Table of Contents
Contributors
Terrence Doody; Stephen Fox; Lisa Gray; Nonya Grenader; David Hay; Paul Hester; Alex Lichtenstein; Jennifer Mathicu; Barry Moore; Janet H. Moore; Chula Ross Sanchez; Christof Spieler; Rives Taylor; and Bruce C. Webb.
Cite 59
Winter 2004
Editor’s Note
Cite 59 was guest edited by Rafael Longoria, Barry Moore, and Christof Spieler. In his contribution, "Down the Line," Spieler begins with the following:
"In 1994 readers of Houston Life magazine saw an overhead view of Main Street lined with stores and apartments, shaded by trees, and punctuated by public squares and gateway arches. It was architect Peter Brown's vision of urban revitalization, and it looked awfully good in colored pencil. That article led to an organization (Making Main Street Happen, founded n 1994) that held a competition (won by Ehrenkrantz Eckstut &. Kuhn Architects in 1999) that created a master plan (first issued in August 2000). By then, the goals of high-density pedestrian-oriented development had been boosted by the Metropolitan Transit Authority's decision to build a light-rail line in the Main Street corridor. Redevelopment was part of the light-rail plan from the start. Main Street offered existing sources of ridership, but it also offered potential for dense, pedestrian-friendly development that would create new ridership. In a city that lacks planning tools such as zoning and growth boundaries, light rail was a way to encourage growth in the urban core. METRO forecast that rail would bring $500 million to $1 billion in new development. That's the plan; now comes reality."