COMMENT OF THE DAY: POWER WASH THE DOME! “It has been about three years since I was V.P. of the company trying to convince Harris County to let us use the Astrodome as a movie production studio. at that time, my research into costs of sprucing up the building’s exterior revealed that plain old pressure washing could make a huge difference in the outside appearance. The company I consulted, specialists at cleaning large scale commercial buildings – like international airports – said it could be done for $500,000 or under. While that is a lot of money to most of us, it is not much compared to the negative P.R. ‘black eye’ that our dirty and forlorn-looking icon gives Houston. If only the Harris County Commissioners, the true stewards of the Dome, would clean up the exterior and do some landscape refreshing perhaps the grand old building would not appear so neglected to the rest of the world. While the interior still has grand promise, if only temporarily as a storage facility, the county should invest in putting the Astrodome’s best ‘face’ forward until its future use is determined. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t read about the Dome in the national media and blogs and it usually includes a negative nod to its appearance. This is something that CAN be done without a referendum!” [Cynthia Neely, commenting on The Astrodome’s New Gig: AstroTurf Storage Warehouse]
Sign up for the Newsletter
YES, power wash it and turn it into a Mini-Storage. It doesnt take a ton of money and it could be built out in phases, this is the only idea that makes sense. Swapies need to pitch the idea to Judge Emmitt Smith and a REIT that builds mini-storages. Start with the floor and charge to store boats, RV’s, whatever until you get some cash flow then start removing seats in the lower deck and try to sell on ebay for whatever you can get and build it out with cages, like a jail or dog kennels. There is a ton of room on the flat concourses too.
correction- Swampies, not swapies
The Dome is an eyesore. Tear it down.
Put up a memorial model in its place to remember it. I have many fond memories of the Dome but turning it into storage or any of the other ideas do anything to preserve those memories.So let’s let it go.
You know, that Coliseum in Rome could use some scrubbing, too. Maybe they should just tear it down, too. Everyone thinks it’s dirty. And it’s infested with feral cats.
Cats!
.
This would be a great feral cat rescue and rehabilitation facility – neuter with every wash and feeding.
Every large city, after all, needs manageable predators.
It should be obvious to everyone that all the Dome is good for at this point is to attract promoters that want to be paid taxpayer money for some “good idea” they have for the facility.
Ms Powerwasher needs to get in line with all the others.
No monument captures the arc Houston has traveled in the last 50 years better than the Astrodome. Build a giant pole from top to bottom and turn it into the world’s largest titty bar, and it will be complete.
And Sondra, the Coliseum is built on four or five layers of other buildings that were knocked down over the ages.
Sumbitch Dome is a blight ! All these folks on Swamplot and over the years in various other rags who have such fond memories of the place, should 1) take a tour of the interior, 2) visit whatever County office holding the note on this white elephant and see how much it’s yearly upkeep is costing the residents of the City/County, 3) run over to their local convenience store to buy a lottery ticket so that when they win, they can avoid this rat trap like the plague, just like every other sensible individual with disposable cash has done over the last decade.
Implode it and turn it into a free-to-the-public park. Implode it and grade it out to hold 4-6 regulation sized soccer pitches. Implode it and fill the hole with water, placing a giant fountain in the middle, cause in it’s present state, it’s useless.