Tag Archives: downtown

B-Cycle keeps racking up good numbers

Posted on July 18, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Great to see. From meager beginnings, Houston’s bikesharing program has blossomed into a big draw for visitors and locals looking for a quick ride. For the first six months of 2014, Houston B-Cycle logged 43,530 checkouts, according to agency data. … Continue reading →

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Astrodome Park: The population isn’t the problem

Posted on July 16, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Greg Wythe addresses one of the central questions about the proposed Astrodome Park in this comment that I thought was worth highlighting on the front page. As it turns out, there are a number of apartments situated to the east … Continue reading →

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Could Astrodome Park actually work?

Posted on July 13, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Lisa Gray asks a good question about the proposal to turn the Astrodome into green space. Could that really be a park like Discovery Green? It’s easy to imagine that green space being useful, say, for a Super Bowl party, … Continue reading →

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City drops bid for downtown post office

Posted on May 17, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

So much for that. The city of Houston has withdrawn from bidding on the downtown post office, Mayor Annise Parker wrote in a letter to City Council members Tuesday. City officials said they wanted to keep their options open in … Continue reading →

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Metro unveils draft bus re-imagining

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s your proposed new bus system. Transit planners kicked off a major shift in Houston bus service Thursday, betting that the benefit of faster service on key routes will outweigh riders’ concerns about adjusting to new schedules and service patterns. … Continue reading →

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The city and the downtown post office

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Not sure what all the fuss about this is about. Developers eager to purchase the high-profile U.S. Postal Service site downtown – envisioned in recent years as a park, outdoor amphitheater or a development with housing and entertainment venues – … Continue reading →

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More demolitions coming

Posted on April 27, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Houston next week will launch an effort to scoop up dangerous properties left to rot in so many aging neighborhoods, raze them and resell the land. Officials say the program, approved unanimously Wednesday by the City Council, could more … Continue reading →

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The downtown lifestyle

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Demand for residences in downtown Houston is up. For Krishnan Iyer, moving downtown meant a lot of things: Not having to use his car in auto-dependent Houston, being able to walk to work, to restaurants, to the movies. The 34-year-old … Continue reading →

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The Super Bowl is making us get stuff done

Posted on April 13, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Nothing like a deadline to focus the mind. The 2017 Super Bowl not only will drive thousands of football fans to Houston, it will put a hard deadline on projects from office and hotel construction to a light-rail extension, a … Continue reading →

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Zipcar expands in Houston

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Very cool. A car-sharing service on Wednesday expanded from spots on the Rice University campus to other locations in Houston, providing city residents with another option for transportation. Zipcar is making available 25 vehicles in 10 different locations in Houston … Continue reading →

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Finally doing that front door facelift

Posted on January 26, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Better late than never. Renovations started this week on the historic Sunset Coffee Building at Allen’s Landing on the north end of downtown. The more than 100-year-old structure, now behind a fence as construction begins, is getting a $5.3 million … Continue reading →

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End of year B-Cycle report

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

B-Cycle has been in Houston for nine months, having launched in early April. So far, it’s done pretty well. The B-Cycle system’s 29th station was christened earlier this month in front of Clayton Homes. Officials said they hoped to provide … Continue reading →

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The new justice complex

Posted on December 29, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a big deal. Houston leaders are in the early stages of planning a new police headquarters and courthouse complex that Mayor Annise Parker said could be the most important project on which she will work during her six-year tenure. … Continue reading →

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More security cameras coming

Posted on December 28, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

You’re being recorded, like it or not. Houston is adding 180 downtown surveillance cameras despite shrinking national security grants and research showing that video feeds only sometimes improve public safety. By early next year, the Houston Police Department will have … Continue reading →

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Drinking al fresco

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From the Things You Might Not Have Realized department. “It is a commonly-held belief that it’s illegal to walk down the street drinking a beer in Texas. However, that is not always the case.” Those words, which we recently happened … Continue reading →

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Austin B-Cycle coming

Posted on December 8, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Took ’em long enough. Service will launch Dec. 21 with 110 bikes and 11 stations, including one sponsored by the Chronicle. The full project will be completed by March 1, 2014, with expanded stations planned to service the UT-Austin campus, … Continue reading →

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The lost canopy

Posted on December 1, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Very disappointing. Metro officials on Thursday scaled back plans for an iconic downtown Houston transit hub where three rail lines will cross after board members grew frustrated with what they called inexcusable delays and cost overruns. “This has been mismanaged … Continue reading →

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Reminder: I-45 public meeting tonight

Posted on November 14, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From The Highwayman: As officials take another step in the process of widening Interstate 45 from downtown north to the Sam Houston Tollway, one option to essentially make the teardrop-shaped inner loop created by I-45 and U.S. 59 an odd … Continue reading →

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Six new B-Cycle locations announced

Posted on September 8, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From the B-Cycle monthly newsletter: 6 NEW B-stations coming this month! We are happy to announce our new locations! When we launched our pilot program in May of 2012 we were anxious and excited to see how Houston would respond … Continue reading →

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Food trucks going un-mobile

Posted on August 25, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a trend. Matti Merrell and Rodney Perry first parked their Green Seed food truck on a Third Ward street in 2011. Within a year Food & Wine named it the No. 9 vegan and vegetarian restaurant in the U.S. … Continue reading →

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On closing Main Street to cars downtown

Posted on August 3, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Houston Tomorrow runs a post by Kyle Nielsen that he originally published in May advocating for more of Main Street downtown to be like Main Street Square, that is, closed to automotive traffic. What if we were to close Main … Continue reading →

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Parking Panda

Posted on July 28, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Interesting Parking Panda, an online parking reservation system, launches Tuesday in Houston and Dallas. The site’s already up and running, taking reservations for lots around many area venues, including Minute Maid Park, Reliant Stadium and the Toyota Center. The concept … Continue reading →

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On using B-Cycle

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron had a nice lifestyle section story about B-Cycle last week. B-cycles are appearing all over downtown and Midtown. You may have seen them, parked at racks with self-serve kiosks, where riders are able to enter their payment information, … Continue reading →

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Here come the hotels

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Lots of downtown hotel construction going on, or about to go on. The area around the George R. Brown Convention Center is about to see a burst of hotel construction as developers plan several new projects, two of which will … Continue reading →

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H-GAC approves Uptown transportation funding

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Houston-area transportation officials approved a plan Friday to use $61.8 million in federal funds to help build bus-only lanes along Post Oak Boulevard in the Uptown area. […] The project, sponsored by the Uptown Management District, widens Post Oak … Continue reading →

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Chron wonders where B-Cycle is going

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Last week in an unsigned editorial, the Chron asked a provocative question about B-Cycle. Are bicycle rental programs supposed to be legitimate transportation or merely toys for urban bohemians? New York Times writer Ginia Bellafante revealed Friday that her city’s … Continue reading →

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Houston gets Super Bowl LI

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

All right! NFL owners voted today to give Houston Super Bowl LI in 2017. At their spring meeting at the Hyatt Harborside, the owners voted the coveted Super Bowl L to San Francisco over South Florida. South Florida took another … Continue reading →

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Making downtown parking easier

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Makes sense. In downtown Houston, there are about 3,200 parking spaces on the street – and a whopping 5,800 signs drivers must decipher to use them without getting towed or ticketed. Aiming to fix this “confusing mishmash of signs,” as … Continue reading →

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Five years of Discovery Green

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Five great years for a great park and an awesome city amenity. Five years after its opening, more than 1 million people annually come to stretch out on the grassy slope to take in live music and movies with the … Continue reading →

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Don’t expect B-Cycle in the Heights anytime soon

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I know there are a lot of people in the Heights that would like to see some bike share kiosks here, but as The Leader News reports, it will be awhile before that happens. Although running through arguably the most … Continue reading →

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How will Chapter 42 affect housing in Houston?

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Yes, we’re still talking about Chapter 42, the local development and density code. One of the goals of revamping Chapter 42 is to make it easier and more attractive to build mid-range housing in the city limits. How do we … Continue reading →

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New bike share kiosks now open

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Woo hoo! Organizers of Houston’s bike-sharing program are excited about an increase in use of the community bicycles since 18 new kiosks around downtown and Midtown opened. After slow-going last year for the B-Cycle program, use of the bikes increased … Continue reading →

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Hall makes his announcement

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Game on. Former Houston City Attorney Ben Hall formally launched his mayoral campaign against incumbent Annise Parker Wednesday night, decrying the burden of taxes and fees he said are driving city residents to the suburbs, and saying Houston’s mayor must … Continue reading →

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Fixing our front door

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

This sounds very cool. The century-old Sunset Coffee Building, looming in disrepair over Allen’s Landing at the north end of downtown, will become Houston’s “front door” with an $8 million public-private renovation set to begin in April. The three-story brick … Continue reading →

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