Houston19514

^ Perhaps that's because it's actually patterned after MAYAN temples. Not Aztec. ;-)

Go to www.kirksey.com Click on "Portfolio" Then on "Commercial" Then click on the number 3. You can get an idea of what kind of skyscraper he might build by looking at the company headquarters he already built. (It's only 8 stories, so probably not really a skyscraper. Nevertheless, it might give some indication of the style, level of design, etc.)

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."

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.

^ Yes, I believe those are the correct block numbers.

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.

^ ROFL

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)

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?

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.

Any chance there might be a little retail on the ground floor? A nice cafe perhaps?

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.

ROFL. Thanks for showing us the very picture of open mindedness. What a joke!

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?

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

^ 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. ;-)

Just ran across this by way of a search on HAR: Da Vinci Court 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?

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.

^ I totally agree. Gehry is so 1990s ;-)

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)

^ 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. ;-)

Where is the love?

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.

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.