Random

I think the idea of this would not be to blow either Austin or Dallas out of the water, but to work with those cities.

I live near Sandpiper/Fondren and El Rod Elementary in Maplewood - not far from a whole bunch of slummy apartments. I've been here two years and to be honest, if I never drove down Bob White, I wouldn't even know those apartments were there. Houston's funny that way.

If you've read my earlier post I wasn't projecting one person's ignorance on an entire population. I was using one persons ignorance as an extreme example of a line of thinking that's fairly common in this city. I am not the only person to have experienced this. Also, if you read my earlier post you would know I understand that this is a forum of people that REALLY DO understand Houston and I wasn't trying to say YOU didn't know anything about Houston. Or that YOU do not tell anyone about what makes it great. But HAIF represents the extreme of Houston boosterism and a vast majority don't think the same way - and before you jump on that statement I'm not saying a majority of people hate Houston, I'm merely saying a majority don't feel this impassioned sense of appreciation. And calling critics of Houston "slaves to hip and trendy" or "snotty outsiders" is just stupid. Rather that paint those critical of us with a broad stroke, why not try to understand why they may come off with such unfavorable views and what we can do to help change that.

I would have written another response earlier, but I've been at Summerfest. Some of you have taken what I've said personally. It really confuses me. All I've tried to say is that many Houstonians don't appreciate the city the way the rest of us do. Don't think its true? If it wasn't, then "Houston It's Worth it" wouldn't be necessary. Think about that. How many other major American cities need to convince their citizens that "It's Worth it"? And I don't need anyone's acceptance. But also, I don't think wanting people to respect our city for its cultural and entertainment offerings is selling out or superficial. And all this Austin bashing is ridiculous and smacks of insecurity. Austin does certain things right, and Houston does things right. Ranting and raving against another city is thousand dollarsing stupid.

Perhaps we will all have to learn to agree to disagree (with me), but I stand by what I've said: Great City - World Class. Many citizens remain oblivious to this. You all are lucky to be around such enlightened people.

Pride is one thing, shameless homerism is another. It's like the difference between patriotism and nationalism.

You people need to pull your heads out of your asses. I love this city, but If you don't think Houston has image issues, you're living a fantasy world. I realized HAIF was full boosters and homers, but Christ.

It was never my intention to imply people were small minded. My intention was to explain that the effort to know their city better just isn't there for a huge chunk of the population.

I think I struck a nerve with some people and I'm not sure why. For one, this has never been about projecting a cool image based on the city I lived in. It's about being proud and appreciative of what your city has to offer. My entire point has been that many Houstonians don't appreciate the great city that they have. For all of its faults, it's a great, even world class city. And it is a shame that more people aren't aware of that. And if they were, it would do a lot for the city - not only in terms of supporting creativity and all things Houston, but for our rep around the world. Maybe it's my demographic - Late 20's to early 30's professionals with a mixture natives and transplants. Not to mention extended family around the metro area. But I really, really, cannot fathom how someone can honestly say that Houstonians appreciate all their city has to offer to the same extent that people in other major American cities do. Or that most Houstonians would be willing to hold themselves up with Chicago, LA, New York.

Unfortunately that same bad press has influenced way too many of our fellow citizens. Montrose and the Heights are artsy hip and cool, but because they're in Houston, many Houstonians think they're somehow not worthy of the same respect as similar neighborhoods in other cities.

How would you suggest I do that? I'm sharing my observations as someone that's lived here 4 years or so and still somewhat has an "outsider's" perspective. And are you really suggesting that this city views itself as being on par with other large American cities in terms of culture, diversity, etc? I mean, sure, on HAIF we do, but the city as a whole? Do you really think our citizens show the same pride in their city as places like Austin, SF, NYC or Chicago? Or appreciate it as much?

It was merely meant to illustrate a point - Namely that unlike most world class cities, Houston's own citizens are painfully unaware of what their city has to offer. And as a result, are unable to articulate what makes this city special to outsiders. I know we like to say we don't care what people think of us, but c'mon - we do. We want people to see this city as the special place that we know it is. Particularly if you've seen people's reactions when you tell them you're from Houston - if it illicits any sorts of reaction, it's more likely to be negative than positive. The average citizen of Austin can tell you what makes Austin special or why they are proud of the city. Even if they never truly experience what the city offers (see: average Arboretum resident). Can we really say that about the average Houstonian?

Sorry, I meant to mention - he was a native. Cypress to be exact. Every city has those just trying to live, not concerned with which town is better than the other - but in many other cities the average person is at least aware of the positives their town has to offer.

There’s an article on Chron.com this morning called “Stop Hating On Houston” http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/main/6563392.html First off, I want to mention that the article is a thin skinned response to a legitimate criticism (we are a flat, sprawling and hot and not exactly an “out doorsy” city). But most importantly I want to comment on Houston’s national rep, which I know is a discussion that has been done to death. But I’m a relatively recent transplant (4 years) and haven’t had the chance to really discuss this anyone. If there’s one thing I’ve noticed since living here is that Houstonians only have themselves to blame for the city’s bad reputation. They are positively the WORST ambassadors any city has ever had. You have a diverse, cosmopolitan, laid back and in many areas, hip city. But are most Houstonians even aware? Do many Houstonians even care? When I first moved to this city from Austin I lived in midtown/Montrose and worked out near Harwin and the Beltway. I was struck with how interesting and eclectic the city was. There is always a new neighborhood to discover, a new restaurant to eat at and an interesting person to talk to. I had fun exploring my new city and enjoyed showing it off to friends from Austin, Boston, San Fran, LA – all of whom were struck by how “cool” this town actually could be. But as the years went on I was shocked at how little many Houstonians knew about their own city. I had a coworker tell me he wanted to live in another town because Houston wasn’t that interesting to him. This coworker lives, like many Houstonians do, on the outer fringes of the city (which I don’t consider Houston, but that’s beside the point). I mentioned that I found Montrose to be a very vibrant area and asked how often he explored that part of town. And his response was, and I still have trouble coming to grips with this, “Montrose? What’s that?” - and therein lies Houston’s problem. When these people move, or visit other cities, they describe Houston as boring and soulless. When a relative visits from out of town, or when a coworker is here on business they may take them down a bland freeway to the Galleria or a sporting event (both things I love, but nothing unique), but otherwise it’s back to the suburbs by dinner. How do you expect to establish a great reputation if you’re showing people the same crap they could find anywhere. Bottom line, I think Houston needs to work on improving its reputation with its own citizens before it starts trying to impress the world.

taken today

A video for good measure

The 3gs is fine. Other than the video, I can't tell a difference between this version and the previous version. It is still the best smart phone for web surfing. I just wish you could do simple things like upload photos.

That's the "action" shot ;-) I wanted to get closer in the first video, but the sidewalk was closed off, with a police office guarding it. I didn't really push the issue. I would love to be a regular contributor of downtown construction photos to haif. Now if I could just figure out how to get photos from my iphone to haif/internet, we'll be set.

Apologies, but all this has to be done via my iPhone. I would upload photos, but it is much easier to upload videos and then link to them.

Went by there today...Zero activity. What little bit of concrete they were breaking up is all they've done. Does anyone know why they would start then stop?

Who?

Hey, long time first time. Any updates on this? I work downtown and can see this building from my office. Needless to say I am VERY eager for something to happen with it. During my lunch break I walked by the building and it looked as though there was zero activity. I did see a bulldozer parked in a loading dock, but that's it. I don't think I've seen anything remotely resembling activity since I started working downtown (january 2009)