IronTiger

Sawyer Heights is a bit different, it has a pretty big draw (The Heights, the upper parts of Montrose, Washington Avenue corridor, etc.) but it's also one of only three Target stores in the entire Inner Loop, and the only one that's not less than a mile from 610. Given how dense the Inner Loop is, it's not THAT packed to the gills that a second one, at least in downtown, would be justified. Then again, I mostly go in the evening, but even still...

Most of the single family houses in Houston, especially Inner Loop, are uneconomically expensive. The square footage, bed/bath, lot size, aren't remotely comparable. The price per square foot is more than twice as expensive (comparing 5364 Lincoln Green in Katy with 2526 Roy Circle in the Heights). I suppose that it doesn't matter if you're disgustingly rich, but...

It's been covered up for years, and probably slightly damaged--I know the facade on 806 Main ruined the original brickwork.

Well, that's interesting, LRN actually has a well-researched article that lines up with what actually happened. Before I sat down and read it, I was prepared to write a response about how they warped facts into something fundamentally dishonest, etc. etc., but notice that in LRN and METRO's own information about the 2003 vote, Richmond wasn't mentioned, it was Westpark, and METRO's map showed the Westpark right of way. That is not voting on the Richmond rail, granted you could make an argument for such since METRO did say that was a tentative plan but to say "we voted on Richmond rail in 2003" is factually false. As for freeways themselves, comparison to rail is a false equivalence, especially since light rail does not carry freight traffic. Heavy rail does, but the economics of it make truck-based freight the better choice unless you were shipping mass quantities.

I definitely don't like most of the downtown freeways idea, and I think that parts of the US-290 rebuild have been a bit wasteful (not just in terms of bad contractors, but tearing up freeway that was only put down in 2004-2005); however, I don't like the idea of just diverting funds en masse due to the whole way of funding works, plus, it will be probably be eaten up in administrative costs and other overruns. If anything is put to a vote, there needs to be standards to make sure that exactly what is voted on in terms of transit is actually followed. I roll my eyes when I read about "we voted for the University Line / monorail / whatever" because voters actually didn't. On a related note, I think that this is what is often forgot about the Katy Freeway and the railroad, is even if it was saved/rebuilt, it didn't really go anywhere. The tight right of way of the inner city Union Pacific mainline (paralleling Washington Avenue) wouldn't really allow for another track (much less two) and trying to get UP to share would be difficult. The original Katy line was even worse with the very narrow right of way and curves.

I visited sometime late last year, no pics, but I got to see it at least! I don't know, in Pearland they had the ramps all torn up and even started to take down part of the outside retaining wall.

There needs to be a future beyond cars, but I don't think mass transit is the answer. And bringing up Asia is irrelevant because of the whole quality of life issue. Hong Kong is notorious as housing prices continue to rise and apartments shrink. In Houston, an average 1BR apartment is $954 a month with 724 square feet, with a 500 square foot studio running at $764. But in Hong Kong, a 450 square foot flat (typical), is $1,910 a month. If you are very wealthy or really that enamored with big cities, this may not matter. But it goes to what I was saying that if you reach a point where mass transit really is preferred, QoL is generally going to be lower and cost of living much higher. Bringing this back to Houston, I work in the Inner Loop and live just about a mile outside of it. I could easily get on a bus and go the exact same way to work, but it would take twice as long due to stops. The only way that mass transit would come to close to competing is if I had an express line just for my purposes (not happening, though you may get lucky with express lines) or if it took twice as long to get there with my car as it does now. No one said anything about forcing cars, and the delusions are strong from that article about scooters, sounds to me like the scooter companies are whinging about cars because the city is upset about random scooters being abandoned around town before they were able to start their program.

288's mainlanes look like they're being rebuilt anyway, so "designed for 55" isn't an issue. If it was just the toll roads, the main lanes wouldn't be a mess at all, save for some nightly closures on the inner lanes, at best. The original 610/288 interchange, which is being rebuilt as well, had some ramps "stubbed out" for future connections.

To each his own, but I imagine that post could be reworded without the obvious veiled insult(s).

That's parking for HCC, not METRO. It looks like the only ones for METRO are the blue-striped ones.

Point is (which seemed to be missed) is that METRO failed to transmit that information. If I can't get in contact with a restaurant (or find out online) what their hours actually are, I'm probably to go to a different restaurant, and not drive significantly out of my way to check at that restaurant. I could in theory, but again, a transfer adds even more time and more money to the route (for instance, I could in theory take the bus to work, but it will take twice as long due to stops). It's only an alternative option, though--I have yet to see a city (at least in the U.S., as European cities are built completely differently) where public transportation is the more pragmatic choice for getting around (as a whole, and not just related to events) but without horrific cost of living or quality of life issues that make it that way (ruling out San Francisco, basically anything on the East Coast, etc.).

I was going by METRO's official website (should be noted that if their own website provides bad information, that should speak volumes about the transit they offer), which does not mention parking at the Northline location. Admittedly, I've never driven out that way, but if METRO won't say there's parking, why bother? I'm not saying DART is ideal or particularly efficient, but for a sprawling area like Dallas (or Houston) it makes more sense than the knuckleheads who think we should do Eastern Seaboard-style transit and have 2-3 distinct systems, all of which require transfers. And higher fares are worth it if it goes a longer distance at a higher speed, so that's a bit of a wash there.

50 spaces doesn't seem like much, nor does it mention if it costs anything.

Please do scan it, though...a while back I had this 1980s-era Houston tourist guide (with restaurants and 1980s ads) and scanned in all 24 or so pages, and sent the link out in a PM chain.

Running some comparisons with Dallas, the most popular line is the Red Line, which largely runs on abandoned right of way to Plano, paralleling 75. The equivalent to that would be (if we were using 290 as a comparison) is FM 1960 as the terminus. As for improving public transit in Houston, one thing would be to have free parking at transit stations (Dallas does). I dread driving to downtown even though it's less than 7 miles away and most of that is on Main/North Main. An ideal solution would be just to drive east on Crosstimbers, and take the train down, even if it is slow. But unlike Fannin, which despite its isolated location still demands a parking fee (even on non-event days), Northline doesn't have parking at all.

The El Pollo Loco stores may have closed a few but there are maybe a dozen in the area. There weren't many built in the last few years to begin with. Would trade El Pollo Loco's locations for Pollo Tropical back though. I think there was an original EPL store at Blalock and Long Point with the sign/building mostly intact. Don't quote me on that.

It's not 2008 anymore and I think that we should all meet someplace in a bar or something.

I'm almost convinced that bicyclists in public streets are trying to run some sort of insurance scam (I won't get into when some jerks forced me onto the opposing traffic lane at Houston Avenue about a month ago, as that would require a few MS Paint diagrams just to show what was going on), but if you actually follow the rules of the road, congratulations, you are in the minority. It often begs the question of what painted bike lanes are for if not just a way for water to collect without splashing cars or passerby--"real" cyclists don't use them and they're fairly limiting and dangerous for what they are.

Bicycles for most of the 20th century (basically from the 1920s to the 1970s) were considered for children, at least in America and not taken seriously as a way to commute. As for small businesses, most of the grocery stores back in the late 19th/early 20th century weren't much larger than your typical convenience stores nowadays, and unless you live in a nest of single family houses, there's bound to be a convenience store/actual grocery store/drugstore with a halfway decent food section within walking distance.

Better timing on surface street traffic lights would do a lot for congestion as well as helping out public transportation (faster rides). But density, not so much. In addition to the need to travel around (people aren't confined to boxes, they'll want to move around if possible even if amenities are available--excluding work, how often do you leave your neighborhood?), it's pretty useless without some modicum of wealth and space. The people who scream DENSITY DENSITY DENSITY as if it's a goal to be achieved probably would hate it a lot more if you had six (more) roommates to achieve a denser living space.

It turned out there was an article discussing it. I was talking to @SpaceGhost earlier today that the name of the apartments were Pinebrook Apartments, located at 5201 West 34th Street, and was a bit more complicated than just a fire necessitating demolition. Here's an article from March 1992. The fire just prior to the official closure only destroyed one apartment and damaged three others, though there might have been others, and might've had one last big one before the city flattened it.

I stopped at the Randalls a year or two ago after the renovation. Partially due to how the Houston blocks are shaped, it's a very small store, feeling like an H-E-B Pantry but with full service departments (and at least the deli can cook you a hamburger per the signage I saw last time, something they haven't done in nearly the last twenty years).

That's not a good comparison. In the link below, I show an article that says the hotel in 1986. The city had planned it for elderly housing as early as the late 1980s, but it didn't open until 1998. Plus, according an article from 1997, there were actually new appliances, fixtures, and flooring in rooms from an attempt in the mid-1990s. Price to clean it up in 1997 dollars? About $3 million. Here, not only is the "structurally sound" part dubious (allegedly, there's problems in that department... ) but it deteriorated for far longer than the Memorial Holiday Inn ever did.

A few years ago during a rainy day I decided to roll down the window despite the weather and the somewhat sketchy neighborhood to get a wisp of the coffee smell, but instead I got this nasty burnt smell (the same sort of thing I got when I visited Houston for a weekend a few years back and left the coffee maker on the entire time) and rolled the window back up.

Aerials seem to indicate houses between Louise and Adele. Lot was also cleared--the trees that were there were torn down completely, though the trees that are there now have grown up. The transit center was dedicated in March 1992. I can't find the date it was (largely) abandoned.