IronTiger

I definitely think that HOV/HOT lanes reduce congestion more than people realize. If commuter trains suddenly appeared tomorrow, people would likely still be complaining about congestion (assuming that a sudden rush of people didn't ride the train for sheer novelty value). The point is, congestion isn't going to go away very easily without a massive population drop or some sort of revolutionary technology (semi-autonomous vehicles)

The old "architects vs. engineers" battle rears its head again, I see. Anyway, despite some questionable choices government-wise, I'm glad Parker was able to see the food trucks through. I don't think we'll see a lot of controversy over this one though.

Well, either way, it's something that you actually use and have a use for (people that actually use frequent flier miles to great advantage usually have places to go all over the world for their job), and the coupons are generally irrelevant and don't fit everyone's lifestyles. An analogous example, for instance, would be by logging your mass transit miles, you get free METRO tickets.

Well, staying at hotels isn't too raw of a deal, last year some students in Ohio ended up staying at a water park resort.

It's people like you why they have junky coupons instead of cash. Seriously though, it's people deliberately gaming the system to rack up rewards ruin these types of things. Remember the stamps that Subway used to give out? I think Little Caesars did something similar.

Well, these days frequent flier points tend to expire, and they just don't give out frequent flyer miles like they used to. There used to be a cereal that Post sold...name escapes me...shaped like big "zeroes", dense cereal, dark brown, kinda sweet, haven't seen it in a few years...they used to have frequent flier miles just for buying and eating cereal. Nuride doesn't have anything like frequent flier miles (much less cash), just junky coupons, and it's not even "Free cheeseburger at McDonald's", it's "X dollars off when you buy Y". Say, how does this website know you're not BSing your commute (or at least fudging it) entirely?

TDECU is just a mouthful, even in as abbreviation.

Yup. Which goes back to my original point, if I was getting $2/day for my commute choices, I'd rather get $10 checks in the mail every week than any of the junky coupons they offer. Wouldn't anybody?

Well, it would be probably slower to take Hempstead Road if it's not rush hour, but I can see the sights and take a break from freeway driving for a bit. The goal isn't necessarily to get there as fast as possible, 10 East doesn't even go to 288 directly, and I'm not going to downtown if I'm going to Pearland, especially if I'm coming from out of town.

Well, it does prove one thing anyway--the media is getting things wrong about what happened. And before you say "Only FOX makes mistakes", no, no they don't. They all do, and it's foolish to think otherwise.

I was thinking NW Freeway -> Hempstead Road -> Post Oak Road (at Northwest Mall) -> SB 610 Loop -> Merge into 610 in Uptown -> Keep on 610 until 288 -> Get off at desired exit in Pearland. I'd love to get a toll tag but right now I'm not sure I'll even live in Texas next year. I'd love to get a job in Houston though.

Trying to enact policies to stop gentrification is like trying to stop sprawl: you "solve" problems by creating bigger ones. Best course of action is to let things take their course.

So here's a project that I mentioned before but have finally gotten around to doing it: A Better "City Blog". Originally, I was thinking about it being a city planning/traffic/transit blog, but the focus will be more on that with a look at modern cities. Some topics I'm expecting to cover include - debunking popular "city du jour" topics, including obsessions on freeway removal - actual freeway topics, including left hand exits and HOV/HOT lanes - a more sympathetic look at suburbs and why they're not so bad - what causes neighborhoods to decline One of the things I want to make clear is that despite the fact I will make them as true as possible, I want it to be light-hearted and not condemning. Too many of these blogs like to force their POV on you in the name of ideals, and I don't want to do that. I also want a lively conversation, so comments are totally open (within reason). The first is an article on urban gardens, and it's a kind of test run. Is the layout fine? Do I get my thoughts across okay? Am I totally wrong about what I'm saying? (If it's the last one, please post on the blog, not here) Thanks!

Gentrification, like immigration, can be boiled down to "people moving around". Like Montrose, some of the "die yuppie/techie scum" sentiment is from people who were once gentrifiers themselves. Montrose and Haight-Ashbury are big examples of such movements.

To be honest, I was considering taking Hempstead Road past the Beltway, if for nothing else to avoid the 610/290 interchange.

Except not. I wasn't trying to be smug nor get into a contest. I'm not a huge fan of architectural choices on the U of H stadium, and because of my perspective, all other football stadiums do seem small. It's also impossible to ignore because it monopolizes the construction resources in town. A gas station shouldn't take months to be done, for instance.

I wish Uchi hadn't removed the cupola from the Felix restaurant, nor had McDonald's renovated their local store to match their current prototype. And kombucha is too expensive and I dislike the phlegm-like stuff floating in it.

Wow, I never would have guessed that the River Oaks Plant House/Village Flowery was an old Jack in the Box. I plan on updating a few then adding Whataburger, Denny's, Jack in the Box, Quiznos, Grandy's, and by popular demand, Champs to the next update.

Considering there are at least 260 workdays in a year, I'd rather pocket a $520 check every year, if you were getting $2 worth of points a day. Instead, it reminds me of the scams that used to be pulled on elementary schools, where if kids sold enough overpriced crap door to door in the name of school fundraising, they got some piece of overpriced junk. [i certainly went to school in that era]

* College football stadium It's the size that gets me, really...not a big fan of the design or the renovation plan to begin with (there's way more box seats, it's all about the $$$$) That being said, the U of H design looks kinda weird...that red and white...wall...should have stayed on a rendering. After a few decades of mold and general wear and tear, it will either look charming or a monstrosity that everyone regrets. Such is architecture...

It's no lie that I've been to Houston many, many times in the last 5+ years, and saw many things, went to different neighborhoods, Inner Loop, Outer Loop, and suburbia. I've been a co-pilot and a navigator, but I have a confession to make. I've never actually driven in Houston myself, as in, got my hands on the wheel, and experienced the thrill of the freeway system myself. I've driven in College Station myself, even in aggravating Bryan rush hour traffic (land of the poorly timed stoplights), of course I've used highways, and driving several years without accidents. In the next month or so, I will embark on a solo quest to take on Houston's highways as I navigate from the Great Northwest to Pearland. Problem is, I am kind of nervous about doing such a quest as Houston's drivers are substantially more aggressive than what I'm used to. The best advice I could give myself is to go the speed the rest of the traffic is going, not at the posted speed limit (posted speed limit rarely tops 65, and I sure as heck know that almost everyone goes faster than that). Anyone have some advice I could use about driving in Houston and not getting in a wreck and/or pissing others off?

You do know that the west end (which seems to the object of your criticism) will be demolished and rebuilt after the 2014 season, right? (Apparently not?)

It looks kinda cool, but I've been spoiled by the Kyle Field construction. Every other stadium I've seen recently seems more like a overbudgeted high school stadium.

Their mistake, not mine. Unfortunately, like so many articles, most of it is behind a paywall now...though I can tell you that the first thing I noticed was the consistent misspelling of "Bissonnet".

Doctored 911 call audio released, misleading photos for the initial presentation of what happened, trying to spin it into a racial conflict from the get-go, etc. Nevertheless, Ferguson is a different thing (and has, apparently, some real issues), so despite my jaded cynicism, am willing to give the news media the benefit of the doubt and not immediately attack them on mishandling the truth until that is proven or disproven. Only then will take a side in the issue.