citykid09

Do you know each other? Do you get along? This story sounds pretty interesting and I think it could be made into a movie.

WoW! So are you and Mark Barnes related?

I haven't seen them yet. Are they Houston themed like Sam and the old astronaut ones from Time Warner/Comcast?

I see your concerns, but you have to understand Houston is the ENERGY Capital not just about Oil. We will always need energy. What a lot of people don't realize is that Houston is more than just oil. Oil is a big part of it, but the area is changing and oil will become of less importance to Houston's economy as it continues to diversify. I am very confident in Houston's future. Its in the sunbelt where everybody wants to live. I just saw on World News tonight a table full of people that just moved to Houston got jobs and are excited about their future in the city. One man and his wife just moved down from Detroit and said they call friends up there and its well below freezing while in Houston its in the comfortable 60s+.

Guess I did.

For some reason when I think of Beaumont, I think of a "dead town," a town that is possibly losing population, I have never been there and I don't know why I think that, but that's what I think of when I think of Beaumont (it could be the opposite of what I think). With that said, I don't think it has enough going for itself to get commuter rail to Houston. But when I think of Bryan College Station, I think of a booming little metro area, that's the 44th fastest growing in the U.S. as of the 2007-2008 Census. And with that said I think commuter rail from B/CS to Houston would work.

I know B/CS and Waco couldn't support a mass transit system like DART, but Houston's METRO rail is basically a street car that looks like a train. We could easily support that. We had one before that went from downtown Bryan to campus. That was over 70-80 years ago. We can defiantly do it now. About 5 years ago the city of Bryan was considering light rail.

They said on the news that the developers of Luck Strikes said that they expect it to bring in a lot of traffic to HP. I thought it was canceled from what I was hearing from people on here, but its going through. The developers of HP also said during that news segment that they did not expect the economy to be like this when they built it, but expect things to pick up more when the economy improves. I see that video every day on the 106 and Park Countdown. Its good to see all the Texas musicians on the countdown (Houston and Dallas).

I saw on abc13 this morning that Lucky Strikes expects to open by early summer. By then they say they will have financing.

There is now a plan to run a TAMU buses to downtown Bryan, I saw it on KRHD abc40 news the other day. I think Bryan/College Station and Waco could handle light rail. Light Rail is meant for smaller cities.

World News Tonight will broadcast from Houston Monday and Tuesday. They will be talking about how Texas is doing so well in the recession while the rest of the nation is not. The population increase, corporate relocation, etc. Here is more info: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/tv/6325139.html

Thanks for all of the above info and video. Dallas has a lot going on with DART. Nice to see Carrollton having urban designed transit stations instead of just a plan old stop. And good to see that they are encouraging urban development around it. Do you have anymore of those videos from DART besides the light rail 10yr anniversary video?

whats going in the place of that building?

I was not saying make it a non car place, I'm talking a place where you could park in a parking garage and walk the area. I was even thinking parallel parking along the shops. Look man, I am basically saying its a very nice development, but with a few changes it could be a really great development. The developer could take advantage of the fact that Houston doesn't have a true urban Chinatown. This place has the potential to be a really great tourist attraction which Houston needs. It could be Downtown Asia Town. Oh, and a lot can be done with 20 acres if the land is used correctly.

Why? I wasn't comparing it to downtown, basically I was saying it could be Houston's chance at a true urban Chinatown with high rises included.

Billion that is. It would really be perfect if we had service from College Station to Houston. Believe it or not, the city of Bryan has talked about light rail not to long ago. There use to be commuter rail in Bryan 80+ years ago. It went from Downtown to TAMU.

Why did they change the name of the area to Asia Town? So did old Chinatown change back to just Chinatown? Any ways, I think the developers have an over all good idea, to build a kind of "Asian Downtown," but it seems that the whole development revolves around the car. They should have designed it more like an urban downtown instead of a business park. This development could have the potential to be the core of Asia Town. If the developers brought made it more like a huge mixed use development where people could walk down the streets, shop and do business like in other urban Asian areas/Chinatown (NYC, SF), I think it would really go well. There is nothing like this in the South or most any place in America. It could be a tourist attraction that draws people from all over. I know my mom would love it. Every time where in SF she wants to go to Chinatown and Fisherman's Wharf. So if the development stays like it is, I think it will be successful because that type of development is pretty much all that ever goes up in Houston. But if the developers turn it into more of an urban Asian Downtown/Chinatown I think it could draw more people to the area and make it more of a tourist attraction. So when people from out of town say they want to go to Chinatown/Asia Town, that's where people will take them for a good impression. Just my opinion.

I thought I's ask this before I shut down for tonight: What ever happened to the Las Colinas Sky Rail? Is it still in operation?

Thanks James, It seems as if that website was left abandoned about 2 years ago. Everything is from 2007. So I guess that answers my question, there are no current plans for commuter rail. Oh, and RedScare, $1.46 Billion is considered very cheap. Dallas is paying over $47 for its current expansions.

Don't pay taxes, LOL Here are a few: Long Island Rail Road also MTA NYC, MARTA, BART, Boston T and Subway, MBTA Subway.............shall I go on............METRO Houston.

Do you have a map of the current plans? Are there any? Are they active plans?

And the next question I was going to ask was how can I get a job with METRO, until I read your last sentence. I would like to be an urban planner for the city of Houston or for METRO (if they have such a position). I guess I will cool of on METRO a bit. After all the light rail that the city is building is 100 times better than the guided bus plan they had. Guided buses that look like rail is something I would like to see in Bryan/College Station. I look forward to the commuter rail lines that METRO will bring in. Those are the ones that would benefit me most.

You said it! Its the cheapest. Doesn't Houston, one of America's largest metropolitan areas deserve better than the cheapest of rail systems? As you can see the one in LA crosses streets, but very few. But there Light Rail system is what I thought Houston's would be, more like an urban heavy rail system. Its hard to show people that haven't gotten the chance to ride a true transit system the value of it.

My dream Light Rail in Houston: If I can't get heavy rail in the city, I at least want something close. I like the look and the design of this Light Rail Line in Los Angeles. It has that big city urban rail look, its fast and for the most part has its own right of way. METRO Houston should look to Los Anegeles as an example for its light rail. Take a look at it running in the middle of the freeway. name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object>"> name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object>" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"> name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object>"> name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object>" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350">

^ can't see the Houston picture.