Vote to Save the Astrodome! plus a whole lot more...
A lot of smaller misc items this week, but by far the most important one is to VOTE TO SAVE THE ASTRODOME on Tuesday. Even if you're not thrilled with the plan, it saves it from the wreaking ball and preserves future options. I've also heard it's very cost competitive on a sq.ft basis with other convention centers recently built around the country. Watch this excellent 5min video on the history of the dome and the plan and I think you'll be sold (click the bottom right brackets to make it full screen).- Pics from the Save the Dome truck in case you missed it. Hat tip to Andy.
- Houston the biggest gainer of middle-income jobs since 2007, and Texas owns the top 4 spots. This is a major problem around the country, and Texas is one of the only places robustly creating such jobs.
- 288 toll road project close to approval.
- Great post on the rise of Megabus, including a national route map.
- Private high-speed rail moves forward in Texas between Houston and Dallas. If this happens I suspect it will end up making the CA line look really bad by cost comparison.
- This technology is really interesting: a wrist band that can make you feel hotter or cooler than it really is. One day this could help solve Houston's "it's too damn hot and humid to be a pedestrian" problem. Hat tip to Jay.
- Houston dominates Texas economic stats out of proportion to its population. Even more can be found in the GHP October issue of Houston Economy at a Glance. Note the rapid rise in our GMP. We have 2% of the US population but 3.2% of its GDP. These items come from Patrick Jankowski's research at the Greater Houston Partnership. I highly recommend you start reading his new blog on the Houston economy, The Glass Half Full.
Dr. Stephen Klineberg, Joel Kotin, some nobody local blogger, and Patrick Jankowski at the GHP Oct 24th.
Labels: Astrodome, economy, growth, high-speed rail, perspectives, rankings, technology, toll roads
posted by Tory Gattis @ 6:54 PM
3 Comments:
Can you imagine how much more prosperous Houston will be if Texas seizes the opportunity this March in the party referendum on a revolutionary issue?
http://www.seceder.com/Texas
The time has come to shed ourselves of Washington D.C.'s federal income, social security and other taxes, has it not? :-)
The populist movement to save the dome has failed. The building has great support, but it is not spread evenly across a numerical majority of Harris County citizens. Now its future is in the hands of the power brokers. If some private proposal can come together, I believe the county would be open to it. They don't want to tear it down - they just want to get it off their hands. Somebody needs to step up.
A greater percentage of Houstonians voted to have zoning in 1993 (48%) than voted to save the Dome. Kind of funny - since the Dome is a "beloved treasure" and zoning is supposedly hated by Houstonians. Source:
http://www.law.fsu.edu/journals/landuse/vol101/karkkain.html#FNT1
And yes someone does need to step up and save the dome if that is to be the end result - otherwise its days are numbered.
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