A crown jewel of Downtown H-Town is soon to be no more. Macy’s, a Downtown fixture for decades, is about to go down the drain and Commentary is disappointed our City leaders couldn’t keep it open. Come on now! It was our only major retailer Downtown and it couldn’t be saved? I was there Christmas Eve and again two days after Christmas. Heck, I bought MariGirl one of her Christmas gifts there!
Here is part of what the Chron E-Board said today:
The closing of Macy’s is a wakeup call that something must be done to bring retail to downtown now, while our city’s center is on a roll. In the last couple of decades, downtown has recovered in a grand way, with Discovery Green, Minute Maid and Dynamo stadiums, and new hotels and residential developments. Retail is the missing piece of that revival.
This is a time to think big. What sort of downtown do we want, and what public-private partnerships do we need to make it so?
H-Town CM James Rodriguez learned about the closing from Chron.com. That ain’t right and downright bush league. District I CM Rodriguez is one of the few Downtown City leaders that know how to get a deal done Downtown and he didn’t know about this? City leaders got caught with their pants down on this one. There is no way to sugar coat this. They are going to try to make some lame excuse and counter offer by trying to bring a few food trucks to the site – how ridiculous! I want Macy’s and not food truck tacos, or hot dogs, or cupcakes! I’m glad CM Rodriguez can’t take the blame or look goofy on this deal.
Fix it!
Jeff Bagwell will know next week if he gets into the MLB Hall of Fame. Is Bagwell in the top 50 all time in career RBIs?
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor will swear in Vice President Joe Biden. That’s cool!
This is a bit from the Austin based Q-Report on the SD 6 Special:
We would be the first to admit it’s something of a fool’s errand to attempt to predict with any certainty a legislative special election, much less an 8-person scrum like what is happening in the vacant state Senate seat that had been held by the late Mario Gallegos.
I’m sure a few folks will have a few takes on the SD 6 Special but you really have be in SD 6 for a few days to get a sense on what is going on 5 days before Early Vote begins. Talk to voters, tour the district, and stuff like that. That’s all I’m going to say on this except for the fact that State Representative Carol Alvarado made her taxes available to the media and had a few takers – oh, well!
More on the Macy’s closing from Chron.com yesterday:
Mayor Annise Parker quickly released a statement announcing a new downtown retail task force that will work with the Houston Downtown Management District to “research all available options for a new downtown Macy’s, as well as additional department stores and major retailers”
I like the Mayor but I sure would hate to be the one to tell her that the chickens already left the barn so don’t bother closing the barn doors or however the saying goes.
We finally got some interesting news from The Yard:
ESPN and Major League Baseball announced Thursday that the Astros’ home opener in their first AL season will be the 2013 MLB season opener at 7 p.m. March 31 and will air on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball.”
This is the first time the Astros have been selected for the Sunday night ESPN opener, which is the only game on the opening-night schedule.
Yikes! Now we got to put together a team!
Jeff Bagwell has 1,529 career RBIs and is tied for 46th on the all time list of course with Hall of Fame great Tris Speaker.
Some group did an unscientific poll of Hall of Fame voters and came up with this sample:
B-G-O 70.6%, Baggy 68.2%, Piazza 64.7%, The Rocket 45.9%, Bonds 45.9%, and Sosa 14.1%. You need 75% to get in so if this holds up, nobody makes it – yikes!
Camposcommunications' Blog 