Tag Archives: downtown

There’s a real lack of consensus about the I-45 project

Posted on February 2, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

It seems unlikely that TxDOT could just throw up its hands and walk away from this, but it’s at least a possible scenario. A proposed agreement devised to bring planners and critics of a massive redesign of Interstate 45 together … Continue reading →

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More on the Metro security robot

Posted on January 16, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Looks like this is finally getting rolled out. Typically, when a security guard weighs 400 pounds, it means they are not well suited for foot patrols. K5, however, was built for it. Soon the spaceship-shaped sentries will roll into action … Continue reading →

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The next phase of the I-45 fight is about to begin

Posted on December 8, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Where it goes from here is still up in the air. The opening of this story was at a rally on Sunday that opposed the current I-45 plan. The rally, part of a flurry of events from concerts to block-walking … Continue reading →

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Eating on the street

Posted on December 7, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

This makes a lot of sense. Main Street bar owners are expected to take to the streets now that the city has given them the OK. City Council on Wednesday approved, after some delay, plans for the More Space Main … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston, Food, glorious food | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Can downtown survive COVID-19?

Posted on September 1, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

So depressing to read. When Understory opened last summer, the stylish food hall in downtown’s Bank of America Tower quickly became the go-to lunch spot for throngs of office workers who stood in line for poke bowls, gourmet burgers and … Continue reading →

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The rooftop park at the downtown post office

Posted on August 19, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Very cool. The company redeveloping downtown’s former post office property will open a rooftop venue early next year as part of a five-acre park and organic farm that will top the historic building at 401 Franklin St. Lovett Commercial said … Continue reading →

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Who gets displaced by I-45?

Posted on June 25, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Worth keeping in mind, the cost of expanding I-45 is more than just dollars. The I-45 project’s toll on local property owners would be unprecedented for TxDOT in Houston, potentially relocating hundreds of families and businesses. Estimated to cost at … Continue reading →

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The city’s vision for I-45

Posted on April 29, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I like the way this is shaping up. The city of Houston is prepared to ask for major changes in state plans to rebuild Interstate 45 that potentially could scale back the planned widening of the freeway and put a … Continue reading →

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Goodbye, Greenlink

Posted on April 13, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Another version of Metro’s downtown trolley system is shut down due to coronavirus, and likely won’t come back, at least not in that format. Downtown Houston’s free shuttle may have hauled its last passenger, a victim of the central district’s … Continue reading →

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City responds to busking lawsuit

Posted on February 28, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

And I’m not thrilled with it. Lawyers argued in a motion to dismiss a federal lawsuit Friday that the city is beholden to keeping its streets and sidewalks safe, and that striking down the decades-old ordinance limiting where buskers — … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

There’s still (a little) time to affect the I-45 design

Posted on February 11, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

There’s stuff happening this week. After that, it gets harder. City officials and consultants will spend the coming weeks finalizing a few ways to turn the region’s largest and most controversial freeway rebuild of recent years into an Interstate 45 … Continue reading →

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A better way to do I-45

Posted on February 4, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

From Michael Skelley on Facebook: Here’s a new vision for I-45. -saves money -no displacement in low income areas -no destruction of White Oak Bayou -prevents TxDOT vandalization of EaDo -downtown amenities if we want to fund those ourselves This … Continue reading →

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Metro’s robot security guards

Posted on February 2, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Not a character from a dystopian action movie, I promise. Robot security guards are coming to a Houston-area transit center, park and ride lot and rail station in the coming months, after the Metropolitan Transit Authority board approved a $270,000 … Continue reading →

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The busking lawsuit

Posted on January 27, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Interesting. A Houston accordionist is feeling squeezed by an obscure city law aimed at restricting where musicians can play for tips. Anthony Barilla, also a composer whose work can be heard on the radio program “This American Life,” lodged the … Continue reading →

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HGAC makes its pledge to TxDOT for I-45

Posted on July 29, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Lots of pushback, but not enough to change the outcome. Local transportation officials now have skin in the game when it comes to widening Interstate 45 north of downtown Houston, approving on Friday a $100 million commitment for the project … Continue reading →

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Another manifesto against I-45 expansion

Posted on July 19, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

They’re fun to read, and my heart is with them, but we all know how this works. The I-45 project is likely to do irreversible damage to our city’s finances and ecology. It will reduce the city’s tax base by … Continue reading →

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Downtown post office redevelopment update

Posted on July 2, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Remember the big post office at the north end of downtown? It was sold a few years ago and slated for redevelopment, and after a few years that project is getting ready to get started. Lovett Commercial, the Houston-based company … Continue reading →

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Still filled with dread about I-45

Posted on June 18, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Anyone got a paper bag I can breathe into? Strip away the enormity of rebuilding Interstate 45 and the promise of speedier trips along downtown Houston freeways, and two questions about the once-in-a-generation project remain: How many negative effects are … Continue reading →

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What’s wrong with the I-45 expansion plan?

Posted on March 10, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Urban planner Jeff Speck, in a recent lecture in Houston, lays out the following problems with the planned I-45 expansion: The brief list of negatives include: I-45 will wreck your bayou parks. I-45 will destroy wildlife habitat. I-45 will make … Continue reading →

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More details on the Metro referendum

Posted on January 20, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Still a work in progress. A planned 110 miles of two-way HOV along major freeways with eight new park and ride stations is expected to cost $1.37 billion, with another $383 million in improvements to operate 25 percent more bus … Continue reading →

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What to do with the county courthouse?

Posted on November 19, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Seems like a problem. More than 15 months after flooding from Hurricane Harvey shuttered Houston’s 20-story criminal courthouse, county leaders say they will begin in January on the first phase of a multi-part $86 million restoration project, which won’t be … Continue reading →

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The World Cup and its possible infrastructure effects

Posted on July 16, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Assuming Houston does get to be a host city for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, that could spur some major projects, for transportation and recreation and who knows what else. Houston will not receive final word on the bid until … Continue reading →

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Minute Maid 2.0

Posted on July 12, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

The Astros are staying in their home stadium for the long term. Now that the Astros are in Minute Maid Park for the long haul, “Minute Maid Park 2.0” is in the works. The Harris County Houston Sports Authority on … Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball | Tagged , , , , | 24 Comments

Reinventing Jones Plaza

Posted on April 27, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Big changes coming to downtown. Jones Plaza, the often-empty, 1.5-acre public space at the heart of Houston’s Theater District, may finally become a true people magnet courtesy of the second face-lift in its 51-year history. This time, Houston First Corporation, … Continue reading →

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Happy tenth birthday, Discovery Green

Posted on April 21, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

What a great addition it has been. Discovery Green opened a decade ago this weekend, drawing 25,000 people to the long-dormant east side of downtown to gawk at parading Clydesdales, dogs in costumes, a puppet show, a magician, musicians and … Continue reading →

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Just a reminder, the I-45 construction is going to be massive

Posted on March 17, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

I can’t quite wrp my mind around the scope of it. I suspect a lot of us feel the same way. Birds flitting in and out of the grass and trees along this strip of marsh pay no heed to … Continue reading →

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Downtown of the Future

Posted on November 27, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

It’s very futuristic. City planners’ ambitious 20-year vision for downtown Houston includes more of everything that has transformed the central business district into a more vibrant destination. More apartments, restaurants and shops. More walkable parks and attractions. More innovative startups … Continue reading →

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The Acre

Posted on October 15, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Meet downtown’s newest park. As park spaces go, Houston’s newest urban oasis is a mere postage stamp, occupying just over an acre of privately held land, developed with private money. But in post-Harvey Houston, the value of every inch of … Continue reading →

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We’re going to need another jury building

Posted on October 1, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Good luck with that. Harris County is unlikely to repair Hurricane Harvey flood damage to the six-year-old, $13 million jury Assembly Building that sits beneath a park in downtown Houston’s courthouse square near Buffalo Bayou, County Judge Ed Emmett said … Continue reading →

Posted in Hurricane Katrina, Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Can we share these lanes?

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Metro is rethinking how the light rail lines run in parts of downtown. Traffic woes and collisions along the newest light-rail lines in downtown have Metro leaders toying with the idea of backpedaling on their promise not to close parts … Continue reading →

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The process for I-45

Posted on July 27, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

This time it’s different, more or less. The region’s largest looming highway project – a massive rebuild of Interstate 45 from the Sam Houston Tollway to downtown Houston – has a lot of people looking into the rear-view mirror, pressing … Continue reading →

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Try to wrap your mind around what I-45 will look like post-construction

Posted on May 17, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Swamplot is here to help. HAVING TROUBLE SIFTING through some of the massive freeway jumbles in the latest plans for that major I-45 reroute between Downtown and the Beltway? This new video (making the rounds this month as TxDOT hosts a set of public meetings … Continue reading →

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TxDOT public hearings on I-45 widening scheduled for May 9th & May 11th

Posted on May 1, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox, from Jim Weston of the I-45 Coalition: The I-45 Project – Planning Stage is coming to an end!  This next meeting is a HEARING –  much different from the public meetings that TxDOT has been holding. This … Continue reading →

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Get ready for more I-45 chaos

Posted on March 4, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Lord have mercy on our souls. Relieving one of Houston’s worst bottlenecks will come with some lengthy complications for northbound drivers on Interstate 45 headed into Houston’s central business district, starting Friday night. After years of delay, work is starting … Continue reading →

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