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Houston19514

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Everything posted by Houston19514

  1. Houston19514
    So it's MY fault... Got it. ;-) The problem with that with regard to the Chronicle is it wasn't worth the subscription price long before the internet disrupted the economics of the newspaper business. If they actually found some news to report (and reported it accurately), they would generate more clicks and sell more advertising and maybe even some subscriptions. I'd be happy to pay for a subscription for a news service that I could rely on to report on major news items occurring at City Council and Committee meetings, Metro board meetings, etc etc. (and as I previously mentioned, most of it can be covered without leaving one's house, hell, without leaving one's bed!) I'm not sure how television news even came in to this conversation. News flash: local television news has always been free to the viewer. Their cutbacks can hardly be blamed on consumers' unwillingness to pay.
  2. Houston19514
    As do I and I'm sure the downtown organizations, which are indeed working on them. My understanding is that some of them were simply turned off because the homeless were bathing in them/and using them as urinals (or worse). Just turning of the fountains is not really a good answer to that issue, but certainly understandable.
  3. Houston19514
    I guess it would be logical to draw the conclusion that the vast majority of our downtown fountains are not working, if you re-define fountain to be any inanimate object one chooses. To help everyone keep track, the following pictures are of elements of the Cotswold project that are not fountains, never were fountains and were never intended to be fountains: f
  4. Houston19514
    Revised count Of the 12 existing Cotswold fountains, 6 are working. 6 are currently not working. I'll try to go by some of these on my walk to update. Cotswold #1, Preston @ Smith. Was removed, presumably when the Ballet's Center for Dance was built. Cotswold #2, Preston @ Louisiana. Not Working. Cotswold #3, Preston @ Market Square. Working. Cotswold #4, Preston @ Main. Not working. Cotswold #5, Preston @ Main. Not working. Cotswold #6, 1100 block of Preston. Working Cotswold #7, Preston @ Caroline. Not Working. Cotswold #8, Preston @ Crawford. Working. Cotswold #9, Prairie @ Travis. Working. (And has been working regularly for quite some time, even when Editor laughably told us it was in disrepair because the wall was "leaking". The wall is a weeping wall; that's part of the design.) Cotswold #10, Prairie @ Travis. Working. Cotswold #11, Congress @ Main. Not Working, last I checked. Cotswold #12, Congress @ Main. Not working, last I checked. Sorry, can't find a picture. Cotswold #13, Congress @ Market Square. Working.
  5. Houston19514
    Yep. Tranquility and Sesquicentennial have been off for quite some time and are #1 and #2 in my list of non-working fountains. By my count, a slight majority of Cotswold fountains are actually working. (6 of 11). Now, if one counts items that are not, and were never intended to be, fountains (as our Editor does) then the count comes out differently. ;-) I don't know if the fountain has it's own name. But it's in Sesquicentennial Park (next door to the Wortham Center.)
  6. Houston19514
    That was entertaining, but i've already provided a pretty complete list of working and non-working fountains in downtown Houston. You could have just said something like, You're right Houston 19514, I'd overlooked a lot of fountains. The vast majority do indeed work. I do now see the source of part of you're confusion. You are including on your "list" of non-working fountains at least eight items that are not fountains and never were (and also now seem to want to include fountains that have completely removed and no longer exist.) Even if we follow that illogical standard you are well short of "the vast majority not working" as you have claimed. My other comments are inserted into the quoted post in red. Not sure what point you were even trying to make here. Yes, some fountains have been removed over the years (show me thriving changing city where that hasn't happened) and I've already acknowledged that there are a few fountains in downtown that are not working (some of which are being worked on.) I've also shown you a list of 35 working fountains against 7 nonworking. FACT: the vast majority of downtown's fountains are working. And soon, we'll have another beautiful one in Lynn Wyatt Square.
  7. Houston19514
    . Just can't admit to the fact that the vast majority of downtown fountains are indeed working, can you? Even had to go outside of downtown to find yourself another non-working foiuntain, which judging by the fencing around it is probably being worked on. I saw it working just a couple weeks ago. As to the Houston Center fountain, I doubt it was ever their intention to have it running 24/7. It does work; I've recently seen it running, as you can see in my posted picture above.
  8. Houston19514
    Perhaps. But that's no excuse. Journalism should be more than just checking the fax machine/email box. A journalist with the slightest bit of curiosity about the world around them could (should) have easily have found this information, without even leaving their house (or bed, for that matter). Do they not even have anyone checking the agendas of City Council and Committee meetings? Truly pathetic.
  9. Houston19514
    These will bring downtown's hotel count to 32!
  10. Houston19514
    What's the over/under on when the Chronicle will report on this major development?
  11. Houston19514
    Status?
  12. Houston19514
    United's plans for Bush Intercontinental Terminal B are being presented today. Huge rebuild of Terminal B. They will demolish the original banjo flight stations and build two new concourses to serve narrow body and wide body aircraft. Look like about 22 gates total, including 4 wide body gates. Will double the footprint of the central processor; new inbound and outbound baggage systems, new security screening checkpoint, new ticketing lobby. They will take the land that is currently surface parking east of the existing central processor. B South will be renovated to allow for 18 gates for large regional jets, with passenger loading bridges at each gate. They expect to start enabling projects early in the third quarter. Construction on the B North concourses to start mid-4th Quarter (2023). Also work on the new Processor building will start on the surface lot mid-4th Quarter (2023). B South work is to start early next year. B South to be completed mid-year 2025. North concourses and processor work to be completed mid-year 2026. https://www.houstontx.gov/council/committees/econdev/20230531/United-Airlines-Terminal-B-Redevelopment.pdf
  13. Houston19514
    From 2020 to to 2022, Atlanta metro added 132,351 people, Denver added 22,040. Houston added 217,912.
  14. Houston19514
    Very interesting. Thanks for the links. I like the direction Houston is going on this; of course it would be nice if they could step up the pace of expanding market-based parking and doing away with the minimums.
  15. Houston19514
    How can we know that (unless you have inside information from the developer or it was stated in some filings or public hearing)? I think the impact of the lifting of parking minimums on residential development is often exaggerated. For example, under the city's parking minimums, Brava downtown would have been required to provide 538 spaces. Their garage has 517 spaces, a mere 3.9% reduction. Back to X Houston, I'm curious about their parking. The building is said to have 460 parking spaces and 475 units. Under the standard multifamily residential parking requirements, even if all the units were efficiencies (which they are not; there will be 1 BR, and 2 BR in addition to studio/efficiencies), they would be required to provide 594 parking spaces. Did they get a waiver or something?
  16. Houston19514
    Again, there is simply nothing in the regulations or the car-centricness of the city's development, that requires townhomes to include garages, as was originally claimed. Those regulations and the car-centricness of the city's development could easily be addressed by carports, parking spaces, or common lots for townhome developments. But the market requires garages.
  17. Houston19514
    I think joint venturing the development of the district has always been the plan.
  18. Houston19514
    There is no cop-out in saying that there is no significant market for townhomes without garages. Just an acknowledgement of realty. Nothing mythical about this market.
  19. Houston19514
    Okay. We'll see what the future holds.
  20. Houston19514
    Kinda funny that in the paragraph immediately preceding the one where they (falsely) state that they have two Ritz-Carltons being built, the New York Times writer says: "In a city [Dallas] whose dining scene has often dwelled in the shadow of Houston's diverse cuisines..." And no, they do not have two Ritz-Carltons being built in Dallas. The former Four Seasons in Irving is being converted to a Ritz-Carlton. A third Ritz-Carlton has been announced for Frisco near the new PGA HQ and golf course, but it is unclear when that one will be built (or IF it will actually come to fruition). Typical Dallas hype and over-announcement. FWIW, yes they have a Ritz-Carlton (and next year they, meaning Dallas-Fort Worth, not Dallas) will have two and we have none. But we have both a Four Seasons and St. Regis, neither of which has a flag in DFW.
  21. Houston19514
    It's not only students who engage in rumor mills . . . especially when it comes to academia. 😉
  22. Houston19514
    I'm curious if there have been any actions taken or even statements made by Rice's new administration that show they are reorganizing Rice's direction? This sounds like typical campus rumor mill that spins like crazy when a university gets a new President. I also note that in January they launched a "Building Rice's Future" planning process, so it's unlikely any major changes in direction regarding The Ion would have been decided before the planning process is completed (and the process is planned to take all year). Somewhat related; the new President has pretty cool video on this page: https://president.rice.edu/
  23. Houston19514
    Here are your exact words: " even the townhouse developments themselves are stymied, since regulations force them to include garages". They can easily comply with the regulations by providing parking spots. Nothing in the regulations even hints at forcing them to include garages. The fact is, builders put garages in townhomes because the market requires garages. If the entire city of Houston had zero setback regulations AND zero minimum parking requirements, it would still be a VERY rare townhouse that did not include a garage.
  24. Houston19514
    If there's any truth to that story, apparently those sorts of things must be pretty common in San Francisco!
  25. Houston19514
    https://www.ricedesignalliance.org/about/faq#:~:text=RDA discontinued all fundraising activities,fundraising as a standalone entity. "This evolution is a shift away from a fundraising-dependent, membership-based model—which it became over the course of 50 years—back to RDA’s original mission, which is focused on urban and design advocacy in Houston and beyond with more direct community engagement."
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