Posted on 06/23/2004 10:02:47 AM PDT by Willie Green
Over the past few years, downtown Houston has experienced a dramatic makeover. After decades of blight, the area has seen the restoration of old buildings and the return of retail, particularly restaurants and clubs.
Many of these new businesses suffered through months of road construction with the hope that the arrival of light rail would turn things around.
It's been almost six months since rail's launch, enough time, perhaps, for retailers to gauge whether the train will have a positive effect on their businesses. It should be noted, of course, that no two businesses have the same story to tell.
Houston Chronicle reporter David Kaplan sat down with Andrew Alexander, general manager of Chipotle, to find out if light rail has made a difference at his Mexican restaurant. Located beside the rail line in downtown's Historic District, Chipotle opened about a year before the train's arrival.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
ping
ping
Someone Tell Atlanta. Their mass transit sucks, except to get to the airport.
I'm out of the ping business except for HAT items. Weegee will sometimes use the list I made available to him.
I don't have the time to come home and sort through the 247 new posts to me.
Ah, the Houston Comical trying to convience us the WhamBam Tram was a good idea.
I wonder how many of my tax dollars are paying for it in the form of transportation funds from Uncle Sam.
For the record I don't have problem if the project is subsidized by Houston taxpayers for a definite time frame, say 18 months to build ridership.
Of course that has NEVER happened in the long time, a public rail line that pays for itself.
Also from today's Houston Chronicle:
Driver suffers injuries in MetroRail collision
A motorist was injured after running a red light and colliding with a MetroRail train Tuesday afternoon, the Metropolitan Transit Authority said.
Spokesman Ken Connaughton said the car was westbound on Alabama shortly after 4 p.m. when it struck a southbound train at Alabama and Main.
The driver was taken to St. Joseph Hospital with unknown injuries, Connaughton said.
It was the 47th collision involving a train on the Main Street light rail line.
That Chipolte is in a superior location. Granted that the rail construction had a negative impact on the eateries along the rail line (many went out of business, remember 'Shorties'), I am not suprised they are experiencing more business. It will way to early to tell if the rail line is truly offering a true economic boost to many places, and also if the true boost if any will be worth the 100's of millions spent on the project.
BTW, I had the honor of waving to the $400 million boondoggle this morning as it damn near ran over me.
47 collisions with the train... and counting....
I am not surprised, since all the train was meant for in Houston was a payoff to wealthy real estate investors.
And here I thought transportation should be about transportation.
If this is the best evidence you can find for your above claim, I'm not buying it. Why spend 100s of millions of dollars to increase Chipolte's business by 15%? As the articles says Chipotle opened a year before the rail system, so the increase in their business is far more likely due to the reduction in traffic congestion casued by the construction of the rail system, than an influx of new customers via the rail system itself.
I guess The Comical also didn't have the time to locate the numerous former business owners who have already been run out of business by Metro -- because the construction period turned out to be months longer than promised, and their businesses remained almost inaccessible until they ran out of capital to remain open.
LOL! Another incompetent Houston driver who should have his/her license revoked anyway.
This one was from out of town.
Only somewhere between $500,000,000 and $1,000,0000,000 (Metro won't tell) for a six mile stretch of track that goes from the Astrodome to the Field Formerly Known as Enron that has done nothing to alleviate Houston's horrible traffic jams and masticating deaths on I-10, I-45, I-59 and I-610, but a couple of downtown restaurants have a few more customers so it was well worth it. </sarcasm>
Houston PING
Houston Comical 06/19/04
My cousin is a chiropractic student in Houston and I suggested to her that she hand out her business cards at the rail station.
Yeah, that's another incompetent drive who should have his license revoked.
But that one's old news, we're up to 47 now.
This Houston light-rail is proving to have another significant benefit: getting all the bad drivers off the road!
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