13 Comment

• James March 27, 2015 at 11:37 am

  TIL mattress firm owns the chain mattress pro. They opened both stores right next to each other in the infamous shopping center on Westheimer at Montrose. I hate Mattress Firm a little more today.
• Major Market March 27, 2015 at 11:39 am

  Regarding the slowing growth in apartment rental rates: A 4.7% annual increase can still pack a punch. Taking the quoted $1,058 average rental price from the article, instead of about $60 more a month, the renter can look forward to “just” $50 more a month to shell out.
  .
  I guess with the “extra” $10 a month, this renter can splurge on a couple of Metro day passes to ride the new East and Southeast Lines, if they ever open. Or, blow it on one croissant at Common Bond. :)
• dag March 27, 2015 at 12:04 pm

  Pho in the heights, my dreams have come true.
• TheNiche March 27, 2015 at 12:29 pm

  Re: The High Speed Rail Op-Ed by Evan Michaelides (by way of Lisa Gray’s column, ‘Gray Matters’). It is disingenuous for the author of that op-ed to suggest that HSR down the Union Pacific freight corridor would prevent METRO from running a future light rail line through the neighborhood. If and when METRO moves forward, it’ll very obviously go down Washington Avenue and/or Center Street.

  It is in fact public transportation. The public can pay a fee and ride it, not unlike a METRO bus. It is not and cannot be operated by the person riding it. It operates along a fixed route. The cabin space is shared with lots of other people. For legal liability purposes, it will be a public space. It is transportation for the public; it is public transportation. It does not matter whether the operator is for-profit; and as pointed out, if the finances don’t work then the public may be on the hook, which strengthens the case that it’s public in nature. Fundamentally, if allowances are made through the state legislature to enable the project or to guarantee it in any way shape or form, then it has a public aspect to it. It is also possible for obstructionist legislators to win the day, and if they don’t then that also reflects society’s values, making it implicitly public.

  Yes, it is true that the family of four is probably still more likely to drive than to take HSR. How is that any different from deciding whether to take one’s car or local transit? The greater number of people going someplace in particular, the more it makes sense to take a car.

  And if it offends you that most of the benefit will be captured by a few…yeah, that’s also pretty much the norm. How many of the “Great Unwashed” do you see in airports, ever, at all? None, nada, zip. That’s how many. And you know what? Airports are really heavy pollluters. Do you know who lives near them? Poor people. Maybe we should be asking why do you hate poor people?

  But I won’t ask that question because it’s plainly ridiculous. You aren’t any more class biased than anybody else. You’re merely a greedy disingenuous NIMBY, like so many others. Piss off.
• Higher Density March 27, 2015 at 1:47 pm

  If there is any chance of tax payers being left on the hook for the Hou-Dal rail, there is some incentive being provided by a governmental agency. Like any government incentivized development, it is only reasonable for the developer to be paid for some of their costs but, the majority of development fees should be deferred for the initial term of the agreement so in the event of default, the developer does not receive full compensation.
• alternativemike March 27, 2015 at 2:11 pm

  Everyone knows the Astrodome neighborhood is the hottest and hippest neighborhood in Houston right now duh! Large amounts of primarily 1970s-1980s era 2 story questionable quality condominium and apartment developments, very very plentiful parking (disclaimer: $15-20 dollars a day on game days, during events, and for 3 weeks of March during the rodeo), unobstructed views of vast swaths of pavement, large undeveloped plots of land (courtesy of the former Astroworld site), and a Sam’s Club! There’s even rumor Randall Davis is building his next monstrosity in the neighborhood – The Domee (adding an additional e – it’s trendy right now!) – offering upscale living with totally unobstructed views of virtually nothing to the south, east and west, but awesome views to the north of Downtown and the Medical Center!
• Chris M (2) March 27, 2015 at 4:45 pm

  Nice photo.
• dangdang March 29, 2015 at 5:39 am

  I totally in favor of perpetuating this rumor that “Astrodome” is the cool hipster neighborhood. Keep all those Austin & California transplants away from the East End / 3rd Ward / what’s left of Montrose.
• Sihaya March 30, 2015 at 8:28 am

  That’s a really beautiful sunset photo.
• HAG March 30, 2015 at 8:46 am

  “Pricing will be in the same range as air travel between the two cities.” If true this is absurd. The planners need to take a trip to Japan and ride the Shinkansen. It is the epitome of efficiency and affordability. The train will provide little/no incentive to non-business travelers if pricing is not less expensive and security lines less cumbersome than air travel.
• slugline March 30, 2015 at 8:48 am

  Funny thing about the FindTheHome findings — I wouldn’t be able to tell the diffrence between a map of “hipster” distribution and one that simply tracks areas of high household income. . . .
• Michael March 30, 2015 at 10:23 am

  Metro’s spending in excess of $260 million borders on criminal. These clowns should all be thrown out on their asses. The Metro organization needs to be rebuilt from the ground up …. absolutely useless bunch of bureaucrats. This is unbelievable to me.
• Memebag March 30, 2015 at 10:51 am

  @HAG: The Shinkansen wasn’t built with private money. It incurred a massive debt that was ultimately rolled into the Japanese national debt. It also operates on an entirely different scale.