It’s quite the historic place.
All this and history too
The famed Astrodome will be designated as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark — the highest honor the state can bestow on a historic structure.
The marker will finally and officially tell the story of the “Eighth Wonder of the World” and, hopefully, create a snapshot destination.
“The dome has never had an actual historical marker,” said Mike Vance, a member of the Harris County Historical Commission which is the local arm of the Texas Historical Commission.
The Texas commission approved the stadium in January among 172 new historical markers statewide for 2018.
[…]
The Astrodome received its strongest protection in a 2017 state antiquities landmark designation, which requires clearance from the Texas Historical Commission for any alterations. Becoming a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark adds another measure of protection.
“It’s a higher standard you have to reach to qualify for that kind of marker,” said Vance. “That means that it’s a building and it has to be intact in the judgment of the Texas Historical Commission — and the dome, thankfully, is.”
In addition, the sign’s unveiling will be “something tangible and visible,” unlike the antiquities designation, Vance said.
So let’s get a couple of things straight at this point.
1. There’s no way the Astrodome gets demolished. You can argue that it was wrong to pursue these historic designations, and you can argue (incorrectly) that the Dome should have been demolished after the 2012 bond referendum was voted down, but those ships have sailed. The Astrodome is basically in the same class as the Alamo now. It’s not getting demolished.
2. Given #1, that means the choices before us are Do Something, and Keep Doing Nothing. It should be clear to all that nobody wants to Keep Doing Nothing. Ed Emmett certainly doesn’t want to do nothing, and the people who are most vocally opposed to the plan that Emmett has put forward are the ones who are most vocally upset about the state of the Dome now after years of nothing being done. Nobody wants to do nothing.
3. So, one way or another, we are going to do something about the Dome, and that means that one way or another we are going to spend some money on doing something about the Dome. The something that is on the table and currently in progress is the Emmett plan. One argument being made by those who don’t like the Emmett plan is that we should have a public vote to approve spending money on the Dome before we do so. I oppose this for two reasons. One is that we don’t as a matter of course have public votes to approve the spending of money by government entities. We vote to approve the borrowing of money, but not the spending of money. I have zero interest in setting that precedent, and I can’t think of a single reason why anyone of a progressive bent would want to set that precedent, either. And two, public votes like this have become little more than preludes to litigation over the result of those votes, often on ridiculous pretexts and often taking years to resolve. You want to ensure that nothing continues to get done on the Dome for another five or ten years, maybe more? Insist on a vote before authorizing any money to be spent on it. It’s more effective than any filibuster.
Who owns the Astrodome ? Is it the State or Harris County or the CITIZENS of Harris County ?
The historic marker should have an albatross on it.
This reason a progressive would NOT be in favor of spending money on the Astrodome is 1) it’s a State Historical site – now this means either it is a museum or it’s a parking lot – can’t be both. If we allow this, we set a precedent for ALL other historic sites and quite frankly cheapen the designation 2) this is money that could be spend elsewhere as 10% of the housing stock was wiped out and could use that money for a lot of affordable housing and 3) 100M is now the opening investment – I assume we are going to do a few 100M’s every 2-5 years and we’ll look back and say ‘Gosh, how did it get to 1.5Billion’?