Houston19514

This week's HBJ has an article saying that "only minor hurdles remain before construction could begin this fall" on the new Dynamo Stadium. Also, "Two other key parts of the stadium completion puzzle have fallen into place, including the hiring of New York firm Populous as project designer. Populous created the design for the two palatial baseball stadiums that opened this year in New York, including the new Yankee Stadium, as well as Citi Field, home to the New York Mets. The Dynamo stadium will include an upper and lower bowl structure, with a club seating area and 32 or 34 suites.

Are you sure about that 12 floors? I thought there were only 9 or 10 floors in the building.

Perhaps. But if our sugar prices were not 2-3 times those of the world market, the soft drink makers would never have looked for another sweetener. So it seems that the proximate cause is the protection of the sugar industry.

Probably has something to do with our highly protected (and therefore overpriced) domestic sugar industry.

From the HP website: Andalusia Tapas Restaurant & Bar

Not really so difficult when you think about it ;-) From Metro's website: This proposed facility is being designed so that it could accommodate other modes of transportation that could be phased into service, such as commuter rail, private bus carriers, and national passenger rail (AMTRAK). However, these facilities are not included in Phase I, and would not be constructed until funding and environmental clearances are in place.

According to Metro's website: METRO has modified the LRT alignment which moves the LRT bridge structure to the east side of the tunnel. This will allow the Hernandez Tunnel to remain open, until a future date when a Main Street by-pass located to the west of Main Street is constructed. The by-pass will go over the existing UPRR tracks.

Moderators, can this be moved to "off-topic" or somewhere it might belong?

YOU may not reach a final conclusion, but city after city HAS looked at the issue and they are pretty much unanimously reaching the same solid conclusion, to-wit, as noted earlier, nobody is building elevated rail in the densest parts of their cities. Nobody. And many cities are building rail on the surface.

Exactly.

ROFLMAO. You are a treasure, Niche.

ROFL. Is that really your argument? First, I NEVER said elevated rail was bad. But despite not being BAD, there must be some reason it is not built any more, and hasn't been built by any city for over 100 years (in the densest part of the cities.) Your analogy is laughable. Just as nobody said elevated rail was bad; I suspect nobody ever said Coca-Cola made from pure cane sugar was bad. And yet, apparently, they don't make it any more. I imagine there is probably some pretty good reason for that.

Yes, Niche, we all know there is no such thing as a free lunch. Nobody claimed anything to the contrary. I don't really need a lesson in capital costs or operating costs, least of all from you. I am quite aware that everything in your first paragraph is true. You are using your google skills to their max again, aren't you? ;-) From the beginning, I have said IF they are funded with revenue bonds supported by the revenue stream of the dormitories (and that appears to be the case), then there is no prioritization necessary vis a vis other projects. Very simple. Nothing you have said above is in any way contrary to or corrective of that.

LOL. That's just the Niche being the Niche.

LOL Yeah, right. Building elevated rail in the densest parts of a city is SO much better that, apparently, no city has done it for over 100 years. Meanwhile, back here in the real world, city after city is implementing light rail on the surface.

You're referring to the "convoluted system" downtown that carries more passengers per mile of track than any other light rail system in America? Is that the one your are referring to that will supposedly prevent "it" from becoming viable? (and as RedScare said, if the rail system does not expand because it cannot become viable, then, how do you explain the expansion project?) Seriously, you should stop listening to your cousin and try to learn a little before posting.

For the record, "most streets that have cable cars" (in fact I think it's safe to say that ALL streets that have cable cars) are in San Francisco. But, so what that those streets were originally built for that use? Houston's streets that have light rail were re-designed and re-built when the light rail was installed (and further re-designed to cure the accident problem, which has pretty much been cured, a fact that you continue to ignore.) Perhaps it would be useful if, rather than just assuming that our rail is different from others in the world, you inquired or did some research. You don't have to be a world traveler to learn about other rail systems. There's this thing called the internet that has an almost inexhaustible supply of information. And rather than continuing to pretend that it's 2004, get your facts updated regarding the accident record involving Houston's light rail.

That is where Lucky Strike is going to be. Third floor.

Again, I didn't say you were advocating every rail in America be elevated... Can you give me examples of other major cities that have elevated their rail through areas similar to our downtown and medical center?

Thank you. I was sure I was leaving a few out. I will edit. As to buildings lost, I think that hotel might be the entire list of buildings lost that have been replaced with surface parking.

You may have noticed that not all roadways are freeways or have overpasses and underpasses. Different roads serve different purposes. The same applied to rail systems. For those providing mid- to long-distance types of service, separation makes more sense. For those providing local service, not so much.

I counted 60 full block equivalents (by adding up all of the 1/2, 1/4, and 3/4 block surface lots. Yes, still a long way to go. But we've also come a VERY long way in a relatively short time: Toyota Center: 6 blocks Hilton Americas/GRB Expansion: 7-8 blocks Minute Maid Park: 8 blocks 5 Houston Center: 1 block Hess Tower: 1 3/4 blocks Houston Pavilions: 3 blocks New Sacred Heart Cathedral 1 block Christ Church Cath Expansion 1 block 1000 Main 1 block 1500 Louisiana 2 blocks Embassy Suites 1 block 717 Texas (fka Calpine Twr) 3/4 block Discovery Green 3 blocks Civil Court House 1 block Criminal Court House 1 block County Pkg garage 1 block Holiday Inn Express 1/2 block new fire station 1 block Metro HQ/Transit Ctr. 1 block New YMCA 1 block That comes to approximately 44 blocks in approximately 10 years (minus 1/4 block lost to surface parking by destruction of old hotel). So, net 43 1/4. At this pace, we'll be rid of all of our surface parking in another 15 years.

and I don't think I said you did. I guess you could infer that from my comparison to the introduction of cars to the city landscape. So to be perfectly clear, I guess I should continue the comparison. The comparable reaction to the introduction of cars would be not to ban them but to build wildly expensive elevated or underground highways for all of them.