august948

Houston isn't a tourist mecca. It's unlikely it ever will be. However, we still get a fair number of people coming here for visits, whether that be for a convention, an event (superbowl, nba all-star game, etc), to visit family, or for business. Those are what mostly draw people here. Once they are here, though, they would have to try very hard to not be able to find things to do and to visit. That's why you so frequently hear comments like, "Wow, I didn't know Houston had all this".

Probably. And that might be the permanent solution as well if they want to remain downtown. Later on, far down the road, they might buy or build a new tower so they can put their name on it and then lease out the unused portion to cover costs.

UH is considering opening a med school... http://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/education/campus-chronicles/article/Renu-Khator-highlights-accomplishments-5791219.php#/0

I wonder if this is just a start and if they'll bring the executive MBA and other master's programs here.

I doubt that the Fiesta on Bellaire and Hillcroft is on any tourist's list of places to see. In the places tourists are more likely to go, Downtown, Montrose, the Museum District, TMC, NASA, the Galleria, up and down Westheimer, etc, etc, etc, Houston's diversity is on full display. I've been to plenty of places in Houston where I was the only white, Anglo-American to be seen (including the Fiesta at Bellaire and Hillcroft). The opposite is rarely true, though. I can't think of anyplace I've been here where everyone was white.

I guess since NYC isn't as diverse as Houston it's only natural that he might not be as impressed... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/05/houston-most-diverse_n_1321089.html

Honestly, when I first read the title for this thread I thought, "Well, duh! That's what developers do." Sounds like London has incentivized it's planning officials to give the green light to ever more expensive developments in order to get money from the developers to build local infrastructure. Wonder if that offsets local taxes or is in addition.

Maybe we need this guy running Metro...

The list should also include any and all monies paid to Frank Wilson. Or are they already included in the $130 million not accounted for?

One of the slides in the chron article looks like it shows at least six of these bridges. Hope they can get this done sooner rather than later.

Following the BNSF route on google maps, it runs right through the middle of Tomball (a station serving the northern suburbs maybe?) and then continues down to near the junction of 290 and 610 where it makes a turn to the east and runs parallel to the north loop. Where it makes the turn, near TC Jester Park, there is a large vacant lot (at least on the google satelite view). Could that be the "Galleria area" station?

I'm going to put my money on the BNSF route. I recall one of the bigwigs saying there would be a stop east of CS. The BNSF line looks like it runs about 14 or 15 miles east of CS. Also, at least looking at the map, it appears that the UP route is the longest of the three and so would be more expensive and take longer to traverse.

Just found this...shows the routes being considered during the environmental impact process... http://impactnews.com/dfw-metro/grapevine-colleyville-southlake/environmental-study-on-high-speed-rail-from-houston-to-dalla_3/

Does that law still exist and, if so, is Metro legally bound by it? If not then the whole GM streetcar conspiracy is irrelevant and I can't fathom why you keep bringing it up. If some rules about rebuilding roads are in effect that just reflects good judgement by our public officials. If you're going to tear up a road to do any kind of major repairs or changes it just makes good sense to go ahead and fix the whole thing. Obviously those objecting to rail on Richmond think that is worse than getting the road fixed. Why they don't like it I can't really fathom except maybe for those whose houses would front on the rail line and even then they already front on Richmond so I'm not sure the noise would be any worse. Are they losing some of their property perhaps? Or maybe it forms a physical barrier that psychologically divides the neighborhood like a Robert Moses creation or like the Pierce Elevated (where have I heard that argument before? hmmm....)?

The other point being that they're already studying a hsr line from SA to DFW and maybe beyond in both directions. If you are already going off the direct route from Houston to DFW to go through CS, it's not that much further to continue on to Waco and then to DFW. At that point you've then got a 90 mile segment of ROW already built towands the SA-DFW line.

I guess I'm just inclined to look for and prevent problems rather than deal with them later. Tornados are more of a threat in the Dallas area, however the reason we usually leave the area during a hurricane is just that...the tornados they spawn.

If they did that, they might decide to arrange the drainage so that it flows onto the tracks. Better to have it rebuilt by the city and/or metro in a complete streets format.

That could be a legitimate worry in The Woodlands as I understand they don't allow you to take out trees as a preventative measure to keep them from falling on your house in a storm.

Redlining is something that mostly occurred after white flight had taken place. Not sure what direct affect redlining had on sprawl, though.

You can already take the train to at least one Walmart, so that's covered. Plus the midtown Randalls and Fiesta are only a couple of blocks from rail stations. So, you might be right in that a large grocer doesn't necessarily need to be in downtown. As for the 12 bags of stuff, here's what they do in NYC...

Growth?

I got the impression from reading the doc that they intended this to be an overall effect, even suggesting that eventually other areas like downtown be tied into it. I haven't done anything other than skim through the proposal. Is this something that has actually been approved and/or implemented?

Both are located in areas that are, or were, mostly residential. Grocers don't need a really big geographic area to draw from, as evidenced by two heb's, one (used to be three) randall's, two super walmarts, one kroger (used to be two), one fiesta, one sprouts, and one whole foods all on the stretch of Westheimer from the Galleria to Eldridge (about 11 or 12 miles). I don't think that downtown has gotten to the level of residents yet that a grocer is comfortable with in order to spend the greater amount that is required to do an urban store format. It's coming, though, sooner or later.

The term "white flight" is a product of it's time and it's rhyme. What it really means is the movement of wealthier individuals out of the urban core, leaving a larger percentage of the poor behind. When it was coined, almost all of those wealthier people were white.

Sounds like the proposal is that they install lights that cycle between white and blue on a 29 day lunar cycle, with the bluest shade during the new moon and the whitest shade during full moons.