Yup, ultimately too little, too late for the Dome. The city should have had some kind of transition plan in place prior to the Astros leaving. At this point, it's a crumbling relic of its old self.
did the daughter of the builder just say its the strongest structure in the world? im glad its getting torn down lol. so many emotional homers trying to keep it alive.
That's the dumbest thing i've read today. No one outside of Houston cares about the Astrodome. What don't Houstonians get about that?
A convention center sounds like a horrible idea, but they should have totally stripped it down and turned it into a covered, open air concert venue/park. That would have honored the city's history while creating a new unique architectural space that provides a real benefit to the city. Now Houston will get just what it needs- another parking lot.
I like it. Or maybe just leave the roof in place (really the only cool part of the dome, anyways) It will be the world's largest carport
No, there are not "a lot of reasons"..... Houston is an excellent city overall and has a very bright future, it just needs to preserve it's history better. You cannot plow down everything and replace it with a parking lot or titty bar.
Houston also needs to get better at building stuff that is worth preserving. It's a young city and a rapidly growing city with little regulation or planning. That climate lends itself to stripmalls and Perry homes everywhere.
Probably the convention center was the best of possible renovation ideas. It sounds like it has a chance at earning money and recouping some of the costs. But, it sounds like the business case only makes sense with a subsidy from the taxpayer, and I don't think that's wise governance, ultimately. As for the future now, I hope it is a parking lot. Not a park, or a monument or other public use. Just park some dang cars on it -- that's what the geography is best suited for. It's close to the convention halls and the stadium. Maybe it can free up some more distant parking to be turned into a park if need be. It's ill-suited to be a park itself. People don't live nearby or go to school nearby. As a park, it'd have to be some kind of destination park that people would plan to drive to, and the acreage likely isn't big enough to build a destination park. Either that or it can be used for the benefit of private convention customers on the public dime. No thanks. Build a park somewhere else where it makes sense to have one. I'm guessing this isn't true. Was there a survey done or something?
You sure took a lot of time to avoid the question completely. A vote to "save the dome" did not fail. A vote to spend 200 million dollars to turn the dome into a convention center failed. If it was a 50 million dollar bond to turn it into a nice park or something like that then it might have passed. I'll ask again: Will you stop complaining if it turns into a park with a kind of memorial something to the dome? Or, will you just find another aspect to be as mad about since it won't be a parking lot.
You are an idiot. RocketsJudoka doesn't even live in Houston. Everyone knows what the Astrodome is. I am no longer living in Houston and people ask me about the Dome all the time.
The population center of the Houston area is in the "Upper Kirby" area (in between Uptown and Downtown, north of Greenway Plaza. I'm kind of bummed about the dome being torn down, it is an icon for the city of Houston. But, the people have spoken, so whatever. It sucks that it will now become more crap surface parking. All this time, the plot of land Astroworld was on sits vacant..
I don't disagree with you. I will only point out that stripmalls and Perry style homes are being built everywhere. You don't have to save everything, but when you save nothing, there is a lack of history in a city. I wouldn't have such an issue with the Astrodome's demise if Houston had a history of protecting other important landmarks. I have lived a number of places in the United States and outside the United States. There is no where that I have gone that can match Houston for the combination of cost of living, upward mobility and the economy. You want to become wealthy through hardwork? No one can touch Houston. You want culture? You want to see the history of the city? Look elsewhere.
they actually had a vote for that. but turnout was low and it kept ending tied 0-0 and everyone just ended up bored.
Sweet Jeebus, what an amazing idea. The world's largest strip club! The mind reels at the possibilities!