Be careful, MacBeth. That's Howard Dean country. Bunch of Birkenstock-wearing, maple-syrup guzzling, Volvo-driving Bush Bashers up there. Ashcroft probably takes the names and SSN's of everyone who crosses the Vermont state line. Beware!!!!!
this is nuts... Traffic being as bad here as in LA? I think not. You guys need to stay off the Katy freeway and off the west loop near the Galleria. Notice that all the bad traffic is on the west side? I can get from Baytown to BW3's in Rice Village during rush hour in 30 minutes.. Just because there is a little traffic on a couple of freeways doesnt mean there is bad traffic on all of Houston's freeways. I have learned to avoid the West Loop and the Katy at all costs..those are the only ones with bad traffic. ehough of these claims about how bad Houston's freeways are...it simply isn't true. Whereas from what I am told by friends and family that have spent time in the LA area....ALL the freeways are jammed... the comparison is so ludicrous it isnt even funny anymore.
One thing to keep in mind is that many people would consider having to drive for 30 minutes to get together unacceptable, but folks in autocentric towns regularly put up with much longer drives. When I lived in Houston, most of my friends lived in central/sw/w/nw so traffic was a very big deal. It's all relative.
You have to remember(or know) that Baytown is WAAAYYY out on the East side of Harris county. I have to drive 15 minutes just to get to the Houston City limits. that means that I can get from the Beltway 8 (East) and I-10(The Beast) intersection to Rice Village (near downtown off of 59) in 15 minutes..during rush hour...(I did just this past Friday at 5:00p) I choose to live that far out of town so that I get the small-town feel and quality of living along with the advantages of living near a big city...I am also less than 40 minutes away from Galveston..(and it wouldnt even take that long if it wasnt for the low speed limits on 146 thru Seabrook and Kemah) it isnt a matter of putting up with long drives.....the drives simply ARE NOT THERE to put up with. If I wanted to, I could get from my house out here in BFE Baytown to any places in Downtown in 30 minutes....when you consider how far out of town I live....that is impressive for a place that supposedly has some of the worst traffic in the country(if some people are to be believed)
There's also a 2.99 haircut place near the intersection of Hillcroft and Richmond, and two off Gessner somewhere around Westpark.
Houston traffic does stink. But of course there is much worse. I used to drive about 15 miles from Missouri City to the Greenway Plaza area to work and that took me about 40-50 minutes. That's sad. I think that the 59/610 intersection was ranked as the 2nd busiest traffic point in the US behind some intersection in Los Angeles. I remember one of my managers used to drive in from somewhere on I-10 and it took him 1.5 hours to drive to work everyday. I-10, 59, 610, 45... they're all a mess.
I think you're missing the point. Most people don't live in Baytown and apparently from the traffic situation, nor do they want to. Sure you get less traffic, but you also get some of the worst polluting chemical plants and refineries in the state. There's always a trade-off. And it's not just some people that make that statement. I know of one Texas agency that ranked Houston as having the 12th worst traffic in the nation and this report ranks it 5th worst in terms of time wasted. I once mentioned to a friend who lived around Lexington, Kentucky that my drive to work in Dallas at the time was "only 30 minutes". She freaked and asked if I had to drive over 30 miles. I said, "no, it's only about 15 miles". She thought that was bad. I have to agree with Woofer - it's all relative. People think Houston has bad traffic until they hit parts of Seattle, LA, Chicago, and Boston.
I hate TJ Simers. But anyone who has ever read anything he has ever written or seen him on Around the Horn knows he thinks LA is gods gift to the world. Everything revolves around LA and the sports there. So reading this did not suprise me that much.
I can't believe that stuff was said and that it came out of Los Angelos! I mean...don't they know theya re going to fall off into the ocean someday? Jeez... They may have the Golden Globes but Damnit! we have fishing for catfish in THE SHIP CHANNEL!
Actually...Baytown only has one....Exxon. It is a misconseption spread from people that havent been out there that we have all these plants....granted, the Exxon plant is probably as big as any3 other plants in Pasadena....but still... You would be referring to Pasadena when you talk about the worst polluting petrochemical plants...and Texas City/League City...Pasadena has somewhere from 20-30 plants....and the League City/Texas City area has almost the same.. and I actually thought our traffic was a pain until I tried to drive in Chicago....twice the traffic....half the freeways....ugh! No wonder they have mass transit...I shudder to think what it would be like without the L and the train from the outlying areas.
Yep. I agree 100%. If you read his column on a daily basis, you would think that bikini skateboard racing was America's #1 sport. The guy is an assclown.
Originally posted by Baqui99 ... Although I didn't live there like RMTex did, the traffic on 405 wasn't any different than what you see on I-10, 45, or SW Freeway on a day-to-day basis. The women were on par with Texas' chicks, as well. As for the smog, it's more evident, because LA is surrounded by hills. You've never lived there, yet you think you can disagree with those who have? I lived there for over 10 years. From the Valley down to Newport Beach. You know not what you speak of. The traffic is hands down worse in LA than anywhere else I've lived or visited. You cannot even imagine. The smog isn't more evident because of the hills, it's because the pollution mixes with the marine layer (aka fog), to create the thickest smog imaginable (although I understand that it used to be worse). I don't think that anyone can argue that Houston is nicer than LA. However, where you prefer to live is another matter. If you enjoy cookie cutter subdivisions in the burbs, where you can buy a 2500 sq. ft house for $175K, then Houston is your best bet. But if you put a premium on outdoors activities like mountain biking, camping, jogging, and going to the beach, then you're better off in LA. If you prefer to spend your weekends at the mall or at an Astros game, then you'd find Houston more desirable. I've lived in both and I'll argue that Houston's nicer; to the point where I would not even consider LA as a viable location for my family.
i realize this thread is about "more" houston bashing... but frankly...the media response i've heard so far, save a few "choice" articles, has been quite positive. everyone on the radio from other cities has come on saying how shocked they were about the facilities in houston...that no other city offers the convenient convention space that allows for so many of the events other than the game...that the weather here this time of year is great...and that they're genuinely impressed. even the most vocal houston critics i know among my friends are saying the same about the way houston is handling this. the host committee did their homework and i'd say it's paying off. if i had to bet, the super bowl will be back by 2010.
More for the fire. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/7814762.htm We have a problem: Houston By Mark Purdy Mercury News Staff Columnist REUTERS/Shaun Best HOUSTON - Yikes. Get me out of here! Sorry, didn't mean to overreact. It's just that I have already been here for, oh, seven or eight hours. And with Houston, that's plenty enough time to wish you were somewhere else. Look, I make no apologies. In my business, you travel. There are some cities you like. There are some cities you don't like. And there are some cities like Houston, where you don't even like to go there to see if you still don't like it. Waiting for Sunday's Super Bowl here will be like waiting five days in a dentist's waiting room. A really flat, sprawling, scrubby-grassed dentist's waiting room. With jammed roads. And frequently unpleasant weather. And zero charm. I know, I know. Why would you care? Except that apparently, you do. I have been covering Super Bowls for 25 years. When people hear I'm going to the game, they invariably ask two questions. One is: Who's going to win? The other is: What's it like to be there? I never answer the first question until the weekend, after I have had the opportunity to gauge the players' moods, ponder the coaches' remarks, and swallow as many shrimp as possible at press buffets. The second question is easier to answer. The experience depends totally on the city. In New Orleans, the Super Bowl is raucous. In Miami and San Diego, the Super Bowl is cool. In Detroit and Minnesota, the Super Bowl is ridiculous. Here in Houston? The track record is shallow, but I've been here enough on other assignments to express my skepticism. The city's only previous Super Bowl followed the 1973 season. The game matched Miami against Minnesota. That week, Vikings Coach Bud Grant drew a $5,000 fine from the NFL for -- sound familiar? -- complaining about Houston's amenities. Grant's gripes had to do with the Vikings' practice facility. It was a local high school field. The dressing room had no lockers, only nails on the walls. The shower heads were rusty with no water pressure. The players discovered a nest in the rafters filled with chirping sparrows. Grant fumed: ``This is shabby treatment . . . We're playing the Super Bowl, not some pickup game.'' Minnesota went on to lose 24-7 in creaky old Rice Stadium. The Vikings do not have fond Houston memories. Me, neither. Perhaps this is a wonderful place to live. A bunch of people must think so, because it's the fourth-largest city in America. I just know that making any business trip here can be a miserable proposition. Logistics are the issue. The airport is a long hike from downtown. The downtown is far away from the football stadium. In fact, the downtown isn't as much of a downtown as the Galleria shopping/office complex, which is 10 miles west of downtown. And whenever you try to drive between any of these places, on whichever endless freeway, the traffic is horrible. In the summer, it's oppressively humid. In the winter, it can be rainy and windy. As for nightlife and hot spots . . . well, I can only refer you to New England running back Antowain Smith, one of this year's Super Bowl participants. He played football at the University of Houston and has a home here. Tuesday, during media day frenzy, someone asked Smith about the dinner he hosted for some teammates Monday night. ``Yeah, everybody was asking me what there was to do in Houston,'' he said. ``So I decided to have everybody over to my house.'' Now, you can read that comment a number of ways. The way I read it is, you can have much more fun at Smith's house than you can trying to chase a good time in a club somewhere on the endless streets of a town with no real focus. Every time someone says San Jose is spread out and haphazardly planned, I tell them to visit Houston. There are no real zoning laws here. You can motor down a street and pass a barbecue joint, followed by a church, followed by a nice apartment complex, followed by a strip club, followed by a public library, followed by a tattoo parlor. It's like driving through a city designed by the stoner teens in ``That '70s Show.'' Still, for all my gripes, I must give it up for the Houston civic posse. After 30 years, the NFL finally has been lured back to town for the year's biggest American sports event -- and it's obvious the city has spiffed up and spent big bucks to arrange the furniture beautifully. Sunday's game will be played at Reliant Stadium, a new 70,000-seat football palace with all the bells and whistles. Meanwhile, a refurbished downtown has a new basketball arena and Minute Maid Field, where the baseball Astros play. Citizens voted to subsidize these projects with a rental car and hotel tax. The result? Houston has now hosted more Super Bowls than the Bay Area. How sad is that? I mean, what does Houston have that the Bay Area doesn't have? Monster truck competitions? As a matter of fact, yes. Earlier this month, a monster truck show was held at Reliant Stadium. And during the event, a vehicle crashed into a wall near the north end zone. Repairs were quickly made. For all of Houston's faults, the city knows how to get it done. We should take a lesson and be a little ashamed of ourselves. Northern California's only Super Bowl was at Stanford in 1985. Since then, the 49ers have flailed away on their stadium project, while Oakland botched the Raider deal. We're as close to hosting a Super Bowl as we are to hosting the Tour de France. For the next five days, then, I will grit my teeth, salute Houston and give it one more chance to make me love the place. If I get bored, I guess I can always go over to Antowain Smith's house and sit around the dining room table. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact Mark Purdy at mpurdy@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5092. Fax (408) 920-5244.
