VelvetJ

You do.

For every Houstonian that thinks our city is perfect, there are Houstonians that see there is room for improvement, and are thinking of ways to do it. My goodness.

Well, some may dismiss this post, but I love Houston and I'm not going to sit here and post a million reasons why I SHOULD like my city because I already do. I'm not going to be in denial about our city and the fact that it can be a better place. J.A.S.O.N, I have to say that your slogan for Houston is just brilliant. "Houston, Texas' International City". I LOVE IT!!!!!!! First let me say that not caring what others think of you is a great thing........to a degree. As large of a city as we are, I think it is totally unrealistic and self-defeating to not care how the world see's us. Houston is not the only place on earth. There are billions of other people and thousands of other cities, and for Houston to exist as if the only thing that matters is itself can come back to haunt us if we aren't careful. Now on to the title of the thread. Completely from a personal standpoint, when people hear the word Houston, I want them to think: Diverse Cool Hip Progressive Cheap Green Welcoming Activity filled Accepting Fun The Beach Cruise Ships Palm Trees Southern Culture Modern diverse population in terms of educational background, financial status, occupation, and lifestyle. A place with distinct neighborhoods or parts of town. A place with great Architecture and great skyline(s) Nasa A place with great food and restaurants. A place that has a great environment for artists of all types. This is what I want the world to think of when they hear the words Houston, Texas. As most of us know, most of the things I listed are already true about Houston, but the world as a whole do not think of these things. I have found that there are tons of people that don't even realize we are near the Gulf of Mexico and believe Houston is a dusty south Texas town. I have found that most people don't know and are quite surprised to hear Houston is the 4 largest city because after NY, LA, and Chicago, they automatically think of Frisco, Boston, Miami, Philly, Seattle, even Dallas and Atlanta before Houston.The question is why? But first we have to make our citizens understand WHY we should even care that other places are thought of before us. We have to be realistic about the fact that when most people think of a city in Texas, Dallas comes to mind first, and why we should care about that, and most importantly, that caring about those things does not mean we have to completely change our modus operendi (sp?) based soley on what others think of us. It's possible to be ourselves as well as be aware of how the world see's us also. How can we make these things a reality? Well, the first thing that comes to mind is promote the HECK out of Houston throughout the sunbelt first. But only the positive things and the things that most don't automatically associate with Houston or know about such as The Beach, Palm Trees, Diversity, a night shot of Main Steet on a Saturday night, specifically Ultra Twister at AstroWorld, some of the funky storefronts on lower Westheimer in the Montrose, The Museum District, The Galleria, The rail line, specifically the college names of UH, Rice, TSU and PVAM, shots of all of our sports teams, Theater Arts, Kemah, Space Center Houston, The Horse and Dog Tracks, and a large shot of Dowtown, The Medical Center, Greenway Plaza, and Uptown all in a single clear sunny shot. And in addition to J.A.S.O.N.'s fantastic slogan, we can also have one that states: "Houston, It's More Than You Think". Note- Nothing on the Medical Center, no shots of the ship channel, no refinery shots, and no shots of any Cowboys at the Rodeo. Although these things are a part of who we are, those things are either not too flattering or they are things people expect. Right now, a campaign like that should be targeted specifically to Dallas, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Little Rock, New Orleans, Jackson and Bilouxi Missippi, Birmingham, Memphis, Huntsville Alabama, Atlanta, and Nashville. Nothing to Austin or San Antone or anyplace in Florida right now. Lastly, we should really focus on making certain areas of our city or certain points of interest more pedestrian friendly and providing extremely easy transportation to them until rail can get there. Can you guys imagine the Harwin Wholesale strip if it were pedestrian friendly? Those buses from Mexico on there way back from the casinos would stop, park, and the visitors would have a field day on Harwin (now they stop in Walmarts across the city). Can you imagine if one of our China Towns were really really pedestrian friendly and full of life? If I'm not mistaken we have the largest Asian population in the South and the only China Town in the South. We should take advantage of that. I think Uptown is on it's way to becoming more pedestrian friendly. I continue to bring up pedestrian areas because most of the world live in places where walking is a part of life. Many believe in order to TRULY get to know a city is on foot. There are very few places like that in Houston and we could really benefit from it. Pedestrian areas and a convenient way to get there. I'm telling you, it would change the face of our city not only for ourselves but to the rest of the world, and it really has nothing to do with "trying to be like someone else". If you ask me, using the same theme in the new proposal for the Astrodome, that is used in Dallas' hotel is like trying to be like someone else. Trimming a downtown building in Neon Green is like trying to be like someone else. And building a freeway interchange with the same design and color scheme as the High Five Freeway project in Dallas, is like trying to be like someone else. But I digress. Houston is a wonderful city that does indeed have it's own unique flavor, but I don't think there is anything wrong with finding out what makes successful cities work and taking the blue print of that and making it work for us, in turn making the world view us in a better light. *note* Houston, please take the tunnel concept of I-45 the north freeway seriously. One of, if not THE biggest festering open sores in our city is I-45 between the beltway and 610.

I'm sorry folks but that looks FANTASTIC! I will be making a trip there within the next two weeks to check it out for myself. Look at the details folks. Look at those lighting fixtures, and the placement of some of the lights along the riverway, the landscaping, and direction signs, and the advertisment fixtures on the sidewalks. It's the details that makes this so awesome in my eyes. I hope Houston can take a few lessons from both the Woodland and Sugarland with these projects. Midtown are you watching?

^^^^^ For THIS is the statement of the year! Amen, Amen, and Amen. Regarding the Olympics, I'm not sure exactly what caused us to loose it, although I do have my own personal ideas, but I do believe the appearance of our city was indeed a factor. I also remember during the SuperBowl a woman from Boston was interviewed who had just arrived downtown from Intercontinental, and she was asked what she thought so far. I distinctly remember her saying the city was dirtier than she had expected. I was like WHAT?!?!. Didn't they clean up those stetches of I-45 North and South? They even planted vegetation. Then it struck me that although I-45 North could be clear of trash itself, the actual appearance of the billboards, and the single story motels, and the tractor rental places, and the bean bag company, and the fast food joints, and the abandoned car dealerships, etc., can give a vistitor to our city a ugly impression which some translate as trashy. The Olympic committe saw the same thing. I also recall that after Houston made it to the second round, we were advised on how to make our bid better. We were told we needed to highlight our attractions more. From what I recall, our Houston 2012 committee said, "Will do". We went BACK to improve on this and get ready for the next round. So my question is what happened? It's really hard to believe our committee did not take heed and do as they were told.......or was it a case of they COULDN'T do what they were told due to the fact that we had ALREADY highlighted our attractions (cultural, educational, and recreational) as much as we could. What could citizens of London, Paris, Moscow, Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, and Barcelona come to Houston and be impressed with culturally? What do we have in general that would knock those people's socks off? What if they wanted to check out some of our most interesting neighborhoods? Could they conveniently do so? And once there, could they enjoy the experience? What if they wanted to check out the History of our city by taking in some of our landmark Historical areas and sites? What are they and where are they? Are they convenient to get to? As much as we love Houston, we have a long way to go and the sooner we realize this, the better. Find out what the world view as "World Class", and go for it.

uncertaintraveler, your last two posts were full of great ideas that could actually work. The country could use more like you in positions of power. Ever thought of a career in politics or at least local radio? You could be the answer to our buddy Dan Patrick.

I would love to see a design with a mostly glass exterior here. Or something with a slanted roof or something with a stepped design. This is good news, although I didn't realize the highrise condo craze was as strong here as it currently is in other places, to birth so many proposals. I say good for Houston.

Yeah, now if only the owner of that Zone'd Erotica can be convinced to relocate to Pearland, it would be nonstop niceness for sure. If anyone here knows the owner, could you spank him/her for me? (no pun intended)

Man- How many of you have heard of the cities of Las Vegas and Houston? World Citizens- Most of us know Las Vegas and some of Houston......isn't that near Dallas? Man- How many of you would live in Vegas and how many would choose Houston? World Citizens- Most of us would choose Vegas, if no other reason than most of us know nothing about Houston. Me- Hey Houstonians, although this isn't a real conversation, if we are honest with ourselves, we know that most would indeed choose Vegas. The million dollar question is, WHY would they choose Vegas?

And how long have we been BECOMING a tourist attraction? All of this BECOMING has gotten us as the least tourist friendly large city in Texas. Why did Houston decide to BECOME after everyone else? Those new side walks on Main in Midtown are how old? And HOW WIDE are they for pedestrians? Excuse me but, " is Travis and the other streets that run parallel to it going through the Midtown neighborhood, a freeway or are they neighborhood streets that are pedestrian friendly since it's a "neighborhood? And haven't they been newly reconstructed? Were the planners thinking of the residences of the area as well as those that would be rushing to get out of the city?" Why didn't the midtown residences speak loudly about the CVS design near the urban post development across the street? Don't they want Midtown to be more urban(sarcasm)? Could the Calais have had at least one side of retail at the bottom?How many more affordable residences are planned for Downtown right now, and when will it be revealed to the public? Is that spanking new 20ft Vietnamese memorial in the middle of the parking lot of a strip mall evidence that we are moving in the right direction? Are we making some crucial mistakes in this journey to BECOME a tourist attraction? With every 1 step forward, are we making 2 backward? RedScare, I don't think you get the point that some including myself are trying to make. No one is saying they want a triple loop rollercoaster running down Main Street. But if we are to become a true world class city, we MUST look to cities like San Francisco, Chicago, New York, etc., that are successful at it, to see what the WORLD'S standard for "World Class" is, and at the VERY least consider it. If you desire to become world class and one of the standards to becoming that is having a Bookstore in your city core with lots of glass in the front with bright lights, don't fight it because of an attitude of, "this is Houston and not Chicago". Keep up with the times and see if it can be successful here as well. And definitely DON'T wait until 15 years after everyone else has it, then open one in the name of, "oh Houston was just waiting until everyone else had one so we could do it the RIGHT way" B.S. I know there are things coming down the line and some that I may not even know about, but there have been in the past and even recent opportunities to lay the groundwork for Houston going to that next level, and we will turn and do something short-sighted and squander it. For someone who has a passion for our city, this scares me.

Talbot, no it sits directly on the Seawall. In fact it is very visible from the area around the movie theater and that bungee ride headed west. It's not as isolated as it appears in that picture.

That was great worldlyman. The things you listed that you love about Houston are what I, and I'm sure most of us, love about it as well. Now, lets do the same comparison to Chicago, New York, Seattle, Miami, Boston, San Francisco, London, Paris, and Tokyo. I absolutely adore San Diego and really do believe anyone that lives there is lucky. But with all do respect, it's not in Houston's league in terms of economic power, population, size, diversity or importance and IMO, shouldn't be compared. Most of us here have witnessed what has happened in Downtown in the past 5-7 years and know the world of difference between then and now. I don't think anyone here is trying to discount the progress that has been made by simply pointing out flaws and wanting to improve them and the city. A number of people have stated they've seen tourist downtown. So have I. It's silly to think that NOT A SINGLE tourist that comes to Houston ever visits downtown. What I think is a more appropriate question is what do those tourist think after their visit downtown ( and this does not include visitors from College Station, East Texas, or Corpus Christi, or Lake Charles). All of those cities I listed earlier with regard to comparing to Houston all have very strong tourist elements to their identities, however they are not necessarily tourist traps like Vegas, or Orlando, or New Orleans. They are world class cities because they are dynamic and tourism is a large part of it. Yes, I want people from Seattle, Frisco, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles to want to come to Houston JUST for leisure. No, I do not like the fact that the largest city in Texas is also the least tourist friendly. No, I do not like the fact that Houston's TRUE counterparts (Dallas and Atlanta) both get more leisurely tourists than Houston and appear to market themselves better. Houston has so much potential but the mindset and actions of some of us just makes me nervous that we are really going to screw it up. We could use a powerful forward thinking committe that understands the importance of pedestrian areas and transportation in dynamic cities. We have to come to a collective point where we all understand how important it is to nurture Houston's two most unique neighborhoods (The Montrose and The Heights). 19th Street in the Heights could be even more of a gem, and a plaza with a fountain and street perfomers and artists at the corner of Montrose and Westheimer (tear down the Blockbuster strip center) would be a blessing for Montrose. *note* Somehow convince the residents of Montrose and the city that the best part about arguably the best festival in the City, the Westheimer Arts Fest, was the fact that the street was closed off temporarily and people could walk in the street and enjoy themselves. Lighten up folks. It wouldn't hurt to have someone with a true vision and take advantage of one of the most diverse section in the city (Sharpstown) and make that mall area a sort of gathering place and "town center" for all of the ethnicities that live in close proximity. There could be a temporary stage area and temporary retail booths where a different ethnic group could hold a public festival in the parking lot one Saturday out of the month. Can the Harwin Shopping strip get a couple of "entrance" arches and possibly a shopping shuttle that drives the length of the street, as well as a Plaza type development for drop offs and pick ups from the shuttle, so people can "shop and shuttle" without having to drive their cars to every single store? New ChinaTown along Bellaire is what it is, but the old one on the edge of Downtown could still be turned into a more traditional styled pedestrian ChinaTown found in most other cities across the world. The same could happen for a Vietnamese area. It broke my heart to see that new HUGE BEAUTIFUL Vietnamese monument with the American Soldiers placed in the middle of the parking lot of a STRIP CENTER on Bellaire Boulevard (things like this must come to an end in Houston). Downtown, The Medical Center, The Reliant Center Area, AstroWorld, Old China Town, Midtown and the Museum District, The Rice University area including the Village, The Montrose, The Heights, Greenway Plaza, The Galleria Area, over to the Sharpstown/Harwin area, and out Westheimer to the Beltway, and not to mention 3 of the city's major parks. If you take a marker and draw a circle around these areas on a map, you will see one FANTASTIC thing. They are all connected and are basically next door to one another. This corridor could become the apple of Houston's eye if they were connected by rail (it HAS to be rail and not bus), and some pedestrian areas were created in them. Also, Midtown being turned into one of the coolest neighborhoods along the rail on Main, with storefronts below apartments and tons of foliage with hanging pots and lflowerboxes outside some of the apartment windows, forming a colorful vision (the Fannin Flower Shops would be greatful I'm sure), would be something never imagined in this city in recent history. And on a completely "left-field" note, how about one of those 40ft statues like that of Sam Houston in Huntsville, of a Astronaut or a Rocket of some sort, along the Gulf Freeway near Clear Lake/Nasa. Another museum could be placed next to it (one can never have enough museums) and Willowbrook mall could be re-themed into one of Space. All of this could become another draw for tourists. Not many places can claim a true kin to Outer Space and Nasa and Houston should REALLY take advantage of that. PLUS everyone on their way to the Beach in Galveston, or to Kemah, or to the Dog Track, or Schlitterbahn, or Moody Gardens, or on their way to take a cruise, would have one more reason to make a stop if they are "slapped in the face" with a tourist attraction like a convenient 40ft statue and museum. Can you guys see the tons of people taking pictures along side that statue then skipping across the freeway over to Nasa on the shuttle bus that would connect the two attractions? OK, I know I drifted off into another world on this post but IMO, things like this would take Houston to another level and that alone would attract tourists and create a "cool" factor I think our city is missing.

Bravo!

This is sad news. Maybe someone should try opening another spot on the style of Cafe Brasil. I mean it's not like Brasil has an abundance of parking either, yet it thrives.

Once again I am with you. I actually had a whole speech typed out but decided to reword it. However, I will say that once again, I am VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY much aware of what Houston has to offer and there is no point in anyone trying to explain to me how great downtown is and how I should just be thankful. There is no point in anyone expressing to me that the Buffalo Bayou Plan is going to take more than 2 weeks to complete. I'm not crazy, nor am I unreasonable. The frustration comes from the bubble we have put ourselves in which has caused us to think higher of ourselves than we should. 713 To 214, I'm sure like myself, you would be the first to defend Houston, but the sad thing is I don't think many on this board can see that. In a sense it's like we are trying to tell Houstonians that Diamonds make a city World Class and it is evident by the fact that all cities in the World Class category have them. But Houstonians will convince themselves, or even worse, allow someone else to convince them, that cement is just as good as Diamonds but cheaper, and think they are World class while the world looks and laughs. And if it takes Houston having things that are evident to the naked eye, or Houston MTVing it up to keep up with the rest of the world, then heck, that's what we should be doing. Houston is NOT Beaumont and we shouldn't want it to be and definitely shouldn't ACT like it is. I think I have come to the realization that I just may have larger dreams and ideals for Houston than possibly it has for itself. *note * I am about to start a seperate thread on how I think Houston could improve itself in terms of tourism, so if anyone is interested in contributing their ideas feel free to do so. * note # 2* Editor delete this comment if needed, but Everyone on this site should visit another popular website about skyscrapers and go to the two sections where it is asking the forumers their opinions on Houston. Some of the opinions are ridiculous but a lot of people are being quite honest about how they view our city. It's nothing to get defensive on but it is a interesting thread on how a small portion of the world sees us. Read it with a open mind and consider the reason WHY their perceptions, good and bad, are the way they are. *Note # 3* I attend a fairly larger church in Houston and once a month we take up donations from members in all 3 services, also during the services in the week, for the less fortunate. It is our belief that we do not "advertise" those types of things. We also have 2 free drug rehabilitation facilities (one for men and one for women), as well as have clothing and food drives. This type of thing never gets to the media on purpose. The point is, don't be so quick to point the finger at what churches are NOT doing because in many cases they ARE doing, but the general public just doesn't realize it. Plus churches like Lakewood and mine help people in so many other ways besides monetary donations. That must be considered as well.

But it can give a grand illusion that it is NOT alive, however. One can tell me how much downtown is alive until they are blue in the face, but as long as I see empty streets and businesses closed, I'm going to draw a natural conclusion from that, and that is downtown isn't alive. Possibly a more touristy downtown AND city is something we should really think about.

Redscare, not that I expect AstroWorld to be a priority for most Houstonians, but the fact that you said most Houstonians don't care, actually says a lot. Like it has been stated already, AstroWorld is one of Houstons TRUE legitimate tourist attractions, and most of our citizens do not care what condition it is in. It seems my point about Houston always being a step behind is becoming more clear by the week and convincing me even more that Houston deserves the "after thought" treatment it recieves in most cases. Let's just say, one, two, three, and possibly even more have contacted Six Flags Corporate regarding AstroWorld. Some may have even gone to the extreme of signing a petition created by other concerned citizens 2 1/2 years ago basically begging for investement in our park. I don't know, it's possible some may have decided to boycott until there is evidence the park is treated better. Who knows? A big issue is Six Flags does not HAVE to invest in AstroWorld. AstroWorld is a "worker" park for the entire Six Flags system. Six Flags is required by LAW to invest into the parks in Dallas and Atlanta, and others like Great America in Chicago, and Great Adventure in New Jersey are big money makers and they have to keep people coming back every year, which explains why they get huge mulitmillion dollar investments. Parks like Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Six Flags Marine World, and Six Flags Magic Mountain in Los Angeles, have direct competition in their cities, so they have to be competitive in those markets. Then, there are parks like AstroWorld, and Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville, and Six Flags Darien Lake, and Six Flags Elitch Gardens in Denver, where there is no other competition on top of being severly landlocked, which means there is no room for huge multimillion dollar investments, which means you don't make revenue hand over fist, which leads to lack of investment, which causes the parks to deteriorate. Couple that with lack of new rides for years on end (especially for AstroWorld which had a history of getting new attractions practically every year), and people will loose interest. It's not like Houston doesn't have the population in it's metro area and places like east Texas and West Louisiana to support the park. Six Flags should invest in the park with rides/shows/ maintenance etc., to gain interst once again in Houston. Also IMO they should impose a code of conduct and enforce it, so those that visit the park won't have their experience ruined by unruly patrons. But again, Six Flags doesn't HAVE to invest in AstroWorld, and they know it. So if they don't invest in the park for the next 10 years, it really won't make a difference because there is no one in Houston , or the surrounding area, to compete for the dollars, so there is no threat. Plus as long as AstroWorld is classified as a "Feeder"/ "worker" park for the company, don't expect much change. That "Feeder" role sucks because it means AstroWorld's purpose is bascially just to generate money to invest in the other parks. It would be so much better if whatever money each park made, that's what was invested back into each park, but that is not Six Flags system. My only hope is for another Amusement park in the area in the future. *note* Expect more attractions at SplashTown over the next few years. If you guys noticed, this year was the first year Splashtown has had a new attraction in 7 years (I think it's called the Tornado). Well, last year it was announced Schlitterbahn would be coming to the Houston area and would open in the Spring of 05'. Well, for a number of reasons, including the big fire at the site, Schlitterbahn will not be opeing until this coming winter. Lesson here...........competition will keep Six Flags SplashTown on it's toes in terms of investment and upkeep. Could the same happen for AstroWorld if another park was introduced to the Houston area? Would Six Flags care about AstroWorld then......you bet your bottom dollar.

I will respond with some ideas a little later, but I think a key thing would be something that can be experienced in no other city, or something that is unique to Houston. That's why Kemah has been so successful. There is nothing else like it in the entire Houston Metro Area, and people drive from Conroe, Baytown, Katy and even College Station just just to visit it. We could use something that would do that on a national scale. I have to go but will return soon with some ideas.

Redscare, you've busted me. I was indeed looking for someone to fight with, so I decided to come to this site to do so. I AM ashamed. Also, there is nothing more that I want for Houston than a inefficient failure of a rail system. I mean that's why I always seem to be so hard on this city's flaws and some of what I see as backward decisions because failure is my only dream for this place. What would be a more obvious HUGE mistake than a mass transit system that goes nowhere, costs a kazillion dollars, and carries only a handful of riders? Yeah, that's what I want for Houston. I suppose I am still on the lack of "edge" and "forward thinking" spirit this city once had. A number of people hear have made the case that commuter rail is cheaper and it actually has more chance of taking cars off of the road, thereby easing traffic and helping our city clean it's air. My question is, why didn't our citizens figure this out earlier? As so many vital rail tracks were being removed in the late 90's, our air was literally getting worse every year, our population was continuing to grow at a healthy rate, and we complained that rail of any kind (commuter or light) was too expensive and would be a waste of "our tax money", (so we continued to vote people into office who was staunchly against it), here we are slowly getting into the game (and still allowing Tom Delay to play games with what we voted for). We always seem to "get it" after the fact. Dane75 I have to agree with you on the "what's cheapest" deal. More times than not, I have noticed that what is cheapest takes priority over many things in Houston instead of what's best for the city as a whole, what works the best, or even better, what's best for the city/looks the best/works the best/ AND cheapest. I think you can even pick that up by many posters at this site. One does not have to throw his money away to do what's best for the city as whole. I think that idea has gotten lost here.

RedScare, don't be so quick to judge WHY the numbers have fallen (if they have fallen). The numbers falling due to design is something I don't think you can pin on Dallas' rail system. kjb434, your last paragraph suggests Dallas didn't not do a good job in building their rail system and Houston did the best thing by being the largest city in America without rail for so long. We were the laughing stock of the American mass transit systems due to all of the crashes into the train, yet we have the best designed system in the country because we waited so long, correct? And creating legislation to block rail funding from our own "kin" was the best thing for Houston, right? My God, I have to say one of the most frustrating things about living in this city is the bubble we place ourselves in. A developer can come in and build a 50 story turd, and we will fool ourselves into thinking it's a good thing. I'm totally starting to believe that Houston is always a step behind because we deserve to be. WE continue to vote these people into office. WE continue to allow neighborhoods to be ruined because it cuts into someone's profits. WE continue to allow our freeways to look like junkyards because it "shows free-enterprise". WE continue to allow the northside's precious pine trees to be decimated at an INCREDIBLE rate because one more strip center and large parking lot means more tax money. Let our counterparts outpace us, we will wait 50 years from now and do it correctly, right?. And the worst part of it is, once again, we will convince ourselves that everything is fine and Houston is already the best it can be. Sigh.

I know it and you know they NEEEEEEEDDDD to improve, but most Houstonians don't, know it. Most Houstonians aren't really aware how AstroWorld has been treated compared to many of the other Six Flags parks and what goes on. They don't realize Houston hasn't seen a coaster 6 1/2 years, while our neighbors to the north and west have. They don't realize when our neighbor to the north got a $15 million dollar ride expansion package 3 years ago, Houston got a $50,000 maintenance package for the ENTIRE YEAR!!!!!! Houstonians don't know why Taz's Texas Tornado, one of the best and most popular rides in the park, sat idle for 2 years instead of being fixed, and then shipped off to another park in California. Do they know WHY the Astro Needle was removed, and still hasn't been replaced? But even if they did know how much Houston really does get the "shaft" by Six Flags, it probably still wouldn't matter because, again, there is no alternative. We don't have Sea World to compete with to keep us on our toes like in San Antonio. All of the competition AstroWorld had has been bought by Six Flags in All directions. Fiesta Texas and That park in New Orleans (I forget the name) were bought by Six Flags, thereby knocking out all nearby competition. They even bought Splashtown which was competition for WaterWorld, and this year is the first attraction they've had since Six Flags bought them 7 years ago, which was unheard of before the buy out. Once again, I think our only hope is to have a couple of our wealthy citizens pool their money and invest in a fantastic theme park that offers things Six Flags does not. They can build one ride at a time and charge for individual rides until they have enough rides to make it a "pay at the door" type park like Six Flags and Disney. Hey, I just thought of something. One of the biggest complaints about Disney parks is, besides the obvious crowds, is the fact that they don't have enough thrill rides. And ironically enough, one of the biggest complaints from families that go to Six Flags parks is they don't have enough rides for families and kids and there are too many thrill rides. Tillman and the Houston investors could build a park with a lot of both. The best part about Six Flags is it's thrill rides, and the best thing about Disney is it's INCREDIBLE Themeing, and it's attractions for kids. Why not Build a Texas themed park that combines the two? Anyway, those are my thoughts.

This is my book on AstroWorld. First of all, to answer the question, yes the park is outdated, although it is good for something. I also worked at AstroWorld in another life and those days were different than they are today. But even then, AstroWorld was sort of like a stepchild. AstroWorld was in much better shape when Six Flags only consisted of only 7 parks. It was even ok when Time Warner bought the company. However, when Time Warner sold the parks, it has been downhill every since. Despite what some may say, space is a issue for AstroWorld. It is landlocked something terrible and has actually gotten smaller since I worked there because The city took most of the employee parking lot and part of the Souther Star Ampitheater to expand West Bellfort road. A intersting fact is AstroWorld did indeed own a significant amount of land that surrounds it but sold it over the years to that car dealership, and some other businesses behind it. Now they are in a situation where they can't go anywhere, although they bought a few acres back from the dealership but used the building for more administration. On a related note, not too long ago The Houston Rodeo made an offer for AstroWorld that included 250 free acres in Sugarland. The Rodeo wanted the land, so basically all they would have to do is cross the bridge onto the site. Needless to day Six Flags refused. Also, in the Theme Park industry AstroWorld is considered to be a sort of a laughing stock now, which is really a shame considering it had a really glorious past. The Texas Cyclone was considered the number one rollercoaster for quite a few years in the 80's undisputed. AstroWorld was chosen as the location for the VERY FIRST river rapids ride in the world (Thunder River). AstroWorld was also the chosen location for the very first Suspended Roller Coaster (XLR8). It would consistently get new rides, and the park was in much better shape. Those days are gone now and unfortunately there is no evidence those types of days will return. In the circles of Six Flags, AstroWorld is known as a "feeder" park, which basically means, it's only function at this point is to feed money into the company, whether money is invested back into it or not. The revenue that AstroWorld makes basically goes into the company pot, and from there money is distributed. Unfortunately, AstroWorld has consistently been at the bottom of the totem pole on those decisions. AstroWorld is not a huge revenue maker which is reason why it's ignored compared to most of it's brothers and sisters. But, there are reasons for that. AW managment made some really bad decisions a few years ago and expanded too far too fast. They lost a lot of money. But also during this time, the decision was made to only invest in the their biggest revenue makers, which was only 4 parks. So those parks got HUGE multimillion dollar investments for a couple of years while the smaller parks went without. Those parks got to the point where they visibly became neglected and the years without new attractions kept people away. Because after all, what is the main reason people go to theme parks.........the rides. And when you don't add new rides for years on end, people begin to "forget" about the park. The same thing happened to SplashTown. Missing tiles, sand at the bottom of the pools, chipping paint on the buildings, slides closed due to lack of money for repair, and lack of new attractions were all factors in why Splashtown also became less popular. By the time Six Flags realized they had made a mistake, it was too late. Those things on top of AstroWorld not having any competition in the Houston market and Six Flags not being FORCED to invest into the park by law, like it was at Six Flags in Dallas and Six Flags in Atlanta, took AstroWorld down the tubes. Six Flags knows if they do not invest in AstroWorld, Houstonians will continue to go because there is no alternative. Which leads me to Tillman Fertitta, Bob McNair Mattress Mack, and a couple of other wealthy Houstonians to gain a interest in the theme park busines . Houston has never experienced really big multimillion dollar rides, so we really don't know what we are missing. That's why so many of us are in the dark about just how much Houston is missing out on. Once again, Houston is at the bottom of the totem pole and are a step behind. I would love some of our wealthy residents with vision to create a Texas Themed park out 59 near Sugarland or out 288 past Pearland, that is full of large rides, heavily themed areas, a GIGANTIC kiddie land with petting zoo, huge physical playland area, over the top themeing, and at least 30 kiddie rides. Catering to only the thrill seekers can come back to haunt you. Families must have a area for kids where they can spend most of their visit. The rest of the park can be large enough to have rides like those at Magic Mountain, Cedar Point, and Great Adventure. Until AstroWorld get some competition, they are not going to make AstroWorld the best it can be because they don't HAVE to, and they know it.

This may be slightly off topic but there was a post on another site about how to take Dallas to the next tier level. This particular guy's response was basically the way I see Houston and how we can improve ourselves. Of course everything doesn't apply to Houston but I think you will get the idea. This was from a poster by the name of jeffharrington on a site about Dallas Urban life: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rantanamo: Good for you for encouraging us to move beyond uttering opinions and onto creating solutions. I think the first thing we have to do is identify a group of about 50 people in Dallas who represent a mix of ages, ethnicities, religions and professions AND who have traveled extensively around the world and have a passion for making the city world-class. You get them in the same room and get them to come to a consensus as to which three cities in the world they consider from their personal experience to be the cities they'd most like Dallas to become. They then must identify the specific characteristics that make those cities world-class in their estimation. If one characteristic is "great mass transit", you then ask who in the room has a passion for transportation and you put them in charge of studying what will be the best mass transit system in the world come 2015. Same for educational system, creative environment and business-friendly atmosphere, or whatever. They come back in six months to one year and then the city implements them--no questions asked. If the city had a strong leader who roused much respect and admiration from people city-wide, some of that might happen here. But much of that won't happen here because: A) not enough people here know what is world-class because they don't travel the world widely. too many people here want Dallas to have a "family-friendly, nice small town atmosphere" like Waxahachie or Mexia where they grew up, rather than an exciting, thought-provoking, sense-intoxicating city like San Francisco, New York or London--which they fear. C) People here get put on committees and task forces because of how much money they have NOT because they have a passion for the topic. D) Too many leaders here have egos that cause them to control or micromanage the outcome rather than let the person in charge of that subsection run with it. Don't mean to be negative but I have lived in Dallas for 40 years, have been fortunate to travel throughout the world during that time and have watched cities like Seattle, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Austin and now Fort Worth zoom past Dallas because those in charge lacked a global perspective, preferred to copy the best rather than be original (note the NoBu and W Hotel getting all the buzz here, even though they are copies of things now old hat in other cities) and focused on doing things cheap and therefore not impressive to others (Prestonwood, Farmers Market) rather than investing the money to do them right and to international standards of excellence and therefore sustainable (NorthPark). As long as let it run down, bulldoze it then build it bigger, cheaper and with several more gables to impress everyone is the prevailing mentality here over take care of it, keep it in great shape and hand it over to someone who will appreciate it for another generation, it'll be hard for us to be taken seriously by the Parises, Londons, New Yorks or Romes of the world.

Gary, I have actually brought this very subject up in a couple of threads recently. I have been saying for a while now that Houston seems to have lost it's edge somehow, with regard to blazing the trails. That "thing" that built the ship channel, The Astrodome, Williams Tower, Pennzoil Place, Nasa, our Futuristic skyline and cutting edge architecture, The GRB Convention Center Design, and our Galleria seems to be lost. I've said before and I say again, in the company of our counterparts that are Dallas and Atlanta, we always seem to be a step behind (it always bugs me to hear our leaders talk about how far ahead we are of Nashville and Cleveland, and Orlando, and Tampa, and Austin. Those cities are not in our league, so STOP IT!!! ). We are moving but it seem to be "after the fact". Yeah we built new stadiums but Dallas had their baseball and basketball arenas first. And while MM Park is not bad when next to The Texas Rangers stadium built in the 90's, Toyota Center is a joke compared to American Airlines Arena. Plus, while Reliant Stadium is nice, the design is bland. I'm just waiting for the release of Jerry Jones' design for the Cowboys stadium but I'm willing to bet it's going to be something spectacular, on top of it having a retractable roof. The Hot thing in buildings now is mixed use. Houston is light years behind Atlanta and Dallas in that department. The same can be said for Rail. Seriously, why is this the case? The Hobby Center, The Mercer, The MFA addition, The New Hilton Downtown, the Reserve Bank on Allen Parkway, The Montebello and it's twin (though those aren't too bad), and a few others I don't know the names of, are all architecturally just blah, IMO. Of course there are exceptions like Enron II and the new design for the proposed highrise on Upper Kirby, but overall Houston's architectural designs as of the past few years have left MUCH to be desired. Even now, the tallest building going up in Houston right now, is a giant bland box in the Medical Center. I understand the economic times but this started happening in Houston even before September 11. Plus I look at the designs going up in other cities, particularly in Atlanta, and I wonder what is going on there that people seem to have SO much money where they can design those FANTASTIC buildings going up, including the one in Buckhead labeled "Art in the Sky". We used to set the bar. It took visionaries to do that who saw Houston as a place they loved instead of ONLY a place to make money.