Why is Houston always downplayed? (Mart, China: to rent, townhome, purchase)

[Matadora]

Originally Posted by theone33

Have you not driven around Montrose, Richmond, Cullen?

Me talking about DT streets...they are smooth and wide.

[theone33]

Originally Posted by curbur

They'd have to substantially clean up and trench the bayous further for that amount of boat traffic, but planting the landscaping and making renovations around it isn't too hard as buffalo bayou has shown.



That sounds awesome! I'd love to attend! When is it? 9:00am-4:30pm on a Thursday? I guess I don't need my job..

I wonder what was discused at the tourist meeting!? How can we find out?

[Matadora]

Originally Posted by theone33

I wonder what was discused at the tourist meeting!? How can we find out?

From the link that was posted: http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/m...d-sept-10.html

"To seize the opportunity, the hospitality industry must work together, and that's what this summit is about."

• Houston has already begun to make major changes to prepare for the 2017 Super Bowl and the 2016 NCAA Final Four, which are expected to bring a bevy of tourists to the city.
  
• Five hotel projects with a total of 1,906 rooms were underway downtown as of March, while several other new hotels opened this summer.
  
• Meanwhile, the George R. Brown is moving forward on plans for major renovations as a part of a $175 million project to revamp the convention center area before the Super Bowl.
• The Visitors Bureau said the summit is part of an effort to increase the volume of annual visitors to the city by 30 percent to 20 million by 2018.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by Pine to Vine

Boston

Urbanity is a much tossed about but rarely defined term here on CD. As the country's 4th largest city, it is by default urban. But it is sandwiched between Chicago and Philadelphia in population. If any Houstonians have visited those two cities, I would guess that they sense a different kind of urban fabric from that of Houston.

Let's look at Philadelphia, the 5th largest city. According to Wikipedia, over 189,000 people live in Center City Philadelphia in additional to the large number of residents in the adjacent neighborhoods (e.g. there are an estimated 50,000 people living in University City). Compare this with the 14,000 people Wikipedia claims live in DT Houston. Center City Philadelphia's density permits a person to manage pretty much all the activities they need or want without driving including going to their place of business, grocery stores, all manner of shopping from dollar stores to Tiffany, too many restaurants of every shade and variety, theaters, performing arts venues, museums, movie theaters, parks and plazas, farmer's markets, bars and nightclubs, dry cleaners, pharmiacies, medical and dental services, etc.

So, as you note, only a handful of US cities can offer all of these above conveniences. But urbanity is not an on/off switch. Personally, I consider the reliance of people on their cars as one indicator of the level of "urbanity," as it is often defined on CD. In the 6 cities above, using a car hinders instead of helps residents in their day-to-day activities because parking is both difficult and expensive. In cities like both Portlands, Seattle and Baltimore, it's convenient to attend to some but not all of one's activities without a car. However, in my experience in Houston, I found that in most families, everyone of driving age needed a car. Yes, I know there will be a handful of Houstonians who will reply to this post letting me know they attend to all of their needs and wants as pedestrians in Houston's urban core. But how common is it that your family members, friends, and coworkers routinely walk to their employment and attend to their personal needs and entertainment without a car?

I would guess that most would agree that Houston is fairly car-centric. I've noted that some Houston posters here come across as defensive when posters comment on the city's car-centric nature. I can understand why however. Here on CD, the handful of walkable, dense cities are held up as models of urbanity and those that don't meet that model are sometimes called out and ridiculed as failures. Houston, like any city has its faults. Yet it is a dynamic, growing, amenity-rich city that offers everything its citizens want and need, and then some. Don't confuse the small world of CD with the real world you can see with your on eyes when you log off your laptop.

I did it quite a bit when I lived in West U. I usually walked to the dry cleaner and drug store. Often to the bank and regularly to lots of different restaurants.
Now West U. is obviously not like NYC/Chicago/San Francisco or the central parts of DC, Philly and Boston. So you have to define exactly what you are talking about.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by Matadora

Me talking about DT streets...they are smooth and wide.

METRO rebuilt most of the downtown streets about 15 years ago, they've held up pretty well. (Incidentally, that's why everyone was complaining about the construction mess from METRO back then but blaming it all on the light rail, which was just one street.)

In fact, downtown probably has the best streets in the city - they even have sidewalks!

[Matadora]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

In fact, downtown probably has the best streets in the city - they even have sidewalks!

That's always been my experience and one of my most appreciative things about DT Houston.

[theone33]

Originally Posted by Matadora

That's always been my experience and one of my most appreciative things about DT Houston.

We used to skate on them years ago late at night when nobody was out . I might even come out of retirement when they finish up the construction.

[Gunion Powder]

Originally Posted by Spade

How many of those targets are fronted by wasteland giant parking lots. I have no problem with big box stores. Just the one with lots. DC just built two walmarts themselves and neither of them have parking lots unless you want to count a garage as parking lots. One of those walmarts isn't far from downtown DC. I actually wish Houston did this too. But developers.....

A Target is still a Target. It doesn't matter much how it is built.

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by theone33

We used to skate on them years ago late at night when nobody was out . I might even come out of retirement when they finish up the construction.

Yep, you could literally skate for 15 minutes around midnight without seeing anyone else. Of course that was 25 or 30 years ago. Of course, the only good surfaces were in front of the office buildings, and nothing seemed to break up the monotony of being a security guard like going out front and telling the skaters to leave.

[gwarnecke]

Originally Posted by Gunion Powder

A Target is still a Target. It doesn't matter much how it is built.

Lakewood CO has a nice Target that was built right above a covered parking garage

I'm kinda surprised that the Heights Walmart didn't follow this model, as valuable as the land must be. But neither do I believe that they should've been arm-twisted into doing so. Expect we'll see future big-boxes inside the loop built along this paradigm.