IronTiger

I still feel that the "temporary barricade" solution satiates the need for night pedestrian traffic, which is clearly the biggest problem. And for the daytime, we put signage for dual vehicular/bike lanes. I never got an answer back on this one...

Alright! I finally found it. As you can see, it's horrifying!

In Houston, or anywhere? What was strange to me that it seemed relatively modern on the inside. There's a McDonald's in Bastrop that I remember visiting in 2004--it was recently renovated and had a new red color scheme, Blue Bell ice cream, a fireplace in the center...I wouldn't be surprised if it's already razed and rebuilt already...(sigh)

Another idea that's cheap, helpful, and doesn't impede traffic flow: actually mark lanes as dual bike/vehicular lanes. link. What is the current speed limit of Main as it now, by the way?

Yes, but the foot traffic -at least from what I saw- isn't that heavy that it becomes a particular obstacle. So we protect the pedestrians by putting cars in their way as well as the train? That seems odd. Seems to me reducing the vehicles to dodge makes them safer. A decade ago, construction cut the vehicular traffic from three lanes in each direction to one in each direction. That alone made more difference in the area becoming more "pedestrian friendly" than the improvements you're proposing. Besides, looking at the http://goo.gl/maps/HC9Q8'>current Google Street View shows planters in the median (though when I went downtown at the time, those had been torn up, so I dunno what's there now). OK, here's another idea I had: we move the southbound rail to run down Travis Street. The old southbound rail becomes the new northbound rail, the old northbound rail becomes the new southbound vehicular lane, and the old southbound vehicular lane becomes a bike path. Alternately, the old median becomes the new northbound route while another road is designated as the southbound lane. Is the "pedestrian mall" idea really the only thing at play here, or does anyone have any better ideas?

They didn't cannibalize a north-south corridor (for one thing). Secondly, the existing sidewalks aren't particularly narrow or busy. If a friend and I can have a beer outside of The Flying Saucer and still have people walk by without squeezing past each other, then you don't need a wider sidewalk. Or even on a mid-day weekday (and I've seen both). If it's after hours that are the biggest thing, consider putting gates that block traffic between 10 pm and 5 am.

The big problem about closing the rest of Main Street is the train's still there, which at the very least will be a barricade to pedestrians (not to mention the crosswalks across the rest of the cross streets). Although if Main Street was closed after certain hours, that might help to your ideals. Historically, though, the conversion to pedestrian malls have generally proven to be failures with very few exceptions.

Reopen Main Street Square to vehicular traffic, I'd say. It would also be cool to see Main Street extend north to Spring and south to Pearland somehow, too...

If the glut of hamburgers are the problem, it's looking even worse in BCS.

Post eaten

The point was that Freedmen's Town was founded and built by former slaves entirely, not that it used slave labor. The newspaper article was about how workers circa 2006 wanted to take out, clean, fix utilities, and replace the bricks, and how preservationists did not like the idea.

Hasn't Frost Town been completely obliterated by US-59? Where did they put the marker?

I wouldn't be surprised if it's deemed some sort of hazard by the county. I saw some pictures on Flickr--pitch dark, remnants of a sketchy flea market that was there before (if I recall correctly, it closed after Ike in 2008 and did not reopen).

For what it's worth, the Katy Freeway expansion tore down a lot of then-recent construction from the late 1990s, including a three story hotel and a REI. And by the end of 2005 they were already abandoned or demolished.

Well, they're teaming up with a U.S. company so it's not strictly their decision alone. The state should have a hand in deciding where it goes if this company sees a cent of taxpayer money. If not, then they're total fools and it's TTC all over again. (and I would be opposed to it universally)

Oh, so the TETCO signage is just transitionary?

Kind of related to the subject, but how do you remove pictures that you've uploaded to the server (not hosted offline). I think I have a picture of an office building that I erroneously believed was the Foley's headquarters...I think I was confusing it with the Luby's HQ.

The Pinemont Park and Ride closes today as the ramp is being demolished. According to the page of MaxConcrete's, Creekwood Apartments will lose a building or two. Have any more buildings been razed/condemned? I'd like to ask the status of a few buildings out there: - A former Chevron exists at the southwest corner of Antoine and 290. The place has been gone for years, but the distinctive sign (now with contact information for buying the land) still stands. The Shell on the other side is still there. Will it be torn down? - If the houses on the east side of Harland Street are being eaten for right of way, as well as a building or two of Creekwood Apartments will any part of the early 1990s shopping center be cut off? There's (at least of whenever Street View was taken), C&S Chinese Cafe, Red Onion Seafood y Mas, Olde Towne Kolaches, Allied Cash Advance, a vacancy, and a Starbucks Coffee. - If not, will the McDonald's go away (it was rebuilt in 2008)? - The Hartz Chicken Buffet at 43rd and 290 definitely seems like a goner.

Toward the beginning, there was what appeared to be a sunken highway--there aren't many sunken highways like that in Houston, and it wasn't Interstate 10 or 69.

Name of the episode was "The Golden Hammer", by the way. I wasn't familiar enough with Houston to know if there's any place with pink metal park benches.

What, exactly, are we arguing? Should the United States nationalize broadband Internet? Should they wire up houses for potential Internet access? I can imagine a scenario in which the U.S. wires up potential Internet access for IPs to charge access for, then in exchange for doing the heavy lifting of actually wiring up the houses, help ensure net neutrality, but I'm afraid that's not what people are talking about here.

This store doesn't exist anymore, apparently. All I remember is that it was in Houston area, and it used to be Randalls. Does it even look like an old Randalls, actually?

I've had this picture kicking around for over a year on my hard drive. I believe this used to be a Randalls, I think northwest Houston (also may have served as a Steve & Barry's at some point) but I honestly have no idea where it is or when this photo was taken. Can anyone confirm? http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8243916/haif_sears_dup.jpg

Not really anymore. Due to the rather moribund status of Waco over the last few decades, it hasn't quite as fast as other Texas cities. Current metropolitan statistics put both as having more or less equal people (yes, both include some more rural communities, but the urban areas have people too). I really don't think that a direct Dallas-Houston route is the best plan. Sure, they're both major cities, but part of the reason people are thinking in that mindset is that's the way Interstate highways go.

This week an episode of the Mentalist was set in Houston. There were even a few shots of the skyline. 'Course, everyone still had California accents, but points for effort!