Swamplot Archives by Category:
September 5, 2008 – 12:30 pm
“REV Houston does not have a special license to drive the electric carts. Already, the city has given the company three tickets with numerous citations, including operating a taxi without a license. The city defines a taxi cab as any automobile or motor-propelled vehicle used for the transport of passengers for hire, explained Blanton Daniels, manager of the city’s transportation division. . . . ‘They’re trying to circumvent the regulation by saying they’re working for gratuities,’ said Daniels, adding that he sees no difference between a taxi for hire and a taxi that works for tips. It’s still money changing hands.” [Houston Chronicle, via Off the Kuff; previously]
Read more about: Downtown, Midtown, Transportation
September 4, 2008 – 9:17 am
“. . . while Baytonians might feel like the mosquitoes are out in droves, Director of the Baytown Health Department, Mike Lester, said what we’re really seeing is a return to ‘normal.’ ‘For the last couple of years we’ve been really fortunate that the weather has been good to us,’ he said. ‘Even though people might think it’s bad right now, the pest rate is between five and 20 landings per minute, which is average for this time of year.’ Lester explained that there are generally three peak ‘hatch-outs’ during the 11-month Gulf Coast mosquito season: May, August and November. During those months, mosquitoes hatch and mature, infesting Baytonian air for a few weeks before they give way to the next generation of larvae.” Why isn’t this kind of report a regular feature? [Baytown Sun]
Read more about: 77520, 77521, Baytown, Hazards, Mosquitoes
September 3, 2008 – 12:49 pm
Buckhead Investments has resubmitted plans for the proposed Ashby Highrise for the single permit standing in the way of construction. “[Developer Matthew] Morgan said the developers have asked for a variance concerning the design’s loading dock, adding that ‘plenty of examples’ of similar configurations ‘can be found on thoroughfares and collector streets’ in the area. One example he cited is the new high-end, 236-unit apartment complex called Fairmont Museum District at 4310 Dunlavy St. ‘It seems to have loading docks that you can’t pull through,’ Morgan said. ‘Dunlavy is a collector street. We don’t feel like the same criteria was used.’ [West University Examiner; previously]
Read more about: 77005, Apartments, Ashby Highrise, Boulevard-Oaks, Condos, Development Restrictions, Highrises, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Southampton
September 2, 2008 – 2:46 pm
Beaver’s barkeeps Bobby Heugel and Kevin Floyd will be opening their own place in the former Daiquiri Factory on the Westheimer Curve: “Our new bar, Anvil, located at 1424 Westheimer, will be opening in mid-November. Beneath the decades of former bar structure and traffic, lies a beautiful building with priceless windows, historic brick, and exciting features that are certain to make Anvil a site to see.”
Read more about: 77006, Montrose, Nightlife, Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments, Renovations, Restaurants, Westheimer Curve
August 29, 2008 – 3:24 pm
“They have been moving the remaining 11 [employees] down to the first floor. . . . They told them it has to be done this week. Also, they were seen moving stuff out of the building and loading box trucks. Only two remaining project managers and one remaining sales counselor have been spotted.” [Swamplot Inbox; previously]
Read more about: Hazards, Homebuilders, Royce Builders
August 28, 2008 – 5:49 pm
The College Memorial Park Cemetery once stretched across the entire block bounded by Dunlavy, W. Clay, Gross, and W. Dallas. Portions of the Allen House Apartments were built on former cemetery land that was sold in the 1960s. So what will the developers of Regent Square do? “In a statement, the company vice president said his group has created a site excavation action plan which includes continual archeological monitoring. So far, there is no documentation showing that the graves exist, but all parties agree that remains need to be preserved. The biggest goal is to restore the entire cemetery to what it use to be.” [11 News]
Read more about: 77019, Cemeteries, Hazards, Montrose, North Montrose, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Regent Square, Streets
August 28, 2008 – 9:50 am
“JD Daniel, USA Partners’ managing principal, said the firm has received approval from former President George Bush and wife, Barbara, to name the proposed complex in their honor. The facility, to be located on a 30-acre site west of Kingsley and north of Shadow Creek Parkway, would be called the George and Barbara Bush Sports Complex.” The Pearland City Council will vote on the proposal the Monday after Labor Day. [Houston Chronicle]
Read more about: 77584, Attractions, Pearland, Shadow-Creek-Ranch
August 26, 2008 – 10:02 am
Another lost jogger, rescued by iPhone. But what happens when Google Maps fail? “Every time I am in Houston I am filled with renewed trepidation over the in-laws neighborhood. It’s lovely, of course, but it’s also a Houston suburbs’ subdivision. Despite having visited numerous times over the course of the past three and a half years, I am remarkably unable to maintain any sense of cardinal directions or relative location once we enter the sprawling land of pale-red-and-cream houses in well-manicured cul-de-sacs with nice names.”
Read more about: 77379, Gleannloch Farms, Hazards, Online Resources, Spring, Streets
August 25, 2008 – 5:47 pm
Wabash Antiques & Feed, the Daily Grind, El Rey Taqueria, that big new Benjy’s, and more: Katharine Shilcutt Gleave’s hungry person’s guide to Washington Ave., illustrated: “. . . the first thing you’ll notice is the abundance of new construction. Not only homes, but restaurants, banks, strip malls — a mad jumble of conflicting styles and materials that assaults the eyes. But if you look past the ubiquitous boxes of townhomes and the spaghetti-like telephone wires that crazily line the street, you’ll catch glimpses of old Houston in the tiny row houses, old brick storefronts and 1930s-era tile street signs along the curbs: Houston in a nutshell.” [Houstonist]
Read more about: 77007, Restaurants, Retail, Washington Corridor
August 20, 2008 – 12:52 pm
The Yellow and Black Garden Spider, proud builders of those zig-zaggy webs, “preys upon Houston’s least-favorite insects, including wasps and mosquitoes, but are completely harmless to humans. Its cousin, the Spiny-Backed Orb Weaver . . . is also a dutiful and helpful one-spider pest-control squad, and is even more recognizable.” [Houstonist]
Read more about: Critters, Mosquitoes
August 18, 2008 – 12:24 pm
“Eighteen years after the Americans With Disabilities Act became law, several spots along the 6.5-mile downtown tunnel-skywalk system, used by more than 150,000 downtown workers, remain blocked or altogether inaccessible to those in wheelchairs. These areas haven’t been made ADA-compliant because it would be difficult or impossible to put in ramps and still leave enough headroom for pedestrians, said Bob Eury, director of the Downtown District, a public-private association that promotes and manages downtown development.” [Houston Chronicle]
Read more about: 77002, Accessibility, Downtown, Downtown Tunnel System
August 15, 2008 – 1:09 pm
“There are thousands of homes built by companies like Pulte in this part of town circa 1994-1997. Their margins were very thin because houses were so cheap. These companies used the lousiest of building materials they could get away with. Lots of these houses now need new roofs, and their owners may not even know it. Houses with rotted decking.” [Lou Minatti]
Read more about: Construction Materials, Home Repairs, Homebuilders, Katy
August 12, 2008 – 3:24 pm
The school will be removed from the latest list of HISD school closures. “The charming 85-year-old school sits — unfortunately for its future — near the corner of West Gray and Waugh, a commercially valuable site in Montrose. Think cookie-cutter townhome/condos with some yuppified street-level retail, which is precisely what that area of town needs, if you think that area of town should continue its rapid descent into hellish mediocrity. HISD superintendent Abe Saavedra has been dickering back and forth on the school’s future, part of a larger plan to consolidate schools with low enrollments.” [Hair Balls]
Read more about: 77006, Montrose, Public Buildings, Schools
August 12, 2008 – 10:05 am
Near Northwest residents ask City Council for help with the squalid Candlewood Glen and Candlelight Trails complexes. “A sign posted at the entrance to the complex would suggest there were plans to reopen the buildings under a new name. They would be called Palm Terrace, and phase one was scheduled for construction during the summer of 2008. But it’s now August, and there is no sign of construction.” [11 News, previously in Swamplot]
Read more about: 77091, Apartments, Candlewood Glen, Condos, Hazards, Inwood Forest
August 11, 2008 – 11:41 am
The new Costco on Richmond gets on okay for tree-free left turns: “According to Craig Cheney, spokesman for partner-developer Trammell Crow, nine bald cyprus and three other trees will be removed from the Weslayan median and replanted elsewhere. The developer will ‘buy out’ three live oaks that will be cut down on Richmond to make way for two left-turn lanes for a total of $17,000, a spokesman for the city said. [River Oaks Examiner, previously in Swamplot]
Read more about: 77027, Greenway-Plaza, Shopping Centers, Streets, Trees
August 7, 2008 – 12:25 pm
We have a low bidder for a portion of the proposed rails-to-trails project along the old Missouri, Kansas, Texas Southern Pacific railroad line that cuts across the lower Heights — from 7th St. at Shepherd — to Spring St. and Houston Ave. in the First Ward. TxDOT expects construction of the segment to begin in September. [Home in the Heights, via Swamplot Inbox]
Read more about: First Ward, Houston Heights, Proposed Developments, Transportation
