- Deal with Patrinely Group Means New 250-Unit Luxury Residential Tower Will Replace Strip-Center Island in Uptown Park Shopping Center [Prime Property; previously on Swamplot]
- Partners in Building Starts Building 80 $550K+ Homes in New Gated Developments Near ExxonMobil Campus [Prime Property]
- City Hopes New $11M Sewer Pipe Project Will Spur Development of 1,400 Acres Along Holmes Rd. [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Legal Expert Says Ashby Highrise Case Could Be Tied Up in Court for Years [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
- Fate of Astrodome Could Be Affected by Texas Historical Commission Vote on Landmark Status This July [Culturemap]
- Downtown’s Nau Center for Texas Cultural Heritage Has Nearly Doubled Its Budget, Planned Square Footage Since First Announced [Houston Chronicle ($); previously on Swamplot]
- Third Ward’s Eldorado Ballroom To Unveil Its Official Texas Historical Marker This Weekend [Houstonia]
- Boeing 747 Reaches Space Center Houston After 3MPH Journey on NASA Road 1 [abc13]
- From Caskets to Construction Items, the Wild World of Roadway Spills in Houston [The Texican]
- Silsbee Bicyclist Has Installed Nearly 40 Ghost Bikes Across Houston As Memorials for Killed Cyclists [Houston Chronicle]
- What Beltway 8 Looks Like When Laid Over Other Cities [imgur]
Photo of construction at ExxonMobil Campus: Swamplot inbox
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I’ve seen these white bike memorials and hope it acts as a scarecrow not a memorial. Pedalfiles should stay off the roads anyway, whether they have the right to be there or not is immaterial, laws of physics (difference in mass and speed of a car vs. bike) cannot be argued.
The overlays of Houston highways on other cities highlight just how ridiculous our downtown ‘ring’ really is.
so if the Texas Historical Commission votes to approve the A-dome as a landmark status, does that mean Houston taxpayers get to shovel the remaining debt load onto state taxpayers or are Houstonians just expected to have to pay to maintain it as is indefinitely, a concrete shell of waste and safety hazards, based on someone else’s decision?
commonsense, by your logic i guess every idiot on the road too dumb to be driving a large truck or an 18-wheeler should just stay home so the rest of us don’t have to feel bad when we kill someone for blatanlty violating the laws. certainly hope you have a mayoral run planned.
and are you really saying my child in junior high school should be forced to drive on the streets rather than ride his bike despite not being of age to obtain a valid driver’s license? why is my child at fault for trying to use an economical and efficient mode of transportation all because the city and county refuse to uphold the laws and ensure drivers are providing sufficient space for other users of roadways.
I don’t have a dog in the Astrodome fight, but…
It would be the most awesome disposable city irony to declare it a landmark then demolish it shortly thereafter.
From the Astrodome Article:
“But historical designation could tie the county’s hands in making it more difficult and expensive to do anything.”
Great, as if it isn’t obviously already difficult and expensive to do anything with the Dome.
To all the bicycle vs. auto folks. As my Grandfather always said “Joe Blow died defending his right of way”. It works both ways. Have to say that it seems as stupid to allow a child to ride a bike in a non suburban setting just to prove a point as it does to hog the road and make life miserable for a biker just because you can.
@joel it’s best to ignore commonsenese. He spends most of his time in a cave and when he comes out to troll he forgets how to communicate intelligently. I think he would make a great politician, he has all the great character traits required.
This guy taking it upon himself to go place these bikes dilutes the very purpose they are supposed to serve! How condescending that he just goes around putting these up thinking it is some sort of service. Apparently he knows better than the families of the victims too. And how unoriginal and derivative, could he not come up with some sort of original concept to promote awareness of Houston cycling fatalities? This isn’t it.
Jerk move#1 makes me so mad: “He’s not responsible for all the ghost bikes in town, but says he’s done most of the work.” Lemme translate: the famous one at Dunlavy and westheimer, I didn’t put that up but I’m not going around correcting folks if they think i did. Because, notoriety.
Jerk move #2: He doesn’t bother to get the families’ permission first! No, screw them. Instead “all the bikes he’s installed have a sticker with his contact information so families can reach him.” So he makes these poor families go through the extra effort and further inconveniences them with this burden. Sounds insensitive by any measure. Plus, the original bike memorial was a freak accident between 2 firetrucks. Way to pervert something solemn and bend it to your own selfish purposes. Shame on you Richard, this whole thing feels sleazy, what do you stand to gain, what is the underpants gnome gambit at play here?
@joel, your kid should ride his bike on a sidewalk like any other pedestrian. Bikes are a lot closer to pedestrians than to cars, besides, pedestrians in Houston are almost non-existent and sidewalks are empty.
It’s a basic safety and common sense thing. There’s a law in Texas that if a blind person extends his walking stick into the street, all traffic must stop and let him cross… but it would be extremely dangerous and imprudent of a blind person to actually do that.
commonsense, aside from it already being against the law to ride bikes on the sidewalk with pedestrians, anyone with the faintest of familiarity with inner city hoods would know full well it’s impossible to ride bikes on the sidewalks in a safe manner, and quite often unsafe for even walkers, so maybe you’re not trying to make a real point here anyways. that’s why we have old people, joggers, walkers and baby strollers all parading right down the middle of our streets and laws on the books to ensure that drivers drive responsibly to allow other users of the thoroughfare since we can all acknowledge the fact its simply impossible to not have any not-auto users in our thoroughfares at any given point in time. you get what you pay for and we have shoddy infrastructure with no commitment from homeowners to repair their sidewalks to allow your proposal to be feasible.
as such, it’s just basic safety and common sense to follow the laws we all agreed to before being allowed to drive and just drive responsibly and at the posted speed limits. pointing out the obvious that a car is larger than a pedestrian does nothing to address the real issues of safety here.
and JT, i’d be interested in knowing whats so different about riding a bike on inner city streets as opposed to suburban streets? bikers get run over in the exact same manner in both places.
Well if you’ve been in the suburban developments–they are inundated with cul de sacs and gates or limited entrances to the neighborhoods and the streets are curvier so the traffic is more limited. Also, suburban neighborhoods do not have the density of the inner loop or the amount of through traffic. Plus, if a neighborhood
is filled with kids, drivers are more aware of their potential presence. Have a 10 year old ride around in Rice Military
and you’ll see what I mean.
In addition for it being illegal, riding a bicycle on the sidewalk makes it VERY difficult to see the cyclist who is whirling by if you’re attempting to make a right hand turn.
.
@joel, I thought the city was responsible for fixing sidewalks? There are parts in my hood that have sidewalks and parts that do not. I live in a part where there are no sidewalks. I would be happy to have a sidewalk to improve walkability, but the property lines are drawn where it belongs to the City/via easement. (I also know that setting rebar and pouring the concrete would be completely outside my budget if I were to shoulder the cost.)
@MotherHyrdra I find it very difficult to see your point of view. He is putting up memorials for the slain and awareness to the public. All self financed and not even in the town he lives in. He got permission from the mayor and is serving his cause that he believes in. Personally, whenever I see one (way too often unfortunately) it moves me. Including the one I saw this weekend in Austin from where the guy plowed into a crowd during SXSW. And its not like his creative interpretation on a cyclist’s death. It’s happening all over the globe in the same exact fashion. I have a feeling you’ll be pissed off no matter but just my two cents.
Joel….Commonsense is ridiculous…. he ” goes through life imprisoned in the prejudices derived from common sense, from the habitual beliefs of his age or his nation, and from convictions which have grown up in his mind without the co-operation or consent of his deliberate reason. To such a man the world tends to become definite, finite, obvious; common objects rouse no questions, and unfamiliar possibilities are contemptuously rejected.” – Bertrand Russell
coconutbutter:………..yes, repairs to the sidewalks and curbs are the responsibility of the homeowner. That’s exactly why neither gets repaired.
@ Duston: That Bertrand Russell quote is precisely why people should read and take seriously remarks that they might otherwise be inclined to dismiss as trolling. It MIGHT just be that we’re living in a social media echo chamber where voices are all suspiciously similar to ours, and it MIGHT just be that the out-of-place curmudgeon is onto something.
Although, indeed this is not typical in the case of commonsense’s remarks.
@Duston, if you want to get all philosophical about it…. We only have a finite amount of years on this earth, with only a finite amount of choices to be made which greatly affect one’s life… I have the life experience, clarity of logic and reason, to be able to reject those possibilities that are doomed to fail, or are a waste of time. It’s not a perfect system (98% effective), but it’s magnitudes better than a system where every emotional, irrational, and hysterical path is pursued. The world is littered with the corpses of people following their dreams but relying on emotion and good nature of other people (a great fallacy). Masters of the universe achieve their dreams with purpose, cold calculations, and crushing those who think this world is full of unicorns and pixie dust.
PUBLIC INFORMATION: I ride my bike with a loaded gun, everyday. Happy riding ya haters.
Oh NOW I finally got your ratchet attention..
Commonsense can advocate for driver criminality all he wants from his perch of trolly privilege. But the law stands that in TEXAS bikes are vehicles and therefore eligible for carrying a gun without a CHL permit. Think the physics of a bullet firing are going to be stopped by a car windshield? Do you know who’s carrying? Do you grasp the spatial dynamics of ballistic evidence? Ponder your existence, my friend, cuz in Texas, we don’t take kindly to criminal advocacy.
@Commonsense – If the laws of physics have doomed cyclists in your mind, I’d hate to hear how you feel about pedestrians.
@infinite_jim, firstly, even if a bike is considered a vehicle, you cannot have the gun on your person, only “in your vehicle”, hence it has to be concealed somewhere on the bike… a hard feat. Secondly, hahahaha, you think a gun is going to stop someone from accidentally running you down? In Houston Pedalfiles are third class citizens, unless the driver is blatantly drunk, 99% of the time a bicyclist killed by a care will be just a run of the mill accident with barely a ticket written to the driver.
@infinite_jim
be careful, this is what commonsense wants. I believe him to be the type of person who wakes up in the morning thinking his shit doesn’t stink. Then tests this theory.
@commonsense
Thank you for pointing out that the problem is perception. In the US people think roads are built for cars. Which just isn’t true. They are built for cars AND buses and bikes and pedestrians and rail. There is a great podcast by freakonomics about how the US only lags Asia and Africa in pedestrian deaths. Europe doesn’t have this issue because when planning for roads, 50% of the space is allocated to public transit, bikes and pedestrians. I also ride my bike with a loaded gun and a CHL as I take criminals threatening my life very seriously, on the road or off. Here is the podcast: http://freakonomics.com/2014/05/01/the-perfect-crime-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/