COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHY, FOLKS, CONDITIONED AIR IS JUST THE BEGINNING! “‘Yes sir, Houston is a city of modernity, a city on the move. (pause for a drag on a cigarette) From the time you arrive at the handsome new air terminal equipped for a new era in transportation, to your check-in at the completely air-conditioned Shamrock, the crown jewel of the southwest, you’ll find that can-do spirit everywhere you look. Cruise along the city’s extensive network of freeways, and, what’s that? (cigarette) It’s the infrastructure that provides — powers not only your vehicle, but the nation –– the largest concentration of chemical production and oil refining anywhere. The heartbeat of the beacon of democracy. And it’s all in Houston, a city on the go. Houston: the city of tomorrow. (cigarette) (Stock production music swells to a triumphant closing fanfare, helicopter shot on the Houston skyline, and scene).'” [MJ, commenting on Comment of the Day Runner-Up: Dropping In on Houston in 1957]
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Tag: Comments
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHY GIVE UP ON TOURISM NOW, WHEN WE’RE SO CLOSE? “The appeal of San Antonio as a tourist destination is completely lost on me. Riverwalk is poorly done and the Alamo doesn’t exist (and is not a point of pride in any case). Do they really get that many tourists who are not there for a convention? I honestly believe that if they turned the Astrodome into an indoor ski center and updated the Spacecenter then that + great food + Schlitterban + Menil + reasonable prices makes Houston worthy of a 1-week family vacation in the summer.” [Patrick, commenting on Comment of the Day: Houston Is Not a Destination]
COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: DROPPING IN ON HOUSTON IN 1957 “Here’s a film from 1957 I have uploaded to YouTube. Briefly it shows what a trip to Houston is about: Arrive at the airport, stay at the Shamrock, visit the oil industry, leave. That’s certainly what my family did in the ’50s – although we did visit the Zoo!” [Michael Bludworth, commenting on Comment of the Day: Houston Is Not a Destination]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOUSTON IS NOT A DESTINATION “The population of Orlando in 1950 was @ 140k. Vegas was @50k. Walt Disney bought up a bunch of cow pastures and swamp land to build Disney World. Vegas was just a place for nuke bomb scientists to live safely away from a-bomb test ranges before Bugsy Siegel showed up and bought desert land that no one wanted to build casinos (dooming Galveston as a gambling venue, ironically). Anyone wanting to build a tourist-worthy venue in Houston will go broke just trying to buy the land. Houston is a great place for visitors. Everyone I have ever hosted had a whale of a time. But, when those folks go home, they don’t tell their friends “you should visit Houston.’ They say ‘if you are ever in Houston, you should . . .'” [Old School, commenting on Comment of the Day: Where To Put a Tourist Gauntlet in Reliant Park]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHERE TO PUT A TOURIST GAUNTLET IN RELIANT PARK “I’d leave the rail right where it is. Create a City Walk space from the light rail to the Dome. Shopping, night life, restaurants, movies, etc. Sure it’s touristy, but most events at Reliant are visited by tourists.” [Thomas, commenting on Under Plan, Astrodome Would Slim Down Exterior, Shorten Up and Fatten Inside]
COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: HOUSTON TOURISTS, YOU’RE WASTING YOUR TIME “yeah i’ve noticed tourists downtown the last few years. mostly taking pics along Main of buildings and cops on horseback. i’ve also seen what appear to be tour groups with guides in the tunnels which seems like kind of a lame vacation activity if you ask me.” [spiteful, commenting on Headlines: Cheaper Hotels for Convention Center District; A Gilley’s Revival in Pasadena]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: IN THE HEIGHTS, GOOD FENCES MAKE GOOD PEDESTRIANS “Front yard fences in the Heights are to keep people from walking through your yard. Many streets do not have sidewalks, and some pedestrians don’t understand that the edge of the yard is where you are supposed to walk. We don’t have a front yard fence due to the city easement, and people have come up almost to the front door going through the yard. It is a little unsettling.” [Janice, commenting on One in a Row Behind the Orange Show]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE GLASS IS HALF FULL — AND BRIGHT RED “I haven’t had any kool aid but it’s hot enough to have some. Rather than be negative, my point was at least it’s Hines. Look at our skyline and all the great buildings are Hines. There are only a handful of developers that build high quality buildings in Houston, rather than the junk most of them do before they go out of business or scoot back to Las Vegas. Rather than be bitter and wish for a bubble, try being positive. It does the soul good. And lastly, if you don’t like what’s being built, why don’t you get all your money together and show us how you could do better! What do you think was in the spot where you currently live or work? Either a virgin lot, or something that was refurbished, or torn down.” [Loves swamplot, commenting Hines Buying Up Museum District Property To Build Highrise Apartments]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHY THEY AREN’T BUILDING ON THE VACANT LOTS “Spoonman hit the nail on the head. Speculators jack up the price of open land so far that it pushes developers to buy existing buildings. This is also why you don’t see a rush of new construction immediately adjacent to light rail lines. My advice to the owners who haven’t already sold: do what the speculators do; hold out for more money. If Hines wants your house bad enough, they’ll pay it. I usually don’t advocate for this kind of thing, but if everyone did it, it might help push development back to open land.” [ZAW, commenting on Hines Buying Up Museum District Property To Build Highrise Apartments]
COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: HOW TO KILL THE GRID IN THE EAST END “What happened when the quiet zone went in in the First Ward? Every street got closed. Holly, Goliad, Hickory, Johnson, Colorado, Sabine, Silver, Henderson, all gone. The neighborhood was cut in two. The grid died, leaving something that looks like the cul-de-sacs-and-thoroughfares of the ’burbs. Now, Cullen could probably use an underpass. Sampson/York too. But what’s gonna happen in the East End when stuff gets value engineered out? Nance: gone. Commerce: gone. McKinney: gone. Milby: gone. Leeland: quite possibly gone. All those little side streets you like to ride your bike or walk your dog on because there’s low traffic, these will all be severed. And for what? So UP can operate remote-controlled locomotives? This is not a positive development.” [Jeff Davis, commenting on Headlines: Waiting for Trains in the East End; Waiting for Dunkin’ Donuts in Montrose]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: STUCK AT THE WEST BELT CROSSING IN THE EAST END “As long as some of those trains take at that awful crossing at Cullen, some people have probably died of old age waiting for the crossing arms to come up (though if you know the neighborhood, all you have to do is get to Milby from behind the old Fingers and you can cross under at Polk. You’re welcome.) That said, while it’s nice that everyone is suddenly so aware of the inconvenience and potential danger of these trains, it isn’t as though this were a new thing. That one Union Pacific line parallel to Harrisburg is just as unpredictable and twice as loud as the one in the article; it runs immediately adjacent to homes for miles. I know; I’ve lived by both. It did this for decades before I got here and no one has done anything about it that I know of, but I suppose that’s the price paid when the neighborhood’s skin isn’t quite as light and its homes aren’t quite as expensive. I understand, though; when the town-home dwelling white folks aren’t happy, nobody’s happy.” [Chris, commenting on Headlines: Waiting for Trains in the East End; Waiting for Dunkin’ Donuts in Montrose]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: GROWING UP BY THE CANDY TRAIN “It really isn’t that bad. I was born on Winter St., and for many years the trains ran right in front of my house. I remember the house would shake and as a kid I would run outside and the conductor would always throw me peppermint candy. Good memories.” [Johnnie, commenting on A Little Winter St. Front Yard Action]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE PRINCIPLED LOGIC BEHIND THE BATHROOM BOOM “Easy explanation. In high-end homes, builders want every [bedroom] to have its own [bathroom] . . . assuming no one wants to share a bathroom, and you don’t want to roam down the hall at night in your jammies. Plus, you need extra baths (or half-baths) in the public areas (living, dining, etc.). It’s always desirable to have at least one bathroom per floor to avoid sending guests too far from the action (and keeping them from “roaming at will†to snoop through the closets or jewelry drawers. With these new rules, you can easily have many more bathrooms than bedrooms, especially as houses are getting taller in the urban areas.” [Beaker, commenting on Houston Home Listing Photo of the Day: Flue Shot]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: SIGNS THE NON-PLAN FOR WASHINGTON AVE MIGHT HAVE BEEN A FLOP “To be clear, I don’t think it will turn into a dump. I just think the area has plateaued and will hold steady. Proximity to Memorial Park isn’t that great unless you live right by the park and walk. Otherwise, it still requires getting in a car and parking. As the thrown-up townhomes age and the scene has moved elsewhere, people are going to question whether living in a hood with narrow streets, rare parking, older townhomes, a train track through the middle, and awkward access into Downtown is really worth $400k+. Those with that kind of money to spend on a townhome are going to want to be near the action.” [Brian, commenting on How About Washington Ave Jitney Rapid Transit?]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE TRAIN WILL GET YOU TO THE AIRPORTS — SOMEDAY “Rail to Hobby and IAH is still in the long term plan, though, given the uncertainties of funding, there’s no way anyone can give a date. Hobby is likely first in line, since it’s closer and there’s a lot more population nearby that would also benefit from the connection. And the first step is there — get on Harrisburg at the end of the east end line and just stay on the same lane and you’ll end up at the Hobby Airport parking garage.” [Christof Spieler, commenting on What Southwest Wants To Make Hobby Airport Look Like]