Archive for the 'Astrodome' Category
An Astro-nomical blunder for Houston?
Closed Published by Tory Gattis November 25th, 2007 on Houston StrategiesWhen Major League Soccer first came to Houston, I questioned the need for a new stadium with both Reliant and the Astrodome available (part 1, part 2). Since then, the Dynamo have won two national championships, and are well on their way to becoming a…
A backup plan for the Astrodome
Closed Published by Tory Gattis November 1st, 2007 on Houston StrategiesMost of you probably caught the story yesterday about the Texans and Rodeo coming out against the Astrodome redevelopment plan into a convention mega-hotel. The key problem is that they have veto power, so I’m sure they strung the whole process along …
State of the County headlines Astrodome status
Closed Published by Tory Gattis January 1st, 1970 on Houston StrategiesI was able to attend Judge Emmett’s State of the County address last week (Chronicle front page coverage here), and was very excited to hear his headline focus on the future of the Astrodome matches my previously posted ideas (and follow-up). &nbs…
A targeted tourism strategy for Houston
Closed Published by Tory Gattis January 1st, 1970 on Houston StrategiesI recently got engaged on an interesting discussion thread on HAIF about making Houston more of a tourism magnet, an area where we are sadly lacking compared to other global cities of our stature. In that thread I reposted my July post on attracting national and international tourists to Houston, where I talked about converting the Astrodome and empty land nearby into the world’s largest
America’s next great world city (+ tourism proposal)
Closed Published by Tory Gattis January 1st, 1970 on Houston StrategiesA while back, The American magazine asked urban historian Joel Kotkin to write a piece on America’s next great world city. It took a little work, but he convinced the editors that Houston was the place, and now the article is out and available online….
Dome films, telework & weather vs. transit, core vs. suburbs, zoning, sidewalk retail
Closed Published by Tory Gattis January 1st, 1970 on Houston StrategiesSome miscellaneous smaller items this morning:Marginal Revolution has a post on zoning in NYC, with lots of comments on Houston (use your browser search to find them - Edit menu, ‘Find in this page’).”Yes, I am opposed to many forms of zoning. Without …
Dome studio, gas and transit, updated Metro plan, ants and more
Closed Published by Tory Gattis January 1st, 1970 on Houston StrategiesAs usual, I’ve let the pile of smaller misc items get too large again before bundling them into a post, so I’ll have to break them up into a couple of separate posts:A pass-along from an email I received on an idea I am wholeheartedly rooting for (vs. …
Rankings, Ike spirit, Dome, and more
Closed Published by Tory Gattis January 1st, 1970 on Houston StrategiesThe smaller misc items have been piling up since before the hurricane, and now are so many I’ll have to split them over a couple of posts this week. Before getting to them though, I wanted to throw out another plug for my solution to the national hous…
Houston gets some respect plus rankings, slogans, graffiti, McGowen, Dome
Closed Published by Tory Gattis January 1st, 1970 on Houston StrategiesPassing along some smaller items:There is a new web site around converting the Astrodome into a film studio. Check it out and sign the petition.A vigorous debate on what to do with the McGowen super-block in Midtown: park or private development? Hat t…
Nanomedicine, zoo, TOD, regional transit, Astrodome, and more
Closed Published by Tory Gattis January 1st, 1970 on Houston StrategiesAnother wave of smaller items to pass along:A great idea from neoHouston: to limit land speculation that jacks up prices and prevents development near rail lines, raise appraisals - and therefore property taxes - to match asking prices. He gives an ex…