My hot take is the Light Rail is more of a hindrance than a benefit, it has not spurred growth, all it has done is formed a physical barrier along Scott Street, and disrupted traffic around it all the way to 45.
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There are four major apartment complexes between 45 and Elgin along Scott Street that didnāt exist before rail. You cross 45 and there are hundreds of new townhouses and at least 5 more major apartment complexes along the corridor. The area is so much better than before.
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The bigger blocker to crossing Scott is that almost every dorm, dining hall, and classroom building is on the other side of Cullen and so is at least half a mileās walk over unshaded and often brutally hot pavement all for the reward of trying to play Frogger on a high-traffic 40 mi/hr stroad.
Itās okayish if you live in Cougar Place. Basically anywhere else on campus itās a remarkably unappealing experience.
Let me ask you this.
Why should The Third Ward remain the way it is?
I am all for keeping historical buildings.
Then let me ask you another question.
Why is it that many historical buildings are run down, unsafe and look like crack houses?
I have more questions.
Are these the buildings you want to preserve?
Why is it that they are in the shape they are now and have been that way for decades?
These are direct questions.
These are questions that you and some others refuse to answers.
Are you going to mention affordable housing?
Then at this rate the entire country should be reclassified as affordable housing.
Why is it that only certain areas stay that way?
Is this encouraging a run down neighborhood mentality?
Then why should The Third Ward home owners suffer from this?
Did this ever come to your attention that Third Ward home owners and business owners would welcome gentrification?
They would be the first ones to benefit from it.
You know what the definition of insanity is? Yes, keep doing the same thing and in this case NOTHING That is clearly by design.
āInvisible Houstonā by Dr. Robert Bullard can help answer your questions.
I have to wonder if Dr. Robert Bullard has ever written a book on how the migration toward the single parent family has affected the educational opportunities & advancement of black youth in Houston during that same time period. I think that might shed a little more light on the matter.
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Family dynamics are not Bullardās focus. More often heās environmental and transportation focused.
He touches on law enforcement in Houston, but Iād also check out sources on convict leasing down in Sugar Land, or the War on (some) Drugs.
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Yes, local leaders and Third Ward leaders are responsible for this. They keep being reelected and make a living out of it while The Third Ward suffers.
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Maybe this means more commuters going to Sugar Land and Katy instead of main campus https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2026/07/17/jay-neal-uh-sugar-land-katy-campuses-growth.html
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Unfortunately UH jumped out and over invested in these places that they have to make it work even if it means cannibalizing other campuses
Anyone have the details? Paywalled right now.
Are you saying those campuses arenāt working now? They have taught classes in Sugar Land since around 94, and have had permanent buildings there for over 20 years. It has grown, as has the main campus. Both have grown with students and programs offered. Of course part of that was shifting of some College of Technology majors to Sugar Land which I know was unpopular on Coogfans and would be what you refer to as cannibalization (and I donāt disagree with that characterization really).
It seems to me what they are doing is working.
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It has to work - but the bean counters making these moves arenāt sitting there thinking about social issues also but they had to hurt the main campus to make the satellite campus somewhat relevant with the technology move a without that their still scrambling
Honestly how many really care about social issues on campus but at the same time the commuters who attend these satellite campuses want the same thing at their spots
Ironically, Friday night I was on campus near the den area. There were some cars out there, but part of it is the area lacks traffic due to location. It is tucked in the back of the campus off a dark highway, and thereās a little to no housing near it where you can generate traffic.
And now if they wouldāve put those off campus housing elements, such as the icon, etc., back there it generates more traffic
I donāt know that it is bean counters making these decisions on their own, I think that stuff is talked about and debated for sure. I can also tell you that for Sugar Land, the local area politicians and business leaders have a big influence.
I may not agree with the decisions but I think there is a lot more thought into the social issues and all that when making these decisions.
they are putting a new college of tech building but kicked out some majors ? doesnāt make a lot of sense.
I woulda thought a new tech building with all the tech majors would be a big sell for UH given todays tech world and colleges having pure technology departments are few.
Theyāre putting a makerspace for the engineering school, students can access it but the dept of tech is out in sugarland.
I know CS just opened up a masters program in Katy. God forbid they move the CS program out there (2k+ students)
brilliant ! the world is going tech(computers, electricity, green energy, AI, etc) and UH is shuffling it off; should be a star attraction for the main campus.
Iām sorta DOUBTFUL it would actually happen, just the main professor running it is the coordinator of the MS CS AI Track @ UH Katy. Heās also on the ad-hoc committee for UH Katy.
Then againā¦ The program is fully in person at the UH Katy campus.
If this is a pathway for them to start putting all the classes out there, itād just be bad for business. Iād protest with every might. Thereās also a specific āSystems Engineeringā program that is only at Katy too. So these might be one offs, or they might be full on signals that something is happening. The program ONLY got announced earlier this year.
The article above (though I am not able to read all of it due to the paywall, so if anyone has it) mentions wanting to have 5k students at the Katy campus and 10k at Sugarland. Whether this is for a full degree program or for classes alone, we will find out soon. But Sugarland already has the DoT, and theyāre creating masters plans for both campusesā¦ So who knows.
Youāre correct, itās not easy to get to that side of campus. Do you have any hope that the SH 35/Spur 5 connection to the South Loop will help?
The intersection of MLK/Wheeler has always been a pain, but the addition of light rail through there made the intersection traffic even worse. I know itās pie in the sky, but would be great to see a grade separation between light rail and car traffic someday.
correct - i cringe being stopped on a metro rail track - especially at greenbriar near NRG and the Richmond one in Midtown