Minute Maid Park, Houston, Sunday, June 6, 2010
Minute Maid Park in Houston has been the driving present force for both change and preservation in the east downtown area now for the past eleven years. Anyone who knows anything about our city will tell you, no matter how bleak things look at any given moment, that the picture is a lot prettier today than it would have been – had the Astros remained south of the Texas Medical Center in the iconic, but falling down fast, rat-infested Astrodome over this same period of time.
Although ballgame attendance is down in 2010 due to economic and talent conditions affecting the team, the Astros have experienced some of their best years at the gate since the 2000 move to the cozier confines of the downtown “Juice Box.” We fully expect to see that three million people season attendance gate again too – just as soon as the hope of winning and the availability of expendable income both ratchet up again a couple of notches in the hearts and pocketbooks of Houston baseball fans.
If we can ever succeed in rebuilding a well-heeled downtown living community, and a seven days a week alive service and entertainment environment going on again downtown, I think we shall also see an even clearer rise in everyday ballgame attendance, Today there are simply too few grocery stores, other shopping places, restaurants, schools, and affordable homesite choices to make serious downtown living a practical option for most people, and especially for young families.
There’s not enough going on down there that’s affordable and people can’t wait for game days with the Astros, Rockets, and Dynamo to have choices. Of course, the other double play that enters into the picture here is the availability of work choices in the near downtown area. You can’t move to the downtown area to avoid the freeways if you still have to drive to the ‘burbs to earn a living, but there’s not a whole lot of job expansion going on downtown in the middle of our current economic climate.
Craig Biggio makes the throw to first ....
I’m sure there must be some kind of downtown economic development council meeting somewhere in Houston today to discuss a more serious approach to improving growth conditions on the east side of downtown Houston. All I can offer are these few general thoughts and words – and the memory of our last best known downtown Houston double play combo of Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell.
Downtown Houston needs the dual availability of affordable, attractive area living choices, plus the availability of good-paying professional jobs in the downtown and near downtown region. Put those two plays together in some kind of stable form, where jobs and infrastructure come together in a way that people trust as real change and not a fragile promo package and we will start to see real movement to the restoration of everyday life in the downtown area.
... and Jeff Bagwell takes it in to complete the double play!
The last time we pulled off a memorable double play downtown so well, we built statues to honor the facilitators. If Houston can pull off the downtown living double play, the only statues needed will come in the form of hands shaking in success.
I hate to sound like the Chamber of Commerce here, especially when I don’t even have a dog in the money hunt that certainly has to result from the success of this effort, but I see it as a move that really appeals to my personal double-play of caring for Houston.
I’d simply like to see us build a new Houston that doesn’t require us to destroy the physical and architectural history of our local heritage in the process. Don’t tear down the old houses and buildings to simply make parking lots and new formless glass office space. Adapt the fine old structures already there for new use, wherever and whenever possible.
The Inn at the Ballpark at the corner of Texas and Crawford stands as a brilliant example of how even the tasteless old World Trade Center Building could be made like new into something that reeks with the ambience of a building it never was,
We can only hope that the relic across the street from Minute Maid Park at Union Station that was once the 12-story Ben Milam Hotel will someday soon shine even brighter once that lofty project is completed.
All for Houston. And Houston for all.
The Pecan Park Eagle 
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