august948

The Asian community here would eat it up if we could get a casino here.  Right now they run regular party buses to Lake Charles from Bellaire Blvd.

Why not both?

 

Seriously though, will keystone pipeline approval benefit Houston's economy?

Sure...why not?

I would think that pipeline plus all the stuff revolving around LNG is going to provide a solid basis for us for a long, long time.  Plus the panama canal widening, plus the medical center, plus, plus, plus.

Not to say there won't be a downturn or slowdown, 'cause there will. But nothing like the crash of the '80's.

They are a different industry, peer to peer ride sharing.

I need a ride, I call for a ride, I get a ride, I pay for a ride...sounds pretty similar to a taxi service.

That wasn't my point, though.  Lyft and Uber are doing the same thing and have the same set of rules applied to them.  Lyft doesn't like the rules and is leaving the market.

and brand new shiny high rise apartments?

Or houses in the sprawling suburbia that won't be collapsing any time soon.

Uber has the market cornered without a rival they can raise the price and still be cheaper than cabs. Lyft is a small company and the absurd rules city council passed are basically barriers for entry and hoops to jump through for part time drivers. It was a victory for the taxi Lobby as of now there are 63 licensed drivers. This was simply bribery why would the city pass these rules when taxpayers have to pay $500,000 to institute them?

Do Uber and Lyft not have to abide by the same rules?  Is it not a level playing field between the two services?

Medical center is a small percentage of the economy. This is an oil city period.

It's a win-win...if oil and gas stay profitable (which it probably will) then we continue to boom.  If oil goes way down, we can all buy SUV's.

No I won't. Uber is already below the market taxi rate because they wanted to be competitive against Yellow Cab. City Council has legalized this new form of business, and if Uber prices too high another company is free to come in and compete with them. Uber doesn't have the market cornered on this. This isn't a monopoly type environment where one company completely owns the idea.

 

Besides, if Lyft isn't willing to take reasonable measures to ensure that their drivers don't have background problems, then I don't want them operating as a transportation service in this city. Not at any price.

A very good point.  Maybe some entrepreneurial souls will start up homegrown versions here and elsewhere if Uber is successful.

Fertita thinks a bust is coming, and names Houston specifically

http://mobile.bloomberg.com/video/tilman-fertitta-real-estate-crash-like-1986-coming-j2rFvvu~Rbq87Gyv1G9Ryw.html

His argument seems to be that real estate is way overpriced, particularly in NYC and Houston (two towns he mentions specifically) and so the markets are due for a correction.  The particular example he gave was a hotel somewhere someone paid $1.3B for and that by his rule of thumb they would need to average $1,300 per night which is more than the market can bear.

So, is Houston real estate really way overpriced right now?

There was a ranking system

And I'm sure that works great until a sex offender picks you up on a cold, lonely night.

You will once uber raises prices.

 

Let's see...higher prices vs. who knows who's driving you around? Hmmm....

Take a guess.

Here's my guess...yet another "fact" pulled out of the derriere.

Actually, there's quite a few ways to work through the neighborhoods between Memorial City and Town and Country. There's a winding drive through some narrow neighborhood streets, you go right next to Memorial Middle School, and get a really nice view of a park.

 

Anyway, no need to walk on Memorial (which after Gessner turns into a speedway), or along I-10.

I happened to be in the area a week or two ago and noticed there are sidewalks throughout the neighborhoods and you can walk from Memorial City to Town & Country/CityCentre on them with the exception of one block on Vindon Dr.  The road is wider there, though, so I can't see that it would be a big deal

How dare you belittle me on this forum!

 

I know those plazas are pathetic excuses, but it's what we currently have. I doubt developers would add some serious needed greenery. It's crazy how much potential there is for Uptown alone with all the suburban development that has held on for so long. It just seems odd to me that you would want to have these spaces redeveloped when there is an unfathomable amount of low density in all directions. I know it's all hypothetical i'm just constructively criticizing your ideas. At least I hope you take it that way (before the permanent marker & highlighter designs come out  ).

 

Edit: I think the best place for a nice big park would be the grand lux - canyon cafe strip center. Will it ever happen? doubtful, but it would be a perfect spot.

Less than doubtful, I'd say.  A several acre parcel, at least, on the corner of Post Oak and Westheimer?  Someone would have to give up a lot of money to make that happen.

Plus, it will never be like downtown, lack of road infrastructure is the reason.

 

It needs to be gridded and have one way streets for anything to happen.

 

It will just become a traffic nightmare.

 

At least uptown is trying to tackle by adding new streets and working on a local mass transit solution.

Was someone suggesting it should or even ought to be like downtown?

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Longtime-East-End-lawman-pleads-guilty-resigns-5867625.php

He pleaded guilty because the jury had ten white people and if he lost the trial his fate would've been even worse. He should've taken the misdemeanor deal that he was offered earlier. He had bad bookkeeping and it was a racially motivated case.

Or he plead guilty because, as the article you cite suggests, he realized how much evidence there was against him and he knew the jig was up...

 

Neither side would comment on why Trevino changed his mind after standing before a jury and declaring, "I am not guilty" on Friday, but he may not have realized the extent of the case against him.

 

During opening statements last week, Moore told jurors they would see proof that checks and donations made to the charity seemed to go directly to slot machines in a Louisiana casino, "sometimes the next day."

Trevino's attorneys had tried unsuccessfully to keep out testimony from Trevino's bookkeeper, who was granted immunity from prosecution. She has admitted she forged a signature on more than 100 checks. She likely was going to tell jurors that she was directed by Trevino to sign the checks.

I didn't see any mention of the racial makeup of the jury.  Is that just hyperbole on your part or do you personally know all the jurors and their backgrounds?

Which border? Mexican? Louisianan? Oklahoman? What the hell does he plan on doing? Send the U.S. Border Patrol packing and do the patrolling ourselves? What a blow hard. These guys sure do like to talk all tuff right before elections. 

 

The Mexican border issue is just a red herring.  The real problem is protecting our borders from the onslaught of refugees from California and New York. 

From what I've read, it sounds like he has specific constituents in his district that oppose the line specifically going down Richmond west of Shepherd.

 

Culberson strongly rebuked Poe's attempt to remove the language, lashing into Metro's past history and noting his constituents west of Richmond bitterly oppose the line. He said he will continue to oppose the line because it is a waste of money, and voters in 2003 never intended it to run down Richmond.

"Imagine if you did not want to put a pool in your back yard and your neighbor changed the deed restrictions to make you build a pool in your backyard," Culberson said.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/transportation/article/Houston-congressmen-again-battle-over-Richmond-5540338.php

In other places he supports an alt route down the Westpark corridor and commuter rail.

 

Not completely opposed to rail, Culberson noted that he has already begun working with Congressman Al Green on possible rail connections from Fort Bend County and that he would support the US 90A southwest rail corridor. On another potential east-west light rail route, Culberson said, "Westpark would be perfect. They have the right of way."

http://houston.culturemap.com/news/city-life/01-28-14-light-rail-on-richmond-dead-forever-congressmen-crows-over-saving-post-oak-from-metro-destruction/

So, if he's to be taken at his word at least, he doesn't oppose all rail, just certain segments in specific places.  That said, I have to agree with Ted Poe in his debate on the floor with Culberson shown below....

 

Poe represents the area along Richmond east of Shepherd, where he says people want to build the rail line voters approved in 2003. He proposed stripping Culberson's provision from the spending bill, calling it an "inappropriate overreach by the federal government" while conceding the line deeply divides the Houston area.

"Debate that issue in the city," Poe said. "Don't let Congress come in and overrule the will of the people."

Poe rejected arguments that the money would be wasted if Metro was eligible.

"It is not going back into the coffers, it is not going to pay down the national debt," he said. "It's already spent. It will go to another city."

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/transportation/article/Houston-congressmen-again-battle-over-Richmond-5540338.php

Depends on your style of bike riding.

 

 

 

I don't get bucees appeal. Why stop for a clean restroom when you can just pee on the side of the road?

Every time I suggest that to the missus she gives me a dirty look so we end up at Buc-ee's instead.  It's far better than any McDonald's we've ever stopped at.

Yes, and I'm now boycotting.

Are there any Buc-ee's within bicycle riding distance?

I suppose this topic is a better spot than any of the others. Grocers Supply is being bought out. Although it looks like Fiesta is being left out of the deal.

 

Also I don't think Pantry Foods was a failure. It's not around today, but I don't think it was part of the long term goal for H-E-B. It definitely helped H-E-B get a foothold in Houston's grocery market, which keep in mind was very different 20 years ago. So I would say it could be considered a success for H-E-B.

Any idea why they chose the pantry format instead of just building regular stores?

Yeah, those HEBs are usually relics of HEB's failed "Pantry" concept, there is one close to me at Memorial and Dairy-Ashford. The only reason it survives, I think, is the only other two grocery stores nearby are a crappy 70's-era Kroger and an old Randall's. I think the HEB Pantry failure, as well as the first Safeway failure and the Albertsons failure and Randall's post-acquisition decline in popularity demonstrated something Safeyway/Albertson's needs to finally sit up and take notice - the kinds of stores that may work in their other markets don't work in Houston, Houstonians have come to expect better selection, especially on name brands, and better shopping environments, and any chain that thinks it can cut out desired brands like Boar's Head so it can push its own in-house brands, and do so in a boring or warehouse-like environment, is doomed to fail.

I'm surprised HEB hasn't replaced that store with a larger one nearby.  The closest non-ex-pantry stores are at Westheimer/Kirkwood and Bunker Hill/I10.  Meanwhile there are at least 4 Krogers and two Randall's nearby.

The third rendering shows the real problem here...big empty space, one lonely person.

Heading back to what this thread was originally about, I found some pictures of a Randall's pre-Safeway.

 

They're from the time Boris Yeltsin came to town. So you may have seen them before. You can check them out here.

Ha Ha... Boris finds out why we beat the USSR into the dust.  "You have how many types of cheese?"

the vines on 59 are great. The invasive vines that are killing trees along parts of Buffalo Bayou are not so great. They look cool now, but when the trees they climb on are dead, they wont look so cool.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudzu_in_the_United_States

Uh-oh...has kudzu made it this far west?  When I lived in Atlanta during the '90's people were looking for ways to commercialize kudzu products in hopes that businesses would try to harvest it as a control method (because other types of control weren't working).

Found this in the chron today predicting WTI at $70 and Brent at $80 next year...

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Crude-to-fall-to-70-next-year-report-predicts-5851501.php

 

Still, the continued drop in crude oil prices - at their lowest level since 2012 - is unlikely to cause an immediate slowdown in activity in U.S. shale plays. Molchanov said there's a misconception that if WTI is around $80, U.S. shale plays won't be profitable and drilling will dramatically slow.

He said the break even point in many U.S. shale plays is well-below $70, and in some places, it could be below $50. "So the (profit) margins are lower today," Molchanov said, "but the wells are economic."