samagon

I remember in the late 80s and early 90s having to go to the old Boy Scouts Sam Houston Area Council office that was in midtown, the landscape has changed so much down there. What always stood out in my mind were the huge old trees that were in the yards of those old worn out houses. There's still a few of the big old trees still there, but most have been razzed along with the old houses that they shared lots with.

Your story changes more than my hypercolor shirt did in 1987. Enjoy living next to walmart, I'll enjoy shopping there.

oh man, thinking about it, I remember many summer evenings playing in that landfill between cook and kirkwood, not to mention having b.b.gun wars across the drainage ditch that eventually filters in to braes bayou. do either of those things these days you'd be going to some juvenile detention or something. Aside from losing an eye in the b.b.gun fights (which I grew back because of the toxic stuff in the landfil) I think it was a positive experience overall.

being that I was a kid in the 80s, my view's a bit skewed... 8. roller skating rink at bellaire and kirkwood. 7. keemah before the boardwalk. 6. NASA visitor stuff before they disneyfied it. I may have been a little kid, but I certainly enjoyed seeing the real stuff over seeing props and playing on a computer simulation. 5. fame city (bowling, puttputt, rollerskating all in one?) 4. season pass to astroworld, and watching the fireworks display every saturday night, it never got old! (I wonder if it got old for my parents? I remember after the display, all 4 of us, mom, dad, sister and me would run back to the greezed lightning, or over to the cyclone for some no line action after the fireworks) 3. sesquicentenial celebration, jean michel jarre laser show. 2. miller outdoor theater the friday and saturday nights we weren't at astroworld, we were sitting on the hill. 1. moonlight bicycle ramble okay, so that's all I got.

just mho, but saucer's too loud to be a place to chill. it's been years since I've visited the tap. I may have to make a stop there soon. I know it was in midtown, but Leon's Lounge wasn't bad the one time I went in there, and also, even farther out, on montrose and banks there's a place called Ernie's that's pretty relaxed too, or at least it was 5 or 6 years ago when I last went. I also have as of yet to try Cork Soakers (though still not inside downtown).

see, this is what I just don't get. people like s3mh just continue to ignore statements that are made over and over and over and over again by high ranking city officials saying that this project is going to happen with or without the 380. rather than getting on board and doing something productive for the community by speaking into the ear of our Mayor, who has made several attempts to get feedback from the community of how this project can be made better, all they do is bury their heads in the sand and continue to deny the possibility that they soon will be a neighbor of walmart. Come on s3mh and others, get yourself out of the hole, and try to make this development better by making reasonable suggestions, what a waste of time on your part. If for some reason this development doesn't use the 380 and the walmart ends up looking like this (crappy gif and everything): I'll fly a hot air baloon over Heights and drop leaflets with examples of the type of involvement shown from members of this community as the reason walmart didn't work with the community to make the development more attractive, and 'fit in'.

the saucer is surprisingly (and refreshingly) fair on price. I mean, it's not $1.50 lone star cheap, but what is anymore, aside from a convenience store and your backyard?

Well, I think a lot of the people who are able to enjoy that in the Heights live there I know I enjoy riding my bicycle from the east end to woodrows, lucky's or the saucer in an effort to enjoy more than enough beer, and then wishing I had training wheels on the way home again. or baseball, or basketball, or soon to be soccer, or for a special event at a park (international festival, art car parade, etc).

I can tell you that parking is just as much of an issue on Washington, or in the heights. uptown may be different, and citycentre certainly is, but those places aren't very walkable. At the height of the downtown nightlife along main street, I could walk from club to club, and eventually stumble from club to club in a matter of minutes. A lot of the clubs aren't as close together as they used to be. I mean, I could start the night off at deans, walk to M bar, walk to 412, walk to whatever that place was above slante, and then finish the night at saucer, all without walking more than 2 blocks. It helped that I was friends with a lot of the doormen for free cover Anyway, heights, the bars are pretty far spread, as they are on Washington (and parking for places on Washington sucks pretty bad). That leaves uptown and citycentre, uptown faces the same problem of proximity, citycentre certainly has easy parking, but I don't think it offers a lot in the way of going from place to place. obviously bar hopping isn't what everyone wants to do, sometimes you just want to plop down at one place, but hopping from place to place was certainly the attraction of downtown. walking main was almost as fun as being in a club.

I don't know, and based on what you have presented for factual reference, I don't think you know either. I didn't see the conceptual plan attached to the 380 linked in this thread, can you re-link directly to the conceptual? Does this conceptual plan go into such detail as to show that the parking lot doesn't contain any underground retention as was stated in an above post? Is this information available online? Is the traffic added from the feeder included in this proposed study, or is it just what you think will happen? Again, I'm pretty certain that since it has been stated multiple times by people that are more involved in this project than you or I, that the project is going forward regardless of the 380, I find your statement of why the 380 is happening hard to trust. again, you're making lots of claims to back up your other claims, some reference good sources (whether that data is indeed in that resource is something else), some just seem to be more of the same, it appears to be assumptions and making things up.

Unless it was the Walmart car, I think you'd have a hard sale on your hands at that point.

Sorry to cut you off, but I made an edit to what you said to make it more accurate. This particular project is brownfield, meaning it has already been developed, and so what you say may have absolutely no bearing at all on what is required based on what was previously on that site. Your method of study is very unscientific. the city has already come to an agreement for the site. Regardless of how in depth their study of the site was, I am very confident that is was more in depth than looking at a single aerial photograph. Even if they just drove around the site and looked out the window it would be more scientific than looking at aerial photos from google maps, or even flyover maps from some other source. Hell, even google street view would be better (you ought to do that yourself, you'd see that your aerial photograph is not an accurate representation at all). Do you have any historical information regarding what was built there, and how much of the surface was covered in buildings, or non-permeable surface? edit: Have you even driven by there yourself to look with your own eyes to see what is there, or what isn't there? Again, I cut you off, and for that I'm sorry. First, we are completely hypothetical at this point, as you have no proof other than your 'aerial photo' taken god knows when, and with no other data to back it up, so I'm just going to play along that the site is greenfield, in order to again show that there isn't any credibility to your statement. The reality is though, that the city has access to drawings and information regarding exactly what was contained on that site. Have you seen Walmart's complete plan? Where is it? Do they have the blueprints for the parking and building structure online somewhere that I can see for my own eyes what you have obviously seen for you to be able to state with such certainty? I mean, it seems to me like you are just providing what you think is going to happen as fact. How do you know that the parking won't be done with permeable pavement? that's just one possibility. And you cannot say that it will or won't. Good thing you aren't either. I mean, using one single aerial photograph as factual data to support your claim, when that only shows a snapshot of one moment in time, the more I think about that, the more I laugh. Why don't you go and check the city archives to see what was built on there and how much was covered in pavement, and how much was covered in buildings, I'm POSITIVE you'd find much more accurate data than what is provided by some random aerial photograph. In addition, what information regarding the roadways do you have other than a Walmart may bring as many as 10k cars a day? Do you think the city doesn't know the maximum capacity of all streets involved? When is the last time they did a traffic study on those roads? What was the data then, what was the data from the previous traffic study to that one? What change in traffic rates can be observed between the two? That is the kind of credible information I am asking you to present, not just anecdotal evidence based on some aerial photograph that looks like the ground may be dirt and grass, and any complete lack of information on any other topics, but you know by golly that it is going to have a negative impact and that nothing has been studied to date! as far as asking me for data, I'm not the one making claims and expecting them to be accepted as fact.

I think it would be interesting if you had included some actual factual numbers, rather than unsubstantiated rumor... PLEASE CITE REFERENCES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! seriously. I mean, it is VERY clear at this point that the project will go on with or without the 380, to me, that means that the drainage and roads CAN support it without the additional 6 million investment. If you have FACTUAL data to back up your writing, PLEASE refer us to the credible non-biased data! How difficult can that be? Obviously, it is very difficult, because you can't.

yeah, midtown is even less dead than downtown. try finding parking on a friday/saturday night around smith/hadley. on a side note, if you go to say, Element over on San Jacinto, it's dead, I ride by that place late at night quite often and the parking lot is empty, no line at the door, nothing. how that place has stayed in business for almost a year now I have no idea, they must have some good lunch specials or something.

I don't think either of us can know what the mayor 'clearly' meant. You have your interpretation of the facts, I presented mine. oh yeah, and you say that only 366k goes to desires, so now drainage, and roads aren't desired?

yep, you caught a bad night. maybe the UH game pulled the crowds?

ahhhh, now I understand the confusion! Lets assume the developer has 20million to spend, and a penny over that, they'd have to get an additional loan. so, if they were to do the project as they would want to, it would be 20 million out of their pocket. if they do the project with the additions the city desires, it will cost 26 million, they need to get an additional 6 million in loans. in effect, by entering this agreement, the city promises to pay them back for the additional improvements with interest, assuming they do the improvements. the developer gets an interest free loan. THAT is what has been said.

I can honestly say that the only place I've heard of interest free loans was in this thread. never seen it being represented that way anywhere else. this is from an article in the chron from aug 26th... http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/7172002.html As far as the word endeavor, well, it means that they will try to, or attempt to achieve. I assume if the city feels that they are not endeavoring enough, they will endeavor to show them what endeavor means. Regardless the wording, this agreement is a way that the city can lean on the developer to build in the best interests of the community, rather than just building in their own interests.

yeah, cause this only happens in walmart parking lots. maybe you should focus your efforts at finding ways to improve the walmart, rather than outright disgust that it will be there, cause it's coming.

more on NPR... http://app1.kuhf.org/houston_public_radio-news-display.php?articles_id=1284071470

yeah, NPR had a 1 minute and 30 second bit on this that I heard on my way home today... http://app1.kuhf.org/houston_public_radio-news-display.php?articles_id=1283893040

I'd hate to see a stoplight be put in my neighborhood, a residential area should have ample stop signs. stop signs do a fair bit to make people want to take alternate routes. At any rate, that's pretty far from the location, and I'd imagine quite a few people will be using the freeway that is much closer to the walmart than 15th street. I certainly agree that people should go slow down in residential areas, it bothers me that people treat them as racing areas.

for instance: Now, I assume that the reference here is that a 24 hour 152k sf store will create an additional 20k cars in traffic. I may be incorrect, but I read earlier in the thread (page 18 or 19) that the impact this store will create is to increase the usage of Yale UP TO a TOTAL of 10k cars a day, and that Yale can support up to 16k in current configuration. If that's wrong, I'd LOVE to see a credible reference to show that it is wrong, and that 20k is the correct reference. There's lots of numbers thrown around, and I've seen multiple locations where s3mh has had the incorrect number, I am less inclined to believe those numbers. So, lets see some references, not here-say.

Perhaps you won't mind going back through the posts that s3mh has made and cite some credible references to back up the claims being made.

I am convinced s3mh is just being a troll. If I am wrong this person should go through and list citations for every claim he has made. If this can't be done, I will be inclined to continue believing this person is nothing more than a troll.