Astrodome

So what is the 1 mil a year for, exactly? If it's for "upkeep", then someone isn't doing his job.

 

Indoor Casino !

DD

 

As opposed to an outdoor one?

 

World's largest strip club. 9th Wonder of the World.

 

I found some fascinating pictures of the VIP apartments from back in the day.

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gsapp/BT/DOMES/HOUSTON/images2.html

 

World class, revolutionary engineering and crappy, dysfunctional city planning; I say we take a picture and put it on the city seal.

Or make it a strip mall, but require that it has an Oriental Gifts/Samurai Sword shop, a hip hop clothing boutique, a popcorn store and no more than 40% occupancy at any time.

 

This looks like the office of the client-turned-villain in a Simon & Simon episode.

 

BULLDOZE THAT b****!

 

Charge admission and.....

Flea Market in house
Fun park for kids with rides, play ground,etc
Casino
Skate park
Homeless shelter/ job fair/ rehab
Worlds biggest gym charge $10
Library/coffee/wifi/ hang out
Indoor tail gate

 

That could just be the exterminator's bill: I imagine you can't safely or effectively "fumigate" something that big so maybe you've got a whole team of guys spraying everywhere and even trapping some of the bigger game. And unless all the stoves and refrigerators in the concessions were taken out, the health department probably still wants them cleaned periodically to avoid any weird growths or bio-hazards. Even though they'd be trespassing, if somebody dies or gets hurt in there, there might be a liability; so you probably need heating and lighting to make it a least minimally safe to enter and occupy for a period of time. And of course you'd need an electrician to make sure that doesn't all burst into flames.

 

So I was talking with some architect/engineer buddies of my mine last night, and apparently the city still has bonds out on the Dome? This seems to be why it won't be demolished, because the moment they destroy it, they will be forced to pay off the outstanding debt on the Dome in full. So, in essence, it's like having a debt on a credit card. We're making the minimum payment on the balance, and incurring large interest (upkeep) charges. If we'd sack up and pay it off, we'd save ourselves money in the long run. But instead, we keep wishing upon a star that someone is going to swoop in and invest money into it, or come up with an idea to turn it into something worthwhile/profitable, and that's just not going to happen. Even if we legalized gambling, it would probably be cheaper and better to build something new than to renovate the Dome. I think it's time we faced facts, the Dome is doomed, and it's going to die a slow, painful death.

 

It would cost more than reliant to fix that place up. Construction costs have gone way up since that time. We got major value in reliant building when we did. It is unrealistic to expect a billion to be spent fixing up the dome.

 

I haven't studied this much but this is just my take from working in the field. A hurricane wind load is different than a seismic load so while Reliant might be able to withstand a hurricane it might not be able to withstand stresses coming from the ground moving.

Also its not so much the explosions but the force of the material hitting the ground along with the air forced out of the structure as it collapses.

 

The state of the Astrodome is really a disgrace to Houston. It just shows how little care as a society that we have for history. We build a revolutionary structure and then replace it with a faux historical one, MMP, and leave the previous one to rot..

 

enough jibber jabber...lets go grab some labor off of Richmond and the Belt and get crackin

 

If I had a question about the Dome, or wanted to take a tour, would I call the Reliant Arena or Reliant Stadium? I am gonna ask if I can take a chair and/or part of the field. The worst they can do is say no.