And now, a rare look at the Second Ward’s indigenous Ship Channel dance ceremony, performed along the gentle banks of Buffalo Bayou and celebrating the bountiful fall harvest of crushed concrete.
- Tetsujin [Vimeo]
Video: Freneticore
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Bayous and Waterways
Robert Boyd’s original remarks on the scraping of the Wilshire Village Apartments briefly mentioned another older apartment complex that Matt Dilick redeveloped and now runs: the Bayou on the Bend Apartments, at 5201 Memorial, just west of Shepherd. Boyd’s link to discussions of that complex at ratings website Apartment Ratings sparked a quick note from a reader:
It looks like Apartment Ratings attracts tenants who want to complain, but it seems like most of the gripes about other apartments focus on managers who are hard to deal with, thin walls, neighborhood crime, that sort of stuff. Have you read the reviews of Bayou on the Bend?
Bayou on the Bend gets a 35 percent positive rating from readers who have written in to comment — certainly not the lowest number for a large Houston complex. Here are a few choice excerpts:
ANOTHER RIVER RUNS THROUGH BAYTOWN Oil spill on the bayou: “The spill spread from an oil storage tank in the Mont Belvieu area, leaking into Smith Gully then on to Cedar Bayou. Mont Belvieu’s Emergency Management Chief Bruce Oliphant said best estimates put the spilled oil at 200 to 300 gallons but said a reason for the leak had not been determined by Tuesday afternoon. ‘We’re not sure why it leaked,’ Oliphant said. ‘We couldn’t see where it was coming from the tank and maybe it was coming from somewhere underground.’†[Baytown Sun]
The 2-story 1939 brick home at 1504 N. MacGregor Way, on the banks of Brays Bayou in Idylwood, has completed the Swamplot trifecta. In July of last year the home made its first appearance, as the subject of a Neighborhood Guessing Game (answer revealed here). In September, after the pre-Hurricane Ike storm surge brought about 2 feet of water in for an extensive tour of the first floor, the home was featured again: an after-Ike-cleanup poster house, still on the market for $359,000.
And then, this morning, a third and likely final showing on Swamplot: in our Daily Demolition Report.
A quick look back at the home’s better (and not-so-much better) days:
Just out of edit: this action-packed reel featuring Houston’s multi-site skate park and its signature attraction, the bayou hop.
Video: Vimeo user emill
MORE PONDS, HUGGING BAYOUS Houston will spend $30 million in the upcoming fiscal year on detention ponds like those built under Project Brays. “About $20 million in federal Hurricane Ike relief money and $10 million in city capital improvements funding will be used to buy land and design and build basins that can hold hundreds of acre feet of water when the bayous become full, [Mayor] White said. City officials are evaluating sites along the Hunting, Greens, White Oak, and Halls bayous for new detention basins, said Andy Icken, deputy director of the Public Works and Engineering Department.” [Houston Chronicle]
From Downtown yesterday: Buffalo Bayou garbage flotilla!
- Crap on the Bayou [By the Bayou]