferencing should be a standard on all phones. ten years ago I figured by now that we would all be able to see who we are talking to live on the phone. The technology is out there, but its not common yet.