Houston and other American cities falling behind ? (how much, buyers)

[Truth713]

While on the net I can across a number of intresting projects from other nations, while Houston and other cities fight over rail expandsion and land use , other nations are buliding whole cities that look like something out of the 24th century http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masdar_City..which begs the question are American cities starting to fall behind,we cheer when ever anew sky scrappers are built , these guys are coming up with plans for whole new cities

The dis hearting part they are not just throwing up pics they are actually doing them Macar city and dozens of others already have building that are up, This is not to bash American cities this is to ask the question have we lost are edge, we use to push the envelope of designs , now I feel we just throw up building while impressive are far from ground breaking, NYC seems to be the only major US city still willing to go bold

[HtownLove]

Masdar City - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

did you mean this link^^^ yours isn't working

[MIBS98]

It is the difference between a democracy and a more autocratic style of government. When you have a royal family, for example, you don't dither around with permits, licenses, public opinion, etc, you just build.

We also have a few financial issues that the Middle East doesn't have. UAE, Qatar, Saudi and their friends can afford to build ridiculously expensive projects and not worry about the fact that they'll never recover their investment. It isn't about investment recovery for them.

[Truth713]

Originally Posted by HtownLove

Masdar City - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

did you mean this link^^^ yours isn't working

Thanks

[Truth713]

Originally Posted by MIBS98

It is the difference between a democracy and a more autocratic style of government. When you have a royal family, for example, you don't dither around with permits, licenses, public opinion, etc, you just build.

We also have a few financial issues that the Middle East doesn't have. UAE, Qatar, Saudi and their friends can afford to build ridiculously expensive projects and not worry about the fact that they'll never recover their investment. It isn't about investment recovery for them.

That would be the case if it was not other nations as well ,many of them EU nations..And being from Houston I have seen first hand that many of the projects that do go foward ended up costing more because they wasted so much time going back and forth...Astroworld is a prime example when it was first closed the cost of renovations was high ,but not as high as it is now there were a number of buyers who wanted it but Houston leadership hemmed and hummed till they ended up changing their minds are finding other projects in invest in

[HtownLove]

Too much planning, environmental studies, taxes, red tape, and permitting. Takes too long for things to get off the ground.

[Truth713]

Originally Posted by HtownLove

Too much planning, environmental studies, taxes, red tape, and permitting. Takes too long for things to get off the ground.

again I use the astrodome..lol they want to do a survey on it, the forth one !!!what will the forth tell you that the first three already did,nt, !!! A waste of time and tax payers money..To a steal a joke from someone thats like having a meeting to discuss making plans to have a meeting !

[testmo]

Originally Posted by HtownLove

Too much planning, environmental studies, taxes, red tape, and permitting. Takes too long for things to get off the ground.

i suppose you believe america is the only country with regulations, regulators and bureaucracy

[Dopo]

The US is going to far down the road of "Let's do only what's profitable"
Most people think that investing in the future is not profitable.

[NYer75]

We have so many major cities...how much more does anyone want? Texas has more major cities than most countries on this planet.

I think we're good.