Jump to content

Jesse

Full Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    346

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Jesse

    Walmart Supercenter At 111 Yale St.

    in The Heights

    Posted

    Ah, the Kroger on 20th. The "Zombie" Kroger. A place you can go and actually witness a check being written for groceries. All kidding aside, I hope this one survives. It will be a sad day for the old(er) folks that go there if it closes.

     

    They just finished a number of upgrades, so I'm guessing it's sticking around for a while.  They actually improved the produce section quite a bit, reorganized the store, changed the front entrance, and slapped a fresh coat of paint on it.  It's not my primary store although it's the closest one to me, but it is definitely improved. 

    Walmart Supercenter At 111 Yale St.

    in The Heights

    Posted

    I searched Wal-mart's site and they are still saying 2012 opening. They had 24Sep photo updates, it looks like it is 1-2 months away, so that narrows it down. I just saw these from the leasing agent .... http://ucrrealty.com..._IH-10&Yale.pdf ... nice aerials, maps. Bass St. will be an entrance from I-10 feeder to the dismay of all Bridge of Death fans and it looks like they added a RR crossing over Bonner Street for trucks.

    EDIT: Here's a slightly different aerial with a better depiction of Bonner St. http://ucrrealty.com...ights Blvd).pdf

    Wow. It is laughable that they advertise you can get from the site to the SW Freeway or anywhere downtown in "5 minutes" (slide 3 on either link). The last time I even came close to that kind of speed/distance was a few hours before Ike hit, when there were ZERO cars on the road. Even going up Yale to 610 would be a challenge, unless there were no cars in front of you and you hit every green light (all 10 of them in the 3 mile stretch). And believe me, they are not timed so you can make every one (Koehler, I-10 East, 1-10 West, 6th, 11th, 14th, 19th, 20th, 22nd, 610 East)

    Walmart Supercenter At 111 Yale St.

    in The Heights

    Posted

    I figured his use of the word "your", followed by his quoting MY statement, indicated he was talking to me.

    Jesse, why do walk into a debate and immediately think the debate is all about you? Look a couple of posts above mine to find the answer about tree caliper inches.

    Walmart Supercenter At 111 Yale St.

    in The Heights

    Posted

    Wow, we're down to nitpicking grammar, huh? I figured his use of the word "your", followed by his quoting MY statement, indicated he was talking to me. But let's let him answer. Not sure why you jumped in, Niche. I wasn't talking to you. Still waiting on Red's response.

    And yes, I would LOVE to hear you back up YOUR statement with facts. When have I made non-credible statements about "my fight"? Please provide evidence. You're so good at brushing off others when they don't back up statements with facts. So let's see them. When have I not been credible? (that's directed at you, Niche).

    And, for the record, I said "I would argue THE fight isn't over". Not my fight. I never mentioned my fight. So why are you? I was taking issue with Red's logic (again, why am I arguing this with you? Regardless...). He said he fought the historic ordinance for a year. Which I respect. He then said "his current activities", suggesting he was still actively involved in raising awareness, and working towards his goal, even though the ordinance passed. Some would argue the fight was over once it passed. But he is continuing his work. He's still fighting. Good for him.

    My point, which some clearly misunderstood, was that although the initial fight to prevent Walmart from entering the neighborhood is over (presumably they've signed a lease by now), there could still be ways to delay/prevent/obstruct the opening. I don't know of any. That doesn't mean there aren't any. Some people are actively looking into it. My point is that any efforts right now, that could prevent/delay the opening would still be considered a 'fight'. Once the doors open, the fight would be over. But until then, I don't see how the battle is lost. Much like how Red is continuing to fight, even though the ordinance passed.

    capisce?

    Red made a conditional statement, which is preceded by the word if.

    If your fight is crying about tree size, then he's probably right but that statement may not apply to you. If you plan to make the Wal-Mart explode (a la King of the Hill, Season 2, Episode 23), then perhaps the fight is not over -- but all bets regarding tree size would be off, that's for sure.

    Of course, we don't know what your fight is. You have made no credible or recent statements regarding your fight or an intent to fight. It's entirely possible that Red made a statement that wasn't directed at you.

    Walmart Supercenter At 111 Yale St.

    in The Heights

    Posted

    I would argue the fight isn't over until Walmart opens their doors

    I was actively involved in the efforts to reject the historic ordinance for an entire year. In fact, that involvement is how I know that there was overwhelming opposition to the district. My current activities involve continuing neighborhood awareness, so that once Mayor Parker is out of office, these districts may be dissolved. Reminding neighbors of the hit to property values and the nuisance of getting permission to buy a new door accomplishes that goal.

    Walmart, however, is under construction. It IS being built. That fight is forever lost. No amount of complaining will make the store go away. Unlike ordinances, which are only a council vote from disappearing, a Walmart stores remains until Walmart decides to move.

    But, again, if Leonard, or you, wish to continue, I am happy to point out your misstatements.

    ExxonMobil Spring Campus

    in Going Up!

    Posted

    Well, kinda. Greenspoint is accessable through all of those roads, but for the ExxonMobil buildings, you're looking at a few hundred exiting I-45 from Rankin Road, and the rest exiting Greens Road (90% East, 10% West)

    Beltway 8 drivers only exit Greenspoint Drive - there are no XOM buildings on Imperial Valley or East of there. Hardy Toll Road drivers have to exit onto BW8, and then again can only exit onto Greenspoint Drive

    The new campus will have I-45, Grand Parkway, and that last exit off Hardy (I forget the name). Plus a likely entrance on the West side of the campus from the new neighborhood.

    I agree with you though... it won't be pretty, at least at first. I for one am very interested to see what kind of car/van/bus pooling options they provide, especially to inner-loopers. I think the company recognizes that anytime you bring that many people together in one spot, you're very likely to have traffic issues

    And, Greenspoint has much better access than the new campus. Greenspoint is accessible by 45, BW8, Hardy Toll Road, and several arterial streets. The new campus will have 45 and the GP, but the all important arterial streets have not been developed, and Spring Creek prevents much of it.

    ExxonMobil Spring Campus

    in Going Up!

    Posted

    Actually with 13,000 spaces I'd wager there are >13,000 employees. Or at least the capacity for such. Building >1 spot per person is purely wasteful (nobody can drive 2 cars at a time, obviously), but there are always people out of the office on vacation, sick, travelling, in training, carpooling (ie: spouses and neighbors), riding a motorcycle, handicapped parkers, being dropped off by a spouse/neighbor, etc.

    I'm not sure this is any different than anywhere else in Houston. As stated, they already have thousands at Greenspoint, and many live north of town. If anything it will cut traffic going further south (until the buildings fill back up). I view this like another Greenway Plaza. In fact, the "trivia" page on Greenway's webpage says they have 13,000 parking spaces, so 10k employees wouldn't be too far off. It's a rush from 8-9 and 5-6, but otherwise everyone meanders in and out orderly.

    ExxonMobil Spring Campus

    in Going Up!

    Posted

    0 to 10,000 employees? Wait a second. Is everyone forgetting the few thousand employees already in Greenspoint? They have employees in at least 8 buildings there already. The 9 miles between Greenspoint and the new campus is not going to make everyone sell their house and move - a vast majority already live in The Woodlands, so you're looking at a net change of zero people coming out of the 'burbs and onto I-45. A majority of the rest live inside the loop, and they're looking at an added 7-10 minutes on the highway. Since so few people are coming Northbound already (reverse commute), you're still not looking at any net influx into the Woodlands (they'll all exit at the new campus, or even take Hardy up and just get off from there). Right now there isn't any slowdown on I-45 going Northbound until you get to the Woodlands flyover. There is zero traffic backup from XOM employees on the Greenspoint exit ramps at any time of day, and those ramps are far smaller than the ones near the campus.

    Now, let's talk about the downtown office and the research center (Greenway plaza):

    A surprisingly large amount of people commute from the Woodlands to the downtown building and Greenway. Maybe a few additional cars coming out of the Woodlands to the new campus, since some of those people take the HOV bus currently. Same with the research center. People who live inside the loop and work there will now commute Northbound, so yes, a little bit of added traffic getting off I-45 at the new campus.

    People who work at the energy corridor building out I-10 already live out there, so they'll either be coming North, or moving to the Woodlands or Spring Creek. Speaking of Spring Creek - isn't that development going to be West of I-45, next to the campus? So those people won't be on I-45, they'll enter the campus through one of the 4+ entrances.

    My point here is that for the employees already in Houston, very very few will be moving, and even few will be dramatically changing their commutes (most will be getting shorter, in fact). The company is very actively looking at carpool/bus/vanpool options for higher employee density neighborhoods, so that should help the congestion a bit too.

    The larger issue is the ~2000 employees coming from other cities (Fairfax, Baytown, etc). Who knows where they'll live - I'm guessing the Woodlands and Spring Creek area. They will have a traffic impact, though as Redscare said, it's not like they're all going to appear overnight.

    One more note - XOM employees generally get to work between 6am and 8:30am (some even earlier). So you're looking at 10,000 people (eventually) spread out over 2.5+ hours, across multiple entrances, from multiple directions. To think that XOM didn't plan for this is to not understand how XOM approaches projects.

    I wouldn't call ramping up from 0 employees to 10,000 between the years 2014 and 2015 coming online slowly, at least as far as congestion mitigation is concerned. Sure, dropping 10,000 additional commuters on one intersection all at once would be chaos, but adding 500 to 1,000 at a time every month for a year to 18 months would simply create orderly congestion. At the end of 2015, there will still be 10,000 additional vehicles trying to enter and leave the most bottlenecked portion of I-45, that portion on either side of the Hardy Toll Road connector.

    ...

    etc etc etc

    ....

    There is precious little road infrastructure, planned or existing, to relieve this projected traffic. Much of the increased traffic will be forced onto I-45...even for a short distance...due to the dearth of north/south arteries over Spring Creek. I don't see much mitigation planned.

    Walmart Supercenter At 111 Yale St.

    in The Heights

    Posted

    Batteries+ is going in. I will gladly trad my semi-annual trip out 290 to buy batteries for my driveway gate opener for a treacherous drive across the Yale bridge of death.

    [media=]

    RedScare - our disagreements aside, that's a brilliantly relevant and funny clip you linked to

×
×
  • Create New...