COMMENT OF THE DAY: FIGHTING TUNNEL VISION ON DOWNTOWN’S PEDESTRIAN EXPERIENCE 
“Get rid of the downtown tunnels? It seems that the purpose of increasing walkability is to improve the quality of downtown life. Forcing people outside into hot and humid summers will do little to improve life quality. The author could have as nonsensically suggested the banning of cars in the downtown area to improve walkability.” [Neil, commenting on ‘One Bin For All’ All But Dead; Signs of the Oil Rout in Houston] Illustration: Lulu
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COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHERE TO PLANT GREENSPACE TO FERTILIZE GROUND DOWNTOWN 
“What Downtown really needs is repeat performances for park spaces like Discovery Green and Market Square. Tranquility Park is a dud. . . . Jones Plaza is also a misfire in that all the activity inside the plaza is invisible from the street. The city should snatch up a parking lot or two over by Minute Maid as another amenity for all the new multifamily going in over there and new office construction. The same goes for the southern part of Downtown near where the twin Skyhouses are. Parks get people out and moving around downtown. It is too difficult to redo all the ground floor development in Downtown to make it more street friendly — it is what it is. But a couple of really nice parks can really help push more ground floor development, and help support existing ground floor retail/restaurant development.” [OldSchool, commenting on ‘One Bin For All’ All But Dead; Signs of the Oil Rout in Houston] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: TOP WITH ASPHALT, ADD PARKING STRIPES TO TASTE 
“Amazing how that works – we demolish houses and businesses next to schools to make way for parking, meaning there will be fewer homes and errand stops within walking distance of the school. Meanwhile, the Red Line is only a few blocks away, which could’ve meant fewer employees and students needing to drive there. So now we have HISD paying more money it doesn’t have on acquiring land and building parking infrastructure while simultaneously devaluing a public transit asset and decreasing the school’s user base in the area. Great recipe for success, here!” [Derek, commenting on Former Bakery Razed as Jefferson Davis Claims New Territory in Northside] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: MIXING MEDIA TO DRAW BIKE ROUTES OUTSIDE 610 
“I find it’s usually possible to find a good bike route inside the Loop, but things quickly deteriorate outside of it. Because the roads are not a grid, the only option is often the route aligned with vehicular traffic. Occasionally, you can pick your way through neighborhood streets, but the route tends to be very circuitous. A few routes along major right-of-ways could be a God-send if they are true segregated bike paths and not merely a paint stripe. The plan also includes use of many utility right-of-ways, which is an excellent solution for off-street paths.” [Heightsresident, commenting on A Third Chateau Ten for Houston; Drafting a New Bike Plan] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE MORTAL DANGER OF TAKING THE EASY ROAD 
“As an expert level cyclist, I would never, and have never [ridden] my bike in a designated bike lane. They are death traps and make novices overconfident. Anyone with a bike and a functioning brain can take a little time to find a safe way to bike in Houston. The idea that a bike lane should be the most expeditious route aligned with vehicular traffic will only lead to more frustration and deaths.” [The Roanoker, commenting on A Third Chateau Ten for Houston; Drafting a New Bike Plan] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHERE TO GO TO AVOID A BAR FIGHT IN THE HEIGHTS 
“I remember well the battles between restaurants/bars and residents as the Montrose started to gentrify in the late 1990s. It never ceased to amaze me that someone would buy a pricey townhome right next to a long-established ice house, and then complain vociferously and try to run the business off. Mark my words, the Heights will reach that same tipping point, if it hasn’t already. As SuperDave said, those who fail to check out their prospective neighborhood at all times of day and night have only themselves to blame. But of course, they’d rather blame the business and try to turn the Heights into some ridiculous suburban ‘paradise.’ That’s what Katy is for, people!” [roadchick, commenting on Jilted Heights Post Office Spot To Move On as a New Mixed-Use Lowrise Complex] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW TWO WRONGS AND A RIGHT MAKE A FASTER LEFT 
“There are ways to speed up intersections which are scientifically proven and sound but rarely implemented. One way to reduce accidents, improve traffic flow, and decrease left turn times is to prohibit left-hand turns altogether. Left-hand turns would be completed by driving through the intersection and making a u-turn before the next intersection, followed by a right-hand turn. The same lanes would flow faster, and more traffic could be carried with no increase in infrastructure. Left turn times are actually decreased by this method, which seems counter-intuitive. Traffic engineers recognize this, but neighborhood activists and politicians frequently oppose it as being inconvenient for drivers. . . .” [Jardinero1, commenting on Comment of the Day: A Different Approach to the Future of Downtown Approaches] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO THE FUTURE OF DOWNTOWN APPROACHES 
“An alternative that I would heartily recommend would be to work on nearby crosstown routes that may serve to relieve pressure on downtown-area freeways. Those would also be expensive and controversial, but also they are the low-hanging fruit; for example running a toll facility along the north-south Union Pacific ROW. Or completing SH 35 and then creating individually-tolled grade separations from there up Scott St. or Lockwood. OST is a very good candidate for this, as is the N. Shepard/Durham corridor. Do anything possible to speed up thru-traffic along Bayous by removing signalized intersections, especially along the Braeswoods, the T.C. Jesters, and of course Memorial Dr. and Allen Pkwy. These are all things that we would want to have around later on during the course of construction, anyway — but also, decentralized improvements have the advantage of being less subject to economic obsolescence resulting from…say driverless cars and rideshares…which place a big question mark on the near-term utility of mega-projects that required perhaps a decade to finish.” [TheNiche, commenting on TxDOT’s Plans for Freeway Expansion Around and Below the Newly Protected Cheek-Neal Coffee Building] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: MAKING A U-TURN ON REROUTING I-45 
“I was for this reroute plan early on initially, but as time has gone by I’ve grown against it. This massive freeway is going to ruin an up-and-coming scene happening currently in EaDo, all for the sake of meshing Midtown/Downtown. The best alternative is to tunnel the Pierce underneath its current route. It’s the least destructive and will make all parties happiest I.M.O. And don’t give me this crap excuse that nothing can be underground here because of floods. If everything is supposedly so ‘big’ here in Texas, then please think bigger when it comes to this project.” [Eddie, commenting on TxDOT’s Plans for Freeway Expansion Around and Below the Newly Protected Cheek-Neal Coffee Building] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: UPPING THE VOLTAGE ON HOUSTON’S DOWNTOWN VIEWS 
” . . . I wonder, if the property management companies downtown would illuminate the Houston skyline with LED lighting, how cool it would look? With Houston’s strong artistic community, it would be great to see a curated lighting of the skyline that’s different when you drive in from every angle. As they stand in the dark every night, you can’t at all see the pyramid atop Heritage Plaza, the outlines of the “kissing†Pennzoil Place towers, or hardly see the three tiers and spikes of Bank of America. At night, the Energy Capital of the World’s skyline is hardly . . . yawn . . . energetic.” [Austin, commenting on Shining a Little More Light on the Williams Tower Beacon, Now Back in Action] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: A 64-STORY HOLDOUT TO UPDATING THE HOUSTON VERNACULAR 
“I’ve wondered why this building has maintained its old name socially but other buildings in town haven’t. Many residents still refer to the building as Transco Tower instead of Williams Tower. The name change was in 1999. Why don’t folks in Houston call the JPMorgan Chase Tower the Texas Commerce Tower? The Bank of America Building is formerly known as the RepublicBank Center, the NCNB Center, and the NationsBank Center. Enterprise Plaza used to be called the Southwest Bank of Texas Building. Gulf Tower became Chevron Tower and is now the Fulbright Tower. I guess because the building is [one of] the tallest in Houston, and the most recognizable.” [Walker, commenting on Why the Williams Tower Beacon Was Off Last Fall] Photo: Russell Hancock
COMMENT OF THE DAY: A TALL TALE OF A THIRD WARD 6-PACK 
“I’m one of those townhouse dwellers in the Third Ward, and one of my six-pack neighbors got around the problem of obstructed views in a literal sense: She built an observation deck on top of her house that’s only accessible by a ladder. Good for views . . . bad for late-night, outdoor drinking.” [Evan, commenting on Comment of the Day: Jockeying for Position in Houston’S Vertical Future] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: KEEP CALM WHILE WAITING FOR FINAL GRADES ON MULTIFAMILY HOUSING 
“Yup. I saw another apartment crisis coming in Houston, and true to form, it’s here. . . . If you managed to keep your job, you’ll find that you can now afford a better apartment for the same rent due to concessions. But it could be a terrible, awful thing for older Class D apartments and the neighborhoods around them. Tenants in Class B apartments will find that they can now afford a Class A apartment, and so on down the line. The Class D apartments that lost their good tenants to Class C apartments will have nowhere to turn. Crime on the property will skyrocket as they give up on what little tenant screening they had. Maintenance will be deferred even more as they try to control the financial bleeding. Worst case scenario, the two problems will feed each other until the complexes are totally derelict and need to be condemned. Granted, this is just a worst case scenario. The damage could be limited to only a handful of complexes. Fingers are crossed.” [ZAW, commenting on Houston’s Multifamily Problem; River Oaks District Apartments Open for Business] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: JOCKEYING FOR POSITION IN HOUSTON’S VERTICAL FUTURE 
“77004: THE new construction hotspot for townhomes, low/mid/highrises . . . Of course , the funny part is all of the leasing/real estate agents are going to tout the “views†from their respective buildings — which will probably get blocked by newer highrises. Just like on Post Oak Blvd., between Loop 610 and San Felipe Rd: The Hanover highrise apartment building had killer views south down Post Oak to the Galleria. Now Randall Davis built another awful high rise: the Astoria, which has some heinous, cheap-looking aluminum “crown†on top. And Interfin is completing its Four Leaf Place tower #5, where 24 Hour Fitness used to be . . . That stretch of Post Oak is becoming crowded. Thank Goodness my dentist’s office on the upper floors of the Wells Fargo Tower is on the NORTH side of the tower. Sitting in the chair, his patients have unobstructed views north over Tanglewood (which can never be built up) . . . Anyway, Houston keeps growing by leaps and bounds. Change: get in front of it, go with it, or get left behind. [Padraig, commenting on Strip Center Art Gallery Makes Room for Installation of Highrise in Museum Park] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: IT’S NOT THE SIZE OF INFRASTRUCTURE, IT’S HOW YOU USE IT 
“This is less about the size and population of cities, and more about growth and how it’s handled. . . . Growth has terrible problems; rapid growth makes those problems worse, and poor planning makes them worse. But the alternative of urban decline is far worse than even rapid, poorly planned growth. It’s easy to complain about traffic and overcrowded schools, higher housing costs and overextended public services. But would you really rather live with a decaying, unused infrastructure that local government can’t afford to maintain, and schools that are shutting down and neglected? Would you rather watch as the tax base erodes and the City government goes defunct? Would you want to sell your house at a steep loss? Not me. Look at Chicago. Look at what Detroit went through. Sure, the traffic jams are a thing of the past, but at what cost? One other thing to note is that small cities and rural areas can struggle with growth, too. Look at what happened in Karnes County when the Eagle Ford Shale boom was going on. They had problems with traffic, dangerous roads, a lack of housing and skyrocketing prices, overcrowded schools . . .” [ZAW, commenting on Comment of the Day: Drawing a Line on Urban Expansion] Illustration: Lulu
