Howard Huge

Luigis.

Captured this Sunday. Sorry about quality but this machine almost looks like some kind of snorting screeching biting predator. trim.63BF63F2-05DF-425B-864E-1E25FAD602EA.MOV

Was this filmed with a toaster?

Ehhh. I dont like how those contractors are doing that. too much potential to shock the crane load...

Yep.

I would never let them do that with MY crane.

I think I should clear this up, since it sparked so much friction and responses.

My comment about changing third wards name and moving the boundaries back again, was completely sarcastic and tongue in cheek. It was a reference to how Third ward used to stretch all the way to where the current "Midtown" sits, and until all the redevelopment started in the 90's, it was still called third ward, as I had close family and friends who lived there (and still do).

I do not in any way think the third wards boundaries should be moved back at all or that its name should be changed to make it sound less "ghetto". In a way, I was comedically predicting the future of the area, since it happened before, it seems likely with all this new development encroaching the "old 3rd ward", it could happen again.

Whoa, theyre gonna have to move the 3rd Wards boundaries back, again, probably all the way to Dowling this time, and give it a new fancy name like they did with "Midtown" (still 3rd Ward to me lol)

I wonder what the new name for this up and coming area will be?

So-Ea-do?

Ex-Noir?

Nouveau-Blanco?

Lower Midtown?

And a better look:

Urbannizer......you ARE Haif.......Wayne should pay you for all the content you bring to the site. I salute you.

He said one of the other tower cranes at BLVD place got struck that day, knocked out the electrical sytem in the crane for a while

^ Taken by the tower crane operator.

Good.

Soil testing? ^

LOL To be fair, Swtsigs has plenty of bursting-champagne-bottle posts him/herself.

I know, I love swtsig, my post was a testament to the validity of his insider information, when he says a project is a go, its a go, when he says its not its not.

Thus the disappointment when I read his post.

this thing is no closer to happening. temper your excitement.

Party pooper.

^ Ive lived in downtown and midtown for about 14 years, have 2 cars and hardly ever use them, wish I never had to, driving in Houston sucks!

39-floors. 314 units.

Im dazzled.

Too long didn't read?

Stop being selfish and thinking that, just because the train isnt for you and doesnt suit your needs, that it might not be a god-send for some, and may suit many other Houstonians needs perfectly.

The same anti-rail arguments keep being regurgitated ad nauseum.

"Rail or subways will not ease congestion or get people off the freeways"

"Rail is inefficient and I will not stop driving my car to use rail"

"I wont ever use the trains; therefore no one else will"

I dont think you understand how this works.

As hard as it may be to believe, there are a few people out of Houstons 2.2 million that, get this, dont have cars or cant afford them.

People that have NO CHOICE but to rely on public transportation to get to and from work, go shopping, kids and students that have to get to schools etc etc.

THOSE are the people that the additions to Houston mass transit system are being built for.

As "inefficient" as you think it may be to hop on a train and get to your destination, it is WAY more efficient for these people to walk to a rail stop and catch a train that runs every ten minutes, than to walk to a bus stop and sit there waiting for a bus that possibly comes by every hour or so, which is the case for many bus line, I know, I used to ride them.

Missed a train? No problem, next one will be here shortly.

Missed a bus?? Lol, youre ******.

Train broke down? No problem, tow it to a parallel track, next train is a few minutes behind.

Bus broke down? Well, you get the picture.

As far as easing congestion, its not entirely true to say trains dont do that.

As hard as it may be for you to believe, again, there ARE actually people on the trains who own cars! Mind blowing isnt it?

Hop on the Red Line on Texans game day, or during Rodeo season. Ride the train thru the med center on ANY day and tell me how many scrub wearing medical professionals (who arent strapped for cash, a few who might even own a vehicle!) riding the train.

And this is just our one and only train, imagine what a connected system going thru the west side/university corridor/uptown galleria would look like!

Oh thats right, no one would ever ride any of those trains and they'd be a waste of money because...........you said so.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/houston/article/Council-expands-subsidy-for-downtown-development-5408456.php

I knew it!

Edit:

To be fair - LA must build for an earthquake zone and simply put projects are more expensive there due to the cost of living/wages etc being higher than in Houston.

Why would it cost $40 billion to build 10 or 5 miles of subway here, when it costs that much to build 28 miles in LA?

And yes, to a point money spent on large public projects should always be scrutinized extra... though building something that large will always be expensive. And as a citizen of this area (Metro service area) I would be fine to pay extra money to access that system, and also happy to pay extra money to build a better transit system in Houston. If that means higher taxes for a while, or more fees when purchasing certain things or renting cars or going to a game - then so be it. I mean we added ridiculous fees to everything to build a useless stadium for an even more inept team owned by a billionaire, yet we can't build a transit system for our burgening city and metro area of 6.3 million? Seems odd.

We may not need 100 miles of heavy rail now, but when out population tops 8 million we will! Will we have it? Nope. We will follow LA's example and be so mired in traffic that we will have no choice but to spend $40 billion when it may have cost only $20 billion.

Gets it. ^

I'll turn that question right back around at you. How can you possibly look at a multi billion dollar project without considering cost? LA is spending $40 billion to build 28 miles of subways. Don't you think that its important to understand whether that's cost efficient? Would you be ok with Houston spending $40 billion and only completing 10 miles of subway? 5 miles? 2 miles? Are there other and better uses for that money that should be considered?

So youre suggesting it could cost $40 billion to build 2 miles of subway in Houston, gotcha.

http://secondavenuesagas.com/2010/11/30/in-los-angeles-a-subway-system-grows/

Heres an article about L.A. spending $40 BILLION in 2010 just to expand their subway system, and explaining how Mayor Villaragosa did it.

So again I ask, to the posters who keep bringing up "cost", whats your point? You say it as though no other cities are spending that much on rail.

Is your point that Houston is just somehow inept and incapable of doing it?

Or is repeatedly bringing up "cost" just a red herring to get people to think "oh thats right, $16 billion is way too much money, that means its impossible to ever have rail in Houston"

Also, you keep saying "$16 Billion", when you and I both know that would never happen (Tunneling all the way to hwy 6), id be happy with a subway down westheimer that just made it to the galleria.

Fair enough, but deep bore construction comes with a proportionately higher cost. New York is using deep bore and it's $2 billion/mile. Assume Houston could do it for half and the proposed Westheimer line is $16 billion if you went underground the whole way.

I know that most people around here want to pretend that everything should get financed with no consideration of cost, but that's a staggering number.

You keep bringing up cost.

Can you tell me how much other cities are spending right now or recently on building rail or subway systems?

Do you think they are free?

Are you implying other cities build them for free?

If youre not implying that, then are you suggesting that Houston be the only city that should not spend equal amounts of money on a rail system as countless other cities have??