august948

22 hours ago, clutchcity94 said:

RIP Cafe #13 on Milam. They had the best shaking beef in the city before they abruptly closed.

Pictures from yelp show it served on a bed of french fries.  Did they really serve it that way?

4 hours ago, jmitch94 said:

Okay? The comment that spurred all this was someone saying that living in the core of the city isn’t desirable any more. It can be desirable to live both in the core and in the suburbs, they aren’t mutually exclusive. 

Agree, but desirability per se isn't easily measured.  Population growth in a geographic area is.

2 hours ago, wilcal said:

Exactly. Some people like eating at Olive Garden and some people like eating at restaurants. 

Exactly.  Some people like eating at Mai's and some like eating at good Vietnamese restaurants.

12 hours ago, samagon said:

that picture of the inside the loop population is pretty useless without context. it's based on US census data (since it's every 10 years) so they should be able to provide some demographic context, and I mean specifically around age, and number of people in a home.

it doesn't change the actual numbers they provide, but it would add some context to help us unpack the single data point into some meaning.

right now it can be used to infer whatever anyone wants it to infer. if you want to show that inside the loop (ITL) isn't popular, all you need to do is point at the numbers and say 'see!'. if you want to show that ITL is more complicated you can say 'well, in the 50s and 60s all those homes were filled with baby boomers who were growing up in the homes of their parents, in the 70s those baby boomers moved out of the loop and had their own families, but the number of working age people who might take advantage of a more robust transit system inside the loop has probably grown since then.

so yeah, not too helpful, that data.

I'm not trying to infer anything from that data, just point out that without any further context, it's not at all valuable to show, or use as a means of proving a point.

Agreed.  Another piece of information that adds context is how the much population of the metro area outside of the loop has changed in the same time span.

On 7/26/2022 at 6:32 PM, jmitch94 said:

What are you basing this on? Bing inside the loop is more desirable than its ever been. I saw recently that two thirds of Houston construction was inside the loop. 

Population graph for the area inside the loop.  1960 was the high point.

http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/Demographics/Loop610Website/_images/population_decade.jpg

Courtesy of the City of Houston...http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/Demographics/Loop610Website/population.html

On 8/2/2022 at 1:19 PM, hindesky said:

https://www.scarletcapital.com/developments/alabama-endcap

Architect - https://metalabstudio.com

 

The first diagram clearly shows it's a deadfall trap for 60's muscle cars.

On 7/22/2022 at 11:18 AM, editor said:

Elsewhere on HAIF I posted a list of the over-the-air television stations I get at my place downtown.  Some people seemed to enjoy it, and today I remembered that I have a list of the radio stations I get in my house, too.

This isn't a complete list of Houston radio stations.  It's just what I get in my place.  On my one radio.  Which is located deep inside my apartment, which has very thick concrete walls and windows that filter out a lot of radiation.  That means this list lacks some stations you probably get at your house. 

It also means there is no AM list at all, because the windows block out all AM signals.^†  Open the glass sliding door, AM radio.  Close the glass sliding door, no AM radio.  For those of you who aren't radio or physics nerds, it's because radio, light, and heat are all kissing cousins.  It's also a shame, because I like listening to AM radio.  Especially baseball games and skywave signals at night.  But that's a whole different story.

Anyway, here's what I get.  The ones that are highlighted are just that way because I made the list and then highlighted the stations I wanted to add as presets to my radio all at once. 

 

Frequency	Station	Program	Content
88.1	KFTG/Pasadena	KFTG/Pasadena	Spanish
88.7-1	KUHF-HD1/Houston	KUHF/Houston	NPR
88.7-2	KUHF-HD2/Houston	KSJN-HD2/Minneapolis	Classical
88.7-3	KUHF-HD3/Houston	WXPN-HD2/Philadelphia	College
88.7-4	KUHF-HD4/Houston	KUHT/Houston 8.5	SCA
89.3-1	KSBJ-HD1/Humble	KSBJ/Humble	Religion
90.1-1	KPFT-HD1/Houston	KPFT/Houston	Community
90.1-2	KPFT-HD2/Houston	KPFT-HD2/Houston	Community
90.5	KJIC/Santa Fe	KJIC/Santa Fe	Religion
90.9-1	KTSU/Houston	KTSU/Houston	Jazz
91.7-1	KHVU-HD1/Houston	KHVU/Houston	Religion
92.1	KROI/Houston	KROI/Houston	Religion
92.5	K223CW/Houston	KFNC/Mont Belvieu	Sports
92.9-1	KKBQ-HD1/Pasadena	KKBQ/Pasadena	Country
92.9-2	KKBQ-HD2/Pasadena	KTHT/Cleveland	Country
93.3	KQBU-FM/Port Arthur	KQBU-FM/Port Arthur	Spanish
93.7	KQBT/Houston	KQBT/Houston	Urban
94.1	K231CN/Houston	KJOZ/Conroe	Spanish
94.5-1	KTBZ-FM/Houston	KTBZ-FM/Houston	Alternative
95.7-1	KKHH-HD1/Houston	KKHH/Houston	80's/90's
95.7-2	KKHH-HD2/Houston	Non-broadcast	Channel Q
95-7.3	KKHH-HD3/Houston	KIKK/Pasadena	Gambling
96.5-1	KHMX-HD1/Houston	KHMX/Houston	AC
96.5-2	KHMX-HD2/Houston	KHMX-HD2/Houston	Metal
96.5-3	KHMX-HD3/Houston	KHMX-HD3/Houston	Smooth Jazz
97.1	KTHT/Cleveland	KTHT/Cleveland	Country
97.5	KFNC/Mont Belvieu	KFNC/Mont Belvieu	Sports
97.9-1	KBXX-HD1/Houston	KBXX/Houston	Urban
98.5	KTJM/Port Arthur	KTJM/Port Arthur	Spanish
98.7	K254BZ/Houston	KGLK-HD3/Lake Jackson	South Asian
99.1-1	KODA-HD1/Houston	KODA/Houston	AC
99.1-2	KODA/HD2/Houston	None	Dead air
99.5	KOHV-LP/Houston	KOHV-LP/Houston	South Asian
100.3-1	KILT-FM-HD1/Houston	KILT-FM/Houston	Country
100.3-2	KILT-FM-HD2/Houston	KILT/Houston	Sports
100.3-3	KILT-FM-HD3/Houston	KILT-FM-HD3/Houston	Country
100.7	KKHT-FM/Lumberton	KKHT-FM/Lumberton	Religious
101.1-1	KLOL-HD1/Houston	KLOL-FM/Houston	Spanish
101.1-2	KLOL-HD2/Houston	KMVK/Fort Worth	Spanish
102.1-1	KMJQ-HD1/Houston	KMJQ/Houston	Urban
102.1-2	KMJQ-HD2/Houston	KROI/Houston	Religion
102.5	KMAZ-LP/Houston	KMAZ-LP/Houston	Urban
102.9-1	KLTN-HD1/Houston	KLTN/Houston	Spanish
102.9-2	KLTN-HD2/Houston	KLAT/Houston	Spanish
102.9-3	KLTN-HD3/Houston	KVBH-HD2/San Antonio	Spanish
104.1-1	KRBE-HD1/Houston	KRBE/Houston	AC
103.7	KHJK/La Porte	KHJK/La Porte	Religion
104.1-1	KRBE-HD1/Houston	KRBE/Houston	Urban
104.1-2	KRBE-HD2/Houston	KRBE-HD2/Houston	Oldies
104.5	K283CH/Houston	Out of compliance	Spanish
104.9-1	KAMA-FM-HD1/Deer Park	KAMA-FM/Deer Park	Spanish
104.9-2	KAMA-FM-HD2/Deer Park	KAMA-FM-HD2/Deer Park	Spanish
104.9-3	KAMA-FM-HD3/Deer Park	KLAT/Houston	Spanish
104.9-4	KAMA-FM-HD4/Deer Park	KPFG-LP/Pasadena	Spanish
105.3	KTWL/Todd Mission	KTWL/Todd Mission	Spanish
105.7	KHCB-FM/Houston	KHCB-FM/Houston	Religion
106.1	K291CE/Houston	KPFG-LP/Pasadena	Spanish
106.5	KOVE-FM/Galveston	KOVE-FM/Galveston	Spanish
106.9-1	KHPT-HD1/Conroe	KGLK-HD1/Lake Jackson	Rock
106.9-2	KHPT-HD2/Conroe	KHPT-HD2/Conroe	80's
106.9-3	KHPT-HD3/Conroe	none	none
107.5	KGLK/Lake Jackson	KGLK/Lake Jackson	Rock
107.9-1	KQQK/Beaumont	KQQK/Beaumont	Spanish

† OK, I do get one AM radio station: 990 KDRC.  It's my wife's little personal radio station that she runs from a little AM transmitter in the closet.  It's just to feed her favorite playlists to the vintage radios she has scattered around the house.  It has a range of about two blocks, but it's a lot more fun and interesting than streaming from a phone to an Alexa box.

I'd bet that you could run a flat-wire antenna across the sliding door threshold and pick up signal that way if you really wanted to.

14 hours ago, editor said:

So interesting to see what happens when these luxury brands have to make a choice between Houston and Dallas.  Dallas also has Goyard and Jonathan Adler.  I'm sure there are brands that Houston has that Dallas doesn't, but I'm not qualified to say which.

I know someone who was tangentially involved with a French brand's decision-making process for opening a location in the United States.  New York and LA were no-brainers.  But the new choice was between Chicago, Miami, and Texas.  It went with Texas because Texas was least impacted by post-Floyd rioting. 

Hopefully Houston never gets a Jonathan Adler store, or my wife is going to make us miss our rent.

Interesting...I wonder how much the recent crime waves/riots in certain parts of the country are affecting corporate decisions like this.

4 hours ago, Ross said:

A good start would be for Pearland to vote to institute the METRO sales tax. We can talk once that happens. Until then, Pearland is free to restart its own Park and Ride service.

I recall hearing that Pearland is already maxing out the sales tax rate (capped statewide at 8.25%).  They'd have to cut their budget or find new revenue sources in order to join METRO.

4 hours ago, Ross said:

You don't like calling politicians morons? I suppose I can reword that to "Ogg and Mealer were apparently victims of a brain theft ring, as neither of them has shown any indication of being able to think critically or act in the best interests of Harris County"

 

See?  Crime has been rising in Harris county during Hidalgo's term.  😛

On 7/15/2022 at 10:40 AM, mattyt36 said:

No, other leadership at the State level that wouldn't have as one of its primary goals to strangle Harris County by taking control of elections and other traditionally local powers.

I guess that would be analogous to federal vs state power struggles, then.

1 hour ago, samagon said:

nope, you don't need greenfield, you just need time and desire. but the desire isn't there. primarily because we as a society have been convinced by the industries that profit from single occupant vehicles, that single occupant vehicles are the best and highest form of transit. 

until a majority of society decides that single occupant vehicles are not the highest form of transit, it won't change. 

So what would be the highest form of transit if not a personal vehicle that can go from any point to any point while carrying multiple passengers and goods?

40 minutes ago, Amlaham said:

• Again, you're only thinking about yourself, typical 
• "Young and carefree" 😂 you're literally a contradiction dude, I'm carefree? I'm literally thinking about others who can't afford a car, who can't drive from place to place and sit and listen to "whatever music you like." You do realize this activities can still be done even if other modes of transportation exist right? You do realize this don't have this problem in NYC, Chicago, all of Europe, and many asian countries right? You do realize there's a world outside of your bubble right? 
• You don't even know me dude, you making false assumptions is so on brand with every single one of your posts. You don't know that I have every single one of those things you mentioned 😂 but your tactics are obvious at this point, deflect, deflect, and deflect from that actual topic. 
• That's obviously not the problem with i10 and you clearly don't know what you're talking about. For someone soo "seasoned" you really have a hard to grasping logic. "If all highways were like Katy fwy outside the loop, things would flow better"....... literally a 10 year old would even question, what about as soon as they all exit the highway into the 2-3 lane streets? You can't just make every highway 26 lanes then keep the streets 2-3 lanes. Also, I thought its also common sense that not every highway is expandable because of the neighborhoods around it, should we just tear up have the Galleria and those skyscrapers? Oh maybe we can tear down the Ion district they just built! Wait wait no actually, lets tear up memorial park on both sides so we can expand the 610 and i10 to 26 lanes :) Is it really that hard to grasp? 

I'll end with this, the difference between the "young" and the "I like to listen to music in my car" generation is that, the young want to improve the quality of life. The older generation only care about big businesses that literally do not care about anyone. 

Eram quod es; eris quod sum

1 hour ago, samagon said:

what doesn't make any sense to me is that the selfish person who wants to drive should be pushing for these other modes. people who have choices will go to the path of least resistance, so if you build out great alternatives to driving, people will get off the road, leaving you alone to do whatever you want in your car. 

The problem is there isn't an alternative that, in the aggregate, gives you more freedom than a personal vehicle on roads, regardless of how it's powered.  Unless you are proposing to greenfield the entire city and redevelop it around public transit, it's always going to be preferable to use a car (once again in the aggregate).  The only way you will ever get to a point where the majority of trips are done by public transit is if you induce demand by severely limiting the ability of someone to own and use a private vehicle.

21 minutes ago, editor said:

I didn't realize that In-N-Out had a location in Houston.  Too bad this one seems to be vapor, as it would have been closer to me.  The only other one I see on the map is in what used to be called "far northwest Houston," outside Beltway 8, but inside 99.

 

You missed out on the insane drive-thru lines when the first one opened up.  The two I know about are on I10 across from Katy Mills and off 59 between the beltway and hwy 6.  I know there were plans for more.

20 minutes ago, mattyt36 said:

Abbott has just proven the State GOP agenda.  Other leadership would yield different outcomes.

Other leadership at the county level?  As in someone other than Hidalgo would have been able to better resist pressure from the state?

6 hours ago, Amlaham said:

Most car companies have already pledged that they will be fully electric within the next 10-20 years.

Companies going fully electric (will only make EV)

• Alfa Romero- 2027
• Audi- 2033
• Bentley- 2030
• Buick- 2035
• Cadillac- 2030
• Chevrolet- 2035
• Fiat- 2030
• GMC- 2035 
• Honda- 2040
• Hyundai- 2040
• Jaguar- 2025
• Kia- 2040
• Lexus- 2030
• Lotus- 2028
• Mazda- 2050
• Mercedes- 2030
• Mini- 2030
• Rolls Royce- 2030
• Toyota- 2033
• Volkswagen- 2040
• Volvo- 2030

It's obvious where the trend is going. 

Also, idk whats with the obsession older people have with obnoxiously large highways like i10. You guys are still stuck in traffic, 26 lanes wide. Whenever there is an example of poor planning, they always reference i10 and how expensive it was and how it's still a problem. Ya'll don't learn from mistakes? Also, the argument "well I'm still going to drive in my car and not use public transportation so I only car about highways and not about rail" is the definition of being selfish. You're only thinking of your self and if you had any authority in society, that society would fail. Same argument as "I don't walk so I don't care for sidewalks to be built." Can't argue with closed minded people still living in 1950s though 🤷‍♂️

Being stuck in traffic for a few minutes here and there isn't really that bad when you consider you've got your own personal space and can tune the interior environment and the music to whatever you like.  I'm sure it's nice to be so young and carefree that you don't have to go shopping for a family, take kids to schools, activities, dr appts, etc, involving multiple trip segments throughout the day and night, but the rest of us have mortgages, families to raise and things to get done.  I understand that's what the young whippersnappers call "adulting" these days.

The main problem with I10 is it widens to those 26 glorious lanes and then shrinks again on either end.  That's the real poor planning for you.  If all the highways were like the Katy outside the loop, with appropriate interchanges, things would flow much better.

12 hours ago, mattyt36 said:

At the end of the day, Mealer is a stooge, running on behalf of the Republican Party of Texas solely to put Harris County at the mercy of the State.  That's what it's all about. 

Didn't Abbott already prove the county is at the mercy of the state?

2 hours ago, mattyt36 said:

Of course.

But I'm interested to hear from @Blue Dogs as to what he understands the issue to be and his appraisal of the substance.

Sounds like it's just "Democrats like crime."  Not saying it won't be effective with many, but it's pretty hollow if you ask me.

Hidalgo's best hope (and it's not a stretch) is that the Roe repeal will motivate people to more or less vote "straight ticket" again as in 2018.  (Yes, I know it has to be done manually now.)

That's the wild card for the upcoming elections.  To what degree are people actually motivated by the Roe decision to come out and vote for Democratic candidates?  Partizans will turn out anyway, but what about the swing voters?

2 hours ago, mattyt36 said:

Attacking her on what, exactly? Please connect the dots.

I believe Mealer was trying to connect the dots in the post with the comment about Jordon and his "buddies" and the picture that included Hidalgo.

19 hours ago, pablog said:

If anyone was confused by what I said, I never said “get rid of roads.”

I-10 is a not a road, it’s a 26-lane monstrosity that we should be embarrassed to have in our city.

I-45 will become another embarrassment with the small positives of the cap park and removing the pierce elevated.

Billions can be better spent building out transit throughout the core to reduce short trips.

That's strange...I drive I10 inside the loop all the time and always thought it was a road.  A small one at that compared to how it is outside the loop.  If only it could actually be 26 lanes across inside the loop.

4 hours ago, hindesky said:

There was a guy who flew by the ship channel in his helicopter and when he got to the 610 Ship Channel bridge he would fly under it. Saw him do it several times while operating a tower crane close to the bridge. One time he didn't make it and hit the water. Had to pay to retrieve his helicopter while they shut down the ship channel.

You know you have money when you can do stunts in your own helicopter and then pay the damages when something eventually goes wrong.

4 hours ago, editor said:

There's no shortage of cities that clung to their backbone industry for too long, and because of it became relics of yesteryear.

Poughkeepsie, New York clung to IBM's mainframe business, and when that died, so did the town.

Lock Haven, Pennsylvania clung to paper mills and light aircraft.  They left, and the town pretty much died, and would have been closed if it wasn't for the college.

Green Bay, Wisconsin; Appleton, Wisconsin; Allentown, Pennsylvania; Pittsburgh; Paterson, New Jersey; Newark, New Jersey; and a hundred other places clung to a "backbone industry" for so hard and so long that they couldn't recover when it moved or was no longer needed.

Somewhere, some town was the world capital of buggy whip manufacturing.  Guess what happened there?

Houston is big enough and economically diverse enough that it will survive the trend of burning dead dinosaurs to go vroom.  Nobody on HAIF is rooting for all of the oil wells to stop pumping tomorrow.  But it's folly to pretend that the writing isn't on the wall.  We should all recognize that there needs to be a slow, orderly transition from one thing to another, and be prepared for the future through the continued expansion of the economy and infrastructure — including transportation. 

+1 for the mention of Appleton.  Don't see that come up very often.

The future is certainly moving away from burning dead dinosaurs to directly power your vehicle.  Not so likely is the move away from the personal vehicles themselves.  Thus roads of all sorts are still going to be king.

Even cowboys need to ride the concrete sometimes...

Yeehaw!

59 minutes ago, Highrise Tower said:

I might be going to the M.C. Escher exhibit at MFAH.  Any restaurant recommendations? I typically go to Niko Niko's after the museums.

https://www.mfah.org/exhibitions/virtual-realities-art-of-mc-escher

If you're going casual then Bodega's mentioned in the post above yours is not bad and just a block or two away from the MFAH.  Also nearby on Almeda is the Turkey Leg Hut.

3 hours ago, pablog said:

I wish the title read, “TxDOT Proposes Razing I-10 near I-45

I wish the title read, , “TxDOT Proposes Raising Cane's Location I-10 near I-45

2 hours ago, TacoDog said:

Why? What good would that be?

If they razed I10 inside the loop to make it a double-decker, that would be awesome.  Maybe that's what he meant.