Dallas Skyline(WOW)Yes another Dallas to Houston comparison thread! (Austin: buses, airports)

[MobileDave]

This is seriously my last post on this never ending thread in which nobody gets anywhere. I just want to correct one of the lies a Dallas homer posted (you know who you are).

Office space vacancy (Q1 2012):

Dallas overall - 22.9%
CBD - 27.9%
Class A CBD - 23.4%

Houston overall - 14.6%
CBD - 14.3%
Class A CBD - 11.3%

Class A for Houston is the third lowest in the country. I guess that's the reason Houston keeps building buildings and Dallas has a problem filling the ones they have.

Real Points » Blog Archive » DFW Job Gains Lead to 1Q Office Vacancy Dip

Houston Office Market Report 1Q-2012

[dallasboi]

Originally Posted by MobileDave

That's crazy because this is what I think when I visit Dallas.

Honestly they are basically the same in that area....Houston DOES have more highrises throughout the city but they seem randomly placed in different areas giving a spaced out look. this is with the exception of the Galleria area ,TMC and Downtown. In Dallas we have fewer Highrises througout the city and the few clusters we do have seem spaced out as little bunches wich could give off that same spaced out feeling. This too is with exception of Uptown/Downtown. They are both developed suburbanly.

[R1070]

Originally Posted by MobileDave

That's crazy because this is what I think when I visit Dallas.

Dallas lacks cohesiveness in it's inner city neighborhoods? umm.....

[Nairobi]

Originally Posted by R1070

Dallas lacks cohesiveness in it's inner city neighborhoods? umm.....

C'mon, R1070, that can easily be argued, and you know this. Quite frankly, cohesiveness is somewhat relative, so if someone wanted to argue that Dallas' intown neighborhoods were lacking, all you can do is disagree. So we can stop pretending that it's some universally accepted fact that inner city Dallas is all put together and Houston is nothing but a big mess.

[Nairobi]

Originally Posted by dallasboi

Houston DOES have more highrises throughout the city but they seem randomly placed in different areas giving a spaced out look.

The thing I love about our skyline: random skyscrapers. I love how we have our main districts with a cluster of skyscrapers, but then have other highrises just jutting out of nowhere for no reason at all. To each his own.

[R1070]

Originally Posted by Nairobi

C'mon, R1070, that can easily be argued, and you know this. Quite frankly, cohesiveness is somewhat relative, so if someone wanted to argue that Dallas' intown neighborhoods were lacking, all you can do is disagree. So we can stop pretending that it's some universally accepted fact that inner city Dallas is all put together and Houston is nothing but a big mess.

I don't think Houston is a huge mess. It's just not the same as Dallas.

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by jbarn

Last week. All over Downtown, Uptown, Midtown, etc...no comparison to Dallas in the vibrancy department. And part of the reason that it lacks that vibrancy is the very thing that you guys like to brag about, its bigness. It is just too big and spread out. It lacks cohesiveness in any of its inner-city neighborhoods.

I suppose this is the reason Houston is twice the size of Dallas yet its still more dense & developed inside & outside of the inner loop. Its light rail line also has a higher ridership. Its city bus fleet is one of the largest in the nation. It has TWO, count it TWO international airports!!! Houston is easily the more cosmopolitan out of the two.

If we're talking metros, both cover almost the same exact land area.

DT Houston is the central "nerve" of the metro. Everything revolves around Houston.

Dallas is just one city in a multi-polar region known as the "Metroplex". Its importance is less than Houston's. At the rate Fort Worth is growing it will be larger than Dallas in the next 15-20 years.

[dallasboi]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

I suppose this is the reason Houston is twice the size of Dallas yet its still more dense & developed inside & outside of the inner loop. Its light rail line also has a higher ridership. Its city bus fleet is one of the largest in the nation. It has TWO, count it TWO international airports!!! Houston is easily the more cosmopolitan out of the two.

If we're talking metros, both cover almost the same exact land area.

DT Houston is the central "nerve" of the metro. Everything revolves around Houston.

Dallas is just one city in a multi-polar region known as the "Metroplex". Its importance is less than Houston's. At the rate Fort Worth is growing it will be larger than Dallas in the next 15-20 years.

Once and for all THIS IS A LIE!!!

"But to look at DART light-rail ridership over time is to see a story of success and failure.
On the one hand, the agency in 16 years has built a system that has 55 stations and in April provided an average of 76,000 trips per day. That’s roughly 34,200 passengers, about as many as Seattle, Houston and Minneapolis combined."
As rail expansion nears end, DART faces challenge: how to add riders | Dallas-Fort Worth Transportation News - News for Dallas, Texas - The Dallas Morning News

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by dallasboi

Once and for all THIS IS A LIE!!!

"But to look at DART light-rail ridership over time is to see a story of success and failure.
On the one hand, the agency in 16 years has built a system that has 55 stations and in April provided an average of 76,000 trips per day. That’s roughly 34,200 passengers, about as many as Seattle, Houston and Minneapolis combined."
As rail expansion nears end, DART faces challenge: how to add riders | Dallas-Fort Worth Transportation News - News for Dallas, Texas - The Dallas Morning News

How bout your DART "train to nowhere" in Las Colinas?

Saw this on last nights 10 o' clock new & got a kick out of it.

http://http://www.wfaa.com/news/Trai...158516545.html

IRVING — It could be called the "train to nowhere," or perhaps the "loneliest DART station in North Texas."
The new Irving Convention Center light rail station stands largely isolated — surrounded by empty fields.
“Had the economy not done what it did, we’d see more on the ground right now,” said Maura Gast, executive director of Irving’s Convention and Visitors Bureau.
As workers prepare for the opening of the first segment of DART's Orange Line extension, planned development surrounding one of its stations has yet to materialize. The glistening concrete platform simply empties into muddy fields.
By now, city leaders hoped the rail station — near Irving’s new convention center — would be surrounded by a dense urban development that included a plaza, hotel, and restaurants.
The $250 million Las Colinas Entertainment Center, to be built by the city and a private developer, was envisioned to connect the rail station to the convention center.
The entertainment development has been saddled with controversy and funding troubles. Investigations have unearthed accusations of mismanaged funds. The troubled project now faces an August deadline to find financing.
Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne, a staunch opponent of the project, promised that even if the entertainment complex falls through, the land around that rail station won’t go to waste.
“We will have development; I’m not concerned,” she told News 8. “I’m hopefully optimistic we’ll complete a legitimate entertainment project.”
DART trains will start servicing the convention center station on July 30. There may be little surrounding the station, yet DART believes commuters will still use it. The agency expects the rail station to be fed by a bus terminal that sits a few hundred yards away... and across a busy highway.
“The city’s got plans for around our station,” said DART spokesperson Mark Ball. “So we put our building where we were asked to put it.”
Irving’s convention center is also expected to be a draw, even though it sits about one-third of a mile away.
“Right now, it’s a walk,” Gast conceded, saying a sidewalk through the field must still be built to get conventioneers to the station.
DART is also building its own pathways connecting the station to the bus terminal and the convention center.
Gast predicted that the station — with or without the surrounding development — will still be a hit with conventioneers, especially once the Orange Line reaches Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
City leaders insist the area is still a big draw for rail riders, even without the development.
“If I could wave the magic wand and have it all done in full, I’d love that to happen,” Gast said. “We’re not there yet. It’s coming.”
E-mail jbetz@wfaa.com

[dallasboi]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

I suppose this is the reason Houston is twice the size of Dallas yet its still more dense & developed inside & outside of the inner loop. Its light rail line also has a higher ridership. Its city bus fleet is one of the largest in the nation. It has TWO, count it TWO international airports!!! Houston is easily the more cosmopolitan out of the two.

If we're talking metros, both cover almost the same exact land area.

DT Houston is the central "nerve" of the metro. Everything revolves around Houston.

Dallas is just one city in a multi-polar region known as the "Metroplex". Its importance is less than Houston's. At the rate Fort Worth is growing it will be larger than Dallas in the next 15-20 years.

Its like you are arguing with yourself. The blue contradicts the red.
If multiple cities(DFW) share the same area as basically one(Houston)...Then it should be obvious that Houston will be bigger in every aspect. The bigness is being refered to the area alotted for Downtown Houston compared to the land area for Downtown Dallas.Bigger Downtown area= more streets to fill with people.If Houston has an equal amount of activity in its downtown as Dallas then no wonder its dead.Its like comparing 100 people in a backyard to 100 people on a football field. Which one do you think will feel the busiest??...Thats the reason Ft.Worth and Austin's downtowns feel alot busier than Dallas and Houston's.

And the green shows your poor attempt to use fort worth to take a jab at Dallas. But what you fail to realize is Ft.Worth's growth will do nothing but widden the gap that DFW has over the Houston area in population; causing Houston to become less and less important on a map of Texas to visitors....Pick your poison.