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East Downtown Promenade


TheNiche

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A fair bit of thought and effort was expended on this wet dream...and it seems a whole lot more achievable than some of the stuff that the Midtown and Downtown Management Districts have come up with over the years.

Not a bad stab at community programming. I take issue with the use of signage to create "brand identity." It just sounds like a flimsy premise. Precedents at a similar neighborhood scale would be a useful analytical tool. However that could have been skillfully omitted b/c my gut instinct is that if you close a street for pedestrian use it becomes a no man's land after dark. I'm can't put my finger on it but I believe this was done in Philadelphia and that was the resultant after the banning of autos from the street.

Also you might want to contact Susan Rodgers at UH, she's an expert at this type of programming and probably has an "in."

Edited by LegacyTree
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A fair bit of thought and effort was expended on this wet dream...and it seems a whole lot more achievable than some of the stuff that the Midtown and Downtown Management Districts have come up with over the years.

Does anybody have the inside scoop? Is there any momentum for this?

A dream it is, but I love the idea. What are the chances they can get developers and architects and the city (to shut down another street) to buy in to this promenade idea?

I like how it leads right into the stadium.

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What are the chances they can get developers and architects and the city (to shut down another street) to buy in to this promenade idea?

Very good, actually. Only three blocks out of eight along the Bastrop Street ROW between the stadium site and Leeland Street are paved...and the pavement that does exist is in horrible shape and gets minimal use.

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Not a bad stab at community programming. I take issue with the use of signage to create "brand identity." It just sounds like a flimsy premise. Precedents at a similar neighborhood scale would be a useful analytical tool. However that could have been skillfully omitted b/c my gut instinct is that if you close a street for pedestrian use it becomes a no man's land after dark. I'm can't put my finger on it but I believe this was done in Philadelphia and that was the resultant after the banning of autos from the street.

Also you might want to contact Susan Rodgers at UH, she's an expert at this type of programming and probably has an "in."

It's a no man's land as it is, a string of muddy, overgrown, vacant lots and a few barely-engineered paved stretches that get basically no traffic...even from neighborhood residents.

It needs to become a street, a park, a bike path, or something.

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Maybe I've just become jaded over these sorts of "visions". So many have come and gone. I know their heart's in the right place, but trying to conjure up some self-consciously hip enclave of coffee shops, galleries and "eco-retailers" by tossing out visions just seems so futile.

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Maybe I've just become jaded over these sorts of "visions". So many have come and gone. I know their heart's in the right place, but trying to conjure up some self-consciously hip enclave of coffee shops, galleries and "eco-retailers" by tossing out visions just seems so futile.

Yeah, that part is futile. And right now in particular, damned near everything without a government commitment is futile...but that's what makes the promenade (by itself) so credible is that the political infrastructure is in place to actually pull it off.

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1. So now that they have a stylish .pdf on their website, what is the next step of an area/district when they come out with something like this?

2. What is L.I.D.?

3. Here is what Shenzhen is I guess http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhen

1. I would assume that there would be discussions at the board meetings of the TIRZ and Management District to determine the level of interest and to prioritize this project with other potential projects that they could otherwise take on. That may have already happened; I don't know.

2. Low Impact Development. They're trying to decrease the footprint of imperviable ground cover in order to make stormwater runoff less of an issue. Unless they actually can come in at a lower cost than traditional methods, it probably doesn't make sense to bother with it in the Buffalo Bayou watershed east of downtown, though. Downstream flooding is already minimal.

3. Shenzhen is a large city in China, one of our "sister cities". We've supposedly established a garden dedicated to Shenzhen along the proposed route of the promenade, located here because there used to be a "Chinatown" here (even though it was mostly Vietnamese).

4. HAIF would have to sponsor an obligatory happy hour to Lucky's Pub in "the NEEWD".

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1. I would assume that there would be discussions at the board meetings of the TIRZ and Management District to determine the level of interest and to prioritize this project with other potential projects that they could otherwise take on. That may have already happened; I don't know.

2. Low Impact Development. They're trying to decrease the footprint of imperviable ground cover in order to make stormwater runoff less of an issue. Unless they actually can come in at a lower cost than traditional methods, it probably doesn't make sense to bother with it in the Buffalo Bayou watershed east of downtown, though. Downstream flooding is already minimal.

3. Shenzhen is a large city in China, one of our "sister cities". We've supposedly established a garden dedicated to Shenzhen along the proposed route of the promenade, located here because there used to be a "Chinatown" here (even though it was mostly Vietnamese).

4. HAIF would have to sponsor an obligatory happy hour to Lucky's Pub in "the NEEWD".

Thanks, Niche.

I think the TIRZ have their own websites. When I have a chance, I'm gonna see if they keep minutes of their meetings and see if it has been mentioned. This is something simple that could cause a spark that I'd be willing to pay tax dollars on.

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A dream it is, but I love the idea. What are the chances they can get developers and architects and the city (to shut down another street) to buy in to this promenade idea?

I like how it leads right into the stadium.

The funniest thing in the presentation/proposal is KISS performing on the open air stage for the young urbanites.

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Have to say... I like it. Especially how it is mindful of the pedestrian activity and makes use of the existing buildings. P-E-R-F-E-C-T for the East End.

It'll be great to be able to bike to soccer games!!

Edited by totheskies
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  • 3 months later...

It's a no man's land as it is, a string of muddy, overgrown, vacant lots and a few barely-engineered paved stretches that get basically no traffic...even from neighborhood residents.

It needs to become a street, a park, a bike path, or something.

I'd love for it to be a park. Throw in a decent sized dog park and that's even better.

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I really like the proposed design, but I'm curious to know if the "bioswell" running down the middle would be create more of a breeding grounds for mosquitos than usual. I know we live in Houston and I should just deal with it, but definitely curious.

A mosquito has never bit me next to the swampy pond next to Disco Green, so I'm assuming they spray. Should be manageable as long as they mind it as well as they do Disco Green.

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A mosquito has never bit me next to the swampy pond next to Disco Green, so I'm assuming they spray. Should be manageable as long as they mind it as well as they do Disco Green.

that and if you look, you can see it's circulated pretty well.

mosquito larvae needs stagnant water to flourish.

that and have you ever gone by there in the evenings? You can barely hear yourself think for all the frog croaking! And every one of those little buggers is happy to munch on some mosquito menace.

I'm sure they also spray.

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What about fish - they eat skeeter eggs. Does/will either of these have fish living in them?

The bioswales shown in the plan would be dry...outside of holding water for a few hours after a major rain. So, no fish needed to prevent mosquitoes.

Mosquito eggs need 48 hours to hatch into larvae, so this wouldn't be a mosquito-breeding ground unless there's either a major lack of maintenance or a major major flood (worse than TS Allison) that inundates the area for days.

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