We need to make a clear decision on the Astrodome. The old girl deserves a better fate than the one she's now getting by default. As a big part of our local past, we need to decide her future with a little more dignity than she's so far received.
In the 46 years of her life, the Astrodome spent the first 35 of those years (1965-1999) as home to the Astros, Oilers, Rodeo, and numerous and myriad other notable sporting events and concerts, crusades, and even one national political convention. Everybody from Pastorini to Presley played the house that Judge Hofheinz established once upon a time as The Eighth Wonder of the World.
Things were great at the Dome. Then everything changed just prior to this last turn of the century. The Oilers left Houston without the NFL once the city rejected their bid for major help in building a new stadium. Then the Astros threatened to leave if we didn’t do the same for baseball and, this time, we were persuaded to “step up to the plate” and keep major league baseball from leaving too.
Once the Astros moved downtown to the new baseball retro design park at Union Station in 2000, the Astrodome found itself reassigned to purgatory, if not hell. Local interests led by Bob McNair and the Rodeo got us another NFL team in 2002 by building us a second retractible roof new venue designed mainly for football and things were looking good again, except for one thing.
Everybody, except for the rats and the tax collector, forgot about the Astrodome. For the past eleven years (2000-2010), it’s been allowed to sit and rot away before our “we-don’t-even-want-to-look” eyes as one flamboyant pie-in-the-sky plan after another has failed to fly with iron butterfly wings.
So the Dome sits and rots some more. And we pick up the two to three million dollar annual tab from the county as the tax on our no-decision point of view.
Personally, I agree with the position expressed by Houston Chronicle writer Richard Justice in an article he wrote within the past week on this same subject. We ought to do something to preserve the Astrodome by putting it to some constructive, big plan use. If we’re not going to do anything, then I say, “tear her all the way down and let the pictures and memories we shall always have for her be her last testimony as the first great domed stadium in the world.”
What we are doing now with the Astrodome is no way to treat a lady.
The Pecan Park Eagle 
September 13, 2010 at 3:05 am |
The first football game at the Astrodome was played by the Houston Cougars. The Cougars called the Dome home until the latter part of the 90’s. EVERYONE forgets about the University of Houston’s history with the Dome which is a shame considering the great players that set records there.
September 13, 2010 at 6:40 pm |
i worked on the dome when it was built !!!!!!!
turn it inn to a rooller skating rink and a ice skat rink
rooler in summer and ice in winter both of ther florings
work well we used to have one off san pedro ave in satx
later we had one neer joskies parking lot neer the alamo
they build them up north and people love them lots of room
for all to enjoy with big snack bar and watchers galery to
view them and waite for their kids tofinish both the ice and
wooden floor can be used at the same time with a large
movie picture screen for viewing a real money maker for
the city\county and texas with many worker new jobs to
keep it up this a no=brainer so get with it with pinball
machines and other money makers the skys the limit
some day our>>> dumb=dome will do the same>in satx
February 23, 2012 at 7:21 pm |
My Dad died constructing the Astrodome. MAY 29th, 1964 @ 3 PM my life changed forever. The Eighth Wonder of the World as it was referred until now. How soon we forget.