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mollusk

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Everything posted by mollusk

  1. mollusk
    There's no law that says that parking podiums (podia?) must take up every square inch of whatever floor they're on. Downtown and the medical center are replete with buildings that have lobbies, common ameneties, GFR, etc. on the first floor (or maybe two), podium above that, and people space above that. Likewise, I'm perfectly comfortable with the idea of form following function, but really, do we have to advertise that it's a parking ramp?
  2. mollusk
    Part of the idea of having the larger entities take on more of the funding is that it gives places with fewer people and hence likely fewer resources a chance to compete - for example, in education, just as in infrastructure.
  3. mollusk
    One problem with tunneling the Pierce Elevated is that 59/69 is already below grade where it crosses 45.
  4. mollusk
    Here's some more recent... um, commentary from Gohmert: Concerning the children coming across our southern border. Getting into a smackdown with Boehner.
  5. mollusk
    If you think nearly $2 million is chump change, may I come over and root around for the chump change in your sofa cushions? Seriously, though, I think the bigger issue is getting some clarity on whether a nearby high rise can constitute a nuisance - and that has value to the developer community in and of itself. Again, this was bound to be appealed by one side or the other anyway. Neither side got what could be called a clear "win," so having the developers as the appellants pretty much means no more than that they got their notice of appeal on file first.
  6. mollusk
    Since it visually relates more to 801 Travis than 806 Main, reskinning it the way they did on the upper floors makes sense to me - it kinda makes it disappear. It's a bit early to tell just what the bottom three floors are going to look like, though - they may end up relating more to 806.
  7. mollusk
    Of course it's getting appealed. With the amounts of money involved, an appeal by whoever's ox got gored is pretty much a given. It's also pretty much a given that regardless of what the Court of Appeals does, one side or the other will ask the Texas Supreme Court to take a look at it. My spectator's guess is that the Supremes will take the case; there isn't a whole lot of authority on nuisance cases and what does exist could benefit from some clarification.
  8. mollusk
    Ask and ye shall receive. From the Houston Press... It's amusing that the second autofill suggestion that came up when Googling "Louie Gohmert" was "Louie Gohmert idiot." My personal fave is terror babies.
  9. mollusk
    (*sigh....*) I'm going to miss that old firetrap; then again, I haven't been there for quite some time - having aged out of attending Boogie Till You Puke Night some time ago.
  10. mollusk
    uh, LGA is an eight mile drive from the Empire State Building, according to Google Maps. It was built on pretty much the least developed area reasonably close to middle Manhattan, unless you go to New Joisey, at a time when the DC3 was pretty much the state of the art. It was the equivalent of BFE at the time. Hobby is eight miles from Chase Tower, granted by a more direct route. I'd say this is close enough for horseshoes, hand grenades, or atom bombs. ------- Now that I'm turning into an old crock, I'm amazed at how much pretty much everything has grown.
  11. mollusk
    When Hobby, Love, and LaGuardia were built, they were away from developed areas. DCA, not so much... but it was on the edge of the city, too.
  12. mollusk
    I too appreciate the naming of the Seguin interchange. On the other point, FWIW when I'm driving to the Valley I often take 59 at least to Victoria.
  13. mollusk
    Many of the older roads are also named after destinations, and end up having the name peter out at some point. For example, people stopped referring to old 290 as Hempstead Highway at some uncertain point beyond Cypress; Almeda Genoa goes from what was those communities, etc. Some of the directional names get a bit confusing for the uninitiated. We know where West Belt North and South Loop East are, but it can really befuddle people who ain't from here. IIRC, there was a time when people sometimes called 45 north the Dallas Freeway, but it never really caught on.
  14. mollusk
    Isn't the sidewalk across either street still open? This isn't nearly the obstacle course that Rusk has turned into.
  15. mollusk
    An update of the Weather Eye that used to be downtown! That would be a public service - the Katy/West Belt intersection has always been bad about flooding. Which is what you get when you dig a giant trench across a creek bed.
  16. mollusk
    I like how practically everybody in the renderings is wearing at least some black.
  17. mollusk
    Wow. I'm having trouble coming up with a way to understand that comment. The ADA has been around for nearly a quarter century. I'd expect that by now, even the most hard shelled, old school, "you dang kids get off of my yard" design professional would be accustomed to ADA compliance as just another specification. I'm perfectly capable of using stairs, pushing or pulling doors open, etc.; however, ADA compliant public facilities are easier for all of us to use - and on a range from helpful to essential for people who need them.
  18. mollusk
    Okey dokey. It's kinda between the older buildings and the hotel in scale, a little overwrought in detailing but that's fine with me 'cause I'll rarely see it, so... we could do worse.
  19. mollusk
    As someone who's driven both of them for longer than I care to think about, they are less redundant than one might think. Memorial's more of a route to points west, Allen Parkway favors the southwest - and they come in at more or less opposite ends of downtown. I definitely choose one over the other based on the points of origin and destination.
  20. mollusk
    I know they "have the right," but that doesn't make it right when it's just over the minimum 30 days' notice to vacate for people who've been in place for some time. Somehow I doubt that an extra two to four weeks would have killed them.
  21. mollusk
    Have it come into old Union Station. Heaven knows the Astros aren't really making much use of it.
  22. mollusk
    Aye - for example, the feeders in The Woodlands are as sterile looking carefully organized as any of the rest of it. IMHO, it's as much a matter of zoning (or lack thereof) as anything else. The Katy feeders are lined with apartments and commercial pretty much from downtown all the way out, save for where Memorial Park and the Polo Grounds border it on the south (just inside the loop), and chunks here and there in the villages (though they've zoned some of it commercial, too). The feederless stretch of the Southwest Freeway from Shepherd to the downtown spur might have developed differently but for having already had single family homes and the occasional duplex or fourplex taken out for the right of way, out of similar neighborhoods on either side - the three blocks fronting the south side of Richmond down to the freeway are just about the right size for car dealerships and big boxes (like I-80 through Emeryville).
  23. mollusk
    Wow - what is now Total Plaza looks giant (rather than somewhat overwhelmed infill as it is now).
  24. mollusk
    I didn't realize that, either... though the building on Main that was Battelstein's now comes right up to the back of 801 Travis (which in turn also sits on top of the footprint of where the Majestic was). Then again, that skinny building fronting on Main always struck me as a tad small for a place as nice as Battelstein's was.
  25. mollusk
    Actually, the operative word is Fertitta. I don't think the facade would have made a whole lot of difference to the customers (shoot, you could've really tarted it up with a Rat Pack sorta vibe), but it's not nearly gaudy enough for The Tillman. Nope. This is catty corner from the baseball stadium, across Crawford from Assumption. -------- It doesn't show up on the post card, but IIRC the white columns also had a nice shiny little turquoise inlay running up them.
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