2112

Hello all!  I'ts been a while since I posted, like over 15 years I think!!

Cheers, -2112

I heard that negotiations were held with Tampax for stadium naming rights, but the city withdrew the contract on the count of there were too many strings attached.

(sorry)

^CBD Fetishism

It oughta be in the DSM-V.

I'm not sure what I said to warrant the "CBD feitshism" comment. The great downtowns and cities that are really exciting happen for a reason. They happen with time and vision. Maybe some of them start out as simple dreams. That's where I am at this point. Sure, I think it's bad to simply copy another city, that's cheasy. But I know our city can do better with time and persistence. And since I will not ever give up on Houston, I refuse to stop dreaming about what it could become. We can have a blan central city if we allow it and just sit around and delicate flower about it. Or we can be persistent and drive a consistent message "out there" so that maybe someday it will force something good to start happening.

Can we describe the set of people who want more retail downtown? Are they people who live downtown? Work downtown? Visit conventions?

I spend very little time downtown. I've lived and worked in Houston for over 40 years and less than one of those years was spent working downtown. When I was there I didn't feel a need to go shopping, except once when I got to work and realized I had forgotten to put on a belt. The lady at Macy's said they sell a lot of belts to people in that situation.

Just my two cents: You are right, for a large majority of us who dont live downtown, we dont have a burning need to shop there. Heck, there are plenty shopping districts in Houston that are worth going to, and in that respect Houston is not lacking. But it has nothing to do with that lack of urgency to shop in the CBD. It's about creating a downtown in our city we can all be proud of. How cool would it be to have a downtown that is just a little small version of Times' Square? Or maybe more realistically something that resembles downtown Seattle or Denver? There are proud Houstonians that would love to see thier downtown flourish, regardless where in the city they actually live. I'm sure with the 2 and a half million Houstonians and the 6 million in and around around the city, there is enough critical mass to make such a dream come true.

The basketball park (Root Brown?) across from Toyo is a shining example of how to keep the bums at bay: Security & Water Sprinklers

Bums don't need luxury encampments. There are a gazillion other spots in town they can make camp.

If I were a bum I'd live under 59/Settegast along the Bayou. Them some nice digs.

Man, I would love to see a rendition of what they have planned for the dome. I imagine it could be pretty awesome - it may look like a futuristic space city under a protective dome, like something out of Mars or the Moon or something. Or not.

I could see that. I just wish it had greater visibility from downtown. I could imagine a lot of people would be scared to cross 59 to go over there. It's dumb, but you know how people get.

There is one particular spot along the 59-elevated, I think it is at Franklin, that is kinda creepy to go under. If anyone has been there you know what I mean. It's the same similar feeling I get when going under the pierce elevated comming from the Metro Transit Center to the Greyhound Terminal. It's like a scene out of "night of the living dead" - interesting characters limping towards you asking for things, talking to me with Excuse me Sir, and Excuse me what time is it ?, which is always followed by a request for financial aid, and then following you into the terminal. Then when you get to the terminal, you are treated to another cool feeling just like that one. I have to admit though, part of me kinda likes the adrenalin of being in the bowels of this sort of thing.

What the ____ is gay talk doing in a Houston Pavilions thread.

I never realized that saying Discovery Green and Central Park in the same sentence was such taboo, but o.k. That rendering in the Chron showing a patch of green surrounded by skyscrapers just made me think of it. It's not like I said something insane like Houston was getting the next Times Square or something.

I'll drop it, but I don't think I'll be the only one (especially when it's finished) to think of Central Park when they see photos or take a stroll thru DG.

Make's me happy that the wife and I threw in some decent money to this park (we will get a cool plaque or brick or something with our names). Just my little part to help.

Update in today's chron. - Not much news, but the Dynamo are hoping for an announcement in September.

Several east DT sites seem to be in the plans, but they also mentioned that "other" sites in the city are still on the table. So we are not out of the woods yet as far as securing a downtown location.

So, it's almost mid July. We should be hearing something about the stadium pretty soon, right?

Not too sound like a racist, but you sound like a fairly ignorant honky.

HAHHAHAHA!!!

Thanks for the laught Kink. I havent heard the phrase "honkey" since the meathead references in "all in the family"! I do agree that this is a city of Houston issue for the most part. I love living in the city of Houston, and think this would be a great addition to a more vibrant downtown scene. I hope it happens. Although I now live most definitely in the suburban side of the city (bay area), I still live in the city of Houston, am proud of this city, and support anything that makes it better. I hope the new stadium gets built.

The problems with the current park configuration is that it is uninviting. It is especially uninviting at night, and borders on scary. The lawns slope upward, so that you get a sense that you are walking into a secluded area where you can't be seen from the outside , a place where once you get in, you feel like you are trapped, again, especially at night. I think the slopes should go away. That is the first thing to make it less scary. The other thing is that it feels like a maze, that is, the way you have no choice but to go diagonal to get anywhere inside it, which I should add, there is not much of "anywhere" to actually go too. The whole configuration just has a very inconvenient way about it. Compare this to something like Bryant Park in NYC. There is lush green all around the perimeter, with the inside of the perimeter lined with benches and areas to sit in. There are outdoor tables and such, and an openess that invites such that you dont feel closed in. It is almost more of a plaza, except there is green all around you. Maybe something like Bryant Park would be better for our Market Square.

...The weird thing is that Montreal has an extensive tunnel system, probably larger than the one in Houston due to all the subway connections, and the weather is worse for most of the year (snow in November - April with Jan and Feb temperatures reaching 30 below freezing). Yet there are STILL more people in the streets.

Here's a theory: maybe it's more palatable to walk around in freezing Montreal temperatures, where you can still bundle up with as many layers as you want, and a nice long coat. Compare that to walking around in 100% sticky, stinky, and sweaty 95 degree Houston humidity, where there is NOTHING you can do to compensate for that. Add on top of that the lack of plentiful street retail, cafes, etc., to make it worth putting up with the stickyness.

Great. And keep stunting the development of Midtown within 5 blocks of the bus station.

I am perhaps a bit bitter as Sat morning I took my old Porsche out for a spin. I got caught at the light, and some guy fresh off the bus dropped his bag, walked close to my car, and pulled out his johnson in an apparent attempt to urinate on my wheel. (I ran the light). Here's the kicker - that's the second time that exact scenario has happened to me by the bus station.

Midtown will never become a desirable place to live as long as the bus station stays in its current location. That's just reality.

HAHAHAHAH. Sorry, but that was just funny there. If it makes you feel better...I had been bragging to a friend of mine for a year about this taco stand on Harrisburg, and how awesome the tacos were. One day, he decides "lets go to that taco stand of yours". So we went. We ordered, and as we are waiting for the tacos, this street-person-dude walks up to the stand, orders, pays, then looks around as if we werent there, whips out his Johnson, and the next 2 minutes we are listening to the steady stream of piss, right there next to us. My friend, I presume, never went back. I continue to go there once a week. I live in the bay area. Thats how good them there tacos are.

neat. there really is a show to watch. maybe there will be one showing how wealthy consumers select rotisserie chicken in the deli. word is that Walmart has deli's in their european and asian stores with rotisserie chickens and coffee shops...

HAHAHAHHAAHAHA

ROFL!!!

I think it had something to do with listening to the video peresentation with that serious voice commentator, then following up with this post latent with all the chicken references.

I'm anxious for this project to get started, I want afton oaks to get swamped with traffic.

HAHAHAHAHA

A little bitter, are we?

You read my mind about his avatar. I love that there avatar.

Seeing how obsessed you are with Barnes & Noble and movie theaters, it sounds like the suburbs is the perfect place for you.

Hey! I resemble that remark! I live in the burbs! It doesnt mean I dont care about downtown and wish it to succeed, or that I'm some kind of looser!!

Looks like Camden's superblock project is still alive after all.

From the Chronicle:

Link to Sarnoff column

Excellent. I cant wait to see the changes that are coming for downtown/midtown. Nothing against the market square area, but Main street in the historic district had started to get old, and bringing people from out of town and repeating the same club circuit for them I'm sure was getting boring. It will be nice to have a larger part of the city that is accesible by light rail, to show off our city a little. I'm kinda looking forward to see what the Wheeler station will turn into once the University line is integrated with the Red Line. I remember reading somewhere that Metro had purchased that triangular piece of property there, and that they had plans for a mixed-retail-LRT Station kinda of development. Sweet.

How long does the vacancy rate have to be tight before someone starts thinking about a new tower!!!??? Man, I hope this lasts...how nice would it be to go through another boom-town ara, with tons of new skyscrapers being built!!

Can you smell it?

It's real. It's happening right in front of us. This is it this time, it has finally begun!

Does anyone know the combined student population between the 3 UH system campuses within the city limits? I wonder how the UH-System (Houston only) stacks up in numbers compared to UT-Austin and A&M. I'm only talking size and population here.

UH is more or less landlocked. They plan to expand up and get more dense.

Isnt UH right next to the old Schlumberger complex that they "aquired"? That could provide some allready in-place lab space or what have you. Is it still UH property?

Actually, maybe its not quite next door....I think you have to cross some train yard to get to that complex. But still, that's some valuable building space.

Went to visit recently. Although not exactly like it used to be, it's pretty darn close. I like it just as much. I remember the dog being different, though. Is that a different dog?