RedScare

I had no feelings whatsoever, since the game was played in Tennessee. Additionally, Vince Young did not win the game, he merely did not lose it. A quick look at the stats will reveal that Mr. Young is ranked either 34 or 35th in virtually every QB category. But, most importantly, you mistake me for someone who cares. My life does not revolve around a game that has more TV time spent on advertising than actual play, as apparently yours does. I don't spend my Sunday in front of the TV. As a former resident, you know that we wait all year for this weather. I'm not wasting it either in a parking lot next to Reliant Stadium, nor in my living room. Last week, I spent it installing an outdoor electrical outlet. The two weeks before that, ripping out carpets to get to my wood floors. I'm no longer in my 20s. I don't care about the NFL (though I am going to watch UH at Robertson Stadium on Friday.) That is why I said I admired the residents of Los Angeles. They collectively shrugged their shoulders at the NFL. I liked that.

I wouldn't exactly throw Houston and Arlington in the same boat. During my 7 years in Fort Worth, Arlington always struck me as being stuck in some kind of creepy 70s time warp. However, on the subject of defying logic to draw attention, all cities do it. New York and Chicago had their skyscraper war, Paris built what at the time was considered a hideous tower. Houston built a domed stadium, then when that became passe, returned with a couple of convertible tops. Dallas is about to spend $130 million to build some bridges over the Fort Worth municipal sewer. They are even talking about spending a ridiculous sum of money to upgrade the Cotton Bowl just to keep ONE football game a year. Don't kid yourself. Every city does it, and the second and third tier cities come up with some of the worst. When all is said and done though, if the citizens of that particular city believe the expenditure improves their looks or quality of life, who are we to blame them. I'm not paying Arlington's taxes, so if they want to spend $650 million dollars so that John Madden will occasionally say "Arlington, Texas" on national TV, more power to them.

Certainly not ALL Houstonians believe that, but enough of them to approve $1 Billion in stadium bonds. I admire Los Angelenos for not being held hostage by the NFL. And, though Laura Miller has many faults, cratering to Jerry Jones strongarm tactics is not one of them. So, I suppose Arlington will be a "world class" suburb in a few years, huh?

As a matter of fact, the NFL Oilers played 3 Thanksgiving Day games. All three games were against the Dallas Cowboys. The Oilers won EVERY game. What about them cowboys?

Umm....you might oughta check your numbers. DT Houston actually has more residents than DT Dallas.

Always, my Dallas friend. Always. ...and have a happy Thanksgiving. Go Tampa Bay!

Niche, give it up. Everyone has their own reason for appreciating old structures. I will say, however, that I stayed out of this thread, because I know that the warehouse had flood plain issues. It really was not going to be salvageable. As much as I appreciate its style, the effort to save Houston's vanishing history would be better spent elsewhere. Nice attempt to deflect your shallow view of anything historical by challenging everyone else, though. EDIT: Oh. My own personal attachment to historical structures is based on the overengineering of them, as well as the architectural detailing. They were built to last for centuries, versus the 40 lifespan of today's crap. Ironically, it is the very thing you espouse (highest and best use) that annoys me in today's structures. It is hard to get attached to something that probably will not outlive me.

dalasboi, you are priceless.

This is exactly why the City invests money in downtown. Not only does expanding the infrastructure add more value to the highest value land in the city, conversely, NOT keeping up the infrastructure causes that high value property to depreciate, costing the city (and therefore, its citizens) tax revenue. Investing in neighborhoods returns little, if any tax revenue. Investing in downtown makes the city money. Downtown also happens to be the city's most recognizable feature. When I went to school downtown in the 1980s, it was a dirty, depressing, dangerous place. When I opened an office downtown in the 90s, it was only marginally better. When the city invested police, new streets and sidewalks, and METRORail, it changed dramatically. So did the taxable values.

Like shooting fish in a barrel. I've mentioned this before, but it always gets ignored by certain Dallas posters. I don't dislike Dallas. I lived there. I have family there. I DO hate the Cowboys, but that comes from growing up in North Carolina (pre-Panthers), where we rooted for the Redskins. The problem with the Dallas threads is that if ANYTHING that can remotely be construed as anti-Dallas appears, a contingent of "Dallas Uber Alles" types will swoop in and scream, "You hate Dallas!" Hey, I didn't make up the Dallas office vacancy figures! They came from Dallas real estate professionals. And, frankly, some of the posts are downright stupid. Saying that big companies are coming to downtown when the experts say they are not is a LIE. Saying that numerous small tenants will more than make up for the large ones that leave is wishful thinking. This forum is open to anyone who follows the rules. Dallas boosters must understand that the posts on this forum will sound a lot less like the Chamber of Commerce than a Dallas forum will. I have my opinions as to why downtown has persitently high vacancies, opinions like overly active developers, the city allowing downtown to detiorate, telecom busts, etc. If I want to post the opinions, I am free to do so, just as you are. However, if your post flies in the face of logic, I will state THAT, too. And, if you then become a crybaby, because my research is better than yours, I will then figuratively dance on your head. If you spent any time at all on any non-Dallas threads, you would find that a lot of us do this to each other, as well. Some fight back, others whine just like you. But, on HAIF, as in life, he who is unprepared is lost. If I could make a suggestion, it would be to concede downtown's anemic vacancy rate. You'll never put enough lipstick on that pig. Also, don't try to make Uptown and Victory a part of downtown. They aren't. Instead, brag about the fact that Dallas is sidestepping the ruin that is downtown into new digs a mile away. No one disses Uptown and Victory, unless you try to make it downtown. And, then there is banking214! I don't know, dude, why can't we lure hotels like W? Perhaps because we associate 'W' with failure? I know that's why I would never stay in one.

Pouting? I'm laughing!

I agree Dallas "thinks bigger". Houston just IS bigger. Oh, and sorry about your sweating problem. But, my 74 degree "heat" suits me just fine. I am so glad that you Dallasites are so proud of your downtown. Because, frankly, if it wasn't for you guys, NO ONE would be there. I never went to DT Dallas when I lived there, and my friends don't take me there when I visit (They don't have much to say nice about Victory either, but I'll leave that alone, since Victory is largely unbuilt). Fact is, I've never seen any listings of anything in DT Dallas that would make me want to go there anyway. But, that matters not, because you guys love it. So enjoy! And quit worrying what we think. BTW, Houston doesn't come up on Dallas forums, because we don't care enough to even read them. Funny how that works.

Boy, talk about your basic unsupported, generalized sweeping statements. Nice job, Niche.

Aside from wondering what a "cohesive unit" is as it relates to a city, one might ask if ANY big city functions as one cohesive unit, as opposed to dozens of villages governed by an umbrella government. Since everyone's favorite big city is New York, let us start there. Is a city comprised of five separate counties a cohesive unit? Is a city that consist of three islands and one peninsula a cohesive unit? Even Manhattan, a 23 mile long island that takes an hour to traverse, does not qualify. Moving on to Chicago, the North Side and the South Side are two separate and distinct worlds. Can it be called a cohesive unit? Do we even want to attempt to quantify Los Angeles? Even Dallas, a city half the size of Houston has its North Side and South Side (and even a West Side) and never the two shall meet. All big cities are a collection of neighborhoods, each with its own dynamic. The Heights marches to a different drum than Montrose, which in turn is different from Greenway, the Galleria, TMC or Downtown. Yet, all are within several miles of each other. The city limits are merely the government boundaries. The "cohesive unit" in any large city is much smaller than the city limits, regardless of how dense or sprawling that city may be.

Compared to what?

This could explain Fort Worth's "going" problem.

Yup. I drove by there an hour ago. There are two huge hole in the north side of the building. Looks like currently they are salvaging steel from inside the building. There is also a crane onsite. Get your pictures quick.

Actually, yes, some are going back. See VicMan's HISD thread about school population losses. Also, I have ready anecdotal stories of Thugs heading back to New Orleans to re-establish turf, and not particularly caring for Harris County's no-nonsense approach to crime. While none of this can really be proved from statistics, each may have an incremental effect. I think the methodical arresting of criminals as they are commit their crimest eventually thins the herd as well. I have always thought this would be a temporary spike, though it is WAY to early to say that yet. EDIT: Niche, the City Planning Department compiles its own estimates. As of Jan. 1, 2006, they estimated the population at 2,198,000. I think the estimate in the article is a typo. HPD does not estimate population. The UCR rates use the Census estimates.

He is among the league leaders in assists at 6.4 per game, so...umm...no, I don't think that way.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metrop...an/4341630.html The rate of violent crime, which includes murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, was down from 2004, after a spike last year. Nonviolent crimes, such as burglaries and car thefts, were down for the second straight year, according to the UCR. Gerstner credits the success to an overtime program that began Aug. 28.

Just how many tenants have signed on to Victory anyway? I know Haynes & Boone is the only tenant in Victory Tower. WFAA is moving from it's downtown digs. Obviously, The Mavericks and Stars left downtown. But, there is not much other office space out there right now, is there? So, all of this talk is really speculative, since only a couple of tenants have even signed. Am I right on this?

You're on!

The older model had three towers. I suppose there are two office towers and formerly, one residential.

I agree with you that posters on this board largely do not understand that developers are private entities, and not a division of government. Even if they do understand this fact, they ignore it when making blanket statements like "Houston doesn't do this", or "Dallas did that". Posters from both cities have this affliction. Haynes & Boone would never have moved out of Downtown/Uptown/Victory. Large law firms need relatively quick access to the courthouses, all of which are located downtown. While boutique law firms locate all over the city, the international behemoths stay close to the courthouse. Non-Dallasites DO get it. Uptown and Victory are on the opposite side of the freeway, just as Midtown is for Houston. We generally talk of them as separate areas because they have different dynamics, even though there is lots of crossover between the two, just as there is between Uptown and Downtown Dallas. However, real estate companies distinguish between Uptown and Downtown, and between Midtown and Downtown. I suppose one could lump the Uptown/Downtown areas together when talking about office leases, just as one could say Downtown/Midtown has over 20,000 residents, but there would be a bit of intellectual dishonesty in the statements. What I find most interesting is the announcement of construction starting on the House. They said that "nearly 50%" of the units have been sold. While I will leave it to those in the industry to snicker about what "nearly 50%" means, less than 50% commitment is far less than what we usually see in Houston before a project breaks ground. I know that Hillwood has secured financing for all off the buildings going up in Victory, so this probably allows projects to start with fewer commitments, but it does show that Houston developers (or their bankers) are more conservative than what we see in Dallas. It may also explain why the vacancy rate has remained stubbornly high for so long.

Ooh! Tough to top that one! I do wonder, though. How, did that smoking dog escape former councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs' campaign to rid the City of smokers?