COMMENT OF THE DAY: WILL HOUSTON STOP TURNING ITS BACK ON THE BAYOU GREENWAYS? 
“This is revolutionary…they will make a building FACE the bayou, rather than back up to it with a solid concrete wall lined with putrid dumpsters. I have been waiting for this day for decades! To my knowledge, the only business in Houston that has proudly claimed its bayou-ness is Brenner’s on the Bayou (I’m sure there are others, I just can’t think of them right now). I bike many of the trails in Houston’s bayou network and still marvel at how segregated the trails are from city life. The stretch along Brays through the Med Center is the worst – it is a gallery of the backs of parking garages, 2 sewage plants, security fences, and sheer walls on high rises. It’s so barren and inaccessible that hospital employees go there to secretly smoke their cigarettes (some hospitals fire their employees for smoking now, so it’s a big deal to not get caught).” [Superdave, commenting on Bayou-Side White Oak Village Hopes To Woo Cyclists, Ninja Warriors, Coffee Shop to Antoine Dr.] Proposed siteplan: White Oak Bayou Village
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This is cool!
An aboutface in fact :-)
Being from Dallas and having watched the birth of Katy Trail Ice House, I am shocked and baffled as to why Houston has not caught on to facing out buildings towards the bayou and trails to turn them into omni-pads. This method is so much more functional and aesthetically pleasing!
Because bayous are not as pristine as one may think, they usually smell, full of trash, and breed mosquitos at an alarming rate.
I love this comment. The other examples of buildings turning to the bayou (at least partially) that I can think of are the Kitchen at Dunlavy, White Oak Music Hall, and re:HAB Bar on the Bayou.
The bayous now aren’t what they were even just a few years ago. The best thing about all of the flooding in Houston is that: 1) It creates large, often flooded, riparian areas that prevent development thus creating forever urban green space. 2) Created large public agency out of necessity with plenty of funding for projects within these area.
@Rex, this is a silly comment. Floods don’t create new riparian areas. They flood existing developments like homes and businesses. The bayou will be “forever green” regardless of flooding, unless your local politicians decide to cement up the bayou in a misguided effort to improve drainage.
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Some parts of the bayou are nice. Others not so much.
@Commenter7 – Yes, that is exactly what our politicians do – cement up riparian areas to “improve drainage”. Look at all the drama on Buffalo Bayou. Check out Save Buffalo Bayou, they argue about this very fact, that razing the riparian foliage and cementing over everything only furthers erosion and degradation of the bayous.
http://www.savebuffalobayou.org/?page_id=1505
This episode of Swamplot was brought to you by the word “riparian.” Remember, when you need to say “river bank” and want to sound smart, use “riparian.”