15 Comment

• Mr.Clean19 August 10, 2016 at 10:40 am

  I remember attending the Memorial Herman triathlon a few years back to see my brother exercise and what stood out to me was the number of people in the heat exhaustion tent. These were not people that finished the race, these were people that passed out while running.
• Observer August 10, 2016 at 12:06 pm

  Woodlands is emerging as an alternative to the city of Houston due to Houston’s poor management and extremely liberal policies causing quality of life decline. As a Houston homeowner, this upsets me. We need a city government that is attractive to tax payers, not a weight on their ankle.
• Al August 10, 2016 at 12:49 pm

  It appears the building on Louisiana is 1415, not 1425.
• JD August 10, 2016 at 12:52 pm

  @Observer, which liberal policies are causing said decline? The Woodlands, and other bedroom communities don’t have many of the same issues to deal with as a major income/culturally-diverse city does. Everything is good when it is shiny and new, right?
• Gisgo August 10, 2016 at 1:12 pm

  Alexian Heights: Those flat-top features should be called ‘mortarboards’.
• Protagoras August 10, 2016 at 2:00 pm

  Observer:
  Just stop. Your comment is ridiculous. Care to back any of that up? That the city has extremely liberal policies and/or the quality of life has declined?
• Christine Gerbode August 10, 2016 at 2:06 pm

  Fixed! Thanks, Al!
• MrEction August 10, 2016 at 2:27 pm

  Oh come on. The idea that the Woodlands is a mecca because of some secret sauce is absurd. Places like that can ONLY exist in the vicinity of a larger city. The Woodlands has maintained itself as a high end housing community, which is of course an achievement that took careful planning, but it’s entirely unsustainable without nearby cities to absorb the lower SES/poorer individuals that any city needs and will have regardless. A similar point can be made about West U, which recently made some list about wealthy cities.
• Heightsite August 10, 2016 at 2:30 pm

  “Liberal policies causing quality of life decline”? Really? I hope you aren’t alluding to the transgender bathroom policies? Marriage equality? A woman’s right to choose what she does with her body? A $15.00 minimum wage….Medicare for all….peace, not war…..I could go on.
• OldPostCommenter August 10, 2016 at 3:14 pm

  Jesus, Observer. I wonder if you’ve even visited or lived in a city with actual “liberal policies”. If you have, you will know one thing for sure: it doesn’t look like Houston! This is one of the most delusional comments I’ve seen in a while.
• Local Planner August 10, 2016 at 3:25 pm

  It should be noted that many fast-growing, desirably-perceived suburban areas (especially MPCs) have considerably higher tax rates than Houston. So when anyone says that taxes will drive people out of the city, you can certainly look askance at their argument.
• Observer August 11, 2016 at 12:17 pm

  I was speaking to our fiscal insolvency – and refusal to fix – that had led to lack of infrastructure improvements. Higher taxes – same awful services and WWII era streets. Liberal policies = taxing without corresponding benefits. This is what is causing flight to places like the woodlands.
  –
  I was not referring to socially liberal policies, most of which I support except the $15 minimum wage which will simply cause inflation and is not a real solution for low income people.
• Angostura August 15, 2016 at 2:17 pm

  Until the summer olympics can be held in October, they’re never coming to Houston. But having just come back from Rio, from a facilities standpoint, we’re not too far shy.

  The Rio Olympic Park is roughly the same size as NRG Park, though it has essentially zero parking. The Astrodome or Rice Stadium could be converted into an Olympic stadium (NRG has no space for a track). TDECU & BBVA Compass would be perfect for Rugby 7’s and field hockey. Rio’s convention center is hosting the weightlifting, boxing, badminton and table tennis, so GRB could probably host those. We just need to find a hill for the mountain biking (Memorial Park, maybe?).

  Real difficulty will be moving the people around. In Rio, there was essentially zero spectator parking at any venue. From early morning to late at night, large BRT buses were running between the Olympic Park and the metro line (which serves the main tourist areas and hotels) at a frequency of one every 30 seconds. That’s around 20,000 people per hour, plus other BRT lines coming from other parts of the city. The real question is whether Houston (or any US city) wants a bunch of leftover sports facilities with no parking.
• movocelot August 15, 2016 at 7:31 pm

  I’d love for the Olympics to be held here.
  Thanks Angostura for your insights/comments.
  For me Houston has always been sporty. In the 80’s, we lead the triathlon fad (which became a legit – and Olympic – sport.) Carl Lewis put UH on the national running map, The Woodlands has the TX Ironman. The Karolyi’s put gymnastics on the US map right here in the area.
  As far as the climate is concerned, folks just go outside and do what they have to do to train!
• Angry Bevo August 16, 2016 at 3:12 pm

  “taxing without corresponding benefits” just sounds like mismanagement to me. the fact is that the city has lower tax rates than the woodlands and many other outlying areas but primarily looses folks due to poor performing schools and bad infrastructure. Neither of those are inherently liberal problems.