RedScare

Well, there is the "restaurant row" phenomenon, but I have never seen any research suggesting that the same phenomenon applies to movie theaters. For those who have never heard of "restaurant rows", studies show that one restaurant in an area may struggle, but as more restaurants open in the same area, that area becomes known for having several restaurant choices. People who are unsure exactly what they want to eat will tend to drive to the "restaurant row", confident that at least one of the many choices will satisfy them. For instance, I may drive to Washington Avenue, or Rice Village without having a particular place in mind, and decide where to eat once I get there.

Again, I am unsure if this applies to movie theatres. It might. That could help explain multiplexes.

Ummm....OK?

This is the same one that was planned for Tomball but ten times better

Perhaps, but ten times a very small number is still a very small number. Hopefully, you and Mister X will take pictures for us so that we won't have to go.

Totally agree with you. The fact that it couldn't survive to that point (the railroad went out of business more than 20 years before the Gulf Freeway was built) is very telling.

I do find it very amusing though that certain comments, on this and other threads, seem to imply that the government funding of the Gulf Freeway was bad. Is there really anyone out there that feels that the government shouldn't have funded the Interstate Highway System?

Apparently there is one poster that thinks so. I wonder sometimes if he expects to be taken seriously.

So, you could say that the demise of the Houston-Galveston railroad was due to greed. Interesting. I didn't think greed existed anywhere but in automobile factories and concrete plants.

Greed = capitalism and true capitalism is the most efficient way to increase overall prosperity. Since we no longer have true capitalism but crony capitalism, things have become distorted.

 

I think I'm missing your point as to how having a railroad 100 years ago to Galveston that is no longer in service has to do with greed. 

I don't think there is a point, other than his desire for rail transit causes him to say anything that comes to mind.

When the meteor knocks down my house, will I have to get permission from the HAHC in order to rebuild?

I'm told that the Galleria had to do the same thing in 2006, during the last NBA All Star weekend, but I don't recall it personally, and have not seen it reported.

http://www.chron.com/communityblogs/atmosphere/item/Photos-Crowds-inside-outside-the-Galleria-15171.php

Galleria shut down by HPD. Yes, it was that crowded.

GOOD TRIUMPHS OVER EVIL

Though I got caught in court and could not make it to City Council this afternoon, I am happy to post this email I just received from Briekelman...

WE WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE! THIS WAS SO EFFECTIVE!!!!

This message is from Brie Kelman who started the petition "Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission (HAHC): Approve application to restore my 1920 home that has been neglected for yrs," which you signed on Change.org.

View the petition  |  View and reply to this message online 

Congrats, Brie. You never let the preservationists get you down.

It looks like they are moving forward with Phase II of this development. There is an article about this on the Chronicle website, but is only accessible to subscribers which I am not.

This article?

http://www.chron.com/business/article/New-cinemas-in-Houston-give-luxury-a-starring-role-4276779.php?t=863144c6ed

For future reference, if you see an article on the paid Chron.com website, you can copy and paste the headline into google and find the entire article online for free. 

 If this is what you consider to be a standard construction project, then good luck to any project you are involved in.

Prior to becoming an attorney, I was involved in construction of Deerbrook Mall, the Houston Design Center, the San Luis Hotel & Condominiums, and the Huntingdon Conominiums. They seem to have done alright.

Looks more like the standard construction project to me. There is a lot of activity as dirt work, foundation framing and exterior are built. Then, nothing appears to be happening as the electrical, plumbing and mechanical trades perform their work on the inside, out of sight of onlookers. Sounds like you are engaging in wishful thinking more than insightful observation.

If you don't have parking and the store is good enough, people will still come. Diagonal parking only re-emphasizes the notion that car is God. Someone taking away that subliminal idea can do a lot.

Perhaps you should brush up on your "walkable neighborhoods" knowledge. Urban planners promote parallel and diagonal parking as a  means to make traffic slower and to protect pedestrians. Bagby Street is being rebuilt in exactly this manner.

Go to Google street view and look up 1000 Ross Avenue in Dallas. It was mentioned in the article. Almost the entire block is empty. Only the corners have tenants.

Here is one article describing the problems filling retail spaces in Dallas.

http://www.ucrurban.com/press_detail.php?sec=4&id=141

Robber dude is currently charged as a habitual felon. We will not see him around these parts for a few decades. Punishment range is 25 years to life, and not eligible for parole until at least 50% of sentence is served.

What i don't understand is why ground level retail is not a problem in Dallas's downtown and surrounding areas? The population around downtown Dallas is actually less than or equal to Houston's surrounding downtown population.

It actually IS a problem in Dallas. There is a Dallas Morning News article that I linked somewhere on this forum that described all of the empty groundfloor storefronts that had been required by Dallas, and some of the problems in filling them. What many people do is look at one building or one location where groundfloor retail works, and believe it will or is working everywhere, when that is not at all true. Their walkable fantasy will not allow them to consider that financial realities preclude groundfloor retail in many developments.

I think the pre-existing conditions part rolls out next year - I was unable to buy health insurance from anyone recently.

Sev, try this website.

www.pciplan.com

This is exactly my point. The anti-historic district people have done nothing from the beginning but gone all talk radio on this issue without providing anything constructive to make the process better. At least RUDH produced a lengthy document of proposed changes to the Walmart development while simultaneously opposing the same and refrained from the completely off the wall accusations and name calling that have come from anti-historic district people.

Calling the HAHC "fascist" or comparing them to Nazis is so indefensibly over the top that it shows that those opposing the districts have nothing but an irrational hatred for any sort of land use restriction that is not based on an particular set of principles, but, instead, comes from the same sort of inflamatory talk radio garbage that appeals to a small minority of people. Last I checked, Nazis and facists did not provide the right to appeal their decisions to a democratically elected counsel with a further right to challenge that body's decision to a democratically elected, independent judiciary. But, of course, those facts do not matter when you are practicing irrational ideological zealotry. Demogoguery plays well inside the echo chamber of the anti-ordinance supporters. But it completely turns off anyone who might be on the fence and just reinforces the determination of supporters.

Faux outrage becomes you.

It is no surprise that you would fixate on a little wordplay in order to deflect attention away from the fact that your favorite government bureaucracy is doing exactly what we predicted they would. I don't blame you, though. If my favorite bureaucrats had dropped me in the grease as HAHC has done you, I'd not want to defend them either.

Stop the HAHC signs are needed.

Perhaps with a scary Camelback snarling at a bungalow?

I think the Nazi and fascist comparisons began in this thread a very long time ago. In fact, the HAHC has now eclipsed passe Nazi references. What we need here is a term to describe capricious and arbitrary rulings, as HAHC just made a ruling, not on the rules in the ordinance, but rather based on "complaints from the neighborhood". Ironically, these complaints were of HAHC's own rulings.

If there is ever created a HAIF Hall of Fame, post #1007 will certainly win for best 180 performed by a poster. He didn't even attempt to fit it into his narrative of HAHC Uber Alles. He simply claims that he always told us, as if we didn't read the previous 1006 posts in this thread. Flip flopping on this scale should be banned everywhere but during presidential debates.

You do have a point. Since one specialty grocers on the first floor of a 37 floor building in downtown with no other grocers within the entire downtown area succeeded, that is proof that every apartment complex in the entire city would have successful ground floor retail. Well, of course, if those complexes were 37 floors, had no competition, and were specialty grocers. Other than that, yeah.

If the concept was as profitable as you claim, these for profit developers would put it in. You should do some research on the trials and tribulations of ground floor retail in Dallas. It may be enlightening. Oh, and you might stop having heart attacks every time a complex is announced without ground floor retail.

You gotta be kidding me.

When are they gonna learn? Do they not see whats going on right across the street?

I give up. Sorry for the complaining and negativity but, damn.

If there is stuff going on "right across the street", why must there be retail in the bottom of the apartment complex? Are the potential tenants incapable of walking "right across the street"? Why must the definition of a walkable neighborhood include no walking? 

I would post a facepalm pic of your obsession with ground floor retail, but instead I will just use yours for my comments.