musicman

engineers cannot be counted as members of any society that places particular importance on the number 25.

to clarify it's 5²

upon retirement of shuttle, the US will have no capability to take a human into space. we will depend on the russians.

no plans.

with the apollo disaster happening on 1/27, columbia on 2/1 and challenger on 1/28 this time of year is especially solemn for those in the industry. it would be difficult single out any of these.

Turns out the Airport Direct service IS the best deal in town. The rider pays $15 on a $74 trip. The other $59 comes from the taxpayer. Nice!

Yeah I think that METRO spokesperson's teeth are down to the dentin.

Don't get me wrong. We can improve downtown and it's cultural offerings, just not by offering up an imitative and derivative urban form. We should instead do what makes sense for us, given our climate, our neighborhoods, and our local culture. The downtown tunnels are a good example of that. It's not that the idea of tunnels are unique to our city, just that they make the most sense here, so we've taken them to a much further extent. We should promote them and make them more tourist-friendly.

We should also promote places such as the Bellaire corridor and make tourists slog down it to select from one of dozens of anonymous little Asiatic holes-in-the-wall if they want to experience Houston's culture. That kind of experience cannot be transplanted to a glorified food court. Dare I say...you'd miss out on 'half the fun.'

but the blogger's friends wouldn't want to be categorized as you described them. rubbery tortillas and overly sweet margaritas seem to be the norm.

Nothing makes me want to come to a city quite like being banned from using a taxi on a major highway. That'll really boost the tourism industry.

wow you ride in a car?

I did find the online menu, highlighting the Chicken Chan Special for only $24.95:

CHAN or CHIN which is it? this is sounding more like a flinch is involved.

@agorist says "Davenport, Azteca, maybe Yelapa, Hobbit, Blue Fish, but NOT James Coney Island to close"

Note, ricco, that your link has a PDF in it with the addresses, though you'd need to match that to what businesses are there.

Note, kylejack, you need post legit information with confidence.

Most say I can't change the edge on the existing granite - would probably break it removing, or simply be too costly to remove. Ok. Let's see how this pic came out.

what's midcentury?

I've got a little more than a year worth of time in the neighborhood, I did and still do feel safe here.

The neighbors on my left and across the street have been living here for a long time and were surprised with the news.

I'm still pretty sure I'm going to be getting a security system for the house though.

so you feel safe but need a security system. hmmmmmm.

doesn't sound like you'd be happy if you do two different countertops. the black mosaic is interesting but i could see that becoming old quickly because of the size of the pattern.

Parkways. Turn major secondary arteries into parkways with underpasses (with adequate sump pumps, of course) to reduce at-grade intersections of streets and railroad crossings. Move car traffic. In line with what has been suggested above, make it pretty.

major secondary artery? is that like a minor primary artery?

Maybe Tammy is one of my long-lost cousins, along with Jimmy Chan and Chicken Chan.

so you don't have a problem running of customers?

Of course that's what I meant.

pense'

I know, there's always the bus but that would be a round about way of getting to either store.

they were promised that but i don't think they've been rerouted to serve the facility.

Sorry for long delay. Pics from a moving car didn't come out well so i walked over today. guard said they were supposed to be open march 1.

I can't understand this for the life of me. All of the street meters are only $1.50/hour to park. They're free after 7pm every weeknight, and free all day on Sundays... regardless of any events that may be going on. If the city is so far in the red, why aren't they charging more money for these meters?

Don't get me wrong, I've benefitted from them plenty of times, but If you really want to encourage more pedestrian activity and transit usage in downtown, you have to charge more for parking!!!!!

Thoughts?

and if you want to run off customers from downtown then charge more. so you drive down there and benefit but want others to take transit? hmm.

Are you suggesting Spanish-speakers are so enamored with their own language, and since they'll have achieved a majority population share in the US to the point where they can dictate laws, they'll go to the point of actually declaring Spanish a national language in order to spite the dirty English-speaking mongrels? I didn't realize Mexicans were so vindictive.

are you suggesting that mexicans are the only ones who speak spanish?

I'm not planning to get a permit but will have to dig between the sidewalk and the curb. Do you think this will cause any issues?

depends if you have a nosey neighbor or an aggressive inspector. you may luck out completely. best of luck

But hey, why would anyone mind? It's really more of a bonus, something for the kids to sift through during the next visit to the beach.

i guess parenting skills have evolved since i was younger. looks like there is a body floating in that debris.

Front page of the Wall Street Journal today is interesting article on $.05 tax in Washington DC on any plastic bag used to sell food products-

-any food product including mints in tin cans in a book store that had NO other food for sale and edible body frosting at a different store that had no other food for sale--

the money raised by this tax are set aside to help clean up the Anacostia River--but after I thought of Houston's $103 million deficit that was pointed out last summer I'm thinking . . . . . . .

could this be an option to get COH budget out of the red?

would be interesting to see why this only pertains to specific types of businesses. so i guess i could buy toilet paper or a cd at target and have no problem.

Medicare & Medicaid - unavailable to illegal immigrants.

from the article you posted evidently k-12 education for illegals is guaranteed under medicare. child care and development is available via EMS funding.

Welfare, Food Stamps - unavailable to illegal immigrants.

while it is more difficult to get food stamps in texas (vs cal and wash st), they do give it to illegal immigrants. this has been confirmed last month from an illegal who came to texas to find a better life. long story but she gave us a 30 min dissertation on the subject.

Again, not correct. We had a contract to lease AND purchase our parking lot before we even purchased the restaurant. It would not be prudent to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in a restaurant if we were not compliant with parking. The parking lot property owner then refused to honor the contract to lease and purchase and we litigated for 2.5 years, simply so she could get more money.

and you lost the gamble?

The parking lot owner is the same (and only) person who then complained to the city about our lack of parking! Again to drive up the price. This is why the parking ordinance is broken.

so you put the responsibility in the hands of one person? from the stories on the news, the neighborhood residents were also complaining. the church appeared to be the big problem but you'll blame it on one person?

There are dozens of restaurants and bars in the area which have either zero parking or off premises parking only. If all of them were closed there would be a lot fewer places to go, not even counting the lost sales tax and jobs.

from the houstonpress article about a proposed beer garden downtown, it seems lost sales tax for the city isn't a concern.

I support the use of the no parking signs in a rational manor. Some intersections can't support street parking - too dangerous - like right in front of Ziggy's on Fairview. But the no parking signs are added on a block by block basis as people complain so it's an ineffective hodgepodge.

so if your business is in the area where you think parking is dangerous, why would you locate there and risk customer safety?