Urban Land Institute Recommendations For The Houston Astrodome

On Friday, December, 19^th, a panel by the Urban Land Institute, made recommendations, for the future of The World’s First Domed Stadium, The Houston Astrodome. I feel like their proposal was one of the best ideas for The Houston Astrodome since prospects for a different use of the structure began in 2002. Over the years, proposals have come for a luxury hotel, movie studio and a convention center. The closest we have come to determining the function of The Astrodome, was a 2013 bond proposal to turn The Astrodome into a convention center. That proposal was voted down.

From the beginning of this saga, I have always wanted The Astrodome to be converted into some form of an indoor theme park. On Friday, December 19^th, my proposal was given a serious boost. Members of The Urban Land institute, made up by some of the best urban planners in America, have suggested an indoor park for The Astrodome, The World’s First Domed Stadium.

I could not be happier about this proposal. The Astrodome is one of my favorite buildings. It appears much better in real life than in pictures. It has a very “space age” look to it. Now that The Urban Land Institute has made its suggestions, the next step is to make this proposal happen. I will be watching closely and doing what I can to make it happen. I hope you will too and you can expect more blogs on the subject on the way in the coming months.

Texas Voter ID Proposal

There has been a lot of commotion surrounding Texas new Voter ID Laws. I believe that the effect of Voter ID Laws, is more efficient elections and not voter discrimination. However, there is one key to the Texas Voter ID law that I would like to attach to the law.

Texas should distribute The Texas Election Identification Certificate at every school in Texas. Voter Fraud is a problem and we should always try to solve a problem. It may not be a big problem but it should be solved none the less. Voter ID is simple and does not discriminate, however the best way to fully prevent discrimination is to make sure that every Texas resident has photo ID.

Photo ID in Texas is currently available at every DPS Station. I propose that we allow Texans to get their Texas Election Identification Certificate at any school in Texas. Every Texan has access to a nearby school. This would allow every Texan easy access to voting rights.

I believe this unique and original idea needs to happen soon in Texas. I hope this blog can help spread the word about this original idea.

Bus Service between Houston and The Woodlands.

The Woodlands currently has a bus line through to Houston; however it only operates during rush hour and is therefore unreliable. The Woodlands should provide some sort of 12 hour bus service into Houston. The Woodlands now has nearly 100,000 residents and Houston has 2 million people in its city limits, the 4^th largest city in America. The drive from The Woodlands to the center of Houston is 30 miles, which is a stressful highway trip for residents to take. The metropolitan area would greatly benefit to have multiple public transportation options and bus service greatly improves those transportation options. It would greatly improve our pedestrian transit and make commuting through Houston much more comfortable. I hope more of The Woodlands residents start speaking out on the need for an efficient, 12 hour, bus service between Houston and The Woodlands.

Preserving The Woodlands Planning

The Woodlands area has been faced with the problem of rapid population growth. A master planned community, the construction of a new corporate campus for Exxon/Mobil will create a large population influx into the area. Here is my proposal for how we can deal with this population growth.

The Woodlands should study the possibility of building new villages and expanding westward.

When The Woodlands was first built, there was not much constructed within the South Montgomery County/North Harris County area. However, soon after The Woodlands was built, there was a large influx of economic development and now it is one of Houston’s largest edge cities. It seems like the entire reason for the population influx was The Woodlands good planning and livability. I think it is important, that as we grow, we keep that livability and good planning, as that is the reason we have grown in the first place. Right now, we are going through another boom, instigated by the construction of Exxon/Mobile’s new campus. I believe a good way to handle this, is to create another village for The Woodlands and build it west of The Woodlands. The Woodlands is a great city and a great part of the Houston Metropolitan Area. I hope and pray that we will keep The Woodlands good planning together and I think an antidote would be to expand The Woodlands and build new villages as we face this population growth.

Aesthetical Law in Houston

Cities are built upon their urban environment. However, cities are also built upon capitalism, progress and success. We must find the fine line between a need for an aesthetically pleasing community and a progressive, opportunistic place to create a way of life for yourself, your family and your friends, here in Houston. I have researched the various entities in Houston, of whom have taken upon the role of enforcing the aesthetic standards of our city. In this blog, I will make my case for the best way to enforce aesthetical law. However, in this same blog, I will also explain why the best solution can be found right here, in zoning-free Houston.

Aesthetical law must be enforced on our community; however, it should not be decided by sovereign entities but instead by the neighbors who live in the community. One of the first things one must understand when it comes to the enforcement of aesthetics upon a community; is that all locations have a different habitat to begin with. Therefore, each community uses a different platform and pattern to enforce aesthetical standards.

On the same token, I believe that everybody has different tastes, therefore, tastes cannot always be enforced by law, just as much as cities cannot determine the natural environment they are born within; they cannot let the decisions of how to preserve aesthetics be determined by an all-sovereign dictator on how to design the community.

I believe the people who live in and experience the neighborhood are the ones who determine the aesthetics of their area. I believe in localized government, therefore, I believe that the individuals, who get affected by the decisions the most, should be the ones making those decisions. So, believe it or not, that is the way it is done, right here in no-zoning law Houston. Houston is divided into “super neighborhoods” each district runs that neighborhood but it is not done by elected officials but rather, those who live there.  Regular meetings are held and decisions are made by those residents. After much research, preparing me for a blog on aesthetical law I have found that Houston is the city (that I know of) which handles this process the best and most closely to the conclusion I have come to. The people who live in the neighborhood are the ones who should decide the aesthetic standards of that community and that’s the way it should be done by every local government across the country.

Texas Election Code Proposal

While working as a clerk in a Texas election, a voter came to us with a complaint. The man asked why you cannot just, “Vote anywhere”.  I have taken this proposal into consideration and have explored his proposal until I am in a position to articulate my feelings on the issue.

Texas election code would be much improved and much more fair, if you could vote at a location other than your precinct voting location alone.

The man I am referring to, proposed that voting locations be “anywhere” and said “That’s what they do in Mexico.” While I have not been able to find information about Mexico’s policy here online, I disagree with the man about this proposal but still have an alternate proposal which may appease some of what he desired.

Elections cannot be held “anywhere”, elections are very, very important and everything that can be done should be done to eliminate voter fraud. In Texas and I believe in most states, we have the “JBC” a machine that stores votes and makes digital voter fraud impossible.

Here is my appeasement to the man’s proposal. Although it is too dangerous to “privatize” voting, we can make it more accessible. Right now in Texas, unless you are early voting, you only vote at one location in your precinct, you are not allowed to vote in any location other than the one single voting location in your district.

I propose that you be allowed to vote in any voting location, whether it is the one chosen for your precinct, or is the location chosen for another precinct. On your voter registration card, in Texas, it is filled with information, including the precinct you live in. If you go to the voting location in another precinct, the clerk can read your precinct number, therefore determine which district you are in and who your representatives are. As long as we provide this information at the voting place, the clerk can determine what precinct they live in. As long as this information is provided, they should be able to vote in other precinct locations as well.

I have heard a story of one man who arrived at the wrong voting location at the final minutes of the election and wasn’t able to vote because he could not get to the correct location in time.

Voting laws in Texas would be much improved if we are given the ability to vote in voting locations outside our distinct precinct. However, I do not support privatizing the system so you can “vote anywhere” as the individual voter proposed to me on election day.