HTX

Another study just to stir the pot this morning.

http://www.bnet.com/blog/business-myths/the-myth-of-the-walmart-effect/103?promo=713&tag=nl.e713

I actually had a telephone opinion poll call last week based on my answers I don't think they were looking to find me.

As for what Walmart will do to "our beloved mom and pops" I spend half my week inside the loop and half in the Seabrook Kemah area. The Walmart they built in Kemah is right across the street from Kemah Hardware. Kemah Hardware seems non the worse for having Walmart as a competitor and neighbor. They still close at noon on Saturday and are not open on Sunday. I have to believe that if Walmart was wrecking there business they would have taken steps to adapt by now.

If Walmart puts price pressure it will be the Target, Kroger and Randall's in the area, not exactly what someone would call a "beloved mom and pop."

Crime? My guess is that report was sponsored by a previous anti Walmart organization, maybe a neighborhood, maybe a union who knows but certainly a group with an ax to grind.

I live just on the edge of the "mid-town" boundary and the trains stops are usable for me and although it can be a really warm walk in the early evening the bigger problem is getting back home very late at night. There are just too many odd ducks on the street to make it feel safe at that time of night with a date in heels or not. The only solution that I know of is calling a cab from the light rail platform, but the cost/wait is just not worth it vs. taking a cab into and out of DT. Going to Reliant is a different story but that only happens occasionally. Some sort of reliable transportation to the platforms would be be welcome.

Thanks for the replies. As for objective, operations first and financing a close second. I don't need a loan to take over the business as we currently have the deal structured but the possibility of needing capital in the near term is real. I'd like to be doing business with a bank that can offer both. BoA is just not interested in working with companies in this size classification.

I'm in the process of buying a small business and need to decide on a bank. I live in mid-town and the warehouse operations will be located inside the southeast corner of the loop. My personal bank is BoA but I am not really interested in going with them or maybe it's they are not interested in me. Either way I've convinced myself open open the business account elsewhere.

Are there any small business owners on the forum that are happy enough with their bank to recommend them?

block 388.

There are some places, imo, that are better off being turned into parking lots than however many stories of the current state of dead hookers and rats.

388 is not currently in the boundary, maybe it should be if it is the Days Inn property

Yes, really.

In a thread that was started not too long ago, someone asked the question, "what house would you build for yourself if money were not an issue?" When I was done explaining it, I was the benevolent dictator of a nation of floating cities housing most of the world's multinational corporate headquarters and was engaged in overt nuclear weapons proliferation. When resources are unlimited, I can find ways to make that happen.

The environmental studies alone would take several years to complete and would be so expensive that funding to start them would have to be arranged by an act of Congress.

My apology, I was being a little flippant. I was thinking about the statement in terms of how our government wants to spend money it does not have. If there is a place that could put federal money to work quickly and at the same time help a truly depressed area Galveston is one of them.

I understand and respect your reasoning on this point, however an Ike Dike and upgraded guardrails are not mutually exclusive projects. We can do one, the other, or both. Granted, we have a finite budget and can only take on so many projects in aggregate, however that does not immediately disqualify the Ike Dike from the running.

I do fault the engineer for being accurate but very imprecise about the "if you don't build it, people die" comment. It makes a good quote, however. If he wanted to be academic and not have the idea gain any political traction whatsoever until after the next big storm, he could've gone into dollar figures for damages and firmed up the rationale supporting the estimated project costs.

Really? It looks like a shovel ready project to me

From the Downtown Redevelopment Authority website

"A Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) is a public financing tool created by City Ordinance and thru Chapter 311 of the Local Texas Government Code for use in areas with blighted conditions including substantially arrested, impaired growth, substandard, slum, deteriorated structures, unsanitary, unsafe conditions and/or the general deterioration of public infrastructure"

What area of this map would anyone consider to be a "blighted"?

http://www.mainstreettirz.com/images/2007_...es_Map11508.pdf

Can you give a general idea of the current boundaries between the two districts?

Mansion was not really the right word for it. Think Holiday Inn Holidrome and you will get a better picture. I'm pretty sure it was torn down and the land subdivided into lots. I don't know if anyone ever actually built a house on it.

Ike got the fence on Clear Lake, city of Galveston got the one they put up on their Offatts Bayou property apparently not permitted properly.

If you are referring to my post, yes. Should have been more clear. The one that is built is Endeavor Clear Lake, the one next to it was to be Endeavor Parkside, I'm not sure what they were planning to call the development at what was Marker 1.

What I do know is they bought up and closed two perfectly good bars.

From a couple of business owners on the Seabrook side of the lake I have heard that as well. Originally they put it on hold while they developed the section to east (old Marker 1) which was to have retail, hotel and fewer condos. That property is now for sale.

I think that Endeavor would should have been a nominee on Swamplots annual awards thing they are running right now.

there's already a stop 2 blocks away. the mcgowen one provides the best access since it is on one of the few streets they kept open.

Elgin is open and I would guess more traffic than Mcgowen. Plus I think there are a lot of students that would prefer a stop in front of the school.

Besides those two perfectly good reasons, it would have been a bit more convenient for me. lol

It always seemed to me that that stop should have been placed in front of the HCC building instead of the current location.

I noticed it the other day as well, saw your post and was hoping somebody would chime in. So BUMP

"The insurance companies may be wonderfully efficient but the hospitals and doctor's offices who deal with these companies are forced to waste huge amounts of time and money conforming to differing requirements of HUNDREDS of different insurance carriers.

It wouldn't be a bad idea for the government to step in and make all the insurance carriers and all the providers adopt a single standard. That would eliminate a lot of waste right there."

To a large degree the Government has already standardized health care through the use of DRG and CPT coding. Initially designed to reign in Medicare and Medicad's soaring costs the system is now used by the entire industry to determine reimbursement for any diagnostic and or treatment. The problem is with the bewildering number of insurance companies and plans. Think HMO/PPO, in network out of network, as examples.

A few years ago there was an effort to pass "any willing provider" laws. If for instance Humana had a negotiated deal to pay all of the doctors in their network $500.00 for a heart transplant or wart removal and a doctor not in the network was willing to do it for that price they would pay the claim. The insurance companies were dead set against it and used their lobby to quash it. It's that carving up of the providers by the insurance companies that create the headaches in physicians offices but simplify the paperwork for the insurance company. It's is really pretty much the same at the hospital level.