The Williams Tower

In this blog, I will talk about Houston architecture and I will start with one of Houston’s best buildings. The Williams Tower, designed by Philip Johnson, is one of the best Post-Modern buildings ever built. The Williams Tower was designed by Philip Johnson and completed in 1982. It was built in Houston’s Uptown District and to this day, no other buildings in Uptown are taller than half the height of this building. Because of its height, it can be seen for many miles in the city, especially at night, when there is a rotating beacon at the top of the tower that can be seen for miles. The most striking facet of The Williams Tower is that it mixes Post Modern material with Art-Deco design. It takes advantage of well-regulated set-backs and design elements to mix the two styles of Art-Deco and Post-Modernism. Philip Johnson fell into one quagmire while designing the building. Most every building needs a ventilation system and architects usually put that design element on the roof of skyscrapers, because it must be surrounded by walls so it is not exposed. Well, Philip Johnson wanted the roof of the building to be used for the beacon. Therefore, his compromise; was yet another architectural masterpiece, The Williams Waterwall. Placed in a park at the foot of the building, The Williams Waterwall is a large fountain that acts as the ventilation system for the building. I hope you enjoyed this blog, look forward to further blogs on architecture in Houston in the future.

Who is Houston's Greatest Mayor?

Houston, I believe, is a city with politics I agree with. As a result, we have had many great Mayors. In this blog, I will talk about who I think was Houston’s greatest Mayor.

I believe Mayor Bill White has been Houston’s greatest Mayor. Mayor Bill White, championed public/private partnerships. He created the “SafeClear” plan, which contracted towing companies to various parts of the cities highways, so that once a car broke down, a tow truck was instantly there to get it. During Hurricane Rita he convinced gas stations to send attendants to run up and down the cities highways, filling cars up with gas. When the Astros made it to the World Series, he contracted private companies to throw a party near the stadium, making a profit both for the city and for those companies. I liked Mayor Bill White’s creative ways to handle the cities issues. He also improved historical preservation, balanced the budget within the first few months of taking office, (something the previous Mayor couldn’t do in several years) and, although it wasn’t his idea, it was his efforts that made Discovery Green happen.

You may disagree with me on this issue and if you do, feel free to leave a comment explaining who you think has been our greatest Mayor. I believe it is Bill White for the reason’s above but don’t get me wrong. Houston has had many great Mayors.

Providing Benefits to Same Sex Couples Working For Houston

Mayor Annise Parker has recently passed an executive order to provide benefits for members of same sex couples working for the city. I support Mayor Annise Parker’s new plan to provide benefits for members of same sex couples working for the city. However, that doesn’t change the fact that it violates the Texas Constitution.

The order passed, is a good thing, because I see no reason to deny same sex couples the benefits that traditional marriages have. I hope one day every city in Texas will have this policy.

However, reading the Texas constitution, it explicitly says that no political entity of the state of Texas is to acknowledge gay marriage. Rather than fighting this battle on the local level, we should fight it at the state level and focus our local government policy on providing services to the people of Houston.

Although Mayor Annise Parker has made the right decision, we must acknowledge that it violates the Texas Constitution and we must fight our local level battles rather than fight the Texas Capitol from the base of City Hall.

Mayor Annise Parker

In this blog I will talk about our current Mayor, Mayor Annise Parker. I approve of the job Mayor Annise Parker has done. She has tightened historical preservation laws, creating two categories, historical buildings and historical neighborhoods. In a historical neighborhood designation, the entire neighborhood is preserved as is. She has passed drainage improvements. She has balanced the budget without laying off police, or firefighters, or cutting employee pensions. She has announced plans to take the “Complete Streets” programs implemented in Midtown and enforce it across the entire city.

This is just a small sample of what Mayor Annise Parker has done. I have also met her at City Council Meetings; she is very well informed on everything going on in the city. Mayor Annise Parker runs the city as a businessman, not as a politician.

Hughes Landing at The Woodlands

I have recently talked about The Woodlands Town Center and will expand on that in order to talk about a new development, currently under construction, which will expand the Town Center greatly. Hughes Landing is currently under construction. It will be a new urban neighborhood for The Woodlands area. Located on Lake Woodlands, it will take a large undeveloped area and build Offices, hotels and retail on the area. It is not far from the Market Street area. Demand in The Woodlands is through the roof and the Woodlands Township (the current entity managing the Woodlands which was created by the Texas legislature) has been forced to find areas to put in more development and expand The Woodlands.

I will continue to give updates on areas in Houston and how they are growing.

The Woodlands Waterway

Houston is known as a city with many “Edge Cities”. An edge city is a major economic center outside of the metropolitan areas main economic center, also known as “Satellite Cities”. Over time I will eventually attempt to cover all these multiple edge cities Houston has. For now, I would like to focus on one edge city. The Woodlands is one of the best neighborhoods in Houston and its Town Center has built a beautiful “Woodlands Waterway”.

The Woodlands began as a master planned community in a dense forest of pine trees. Where every opportunity arose, the forests were preserved. The Woodlands was sold in 1993 and plans began to build a “Woodlands Town Center”. They wanted the community to stay planned even after it grew, so they decided to build a “Woodlands Waterway”, which is The Woodlands version of the San Antonio Riverwalk in San Antonio. It was an innovative way to plan development as development would come to the sleepy suburban community. Today it stands along with other “urban” projects such as Market Street and Hughes Landing.

I encourage you to visit The Woodlands Waterway and The Woodlands, it is one of the best neighborhoods Houston has.