People Say Houston's ugly but not cities like Chicago, NYC, etc? (Pittsburg: buying, luxury)

[Gunion Powder]

Originally Posted by Forever_Knight

Again, either way, we can clearly see that zoning/lack thereof, isn't very important in the grand scheme of things, as far as city aesthetic.

No, I don't agree with that at all. It's not a cure all but it would certainly help Houston.

[Gunion Powder]

Originally Posted by Forever_Knight

1.)Bold in black = false statements
2.) Bold in white = true statements, but with more hidden depths than listed

Can you can expand on this?

[PedroMartinez]

If I hadn't had a wet paintbrush in my hands 10 minutes ago, I would have snapped a picture to upload here. I love the beauty of bald eagles above my house on clear days like today.

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by PedroMartinez

If I hadn't had a wet paintbrush in my hands 10 minutes ago, I would have snapped a picture to upload here. I love the beauty of bald eagles above my house on clear days like today.

I don't doubt it. There's an element of snobbiness from detractors of Houston. They think acknowledging it's improvements is giving into mediocrity. They think Houston is a wasteland of middle class mediocrity.

[PedroMartinez]

Not nearly as sexy as a bald eagle, but my decking is coming along.

Yes, I will be pressure washing the wall when complete. 85 feet done, 55 feet to go.

[Gunion Powder]

Originally Posted by PedroMartinez

If I hadn't had a wet paintbrush in my hands 10 minutes ago, I would have snapped a picture to upload here. I love the beauty of bald eagles above my house on clear days like today.

Yes, those are two things I love about Houston that you just can't get anywhere else: bald eagles and clear days.

[Gunion Powder]

Originally Posted by Forever_Knight

1. Lack of zoning: Houston lacks zoning, but as shown in previous comments, zoning is a relatively recent implementation, so the oldest cities in our nation have substantial portions of their architecture built without such ordinances. This, in turn, means that attractive urban design can take place whether zoning is present/absent.

I already addressed this and why that exception does not apply to Houston, which is a young city that could have benefited from the zoning restrictions that all cities of similar size and age have.

2. Formulaic, office park architecture: This is true only for the buildings in certain employment districts (Greenway Plaza, Energy Corridor, etc). However, Downtown, Midtown, Uptown all have a a good examples of modern urban design (with many historic buildings in downtown); of these three, Uptown has the most office-park feel, but that has more to do with suburban-design principles (thin sidewalks with grass, set back, etc) rather than the architectural standing of the buildings themselves.

The "architectural standing" is what I have a problem with. You think it's perfectly fine and you're certainly entitled to that opinion.

4. Lack of a street grid outside of downtown: This is false, the street grid extends to cover nearly all of the area Inside Loop 610; pretty much the entirety of the area features the square, angular layout typical of an urban street grid. Some of this angularity extends outside the Beltway, and includes places like Bellaire and Chinatown. Of course, the infill that goes up in these areas can have urban lapses/suburban designs (setback, grassy edges with thin sidewalks, fences, etc), but the grid of these areas is such that urban infill can be facilitated and will be fantastic (provided that it is done correctly).

Pretty much the only area in the Inner Loop with all around lack of urban grid is the River Oaks area, which has the significantly curvy roads typical of the suburb. However, even this area has enough angularity/order for urban design. And, in the end, urban infill can happen with the right cards; Atlanta has better urban infill than Houston, even though is has a much worse/less angular street grid.

Houston's isn't nearly as expansive and coherent as Chicago's or Miami's, which I think is ideal for flat cities. There are probably hundreds of ifs ands & buts about why this is, but it doesn't matter. I don't like the way Houston is set up.

6. Monotonous or nonexistent landscaping:[/color] Houston has a larger inventory in what it can landscape with compared to most cities in this country. Thus, even if the city is doing it's absolute worst, it still ends up quite striking/varied compared to those other cities. Furthermore, trees are planted appropriately in the city to satisfy street-tree requirements (adequate shade over sidewalks, parking, etc). As a result, I do not see the landscaping as monotonous/non-existent.

On the other hand, I will agree that the landscaping can be much better, in the sense that the city truly can go more above/beyond with the landscaping (i.e. make every freeway look like the buried area of I-69, covered with vines).

Another opinion I have to disagree with.

7. Demolition of most historic buildings: The important historic buildings of downtown, for the most part, are still intact. In addition, there remain many historic districts/neighborhoods throughout the city (Audobon Place, Heights, etc). It wasn't as if Houston was going around razing Beacon Hill-style structures; whenever tear-downs took place, they mainly occurred in the little shot-gun shacks that wouldn't have suited major-city style development.

...as a result of poor planning from the beginning. The city has tore down too much for me.

8. Main public transit system designed a street car: The rail PT in Houston is at infancy. The light rail is meant to be an Inner-Loop street car, which would then go in conjunction with the commuter/heavy rail that transports people to city center from the burbs, as well as connects different locales (Houston-Galveston, Houston to La Porte, etc). However, politicians like Culberson keep holding it back. Luckily, the commuter rail plan (a line from Houston to Missouri City) is about to begin development.

Yeah, I never said there isn't a reason Houston's PT sucks, I'm just saying it sucks

[radiolibre99]

Gunion, you wanted more details from forever knight but all you can do is reply that you just don't like it?

[Gunion Powder]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

Gunion, you wanted more details from forever knight but all you can do is reply that you just don't like it?

That's all I needed to say.

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by Gunion Powder

Yes, those are two things I love about Houston that you just can't get anywhere else: bald eagles and clear days.

Ok,