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ArchFan

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  1. ArchFan
    Your comment resonates with me. As a condo owner, I have had to deal with a lot of noise made by projects of the same developer. I actually know the guy and like him and I understand that business is business. But, it still is a pain.
  2. ArchFan
    Thanks, I was wondering where the other buildings were from! I couldn't tell if they were just images of buildings from various other cities or an actual cityscape of one place. I see the Galleria area skyline from work everyday. It's nice, but doesn't yet have the urban-core look depicted in the rendering.
  3. ArchFan
    Well, I can relate some personal experience, albeit not very recent. I used to work in R&D at Chevron, about the time they were moving people downtown. I think most of the R&D work they do could be done downtown. The most likely exception would be work that requires laboratory equipment, but frankly, most of the work I was close to involved software development and/or field work that involved actually being out where the oil is. Chevron still has a very nice campus in San Ramon, CA. A very nice work environment. But, they have moved most of the upstream R&D people there to downtown Houston (well, at least the ones who didn't quit or retire because they didn't want to come to Houston). I don't have any special insider knowledge, but it seems to me that Chevron would be likely to continue downtown and not build a big suburban campus. If they did, it would be a major course change from the direction they've been going in the last 10 or so years.
  4. ArchFan
    I know! He looks like one of the ghosts from the "I see dead people" movie ... the one in which the ghosts don't know they are dead and continue their daily activities!
  5. ArchFan
    That's a very telling statistic. I guess that, in the absence of other compelling reasons, "location, location, location" may be the most important factor. By that I mean that Dallas is more well -located as a transfer point within the US and as a regional distribution hub, as well as for aviation. That seems like less of an advantage if we enlarge our commercial scope to the entire world, rather than just the US. Despite that, I think they benefit from having gotten into a good position domestically, first. Our port is a great asset and I hope the Panama Canal expansion will help diversify the type of goods that transit through here. Unfortunately, we are still affected by hurricanes and humid weather. I think we could mitigate the fallout from those disadvantages (obviously we can't change our weather, though), but I think our current laissez faire mindset means we probably won't. We'll just have another "Houston's Hot" or "City without Limits" advertising campaign. I'm a Houston booster, but I'm realistic. I like Dallas, too, but if I move away when I retire, it won't be there.
  6. ArchFan
    and, while I admire people like Elon Musk, they could not have achieved what they did without the cooperation of other people in society. I loved reading Ayn Rand when I was a kid, but I think her point of view was idealistic to the point of being childishly simplistic. Frankly, her philosophy was as unrealistic as the communist philosophy she rejected.
  7. ArchFan
    but, that's not what i'm trying to say :-) all endeavors that involve humans organizing to work together are subject to the failings inherent in human beings. i am not someone who wants to promote socialism. however, i think it is good for us to recognize that all projects that involve people working together can wind up involving similar things, good and bad. it doesn't matter if its a government or a church or whatever. That said, it is still good for us to try to work together to accomplish things than we cannot by ourselves.
  8. ArchFan
    Thanks for bring that advertisement to our attention. It is a very interesting relict of an earlier time. Although nuances of the ad are subject to interpretation, it is better to have tangible evidence about that era than to rely just on fuzzy notions from movies. I would not interpret the word "mongrel" as having racist overtones. But ... I also think that clever advertising often tries to resonate simultaneously with different points of view. So, while I think it is possible they may have wanted to appeal to racist sensibilities, among others, my gut feeling is that they mainly wanted to appeal to people who were concerned about investing in a neighborhood that would not erode like so many in Houston have: clusters of single-family homes that wind up having used-car lots etc. embedded in them.
  9. ArchFan
    It is scary to think that so much human history, memories of human lives actually, will be forgotten if we just throw everything away. even if its just for selfish reasons, i think we and future generations will gain so much benefit from knowing who and what came before us. even in Houston, which people tend to think of as having no history, actually does have a history that is interesting and enriching.
  10. ArchFan
    I am sympathetic to your point of view. Full disclosure: I work for an oil company and have a retirement nest egg that consists mostly of compensation from working for (nasty, evil) oil companies. OTOH, I think that as a civilization, we should be working harder toward moving beyond burning hydrocarbons for fuel. I do believe that human activities are contributing to climate change, but even if that weren't true, I would still support moving away from fossil fuels. I am willing to put my mouth where my money is: i would be willing to be taxed to fund a government program (like the space race in the 60s) to move us faster away from fossil fuels. I have seen enough of oil-company executives to know that they are human beings, subject to human failings. And ... while I do get annoyed with outsiders painting me and them with a broad brush, I do think that we as a society need to move forward. The most disappointing thing to me currently is that the public at large seems to expect oil companies and their executives to act like parents and take care of all of us. That is unrealistic. Not because they are evil, they are just focused on their own lives. I kinda hate to say it, but if we don't have visionary individuals in the private sector who will lead us forward, we may nee to rely on government. I know some here will not like that idea, but we need leadership from somewhere. I happy to have it from one source or another.
  11. ArchFan
    Your points seem reasonable. But ... I still wonder. (OK Houston boosters, don't think I'm anti-Houston in what I'm going to say, please!) But, why would Atlanta or Dallas have more "luxury" hotels than Houston? To my mind, part of it is that we are "the Rodney Daingerfield of cities" (don't get no respect, no respect at all). Nevertheless, I find it strange that those two cities, which I like, are selected by investors to construct attractive high-end hotels, while we are stuck with nice hotels from the early 80s that weren't particularly special even for that time.
  12. ArchFan
    I don't live in near this neighborhood, but I went to UH in the 80s and my major professor lived in a house on the bayou. not one of the cool houses from when it was "where the rich Jewish people" lived, but a nice 70s style house that I think is gone now. Anyway, I think the general neighborhood has a lot of potential, despite the construction of 288 that seems to have ripped it apart. I hope that it will continue to recover, without just "gentrifying"... aka, kicking out the families who have lived their for decades.
  13. ArchFan
    Agree. Nice photos!
  14. ArchFan

    METRORail Green Line

    ArchFan replied to a topic in Transit

    Jeez ... that is ridiculous. Some colleagues at work were recently lamenting how, in our company, it seems that the right and left hands don't know what each other are doing. But ... the situation within and between Metro, CoH and the others seems to be much more dire! And I thought the phenomenon of sidewalks built with utility poles in the middle was bad. This is much worse.
  15. ArchFan
    The north side of the newer addition is not so pretty, I wonder what they will do with it. Especially considering the plan to build a new tower on that side. Maybe they will leave it blank in order to accommodate the new tower? The south facades are great. I walked in the street-level arcades not too long ago and they are real gems. I am so glad they will be saved (hopefully restored and not changed too much).
  16. ArchFan
    Wow, does this mean the trees are toast?
  17. ArchFan
    This is really a shame. I don't know how salvageable these houses would have been after so many years of neglect. But, I hope that out there somewhere are some energetic entrepreneurs who will see value in doing something with them, rather than just razing them. I do think that it takes a special kind of person to take on projects like that, plus they probably need to be able to deal with a potentially long time horizon. So ... I recognize that it might be a risky proposition financially ... but, I wonder if we are more risk-averse in this town than people in other cities.
  18. ArchFan
    I can see that power plant from my office building near Uptown Park, as well as Anadarko to the north, and the refineries to the east. Today was another clear day, very good viewing.
  19. ArchFan
    I agree. However, my opinion has varied over the years. When it was new, I loved it. 30 years or so later, the exterior was not well maintained, and I came to dislike it. Now, more time has passed and the exterior is better than it was, and I like it again. I also hope it stays, as long as the owners keep it in good shape. Perhaps because of the material on the exterior and the color of it, it's external appearance seems to depend more strongly than other buildings on maintaining a good color. I.e., it doesn't weather well.
  20. ArchFan
    Yes, I appreciate fixing that eyesore. However, I would not want to stay in one of the rooms facing that blank red wall, no matter how cheap they rent for! :-)
  21. ArchFan
    This! I really don't like the idea of using park land to build a garage. But (if we could find land nearby at a reasonable cost) I do like the idea of an off-site garage with some kind of easy shuttle access to the zoo. In my dreams, I wish we could have a people-mover system like the Getty Museum in LA. (OK, I expect the usual suspects will take sides on this idea! ;-) In any case, perhaps we could come up with an idea that would be practical and cost-effective. I just think Hermann Park is too small to dedicate land to parking. A garage might allow us to reduce the footprint of surface parking, but even so, it is not the best use of park land, I think.
  22. ArchFan
    I agree, it's a missed opportunity. Maybe they didn't know Houston well enough to take a chance after the recession? In any case, it will still be a nice addition to the neighborhood, in my opinion. Hopefully, CoH will fix up Westheimer in that area ... plus the sidewalk on the south side. It is an embarrassment to the city to have international visitors walking through muddy water to get from their hotels to shops and restaurants inside the loop there.
  23. ArchFan
    Tacky, but cute in a way. Fortunately, the GRB doesn't also have (I hope!) the smudged paint along the edges of its doors.
  24. ArchFan
    I work in a high-rise in the vicinity of Uptown Park and I could see at least 28 cranes from there. I didn't count some that I know are there, because they were obscured by other buildings. Also, I could not see the ones at the Exxon Mobil site. I was surprised at how many were out west, which I could barely make out with bare eyes. A lot out toward the energy corridor, plus more to the south of that, some of them along Sam Houston, I think. We had exceptionally clear air yesterday, so the refineries to the east stood out quite well, also. They are interesting from a distance, at least :-)
  25. ArchFan
    If you want to see a recent aerial view, go to google maps, look for the intersection of Post Oak Blvd and Guilford Ct. Then click on "satellite view". The image looks fairly recent. The site of the proposed office building is the vacant lot with ~16 or so cars parked on it. It has a small amount of frontage on Guilford, but otherwise it is hemmed on the west by the Dominion high-rise apartments and some recent 5-story-or-so apartments. For those who are interested in what's going on in the area, the Google satellite view pics look to be quite recent, less than a year old, I'd guess. You can see buildings under construction like the Hanover apartment tower in BLVD Place, the new BHP Billiton Tower, the Titan, River Oaks District. Pretty cool to see them from above. The lot where Belfiore is going up still shows as a vacant lot, but that site just got started late last year or early this year, I think.
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