Astrodome

That's for an important reason, to improve Penn Station one of the, if not the, most important train station in the country.

 

Tearing down the Astrodome would, if nothing else, save us a crapton of money in the long run. Granted, I'd almost rather let it sit and rot than turn it into a parking lot. But let's not act as if MSG and the Dome are on the same level functionality wise, either.

 

Yea but $8? People spend $8 on a drink in Houston. That just seems petty to me.

 

MSG is just a stadium. Sure some great events happen there. Nothing real special about it. The dome was a first of something. It basically came right out of the future at the time. Plus NY already has a ton of history. What does Houston have?

1800 years ago would people have thought the Colosseum was something special? It was just a building for sports.

 

There are not hundred things referred to as the eight wonder of the world.

Not just Houstonians call it that:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighth_Wonder_of_the_World

It has been referred to such by other publications such as nytimes, boston globe etc.

This is why people from around the country trash Houston. Houstonians themselves trash their own city.

 

Again, the dollar amount doesn't matter with voters. Most will vote against tax increases no matter how much and/or what for. We almost lost the Rockets because of this.

At the risk of sounding VERY CRASS......my last dog was very special to me. I loved him very much. But when he died, we buried him. We didn't keep his dead corpse around for history's sake.

The Astrodome is DEAD. Time to bury it.

 

Wow... in the midst of a nearly BILLION dollar renovation.

How's that for wasted money.

 

This is not a good way to argue the point to someone who does not think it is a good idea to keep the Astrodome, as a building, in the first place.

 

It's not the tax payer's money. Dolan paid for all that himself.

 

I appreciate the sentiment people have for the astrodome and it is sad to see it go, but unfortunately sometimes you just have to take old Yeller out behind the shed and put it down.

 

Fine lets look at it from an economic point of view. According to the Texans it will cost 30 mil to blow it up. According to the City it is 60. Lets take the average and say it will cost 45 mil. Take that 45 and put it in bonds that pay 3%. That will yield more than 1mil/yr which is probably enough for the current maintenance they do. So for the same cost as it would be to blow it up we can just let it stand. For a city with no history at least we can say we have something.

Seriously do we need another parking lot in Houston Texas?

Here is an interesting article:
http://houston.culturemap.com/news/...nity-to-tear-down-houstons-iconic-landmark-1/

Of course I think this bond thing is going to fail and they will tear it down, but its still kind of sad how little civic pride this city has.

 

We have plenty of history. USS Texas, San Jacinto Monument, Ninfa's, NASA, Beer Can House and Treasures.

 

You'd be surprised how many folk stuff and mount thier pets.

 

Swoly mounts his pets and they're alive.

 

We've been letting it stand for a decade now and look what's happened to it.

And yes, Houston has lots of history. Been downtown lately? Half the buildings are historical landmarks.

 

So, if the choice is blow it up or let it sit there and becoming the world's largest ball of mold and asbestos, you'd choose the latter? And pay to do so?

 

Hoarders: Houston

 

They're blowing up Macy's in September

And got rid of many historical buildings, like the old train depots

This city has no civic pride.

 

There's plenty of civic pride. I'd venture to say Houstonians are more proud of their city and defend it non-stop to the outsiders that don't live here more than any other big city in the US. Its civic pride that got the ambition to build the dome in the first place. And civic pride won't diminish once its torn down.

Its still a relatively young city... especially if we are arguing about whether a building that was built in the 60's should be preserved or not as a "historical" landmark.

I'm all for preserving its memory... but the actual building itself has already deteriorated beyond respectability. It's a rotting building that the city is still paying for. Renovating it into a shadow of what it once was isn't going to help with the "nostalgia"... and it likely will end up right back at this sad state down the road.

 

Houstonians wouldn't have to defend their city so much if they preserved truly unique historical landmarks like the Astrodome. The proposed plan to keep the "dome" up on pillars and remove the bottom section, replacing it with a park and open air concert venue sounds like an awesome project, that respects the city's history, while creating a functional new space. Christ, it would be worth it just for the shade alone in the summer.