brian0123

I'm not a fan of the side-street Google data for traffic. Freeways it works well, but side roads tend to be off a lot. I was hoping for even something like a Rice U weather cam that I could pull up and see if S. Main is bumper to bumper.

The suburbs are awesome and Katy is the actual center of Houston.

No, actually CityCentre at Beltway and I-10 is the center, and all corporations are/should be moving to the burbs near my house because then I could walk to work and traffic would disappear.

Are you all aware of any non-freeway traffic cameras in the loop? TranStar is worthless in that my commute never takes me on a freeway, and I'd like to check the status of S. Main because it can get horrible if a traffic light is out or there is a wreck. Really, it would be nice to know if there are cameras for any non-freeway, in the loop thoroughfares like Kirby, Richmond, etc.

For this building I doubt insulation was a factor. They leave the doors open all the time as forklifts drive in and out. They painted this building the solid white color a couple years ago because the exterior paint was crumbling and they it was starting to get it's fair share of graffitti on the outside. I would bet it was done strictly for security especially since they have people sleeping on that front porch all the time.

I used to live one block over on the corner of Anita and Austin. I friggin loved that smell of the fortune cookies being made there. They frequently threw bags of cookies into the dumpster (I guess the bad ones) along Caroline. I was soooo tempted to grab a bag but never did.

If ever down near Reliant, my go-to place for gas is Kroger's at Kirby and South Main. Head a minute north on Kirby, right on Holcombe, cross Greenbriar, turn right into MisterCarWash. EDIT: Sorry, just saw your post above mine. Still, Kroger's for gas.

Decent article talking about this from results last night: http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/06/opinion/louis-election/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

I think it's going to be interesting to see what happens between Christie and the tea party. Even if Christie can win over NE Repubs and Independents, I don't see how he could excite enough Repubs across the entire country to support him.

I just emailed Ed Emmett asking him to consider the wireframe idea again. If they are going to pay to tear it down and raise the floor for parking, why not just leave the steel structure behind in the process? They could let people park in it, or rent it out and rope it off if someone wants to host an event under the wireframe. Eventually they could even light it up at night with cool displays. Both sides get their way. More parking, possibly another asset for Reliant Park to rent out that no one else around the world has, and the memory of the dome is saved.

Why is demo the talk now? Can't we push the county to do the UH student's "skeleton" idea?

(2) No, of course not, vote for Prop. 6 as you've been told to and please don't trouble yourself about it further. That would not be a fruitful use of your time. It will surely pass, as it was designed to.

Relax, I was seriously trying to understand the issues and learn more. The supporters of the prop run the gambit from liberal to conservative, and it seems like those against it feel it will be more fiscally irresponsible to take money from the rainy day fund (which I could care less about). Also, I have friends who work for the US government (who monitor lakes in Texas) and they were telling me about how dry East Texas lakes got recently. My understanding is that this is basically a fund for providing loans to begin new water development projects by using a portion of the rainy day fund.

I'm confused. I thought Prop 6 was meant to help shore up a greater water supply for the state. I've never heard of "water hustlers", but I do know that the water supply will be one of the greater problems Texas (and the world) will see in the future. In the past, yes... they had to flood some forests and land to create lakes. How else would you suggest we increase water resources... are are you saying it's not a problem?

Data warehouse developer.  Usually just say "developer" but i've found that non-info tech people get the wrong impression so i have to spell it out.

Don't worry, I know what you mean as I do some of that myself. I usually say developer as well.

Auditor

Booooo

Yes, they do. However, they do not like extremely un-hot fat, bleached blondes with adnoid voices and no clue about how to be good at their chosen career.

That's 5-6 years longer than she deserves to be on air in any major market , or any market period.

Man, you all must have some sad and boring lives to get so worked up over a person who just talks about weather. Frankly, I can think of plenty of other things and people to boo for good reason (a bad call on the field, mosquitos, Bashar al-Assad, Kim Jong Un, etc.). Booing a girl who has done nothing to you is pathetic, depressing, and annoying. Get a life and chill out.

I swear this has to be the slowest built building in town right now.

All I know is that, when her face shows up on screen at Texans games, everyone in our section boos and ridicules Chita. She is not well liked.

Why? Do Texan's fans not like hot women that do a decent job?

Software developer here. Musician by night.

I often wonder how long it will take before the Med Center begins to influence more development south of the bayou (even along South Main). They already have smaller offshoots like TIRR Memorial at S. Braeswood and Kirby, but w/out room to grow north due to the park, I would think chunks of land along S. Braeswood (or the rundown apt complexes near Reliant) could eventually turn to something that better serves the Med Center.

As we've seen over the past 30 years, increasing funding for education doesn't increase test scores, it only increases the size of the stadia.

Increasing funding? Texas has been slashing educational funding to the point where school districts are running on fumes.

As a software and web developer who works on huge financial sites for one of the largest corps in the world, I think I have a little knowledge on the subject. From what I've seen about the healthcare website launch, it appears to be a private contractor who got in over their heads, and now they are trying to save their company by blaming their poor work on the big bad government. From playing around with the site and what I've read, my guess is the contractor spent a ton of time making a pretty front-end, and put their background data-hub on the backburner.

Houston needs to decide, taking a long-term view, where it wants to put its (seedy) bus station and services for homeless/battered/etc. people.  Back in the day, all of that seemed to be focused where the baseball stadium and convention center are now.  The city pushed to redevelop the area and now the center of those activities has moved a bit further south.

 

I agree with the idea that continuing to keep those facilities in the middle of things downtown puts a bit of a damper redeveloping the area to attract more people.  In the past, I've heard people argue that the bus and charity facilities need to be close to the nexus for bus lines.  But ... bus lines can be adjusted fairly easily and I'm not convinced that they are key factor, anyway.

 

Any thoughts on this?

I always thought they should put these places out east near the ship channel. Lots of industrial w/ little to no residents to disturb. Easy access in and out for buses/transit. Almost everything is already fenced to keep people out, so you can make a well-controlled area with better security for everyone.

I'm confused, I thought the rodeo purchased the land for parking? Are they the one's selling it now?

Hate it. Houstonians like to think they're anti-zoning, yet the expensive parts of town Houstonians like are the results of deed restrictions and were/are heavily planned communities (i.e. West U, River Oaks, Braeswood, Bellaire, Woodlands, Sugarland, etc.). Conflicts always arise when something intrudes upon one of these places that don't fit into what neighbors want (Ashby high-rise, nearby hotels, nightclubs, etc.) Popular places where there aren't deed restrictions (but were at some point long ago heavily planned) constantly see conflict and people getting bitter about what's changing around them (i.e parts of the Heights where houses torn down to build townhouses, historic preservation arguments, etc.)

Personally speaking, I used to live in Midtown (no deed restrictions, was never master planned, and we accepted it). A building down the street from me was a flophouse where drunks threw beer cans in my yard everyday. The building across the street from me was a metal shed that turned into a welding place, then abandoned to homeless, then ATT put a mobile cellular tower on it. I sold and moved to more $$$ deed restricted Knollwood/S Braeswood where I don't have to worry about a cell tower popping up next door to me now.

Houstonians might say they hate zoning, but their wallets say otherwise.

We better get to see the final product

Great article in the NYT today talking about this very subject: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/20/us/fiscal-crisis-sounds-the-charge-in-gops-civil-war.html?src=recg

While I normally just look at the new content, I actually like all the sub forums. The only merge I could see making sense would be the national/state/local politics. I think just a politics would be fine.