10 Comment

• simplysid September 9, 2014 at 9:27 am

  So the Sturgis is a former top secret military project unlike anything else in the world and we are not preserving it…we’re mothballing it?…….. Yes I know the reactor may have some radioactivity left but the rest of the vessel is safer than walking around in Niger. Then there is the fact that now the Russians are marketing a floating nuclear plant concept based on old submarine technology {google it} but we have already built, tested and operated one for seven years. HMM I know I will get all sorts of responses but what if you teamed up with the Battleship Texas and built a Naval Museum? I mean the low levels of radiation can’t be any worse than whats in Buffalo Bayou and Houston is a safer place to wait out storms, i.e. Elissa during Hurricane Ike. I mean we are always the scrapper and never the preserver of History and $32 million could go a long way towards preservation. I am a Navy vet and have been aboard aircraft carriers and subs, the latter having 5,000 sailors aboard everyday, all day and no harmful or lasting effects from radiation. So it is doable , the Navy does it everyday. The Sturgis and The Texas would be the linchpins in a new tourist attraction that could include other decommissioned and replica vessels of all types, sizes and national origins. Honestly there would be no Port of Houston without the Republic of Texas Navy and the US Navy . All you have to do is check out Fleet Week in New York and see the potential( and a space shuttle). peace
• Courtney September 9, 2014 at 10:07 am

  I cannot wait until they implode the Houston Club Building. Everyone who works in Pennzoil Place is currently on the verge of losing their minds because of the constant jackhammering on the building to prepare it for demolition. We’re happy the end appears to be in sight, but another six weeks of this is going to be tough to handle. I hope the construction workers are well-protected from the noise and dust this project is creating. If we’re going nuts, then I can’t imagine how they must feel.
• Memebag September 9, 2014 at 11:00 am

  “Hey kids, you know where we’re going Saturday?”
  .
  “Where, dad?”
  .
  “To walk around a radioactive barge!!”
  .
  “Gosh, you’re the best dad ever! We love you!”
• vwgto September 9, 2014 at 11:26 am

  Agree with the many posts at the Chronicle regarding the Art Car Parade – – finally moved to cooler weather! Never understood why Houston follows the northern states and try to do everything in the summer. Our mild non-summer months are the great untold story, and we should take advantage of it with outdoor activities.
• TheNiche September 9, 2014 at 11:46 am

  I’m sympathetic to the idea of naval museums, simplysid. I really like crawling all over an old ship, putting my hands on history, and breathing the smell of metal and paint and grease; but we haven’t got a strong naval tradition or even very much of a military tradition to speak of in Houston. And yet it seems hard enough for us just to keep up the Battleship Texas or Seawolf Park. Most people don’t even know that they exist. And as comparatively well-known as the USS Lexington is in Corpus Christi, it’s a carrier, it’s got a top-notch location, and is one of the very few things that there is to see or do in Corpus so that if you happen to be in Corpus, you’re sort of a captive audience. It gets top billing in a lot of their tourism marketing. And its still underwhelming from an economic perspective or for most tourists who go there because there’s nothing better to do rather than because they have a passion for the history.

  If you want a naval museum to work in Texas (or very nearly any other place) and pull its own weight, it needs to have a large and diverse collection of vessels gathered in one place. It’d need to be the sort of place where that sells multiple-day passes. I really hate to throw around vague buzzwords like “world class”, but yeah…whatever you think it means, that’s what it would have to be. It’s not a terrible idea, but dollar amounts such as $32 million start to look like chump change.
• Bubba September 9, 2014 at 12:01 pm

  Just where is the fine line between “Preservation” and “Hoarding”?
  It is some place between the Smithsonian and a cable show, I just don’t know where.
• matx September 9, 2014 at 12:17 pm

  The Art Car Parade was affiliated with the Houston International Fest, and when ifest decided it didn’t want the Art Car Parade to be a part of it anymore, there was a “non compete” agreement that the Art Car Parade could not be at the same time. So that is part of the explanation for the parade has not taken place in April for some years. There were likely more circumstances that pushed it to 2nd weekend in May, but that’s the one I have heard as a Parade participant (and I am soooo glad it is earlier!).
• Old School September 9, 2014 at 12:28 pm

  I skipped the art car parade this year for the first time in a decade. The start time kept getting moved later and later. I think it was 2 pm this year. Even under the shade of an oak tree, that is just too much, especially with little kids in tow. The new date will be perfect. The art cars will have a nice backdrop of wildflowers in the median on Allen Pkwy. The weather will be nice, too.
• Eric September 9, 2014 at 12:47 pm

  @vwgto – I couldn’t agree with you more. Now, if only the music festivals can do the same, which may be harder to schedule for the acts.
• Valerie November 26, 2014 at 9:27 am

  Did the Pizaro’s plans get scrapped? It looks like there’s a Mattress Firm going in this space.