SAN ANTONIO | Urban Core Development Thread - Page 34

MichaelB · #**661** Posted **Jan 10, 2008, 1:53 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

I found this, and thought some of you might like to see it. I thought it was pretty neat. I've been uploading my pictures onto Emporis that I took back in July in San Antonio. While looking for some info about the Municipal Auditorium, I ran across some original drawings for the Tower Life Building.

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/apl/blakeschoice/ayres.html

Kev... great link... so as to not highjack this threat... might you post this to one of the Austin threads.... there is great infomation on UT tower and other UT buildings

KevinFromTexas · #**662** Posted **Jan 10, 2008, 1:54 AM**

What key words are you typing in to find that? Great find!

verbl · #**663** Posted **Jan 10, 2008, 3:54 AM**

Hey my fellow SA lovers, I was wondering if at all one of you guys( or girls ) who were familiar with the editing function on wikipedia could possibly put a more flattering picture of San Antonio on the website. From all the great pics you guys put up on this site i'm sure that you can put up a picture that will show our city they way it should be seen, and not like it is now it looks like we live in squaller we all know that is not true. Well fellas we should do this we can make it look great plz lets make it happen if I have any pics i will gladly send them to whom ever needs them. thank you

ydoc14 · #**664** Posted **Jan 10, 2008, 5:57 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by verbl

Hey my fellow SA lovers, I was wondering if at all one of you guys( or girls ) who were familiar with the editing function on wikipedia could possibly put a more flattering picture of San Antonio on the website. From all the great pics you guys put up on this site i'm sure that you can put up a picture that will show our city they way it should be seen, and not like it is now it looks like we live in squaller we all know that is not true. Well fellas we should do this we can make it look great plz lets make it happen if I have any pics i will gladly send them to whom ever needs them. thank you

I was just looking at the SA wikipedia site. Somebody put the Weston Centre and the Marriott Rivercenter up in the downtown section...however they put the Marriott as being the tallest building, and I'm bugged that the Weston Centre is really the tallest. The heights really need to be nailed down guys, but there's nothing we can do except keep guessing what they are.

Yeah I'll try and see what I can do to the SA site picture wise and info wise

I'm thinking about putting something in about the Marriott being shorter, etc.

ydoc14 · #**665** Posted **Jan 10, 2008, 6:10 AM**

What's the typical ceiling height for a hotel room? 10'? Trying to further guesstimate the Marriott here...

Schertz1 · #**666** Posted **Jan 10, 2008, 7:05 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ydoc14

I was just looking at the SA wikipedia site. Somebody put the Weston Centre and the Marriott Rivercenter up in the downtown section...however they put the Marriott as being the tallest building, and I'm bugged that the Weston Centre is really the tallest. The heights really need to be nailed down guys, but there's nothing we can do except keep guessing what they are.

Yeah I'll try and see what I can do to the SA site picture wise and info wise

I'm thinking about putting something in about the Marriott being shorter, etc.

Do spires, now, all of a sudden not count? If they count the Marriott is still the tallest.

ydoc14 · #**667** Posted **Jan 10, 2008, 7:12 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schertz1

Do spires, now, all of a sudden not count? If they count the Marriott is still the tallest.

No, I'm still counting the spires in my reasoning...look at them in pics, they're not that tall. I doubt that the Weston would be significantly higher though. The Weston may almost come to the spires, or barely go over them, who knows

I probably wont put anything about it on Wiki since we don't know for sure. I'll just look into the pictures.

Boquillas · #**668** Posted **Jan 10, 2008, 8:25 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by verbl

Hey my fellow SA lovers, I was wondering if at all one of you guys( or girls ) who were familiar with the editing function on wikipedia could possibly put a more flattering picture of San Antonio on the website. From all the great pics you guys put up on this site i'm sure that you can put up a picture that will show our city they way it should be seen, and not like it is now it looks like we live in squaller we all know that is not true. Well fellas we should do this we can make it look great plz lets make it happen if I have any pics i will gladly send them to whom ever needs them. thank you

I don't see anything wrong with the picture at all. What's wrong with it, if you don't mind me asking? (I didn't take it, by the way, just curious.)

ydoc14 · #**669** Posted **Jan 10, 2008, 3:16 PM**

I looked at changing pictures. To use a picture, the person who took it has to give permission for it to be used on Wikipedia.

verbl · #**670** Posted **Jan 10, 2008, 4:23 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ydoc14

I looked at changing pictures. To use a picture, the person who took it has to give permission for it to be used on Wikipedia.

Darn.. well I think we can up up with something

verbl · #**671** Posted **Jan 10, 2008, 4:25 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boquillas

I don't see anything wrong with the picture at all. What's wrong with it, if you don't mind me asking? (I didn't take it, by the way, just curious.)

Look at the other pics of the largest cities they take the pics that show off the best parts of DT and make it look the best it can. Our pic makes SA look like a small desert town imo or something

ydoc14 · #**672** Posted **Jan 10, 2008, 4:32 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by verbl

Darn.. well I think we can up up with something

What we need is somebody on here to go take a skyline shot from the Hillcrest/Babcock area (Balcones Heights). This angle is the best imo, and I haven't seen one from here since the GH got topped out.

MichaelB · #**673** Posted **Jan 10, 2008, 7:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boquillas

I don't see anything wrong with the picture at all. What's wrong with it, if you don't mind me asking? (I didn't take it, by the way, just curious.)

I was curious, so I looked.... I would agree the main pic needs to change. Any photo with an Expressway in the foreground is not very iniviting. (much less a good photo) What does it say about the city? There are such better more inviting views of downtown. Something closer that could show the texture of the skyline! Even the photos of Houston street could be better. How could they not have a mission? ( certainly they could loose at least one of the THREE hotel shots!) Glad you guys are on top of it!

Boquillas · #**674** Posted **Jan 10, 2008, 9:22 PM**

I think it's a pretty darn good photo. The composition is quite strong. Wikipedia is not a travel guide. I don't see why we should have some false or misleading representation of the city on an information website. We as San Antonians need to escape this mentality of eschewing unfavorable comparisons and embrace our real identities. That's the only way progress will be made in the city. Not by hiding behind some romantic, idealized misrepresentation. You want towers? You won't get any by continuing to claim that everything is great in downtown San Antonio.

arbeiter · #**675** Posted **Jan 10, 2008, 9:31 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boquillas

I think it's a pretty darn good photo. The composition is quite strong. Wikipedia is not a travel guide. I don't see why we should have some false or misleading representation of the city on an information website. We as San Antonians need to escape this mentality of eschewing unfavorable comparisons and embrace our real identities. That's the only way progress will be made in the city. Not by hiding behind some romantic, idealized misrepresentation. You want towers? You won't get any by continuing to claim that everything is great in downtown San Antonio.

I agree, but the picture isn't very flattering no matter how you slice it.

Boquillas · #**676** Posted **Jan 10, 2008, 9:40 PM**

Oh, I don't think it's flattering. But it's such a nontraditional view of the city--looking east from UTSA downtown-- that it is interesting. I particularly like the clouds, and the triangle of grass. I think the most flattering views of the city-- where it looks its densest, are from the median (turning lane) of Fredericksburg Rd southeast of the Medical intersection. This is where Fred Rd ascends the second of three "steps" in the Balcones Escarpment, and DT is appropriately foreshortened, disguising the gap between the TofA and the rest of DT. But one would have to be crazy to walk out to the turning lane and take a shot from there...

verbl · #**677** Posted **Jan 10, 2008, 10:10 PM**

I mean all the pics that our fellow posters have put up here on this site blow that pic away and if I knew how to edit I would have put one up there from the person who took it ( with their permission of course ). Good point about wiki not being a travel guide but on the other hand if you look a the phoenix pic it looks good and imo we have a better skyline that they do but people who have seen that on wiki wont know that SA's is better due to the sorry pic we have.

MichaelB · #**678** Posted **Jan 10, 2008, 10:36 PM**

Re: Boquillas

I'll spare everyone the debate on photographic compositoion...

However, IMHO... there are two issues here. One is your feeling that there are issues that need to be addressed within SA... and you wanting folks to be a bit more real about it. OK. got it. The forum is a great place to debate that. The other, however, is a question of how you come together to present your city in the best possible light to guests from around the world. Each has it's own place.

I Can't imagine you would not want to put your best foot forward on a site where many people will get all the info they will ever know about SA! I would not want to air my cities "unflatering laundry" in such a way. Every city is a beautiful city if you know where to look.... why not give folks a clue... instead of a view of a blah traffic laden highway with an unlandscaped foreground and the promise of a more interesting cityscape somewhere beyond the big white baracade! ( oh, crap I went there, sorry)

ydoc14 · #**679** Posted **Jan 10, 2008, 11:41 PM**

Besides the pics, the downtown section needs to be completely re-written, badly. For crying out loud whoever wrote it put that the Rivercenter mall is in the central business district

Well, I love to write, so I think I'll take a stab at it.

verbl · #**680** Posted **Jan 10, 2008, 11:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB

Re: Boquillas

I'll spare everyone the debate on photographic compositoion...

However, IMHO... there are two issues here. One is your feeling that there are issues that need to be addressed within SA... and you wanting folks to be a bit more real about it. OK. got it. The forum is a great place to debate that. The other, however, is a question of how you come together to present your city in the best possible light to guests from around the world. Each has it's own place.

I Can't imagine you would not want to put your best foot forward on a site where many people will get all the info they will ever know about SA! I would not want to air my cities "unflatering laundry" in such a way. Every city is a beautiful city if you know where to look.... why not give folks a clue... instead of a view of a blah traffic laden highway with an unlandscaped foreground and the promise of a more interesting cityscape somewhere beyond the big white baracade! ( oh, crap I went there, sorry)

A fair and honest post. I agree with you 100% I wish I could have said it better myself but you took the words right out of my mouth