IronTiger

Here.

Recently I read in a topic about a particularly dirty McDonald's (demolished c. 2003-2004) at Texas and Main, in the parking lot just northeast to where Flying Saucer is. The only reference I can find to it in the papers are these snippets. (from 2002--the Prudential Building would be flattened in a little less than a decade) Was it so bad that it was shut down by the parent company, or what?

Just own up and admit that you took his quote out of context. Trying to deny it just makes you look like a bigger loser.

It mentions Slug's, a discotheque on the map. It looks like there was a bank where "Fashion Studio" is today.

On Montrose, what are these two motels, mentioned a story about Bill List and the boys that shot him? "Mostly, he floated between the Memorial Park Motel on Waugh and the Starlite Motel in the 200 block of Westheimer. Both places were known to the cops as $25-a-night flophouses where prostitutes and transients and down-and-outers stayed, where drugs were in good supply and up for sale."

Right clicking on the image works. Awesome!

The fact that you "simplified" an argument into something so flaringly wrong is amusing to me.

Well, if you look on Google Maps, you can see the demolition (awfully close to the old Foley's building)

And Slick's started to hijack his thread for his usual mass transit propaganda crap. I'd rather talk about the expansion and its consequences. For example, with the rebuilding of the interchange with 610 (and I-10), I can see one of the ramps being torn down and straightened out, and what were the warehouses (besides the antiques center, which moved) that were demolished?

Sold the Mercedes, huh?

Anyone who hates the food in the tunnels has clearly never been forced to eat in and around a college campus. Compared to the breakfast tacos they serve, for instance, a Ninfa's Express would be absolute heaven. When I was in the tunnels, I thought the options were pretty decent...

And yet when people vote against light rail... What about you? Either you are an elitist inner looper who never (or rarely) rides the bus, or secretly a suburbanite yearning to escape from traffic jams. From your posts, it could go either way...

That's the plan with the rail leading to the Northwest Transit Center (eventually). And the buses use HOV lanes, which you're fighting against. Where did this "more efficient" come from? One bridge in Australia at a few hours according to a pro-mass transit propaganda website? I'll humor you and agree that it's entirely true (despite the fact that it wasn't cited), but it's a horrendous overgeneralization. More likely, you're pulling stuff out of your rear. I think that was intended at more of a jab on why you believe trains are the wave of the future, but you missed the point. What's funny is, most of us agree with the current light rail plans in Houston to some extent, but you extend to fanatical must-pour-billions-into-rail beliefs, and the articles/forum threads you copy and paste are of others who have similar beliefs.

Frequency doesn't depend on inherent buses vs. trains. In fact most of the other problems can be fixed by having better bus maintenance (thus the "break down" part--though I'd be interested in hearing what the statistics are in breakdowns proportionately). The "comfortable ride" comes from the fact that most of the roads that buses travel on are poorly maintained, and most haven't gotten a repaving since the 1980s (Kirby was one such example, since fixed). Replacing the HOV lanes with rail is several layers of stupid partially since you would only be able to have one fixed point instead of several transit centers along the way, and would discourage carpooling and using buses, which is what the HOV lanes encouraged. Then while a constant stream of buses can come and pick up as necessary, the limited ROW of a train would mean that it would have to make its full journey, then return back empty on each trip. etc. etc.

Where did this "rail is the heart of transit" come from? Well, considering that the inner loop where the light rails are being built are already pretty dense (unless you really, really love townhomes), and if you dream of extending rail into the suburbs, then you're saying that you endorse sprawl, which is what your entire argument was fighting against. Yeah, just because I'm a member of HAIF automatically makes me a daily Houston commuter. Doesn't quite work that way, amigo. These days I consider myself lucky if I can get to Houston twice a year... Also another quote for my collection of "undermines arguments". Even in the biggest cities, rail doesn't go everywhere. In fact, even if the rails were built out according to the 2003 referendum which you fervently cite (which I would love to see, by the way, just out of interest, so link it if you have it), there would still be people in the inner loop who still won't be able to use the rail.

Then the bus system needs to be fixed. If METRO can't even have a good bus system, then how do you expect them to make a good light rail system. For buses, there's HOV lanes.

Which also uses the road system!

Since Slick at least claims to look out for the lower class--never mind demanding congestion pricing to force lower income people onto public transit...wouldn't he agree that while trains only give access to a select number of residents, the road/highway network can serve everyone?

$68 billion is the estimated cost, which was down from $100 billion just a few years ago. Cost overruns are a definite. A cautionary tale in terms of giant transit projects...

I like light rail, too, as others on this board do too, but remember, it's like person A saying "I don't like Republicans" and person B saying "Every Republican in the neighborhood needs to be rounded up and shot". Same idea, but it's what separates citizens from criminal lunatics. And Slick, you never answered my question...

So, if they tear up your yard to repair a sewer line (taking out a tree or two?), you should shoulder the cost of fixing the damage done? You sure you want to go with that, or do you want to rethink that?

Often times these Facebook tend to "borrow" images from other sources without citing them. It bothers me, as I've been on the wrong end before.

Here's another thing about your stance, Slick: why is it that those who block freeways are heroes, while those who block light rail are villains. Is the world really that black and white to you?

San Francisco is experiencing problems because of what amounted to decades of resistance to density and building, creating an artificial spike in housing prices. Of course, Houston is busy tearing down single family homes and replacing them with townhomes, and it's still expensive to live in the inner loop.