Its pretty sad how the county has basically ignored the voters just because they are trying to save something that should have been torn down 15yrs ago
Good post. In many ways, its fitting that the structure that ushered in the dark ages of stadium architecture be turned into the most uninspiring/utilitarian/virtually useless structure it could possibly be... a parking garage. Houston has plenty of those... I've never driven by a parking garage and said... "damn, that's a pretty parking garage!". I highly doubt this will make the Dome aesthetically more captivating. Its going to actually add to the joke that it currently is.
This. Hey, let's put it on a vote, let the voters decide. Oh crap, voters vote didn't go the way we wanted so well um, ... screw them! A parking garage? Really? How pathetic. Then just tear the damn thing down and create the parking lot you so badly want. Hey guys, wanna park your car on the Astrodome floor!? Pretty cool, ain't it?! <iframe width="640" height="360" style="border-width:0" src="http://interactive.tegna-media.com/video/embed/embed.html?id=2248691&type=video&title=Plan%20moves%20forward%20for%20dome's%20future&site=285&playerid=6918249996581&dfpid=32805352&dfpposition=Video_prestream_external§ion=home"></iframe> Ed gonna Ed. *Actual vote back then wasn't whether or not to tear it down but some other use.
as a threat to get people to vote for the hundreds of millions of dollars he did say this was it. Vote for this or the dome comes down. So he was full of crap in a way. Technically it was a "do you want to spend hundreds of millions for this plan yes or no". But the core message was this or the dome comes down.
Honestly the idea to retain the skeleton and make it a green space is a great idea. The Rodeo is here for 2 months, the Texans for 8 Sunday's and NRG is always there for various college and high school games. This city could use something akin to the Chicago Bean, Hollywood sign or Central Park in NYC. Im sure the city could provide grants for this sort of thing. Have contractors put in competitive bids, streamline the permits and get it done asap. I don't get why this city is so gun shy to do projects that aren't glass boxes or vanilla apartment complexes. Or we could like have more parking.
Basically ignoring the voters would mean they are spending 200 million in bonds to turn the dome into a convention center. They aren't doing that. The vote wasn't a call to tear it down. It was more of a statement that they won't support spending a huge amount of public money to change it. The problem is that it is going to require quite a bit of money no matter what they do and there is nothing valuable enough about the dome and that small amount of land to attract a mass amount of private funding. Find something nice that the Texans and Rodeo like and take however much money they are going to give you. If the Texans and the Rodeo came out publicly with an amount of money they would put into their 2014 Astrodome plan than they could likely generate a lot of support from the public. Their plan added so much green space and elbow room for people with more area for fan amenities. http://www.houstonchronicle.com/new...-unveil-plan-to-replace-dome-with-5613945.php
If they asked for a vote on a skeletal park (w/underground parking) that would be used by the rodeo, texans, and the public, it would pass easily. Especially if the public, rodeo, and texans shared the greatly reduced costs associated with a park option. The parking would also pay for the yearly upkeep and maintenance.
To me it was odd to propose keeping the skeleton without keeping the roof panels. It would be a rain protected multi-use space with them (not blowing rain-proof though) Concerts, pre-game attractions, hoop-it-up, farmer's market, rodeo kid's attractions, car racing garage cover,etc. etc.
So I guess the Italians should just tear down the Coliseum since there hasn't been a gladiator match there in more than 1,500 years.
I think the partial parking idea is a good idea and one of the items I had included in my proposal. The Dome is so big that we should be looking at multiple uses.
I wish we could save the Dome by blowing it up. Making it into a parking garage is such a slap in the face to its legacy. At least when it's demolished people will remember it for what it was.
This has been brought up before many times but it will still cost millions to tear down the dome. The structure of the dome is very strong and it will be difficult to implode. Further the dome sits about 300 feet from NRG stadium and the convention center. Given that Houston soil is basically mud imploding the dome could possibly damage the foundations of those structures. What I've been hearing is that the dome will have to be deconstructed which is very costly and time consuming.
Plenty or older/stronger buildings have been torn down/imploded in close proximity to newer stadiums and other buildings. Many of them in much older cities than Houston. Hell, they just imploded the ramps on the exterior without any sort of problems. Yes, it costs money... but its a one-time cost.
You can't honestly believe you're making a valid comparison between the two structures... if you do believe that, then your vastly ignorant on this entire topic. I loved the dome more than anybody growing up... and I hate that it is sitting there, rotting away. I don't believe making it a parking lot will "fix" it or add any more nostalgia... if anything, it will continue to wear down, continue to require constant maintenance/upkeep, and once enough money has been poured into failed after failed ventures, it will eventually be put out of its misery. Or, per your request, it should literally be let to rot and turn into ruins like the coliseum... and then they can sell tours to walk around its skeleton and see the rat-infested guts of it.
Well a 1000 years from today the Astrodome will be Coliseum of tomorrow. Also the Astrodome is a much better engineering feat than the coliseum.
Here is an article by clutchfan's jeff that makes the point better than me: http://www.houstonpress.com/news/th...osseum-and-were-going-to-tear-it-down-6715159
