Galveston Feasibility Study

[TheNiche]

While the project is cool, I love the way Galveston stay's "unmodern". Don't get me wrong, I love the highrise trend etc, but still think the Island should be careful in how it builds.

I'd hate to see the feeling and culture change.

One way or another, the feeling and culture will change with time.

If they allow lots of new mid/high rise development, it changes as per the demands of the marketplace, but can be contained just to the area immediately around the seawall.

If they prevent new supply from coming to the marketplace, then real estate prices for existing supply on the island will rise until the middle- and lower-class neighborhoods gain sufficient value to displace existing populations onto the mainland. So the character changes anyway.

I think that there has to be an acknowledgement of middle ground. Let the island grow, but manipulate the growth to allow historic districts to retain their character and the Seawall (and a few blocks behind it) to be especially dynamic.

If they can do it in France...

...then we can do it here for a tenth the cost.

Seriously though, I like your input. I've got a Europhile coworker with whom I've dicussed options for commuter rail off and on over the last year, and he's in agreement that fewer stops is the only way to go...that much, he has figured out from experience. He also remembers that an investor tried to run a weekend service to Galveston in the early 80's, but that it failed miserably and that the only way for such a service to break even would be if the ticket price was near $50 per head.

[cabanaboy]

You know, come to think of it, I work with someone who knows City of Galveston politics pretty well...and from what I've heard from him, I have to change my mind on this issue. Regardless of how bleak the present may seem, if there's anything that Galvestonians seem to have plenty of, it is optimism. Take Mardi Gras for instance--its hardly a solid money maker for the island, but that hasn't kept them from trying for years and years and years. Every year, we're reminded of how low turnout is through GCDN and the Chronicle, yet they keep on doing it. With that in mind, I'm sure that the City of Galveston's local leaders would love to slap their names on this proposal, even if nothing substantial came of it for a decade after implementation.

I'm still doubtful that the Galveston connection is a good idea for weekday service, and the Texas Gulf Liner doesn't really prove anything because it was a special event...that'd be the equivalent of expecting that ridership for the first three days of LRT service in Houston would be representative of the typical day a year from then. And I'd still argue that there'd be a pretty long ramp-up period, but if implemented effectively (only three or four stations), it might just work out in the long run.

Has anyone seen the number of cars on 45 South near NASA RD. 1. it's a huge traffic count. The way to look at this is as a Clearlake - DT Houston line with a link to Galveston. The target market is there. The answer is multiple trains w/ multiple stops like the BART system model in Oakland/SF.

[Gary]

Has anyone seen the number of cars on 45 South near NASA RD. 1. it's a huge traffic count. The way to look at this is as a Clearlake - DT Houston line with a link to Galveston. The target market is there. The answer is multiple trains w/ multiple stops like the BART system model in Oakland/SF.

Your absolutely right. I was visiting a friend in Kemah last Wednesday and had to drive down to NASA Rd 1. It was a mess in both directions. In the 5 years I've been going to Kemah it's gotten much worse.