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Texasota

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Everything posted by Texasota

  1. Texasota
    My understanding is that this line will be true BRT - ticketing, low-floor, signal prioritization and all. That's what the drawings they've released have shown, though I don't know what the buses themselves will look like. Those are really the big advantages of rail over a bus. The only real limitation that I can think of here would be absolute capacity per bus and ride quality. Articulated buses can carry more people than regular buses, and capacity can always be addressed by adding buses, which has the additional advantage of increasing frequency. Of course it also increases costs. Ride quality is really the one thing buses cant compete with rail on. Everything else can be built in; the problem with buses is that it's easier to strip those features out to save costs. Assuming they *don't* do that, this really does have the potential to be a great line and, hopefully, a useful precedent for similar lines in other parts of town.
  2. Texasota
    So... this is a food hall. I really hope they do a good job soliciting interesting tenants and keep decent hours. The fact that they can appeal to theater-goers, office people leaving work, bar-hoppers on Main, AND increasingly downtown (and midtown) residents should make it possible for this to be something cool. The updated rendering also gives me hope that they'll try to make this a destination.
  3. Texasota
    http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/transportation/CMP/LowerWestheimer/docs_pdfs/intersections.pdf Wow, this is ...weird. I generally like it though. They are clearly trying to do a *lot* without expanding the ROW (except in a few limited spots.) Although, hmmm... no bike lanes on Dunlavy and Taft...
  4. Texasota
    Eh, race and income separation are not wholly disconnected though. Look at the history of redlining - the ability of families to get loans, mortgages, access to credit - this had as much to do with race as it had to do with any legitimate measure of credit worthiness. Even if, for the sake of argument, race weren't an issue today, it would still have an effect because this generation might not have the advantage of relying on the financial success (helped by access to credit) of the previous generation.
  5. Texasota
    My understanding is that a big part of the problem is that much of Third Ward is, despite being single family homes, renter occupied. So these houses are owned by random landlords all over the country who feel no particular responsibility to the community. I'm not sure how you address that without finding a way to give renters significantly more power than they currently have. The city could mandate that renters who've been in their homes for some minimum amount of time have right of first purchase if the landlord tries to sell, but how many people could actually afford to act on that?
  6. Texasota
    Right but the drawing seems to have nothing to do with what they're building. This looks like *maybe* two units to me.
  7. Texasota
    Is it density though? Or is it just a single big house? It doesn't really look like it's condos anymore...
  8. Texasota
    Eh, Gotham is better anyway. Also Weights + Measures.
  9. Texasota
    Exactly. Shade trees make a huge difference here.
  10. Texasota
    Huh. Each new set of imagery looks better. I find this highly suspicious.
  11. Texasota
    *Even* without funding this is a tactical document. Streets get rebuilt regularly; having a document to point to prior to a street planned for bike lanes being rebuilt matters. Having a coherent plan of where the city believes bike facilities go is a necessary first step *before* locking down funding sources. That's what this is: a first step. Now if, the city doesn't follow up on any of this, that's a obviously a problem. At this point though, the fact that the plan doesn't specify funding sources doesn't change the fact that it provides direction and signals intent. Have you actually looked at any other city's bike plans? This is what they look like, even in cities that devote more funding to cycling infrastructure than Houston does. In fact, Houston's plan is in some ways *more* specific and detailed than most other cities' plans. The focus on "high comfort," as long as it is maintained, matters. Houston has a bike plan. It is, in fact, a good one. Now we all just need to keep the pressure on so the plan comes to fruition in the best way possible.
  12. Texasota
    Right, because parking downtown, drinking, and then driving back to the suburbs is such a great idea.
  13. Texasota
    Much better! Anchor that intersection!
  14. Texasota
    There's somewhat of a chicken/egg situation here. Lack of transit makes it impossible for Houston to get anywhere near San Francisco in terms of density, but, especially since we are continuing to grow in population, there's no reason for that to continue in perpetuity. This really does seem like a great, catalyzing spot to work on that: High speed rail connection to Dallas Connect to Uptown BRT Short term: express buses to downtown Medium term: extend Green Line LRT to NW Transit along Washington Long term: Extend high speed rail to downtown; add links to other cities
  15. Texasota
    How dare churches help people in need?!?!?!
  16. Texasota
    HUGE seems like an overstatement, but sure, getting these two buildings fully leased up is definitely good.
  17. Texasota
    WHO IS STORING ALL THEIR STUFF??? WHY??? JUST GET RID OF IT! YOU'RE OBVIOUSLY NOT USING IT!
  18. Texasota
    Well that is absolute idiocy but I would think Weingarten could resolve that, depending on lease terms with their tenets.
  19. Texasota
    This block is outside of the historic district, likely because it was vacant when the district was created.
  20. Texasota
    The Mall in DC seems like the obvious precedent, since it's mostly grass but regularly hosts massive crowds of people. I think they use these temporary plastic things to protect the grass. Edit: here's an article on the pretty in-depth thinking going into protecting the Mall's grass: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home/once-barely-surviving-the-grass-on-the-mall-gets-a-serious-makeover/2016/09/19/c815b8d2-792b-11e6-ac8e-cf8e0dd91dc7_story.html?utm_term=.c935cf50438e It doesn't go much into the temporary decking, but you could see it in the inauguration size comparison photos that were all over the place a month ago.
  21. Texasota
    I wonder if any stadiums open their concourses up as full-time food halls, even when no events are going on. This would help boost the quality of concessions during a game and create a more full-time value for the neighborhood. This stadium seems perfect for it, and Houston is in serious need of more food halls.
  22. Texasota
    Serious question: What does "parking is an issue" mean? Is it just that the drainage ditches limit parallel parking? Are there any solutions short of rebuilding the roads without them? Would limiting traffic to one-way, one lane, with permanent, well-marked street parking and some sort of partial curbing protecting the ditches work?
  23. Texasota
    Right, City Council would have to pass something, but it would provide an incentive for property owners to actually develop their lots. I suppose, alternatively, a ban on paid surface parking, at least in the CBD, would have a similar effect.
  24. Texasota
    Surface parking should also be taxed at a higher rate than commercial or residential property.
  25. Texasota
    Right, which is what the excised stub of Rosalie will be for. This should be a pretty standard sized WFM: not Austin-flagship sized, but normal urban Whole Foods.
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