Delay renovating NRG, don't incentivize local movies, USA rail beats Europe, Astrodome, anti-zoning PSA, visualizing our density, good gentrification, and more
Quite the backlog of items to get through this week:
"While the gentrification narrative (having rich neighbors makes life harder for poor people) is common, news stories seldom promote the narrative of concentrated poverty (having mostly poor neighbors makes life harder for the poor), which is both more prevalent and demonstrably more harmful."
Finally,
Houston beats Dallas handily for Super Bowl hosting, but we're still not likely to get it again anytime soon. There's just too much new/renovated stadium competition out there. In fact, despite their last disaster, Dallas is likely to get it again before we do because of their palatial $1B stadium. Other cities in the pipeline include Atlanta, Minneapolis, Miami, NOLA, Phoenix, and a $2 billion behemoth being built in LA (count on at least two Super Bowls there after it's built).
If we're going to renovate NRG to make another run at a Super Bowl, it sounds like we need to wait at least half a decade or more for the NFL's hosting backlog to clear out before doing it. Why invest a ton in NRG now when the upgrades may already be out of date by the time our next potential Super Bowl slot opens up??
Labels: Astrodome, density, development, economy, rail, sports, stadiums, zoning
Super Bowl kudos, Houston keeps winning, Texas HSR questioned, and more
First the Super Bowl items this week, which was the biggest NFL comeback/collapse since... well,
this, which I remember all too well. From everything I've seen and everybody I've spoken to, we pulled off the hosting with flying colors. Congrats and thanks to everyone involved for their hard work. Unfortunately it could be quite a while before we get another one - too many cities are building new stadiums or upgrading old ones (Miami, NOLA) - each guaranteed at least one Super Bowl - and I'm betting the
$2.6+ billion behemoth in LA will get more than that.
And moving on to the non-Super Bowl items:
"I sat down with Angela Blanchard last year at a coffeeshop in the Third Ward, a historically black neighborhood about two miles from her house. She had walked there to meet me, so I brought up the concern of some self-appointed urban advocates who want to redesign Houston to make it “walkable.” She laughed:
'I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to roll my eyes, but everyone is trying to create these precious neighborhoods. I remember being at a conference and someone said the thing we need to do with poor neighborhoods is make them walkable. I thought this was absolutely hilarious. If you’re in a poor neighborhood, your neighborhood is walkable. It might not be a nice walk or a fun walk, but you walk. … I actually love Houston for its total, messy, sprawling randomness. I get invited to conferences where people talk about Houston with frowns on their faces. People haven’t been able to figure out our city and how to make it smart and precious like other cities that no one can afford to live in. My biggest concern for this city is that it remains a place where you can start at the bottom and work your way up. Where it’s a good city to begin in, and where if you have a dream and water it with hard work, it amounts to something.' "
Labels: aviation, economy, growth, high-speed rail, identity, mobility strategies, rankings, sports, stadiums, tourism
Touring METRO's new rail lines: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
UPDATE 5/2/15: This got turned into
a Sunday op-ed feature in the Chronicle.
Today I got to take a media preview tour of Metro's new Southeast/Purple and East/Green lines, which are opening to the public May 23rd. Metro brought a great team to give us the tour and answer our questions. Photos below for your enjoyment, but here are my thoughts categorized into the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly:
The Good
- Fun to ride with really well done stops, including nice art and signage, same as the existing lines. I used the Red line last week to attend the Astrodome 50th anniversary party (followed my Miller Outdoor Theater), and I have to say it was pretty awesome bypassing the traffic congestion of 25,000+ people attending that event.
- Pretty quick ride: from EaDo near the Dynamo stadium, it's 6 minutes to the current end of the East Line and 17 minutes to the Palm Center at the end of the Southeast line, although it should be noted we didn't stop at the intermediate stops.
- UH gets 3 stops which is really good access to most parts of the campus, including the new football stadium.
- The townhome and apartment boom in the East End is even more impressive than I was aware. I'm not sure how much of it is related to the new lines, but METRO is certainly happy to take some of the credit. But there's a problem...
The Bad
- I think they spaced the first two stops on the Southeast/Purple line (EaDo and Leeland/Third Ward) too far apart to effectively serve the booming townhomes out there. The EaDo stop is right next to Dynamo/BBVA Compass Stadium and 59, and Leeland is almost next to 45S, with no stops in between. Google Maps says they're about 1.1 miles apart. Most of the people in those townhomes are going to have a serious walk to use the lines. I think Metro is going to need to look at building an intermediate stop. Update: Good news - Metro board member Christof Spieler has tweeted me that space for a future station has been left near Ennis and Walker.
- The East End/Green line won't truly be complete all the way to the Magnolia Park Transit center until the bridge over the freight rail tracks is finished in Spring 2016 (estimated). Right now it stops at Altic/Howard Hughes. I asked about the name of that stop - did you know the Howard Hughes was a big developer of the East End? I had no idea - pretty cool.
- Check out the bottom two photos below. See the problem? UH's new stadium is called TDECU, but the stop is called Robertson Stadium. They have the same problem with the Reliant/NRG stop, and may have it in the future with Minute Maid and BBVA Compass stadiums. I was told it's a Board level decision, and they're trying to figure out a policy with all of these frequent stadium renamings. It's expensive to rename a stop when you consider all the maps that have to change. I say they charge the company that bought the naming rights for the switchover. But another option would be to pick generic stop names that are likely to be stable: UH, Astros, Dynamo, and Texans/Rodeo Stadiums.
The Ugly
- Final cost numbers are $823 million for the 6.6 mile Southeast/Purple line and $587 million for the 3.3 mile East/Green line, for a total of $1.4 billion dollars (!). To work that out on a per-mile basis, it has to be noted that both lines overlap about a mile downtown, so really only 8.9 miles of new track was created (not 9.9). That works out to $158 million per mile, folks. Ouch. As nice as they are, that's a hard number to stomach. Did I mention this was the ugly section?
- Some friendly advice to Metro: given the numbers I just mentioned, I don't recommend continuing to promote the new Taco Bell next to UH as economic development spurred by the new line. The scale disparity invites unflattering comparisons and humor... ;-)
Overall, I continue to stand by my original thoughts that this money would have been better spent on other transit projects, like an improved and more extensive HOT lane network and Park & Rides with more express service to more job centers - or at least a nice cross-town University line. I don't expect these lines to generate nearly the ridership of the original Main St. line. But there's no going back in time, so let's hope these lines can be made as successful as possible to get a return-on-taxpayer-investment, especially when it comes to neighborhood investments and redevelopment. As UH continues to improve as a Tier One University and generate more on-campus living and activity, I could certainly see the potential for a lot of interesting redevelopment along the Southeast line between the campus and downtown, as well as adding new energy to downtown's nightlife scene. And the East line may also grow in popularity because the rest of the inner loop has gotten so unaffordable. We'll just have to wait and see how it develops...
Labels: development, Metro, stadiums
Houston vs. Chicago, Seattle, Portland - plus stagnant stadiums, giving thanks, and more
Some smaller items for your weekend reading pleasure:
"Chicago is a city of magnificent parks and world-class cultural institutions and universities. But it is also a city of high taxes, regulatory morass and aggressive unions. Is Ms. Winfrey's announcement a wake-up call about underlying problems there? She gave no substantive reasons for it, but her departure is at least the third bitter disappointment to Chicago since it felt itself to be on top of the world—when President Barack Obama gave his victory speech in Grant Park. A month ago, Chicago lost its Olympics bid to Rio; then two major trade shows that had been in the city for decades announced that they were leaving because of the city's extraordinarily high costs and the intractability of the unions."
More of my thoughts on the Chicago-Houston relationship here.
"Houston is big business, the energy industry, and a city with a remarkable amount of ethnic diversity. Both cities are windows into the future of America, but they represent different visions, socially and culturally.
These differences create unmistakable pressure points. From an economic standpoint, Seattle is not a major hub, while Houston is one of the most important cities in North America. ...
Given Houston’s global position, It is little wonder why George Bush Intercontinental Airport has direct flights to places as far flung as Doha, and Guayaquil. It is perhaps the fifth most significant international airport in the nation behind New York (JFK), Los Angeles, Miami and Chicago (O’Hare). (The four listed airports are the acknowledged “big four” international airports in the US, although, recently I have heard of a big three with O’Hare being dropped.)
Houston is a worldly city...
It’s often been said that Texas could exist without the United States, but the US would not be the same without Texas. Houston is living proof of this adage. Without Houston and the leadership the city has provided, the US could very well be a less prosperous and less diverse place.
...
Houston, on the other hand is one of the few MLS or USL cities where every ethnic group imaginable has been attracted to the ground, without segregating themselves. The Dynamo’s model of attracting support from the broad based ethnic makeup of the region should be the model for US Soccer."
"Many of the policies of Portland are not that dissimilar from those of upscale suburbs in their effects. Urban growth boundaries raise land prices and render housing less affordable exactly the same as large lot zoning and building codes that mandate brick and other expensive materials do. They both contribute to reducing housing affordability for historically disadvantaged communities. Just like the most exclusive suburbs.
...
I believe that cities that start taking their African-American and other minority communities seriously, seeing them as a pillar of civic growth, will reap big dividends and distinguish themselves in the marketplace.
This trail has been blazed not by the "progressive" paragons but by places like Atlanta, Dallas and Houston. ... Houston took in tens of thousands of mostly poor and overwhelmingly African-American refugees from Hurricane Katrina. Houston, a booming metro and emerging world city, rolled out the welcome mat for them – and for Latinos, Asians and other newcomers. They see these people as possessing talent worth having."
Finally, if you missed it, definitely check out
the Chronicle's Thanksgiving Day op-ed on things to give thanks for in Houston. It'll make you proud.
Hat tip to Jessie for several of these links.
Labels: aviation, demographics, economic strategy, home affordability, identity, land-use regulation, perspectives, stadiums, world city
