Houston19514
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Posts posted by Houston19514
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Forgive my language, but why the hell do we have all of these organization supposedly promoting downtown if NOT ONE of them can do a damned thing to promote or assist something like this in any way. Where are all of those people in their little pastel outfits who are supposed to be keeping downtown clean? Why aren't they over there cleaning up after the dogs, if the police cannot enforce the laws?
Just for starters, we have the
Downtown Entertainment District
Houston Downtown Management District
Central Houston Inc.
Houston Downtown Alliance
Downtown Midtown Resdidents Association
not to mention the city of Houston itself.
None of their websites are kept up to date. If one wants to find out what is going on in downtown Houston, they are worthless. I find nothing about the Market Square Market, OR Party on the Plaza, OR Main Event. How sad is it that nobody on this board knows whether Party on the Plaza or Main Event still exists? AND nobody knows how to find out.
Just a quick example: The Downtown Entertainment District Alliance has a banner headline on the front page of their website announcing the St Patrick's Parade March 12 and the St. Patrick's Day Festival March 17!! If one clicks on "calendar" one is taken to another page that announces the SAME TWO LONG-PAST EVENTS! I can find NOTHING about Party on the Plaza. Nothing about the Main Event. Sheesh.
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^ Yes, I believe those are the correct block numbers.
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Reliant Energy was the primary backer, and I think the organizer, of Power of Houston. They had to get the cooperation of most every major building owner downtown, not only to cast lights on them, but to install lights and fireworks and lasers on their rooftops and in many cases, take out windows and install equipment inside of buildings. Weeks before the show, they were running helicopters dropping stuff on the tops of the buildings. It was an incredible undertaking and no doubt very expensive, but at the same time, the whole festival raised a bunch of money for charity.
I think the primary reason it was in October rather than 4th of July or New Years Eve is a very simple one: better, more comfortable weather.
I brought my three nephews and neice down for it and they still talk about it. All agree they'd love to see it again and would happily pay for it.
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Power of Houston was INCREDIBLE!! Impossible to describe. And pictures, as spectacular as they are, do not do it justice. I wish they would make it a permanent annual event.
DJV Lawrence: great pics of Power of Houston. I like your idea for a regular lighting of the skyline.
Re: the petition to City Council. While it might help to get the City Council interested... They are not the ones who make the decision on lighting buildings. Each individual building owner makes that call. It might be more useful to present the petition to the building owners and/or the various downtown organizations (and there seems to be too many of those, but that's another subject)
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I don't believe in that Men's Fitness "Fattest Cities" deal.
I live in San Diego, supposedly one of the 4 top "slimmest" cities but I see just as many overweight people here as in Houston, relatively speaking. It still has the strip centers, the fast food culture, freeways 'n automobile culture...all the things that are generally American with their attendant negative aspects.
I know Southern California has an overblown image to keep up but obesity and bad diet are generally an all-American problem not just that of Philly, Chicago, Detroit, Houston or cities that Men's Fitness doesn't like. I mean how does a car culture, fast-food crazy city like Los Angeles not be in the same rank as those other "fat" big cities? People take public transit and walk more in Chicago than L.A.
The bizarre sense of formulae that Men's Fitness comes up, calculating the humid days with vitamin shops among other criteria...is B.S. (Men's Fitness is a SoCal-based rag, by the way.) If we go by Men's Fitness bizarre mindset, then the fact that the In-N-Out Burger is so canonized in California while there is no one corresponding burger joint in Houston that gets Houstonians all equally stoked...should be factored in significantly.
There are x amount of people in Houston who work out, no more or less than in San Diego, and no amount of "humidity" turns away an impressive number of strollers and joggers who are out in Memorial Park on any given August day.
Heck, I see more fitness centers in Houston than in San Diego.
Lastly, a Centers for Disease Control study, more accurate than some Men's Fitness SoCal propaganda, spotted San Diego as being number 4 in terms of "obese adults" concerns while Houston was not even in the top 10.
Agreed. That Mens Fitness thing is total crap. It is absolutely remarkable (and shameful) that it gets all the publicity it does from "news" media. It is fraudulent to announce the "nation's fattest city" based on a bunch of fairly random criteria (criteria which is generally not very well examined at that) ONLY ONE OF WHICH is the actual level of obesity. And, as usual with bad publicity, Houston (in general, and the Chronicle specifically) buys right into it and hangs its head in shame. I, for one, refuse to buy Mens Fitness magazine because of this annual fraud. If I can't trust them on that, why would I trust them to give me fitness advice?
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OMG He's a moron!
Just listened to it too. You guys are right. Dan Patrick is a moron. And a complete and utter jackass as well. He talked over, interrupted, belittled, and engaged in unwarranted and irrelevant personal attacks. There's a reason I don't listen to very much local talk radio, and this performance by Dan Patrick is an excellent reminder of that reason. His ridiculous obsession with Billy Burge's not having a computer was just pathetic and childish. I have known a lot of VERY effective chief executives who don't have or operate a computer. So what?
Mr Patrick repeatedly attacked Mr. Burge for not knowing if the hockey team is profitable. Why WOULD the head of the Sports Authority know that? He is not running the hockey team, and unless it's in the terms of the contract, it's really none of his business.
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You are correct. It is being converted into Medical Offices. Greenberg & Co is the current leasing agent on the building. I would have rather seen this redeveloped as residential, but I assume the numbers did not work. Hopefully the integrity of the building will be kept.
Any chance there might be a little retail on the ground floor? A nice cafe perhaps?
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Sorry about that. Don't know how I missed that word "former" in there.
But let's not all get too carried away with this. Keep in mind that Jack Rains may just have some axes to grind, so to speak. I don't know where the truth is on any of those items he talked about there, but, as I said, having been involuntarily replaced at the Sports Authority, his motivation MAY not be entirely pure.
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I haven't spoken up until now, but this one got my blood boiling. I can't understand how anyone on this forum would make excuses for the Republican scum we have in office today. This is not to say many of the Democrats aren't bad either, but this is an ARCHITECTURE forum. Aren't we supposed to be a thinking, open-minded group of people who are at least a little intelligent? How any thinking person, let alone any person of color, or person with a disability, any woman, any military person, any poor or Middle Class person, etc could be duped into supporting these bafoons.
Architecture is an art, an expression - something modern Repulicans can't bear to think about.
ROFL. Thanks for showing us the very picture of open mindedness. What a joke!
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(just read this on www.bloghouston.net)
08 April 2005
Billy Burge: THE best reason to shut down the Sports Authority!
Dan Patrick (KSEV-700) just had the most astounding interview. He began his show by chatting with Jack Rains who was the founding Chairman of the Board of the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority. Rains agrees that the Sports Authority should be shuttered and was discussing it with Patrick. It was a very interesting interview, with Rains providing plenty of facts and tidbits relating to the Sports Authority and the building of the three sports venues (these are from memory and scribbled notes; if something's a bit off, let me know):
--Enron Field (now Minute Maid Park) came in on time and under budget, although about $20 million worth of extras that Astros' owner Drayton McLane was supposed to pay for, the Sports Authority let him get out of (that was after Rains had left the Authority).
--Reliant was supposed to come in at around $300 million but ended up coming in at around $500 million. Rains said some of those extras were due to Rodeo needs and the Rodeo paid for its extras, but those didn't total $200 million.
--Rockets' owner Les Alexander got a nice deal on the Toyota Center at about $100 million more than what the Sports Authority had been authorized to approve. (I think Rains said Lee Brown negotiated the deal, but I could be wrong.)
--Reliant Stadium has already been handed over to Harris County, and the Toyota Center to the City of Houston. So, as Rains said, Minute Maid Park needs to be handed over to the city or the county, and then that will relieve the Sports Authority of any further oversight.
--Regarding the idea that Oliver Luck is busy promoting Houston's professional sports teams (an idea promoted by the Chronicle's editorial board), Rains said that's nonsense. He said the owners of the teams would never hand over promotion of their teams to Luck. And in the off-chance that they did want Oliver Luck to handle promotional duties, then Rains said the team owners need to be paying Luck's salary, not taxpayers. (Amen and hallelujia!)
--Rains said he thinks the $3 million operating budget for the Sports Authority is steep for what the Authority currently has to do. He said that the city and county should WANT to dissolve the Authority and get control of the money, if the Authority isn't handling the finances as well as it should be (think last summer's near-miss with junk bond status.)
--Rains thinks governmental entities like the Sports Authority should all have a sunset-clause built in.
--Rains said the Sports Authority is a "creature that has outlived its usefulness."
It was around this time that Patrick took a call and it was Billy Burge, current chairman of the Sports Authority, and boy was he hot! He said he was in San Francisco and he didn't have a computer, so we can guess that someone from Houston called him to alert him. He tore into Rains, personally attacking him. Then he tore into Patrick, telling Patrick that he is stupid and doesn't understand "things." (To be absolutely fair to Patrick and Rains, Burge was so far out of line, it was unreal. Patrick and Rains had been having a very calm and friendly conversation and were verbally attacked, out of nowhere, by Burge.)
When Patrick and Rains questioned Burge about the $3 million Sports Authority operating budget, Burge let slip that the taxpayers (you and me) are subsidizing a parking garage and the ice for Aeros games.
Really! $100,000 worth of ice for Aeros' players to skate on is paid for by the taxpayers!
And Burge couldn't figure out why Rains and Patrick found that astonishing. Rains had said earlier that when he was in charge of the Sports Authority, he knew that he was representing and looking out for the taxpayers. Burge appears to take the exact opposite view -- he made it clear that his mission is to look out for the teams and the owners. He said it was small-minded of Patrick to think that the Aeros should pay for their ice, he had no idea if the Aeros make money or lose money, and he didn't appear to care. Plus, while he was berating Patrick and Rains, Burge was confirming his dinner reservations!
It was an amazing call-in from Billy Burge, who is also the former chairman of Metro's board of directors and the current chairman of the Grand Parkway Association. (Uh oh, Grand Parkway...)
Patrick said that Lone Star Times would have an MP3 of the interview/call-in later this weekend. If they do, I will post an update and I would encourage everyone to listen to the entire show. Rains' information was invaluable and Burge's display...well, mere words cannot convey what an ass he made of himself. You really need to hear it.
He is a disturbing example of someone who has access to taxpayer money, and the mayor and county commissioners would be wise to get rid of him, after that display of unbelievable bureaucratic arrogance.
And then they can get to work shutting down the Sports Authority. The Aeros need to pay for their own damn ice.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 04/08/05 06:32 PM | Houston Politics
Not only is Billy Burge not Metro's Chairman, he is is not even on Metro's Board of Directors. Is this an indication of the reliability of the rest of your post?
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I just happened upon this on My-Table.com: According to them, Dolce & Freddo closed all locations in 2004. It's in their "Farewell - 2004's Most Significant Closings" section
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^ You missed one little detail that makes The Villages of Lake Sumter quite different and not comparable at all to The Woodlands.
The Villages of Lake Sumter is a retirement community (or, in the words of their website, "an active 55+ adult community"). It seems like I am seeing television commercials for them constantly. They have one of those bad jingles that sticks in your brain and claws away all day long. ;-)
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Just ran across this by way of a search on HAR:
They are townhouses in the 1500 block of North Main and apparently is the first project in the Hardy Railyard development. They look very nice.
Has anyone been by there lately? Are these already under construction?
Well, I just did the virtual tour on the website and it appears that some of them have already been built. Is that correct?
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Thanks for the correction. I guess what I should have said was Hartsfield has consistently maintained its position as one of the top two U.S. airports since the Olympics (I think it even held the #1 spot a couple of years ago). DJ V, do you think that is an accurate statement? . . I'm too lazy to research it tonight.
It would be awfully difficult to make a convincing case that Atlanta has the second busiest airport because of the Olympics (actually in numbers of passengers, Atlanta has been the busiest airport for some years now). And as far as the Olympics turning it into a "world-class" city, I would think we would need to look at the airport's international traffic. In that category, Atlanta and George Bush Intercontinental are neck and neck for the no. 7 ranking in the U.S. Again, it would be pretty hard to make a convincing case that Atlanta's position is due to the Olympics.
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I totally agree. Gehry is so 1990s ;-)
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I'm a little confused...
According to TrophyProperty's numbers, there are apparently 62,500 square feet in the subject block ($3,625,000 / $58 per square foot). So why would a developer only rent out 21,000 square feet? Would one really have to devote two-thirds of the property to non-rentable uses?
And here's an idea that might make the numbers work in any event... multiple stories, allowing the development of say, 105,000 rentable square feet in only five stories (and that's only using the seemingly low 21,000 square feet per story)
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^ Not necessarily true. There is a small chain of sandwich shops here in Oklahoma that has one-way windows in their bathrooms. You can look out from the bathroom, but not in. And of course, both sides are lit. Nobody is lurking in the shadows. ;-)
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Fertitta just wants to prove a point, IMHO. I have a love/hate relationship with him, I can't explain it, but I hate the fact that the Landry's sold out so perhaps I am just bitter about that.
Plus, I think he ruined Kemah, but that's just me. If he buys the Astros I think I will absolutely implode.
Where is the love?
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i checked in on this and it was just too cheesy. btw, wasn't allison a tropical storm instead of a hurricane? i'm not even sure what the exact difference is, something about the strength of the winds, but when making the movie it would have been better if they had gotten that right. probably whoever made the movie felt tropical storm did not sound as serious and took the liberty of upgrading the storm to hurricane. also i read that a family is suing herman hospital because their child died - it seems some patients were evacuated and some were not - and the hospital did not include the child in the first wave of patients moved. very tragic, and no way i would want the responsibility of making the decision of who to move and in what order. i only hope those in charge of the med center facilities learned from this horrible event and a better emergency mgmt plan has been formulated should future flooding occur.
deb martin
Are you saying you watched it and that in the show they mistakenly referredto the storm as a hurricane? I just went to the show's website and they repeatedly refer to Tropical Storm Allison and I cannot find the word hurricane anywhere. I meant to watch it last night but forgot :-( I'll have to try to catch it later this week.
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OK--for those of you fools that think the zaza or warwick or whatever can be compared to a wh0rehouse like the derek is ridiculous.
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Why should the city have a "contract" with any shuttle service? Why not just open it up and allow people to provide such services in a free market? It seems especially weird that Houston, generally one of the most "free-market" cities in America, has perhaps the least-free market in America when it comes to airport transportation. Shameful, really.
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I think the chemicals being dumped into the air by all the petrochemical plants that now have even more lax restrictions thanks to GWB have a lot to do with it.
Specifically, please, what air pollution restrictions have become MORE LAX thanks to GWB?
Reminder For All Users
in HAIF on HAIF
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Yes, there is a "fair use" exception. But I don't think the copying of entire articles onto a website would qualify. And Tamganon's point is one of the reasons. The "effect of the use on the potential market" is one of the elements courts examine to determine whether there has been "fair use."