"Prime tourist attraction"? Yeah, all those tour buses driving people to the dome. Understand the love for the dome but that is pretty ridiculous
It's only worthless because the people allowed it to become worthless in their minds. It was abandoned essentially by the politicians and the emotions of those who held it dearly. At some point people did care about the Dome. If they tried to tear it down in 2001 there would have been an uproar. People now have moved on and have no connection anymore. The next generation has no reason the appreciate the Dome. If this vote happened 5-7 years ago, it would have passed and there would still be a general interest to this day. I guarantee it.
FIFY. The great irony in all of this is that people that lived in Houston 1970-2000, the generation most attached to it who bemoan its death the loudest, are the most culpable for its demise. This is the generation of people that oversaw and voted for the destruction of the Astrodome's purpose while having zero foresight when it came to transitioning to the next part of its life-cycle. I have little sympathy for them, really.
No, its worthless because it no longer served any purpose. They didn't have any tenants, and there was no reason to refurbish it as a stadium. If the vote happened 5-7 years ago, it likely fails by an even wider margin... as this is the height of eliminating public funding for stadium renovating/building (Seattle loses a team over it, teams who want new stadiums end up footing the majority of the bills). The key is, and this has always been the case, to find a VIABLE function for the repurposing. Right now, "repurposing just to repurpose" won't work.
Exactly Nick. I don't care if it's turned into a convention center. It's not like that impacts me. What I care about is throwing away millions of tax payer dollars to turn it into a convention center that the city doesn't need, that won't ever return the investment and that will continue to suck resources for years to come. If there is a demand for a convention center of that magnitude with that unique place in history in the city, then a private company should be eager to step forward and dump some money into it without the public paying for it. I'm all for any plan that puts a private company on the hook for funding of a renovation and the future liability of the stadium.
SI.com did a things to remember from the Astrodome... http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/main/photos/1311/classic-photos-of-the-astrodome/
The entire point of voting on a plan (any plan) was to give it purpose, and give it tenants. Of course it was empty, the Astros and Oilers left. Hence there should have been plans to do something with it YEARS ago. After the Olympic bid failed, it essentially sat... and sat... and sat while politicians failed to address the issue. Seattle lost a team for the same reason why Houston lost the Oilers. It had nothing to do with the unwillingness to spend on development of stadiums more so with the demand of ownership from the citizens. Both Houston and Seattle later approved funding for new teams and stadiums/arenas (Texans, and what was going to be the Kings move) This didn't pass not because the amount of money being spent, it failed because where it was being spent. Something nobody has in interest in keeping anymore. I guarantee had a proposal was given in, lets say, 2005 it would have passed, without question
Post Spring Break conversation. Did you go anywhere? Oh yeah, went to Italy and saw the Coliseum. Where'd you go? I went to Houston, saw the Astrodome. LOL
Making it into a convention center is not giving the Astrodome a "purpose". You could build a new convention center, for the same price if not cheaper, without involving the Dome. That being said, the city doesn't even need another convention/expo space. The Astrodome is a STADIUM... plain and simple. The reason why nobody can figure out a plan is because its a building that can and only should host SPORTING EVENTS. Are there any other old stadiums out there repurposed into something other than hosting sporting events? 2001, 2005, now... doesn't matter. This city will never support using public funds to turn the Astrodome into a publicly funded shell of itself that doesn't house sporting events.
$8. So much money. This seems more to be about stubborn tea party like principles than anything. BY GOLLY BILLY JOE I'M NOT PAYING A NICKEL!
Lakewood Church Most stadiums aren't domes...a ballpark is a ballpark and there's not a way to make much of an argument that it could possibly be something else. But a dome can be used for other things.
If it was repurposed to something else, then you aren't really saving the Dome, you are saving the shell of the Dome. It's not like you could go in and tour the old Dome as it was if it was turned into a convention center, so comparing it to historical sites where that is possible in other cities doesn't really fit. I understand being sad to see it go, but how much history is really being preserved if it is turned into something else?
And arenas aren't domed stadiums... and even then, Lakewood Church is basically still being used as a stadium/theater (any venue that can hold a large amount of people for an event). If there was an even bigger church than Lakewood, that would need to hold 50,000 people, then I guess the dome would be able to be used for that. Again, if there was a great use for this dome, or any other dome that has since been torn down, it wouldn't be this hard to think of one.
All that may be true. I was responding to the, "are there other sports stadiums still in use for other purposes" question... because I'm tired of hearing how if you can tear down Yankee Stadium, you can tear down the Astrodome. The Astrodome, at least conceptually, can have a life as something other than what it was originally built for. Yankee Stadium is a ballpark...it's open-air in a cold climate. It's an outdoor stadium, or it's an outdoor stadium. It could also be an outdoor stadium.
Also Yankee Stadium was turned into a nice park. The Astrodome will turn into something only Houston would appreciate, parking space.
Private investors should have one more shot at it(although no one has had a good plan is 10+ years) I think its funny that it will cost more to fill in the hole than to demolish the structure....... Filling in hole makes up a “majority” of Astrodome demolition cost I like the detention pond idea. Give it a cool name and we have a new landmark :grin:
