COMMENT OF THE DAY: EVERYTHING NEW IS SO MUCH BETTER 
“Your house was built in 1923? My condolences to you and your family. But do not despair, I know things seem now like it can’t get any worse, and it probably can’t, but one day with hard work and perseverance you will get out of the carcinogen and disease packed shelter of last resort and live in a actual house with modern plumbing and insulation. But do not wait too long, the current one can catch on fire and burn to the ground in mere minutes, due to that first growth wood, no fire blocking construction, and lack of sprinklers.” [commonsense, commenting on How It Was Before Air Conditioning Even] Illustration: Lulu
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COMMENT OF THE DAY: A DEALCHASER’S GUIDE TO MONTHLY GARAGE PARKING DOWNTOWN 
“Do we need more parking downtown? Um, yes. Corporations have bought up many garages and left nothing for everyone else.
I work in the Wells Fargo building, where an unreserved spot costs $400/mo. I had a spot in the Travis Place garage for $150, but Kinder Morgan or El Paso bought all the spots. I got a spot at 919 Milam for $190-ish, and some tenant bought all those spots. Then I got a spot above Pappas BBQ at 1100 Smith, but they kicked out a bunch of parkers (including me) to open up spaces for new tenants at 1100 Louisiana. I tried to get a spot in the Theater District garages, but they have a wait list a mile long. So now I’ve moved to Two Shell, which is $215/mo. Renovations are about to begin there, so I’ll either get the boot again or it will become prohibitively expensive. (Again, all of these prices are for plain-jane unreserved spots. And I can’t take the bus because I am in and out of the car all day.)
So, yes . . . We need more non-corporate parking downtown.” [Montrosian, commenting on Downtown’s New Highrise for Cars Is Going Up!] Photo of Wedge International Tower parking garage: Swamplot inbox
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE FAR NORTH HEIGHTS TOWNHOUSE BOOM 
“A ride around the far north Heights (bordered roughly by Yale, Shepherd, 610 and, say, 23rd) reveals a staggering amount of residential construction activity. The Sullivan Brothers project on 23rd is finally nearing completion. A dozen new townhouses at 26th and Ashland. Eight single-family homes at the same corner, with 20 or so to follow between 26th and 27th. Eight single family houses at 26th and Rutland. Twenty townhouses about to go up at 24th and Lawrence. Plus a dozen or so 2-to-6-house developments. The numbers easily reach into the triple digits, and that’s without anything on the old National Flame & Forge site (the double block between Nicholson, Rutland, 25th and 26th), which could add another hundred.” [Angostura, commenting on Where a Couple Dozen Townhomes Are Going in the Far North Heights] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HARD CHOICES FOR THE KITCHEN 
“For people who really use their kitchens, are hardwood floors really practical? I couldn’t wait to remodel our kitchen and replace the wood with tile.” [matx, commenting on The $285,000 Differences Between 2 Kinda Identical Inner Loop Houses] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHEN BUILDERS RESPOND TO THE SQUARE-FOOTAGE PRICING INCENTIVE 
“. . . It is a shame that square footage is such a driver on sales in Houston. Everyone I know who lives in 3000+ sq ft only uses about 1500 of it at any one time and the rest is overkill. And then they complain about not having any green space on their property.” [Old School, commenting on Brand New and by the Bike Trail on a Heights Corner] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHERE THE MODS ARE BETTER PRESERVED 
“It is disappointing that we lose so many interesting houses to the wrecking ball. Those of us who live in ‘crimeridden’ (*wink wink*) parts of town can take solace in the fact that at least our neighborhoods’ reputations keep the McMansions at bay. If you can cut through all the stories about crimes that happened ten or fifteen years ago, you can get a great, if dirty, Mod in Sharpstown, just waiting for you to fix it up and bring it back. And you really should look at those houses, because if you don’t, the ‘We Buy Ugly Houses’ people will. And they’ll make them worse.” [ZAW, commenting on Your Opportunity To Hack Away at Memorial Bend’s Former Sales Office Has Arrived] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: MAPPING OUT THE FUTURE OF HOUSTON HOME STYLES 
“Half of Houston can be ‘Hill Country’ inspired, and the other half can be ‘Heights’!” [Semper Fudge, commenting on InTown Homes Planning 131 New Townhomes South of Timbergrove Manor] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THEY’RE COMING FOR SOUTH END VILLA 
“This little wedge of land south of 59 and between Montrose and Main is like the Bermuda Triangle of Houston. It’s not part of the street grid, and there are no roads that connect through it. Few Houstonians probably even know there’s anything back there. There are interesting 80+ year old houses, dead end snippets of roads, and well kept old garden apartments. It’s a very sleepy little wedge of the City. It was inevitable that that would change, given the proximity of this spot to downtown, Rice, the Museum District, Montrose, etc.” [Semper Fudge, commenting on Here’s Chelsea Montrose, Another 20-Story Apartment Tower for the Museum District] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: YE OLDE PRONUNCIATION CONFUSION 
“How do you pronounce ‘Shoppes’? Sho pez? long o. Cho pes? s with a z sound . . .” [PYEWACKET2, commenting on A Gated Shopping Center for Kingwood, the Livable Gated Forest] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW TO GET THAT SEWAGE SMELL OUT OF YOUR AIR CONDITIONING 
“Had this same issue with our home in Midtown. The issue ended up being the air intake was not large enough where the filter was. Because of this, the blower would suck air from the drainage pipe in the pan for the hot water heater that was next to it. Removed the filter and reduced the stress of air coming through; the sewage smell went away.” [Mr.Clean19, commenting on Mysterious ‘Odor Beyond Our Control’ Forces Closure of Strip Center Chinese Restaurant in Spring] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: ISN’T NEARBY RETAIL ENOUGH? 
“I don’t understand the ground floor retail ‘litmus test’ that is applied to every new building proposed for downtown/midtown. That is, it is not a ‘good’ building if it does not have a retail component. I understand the desirability of having nearby retail and a more ‘walkable’ downtown, but why do we have to have retail in the same building as the apartments as long as the retail is nearby? Here, there is retail right across the street, and the Main street corridor is only a few blocks away! Doesn’t it make sense sometimes to build a single-use building that is more conducive to its purpose as long as the other elements of a ‘walkable’ city (like retail, offices, services) are within walking distance?” [SH, commenting on The Best Views Yet of Hines’s Market Square Apartment Tower and Its Downtown Headlight] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHAT KATYVILLE COULD HAVE BEEN 
“From Yale St. and I-10 all the way through the First Ward to I-45, there are so many large commercial tracts that are on the market or coming on the market that you could build a whole new city. The Mahatma Rice plant is huge. The tract from Detering to Grocer’s Supply is huge. There are tons of other lots ready for redevelopment all along the Washington Corridor east of Yale St. We all know that traffic will get much worse as thousands more residents come into the area to live, shop, work and play. But the idea that traffic is just going to happen no matter what is silly. Smart development and infrastructure improvements can make a huge difference. When retail, residential and office are placed in the same development, you always reduce car trips. I used to work just outside the loop in a typical spec office building with no retail nearby. Worst traffic in the garage was at noon as everyone was scurrying out of the building to go get lunch. I now work downtown in a building that is in Houston Center. Hardly any traffic going out of the building, despite being many times bigger, during lunch as there are ample places to eat in the food court. The problem with redevelopment along Washington Ave is that everyone is just doing their own thing without any regard for trying to make the area conducive to work/shop/live/play without being reliant on cars. And the City still suffers from low self esteem and is happy to give out tax gifts without requiring any sort of return benefit. The result is that there is no connection between the retail development (largely single story title wall strip malls), residential (mostly disconnected pencil boxes) and office (an odd tower at Waugh and not much other new development). Had a single developer had control over all the available property, we could see a transformative development like a giant City Centre meets West Ave meets Post Oak Midtown. Instead, we get an odd mish mash of retail, office, and residential with little infrastructure improvements to mitigate the impacts (not even a right turn lane on Yale St. SB at I-10, which would make a huge difference). So much could be done, but so little will get done to maximize the benefits of incoming density and minimize the burdens.” [Old School, commenting on Comment of the Day: Admiral Linen and the Way of Katyville] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHY THERE’S SO LITTLE TRAFFIC DOWNTOWN 
“Downtown traffic is some of the easiest traffic of any US city downtown I have ever been to, and actually some of the best traffic in all of Houston. Why? As near as I can tell, it’s because: (1) street parking is virtually not allowed or limited to one side of the street, which prevents people from aimlessly circling around looking for that one free spot; and (2) one-way streets. People complain about one-way streets as confusing but when there is a good grid like downtown or midtown, they work perfectly. I can’t ever recall sitting through more than one cycle of a light in midtown. There are other areas of Houston where this can easily be done. And ban street parking completely on major roads after 4pm. It’s just valets making money off blocking traffic after a certain hour.” [John Chouinard, commenting on Comment of the Day: A Few Remedies for Those Traffic Problems You’ve Been Having] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: ADMIRAL LINEN AND THE WAY OF KATYVILLE “. . . 
Yes, it’s initially going to be utilized as an employee parking lot, but [it’s] hard to believe that long term Admiral Linen will stay. The trend . . . for any company with strong dependence on warehouse/distribution needs in the area has recently been to sell to developers and move out of the area. The increasing traffic on Center/Studemont/Washington makes the area increasingly difficult for trucks to move in an out of the area. Also the steady increase in land values will at least lead to any business owner with a brain and with a large parcel of land in the area to look at the possibilities of moving . . . as was the case with San Jacinto Stone (new LA Fitness, Guitar Center, Sprouts), Trinity Industries (Walmart) , Grocers Supply (400+apts, retail, movie theater), Studemont Kroger, Detering Lumber (on sale now). Living in the area, I’ve noticed my commute time to downtown increase by a factor of 2 (from 5 minutes to 10 minutes). Hard to believe that the traffic situation will get any better with Archstone Memorial Heights converting their complex to a high density property, 400+ new apts in the Grocers Supply site, and a new 24 floor office building being built behind the Bank of America on Washington. All of this development with absolutely zero changes in the surrounding infrastructure as of now will lead to some nightmarish traffic on S. Heights Blvd, Studemont, and Washington . . . the 3 main access roads for Admiral Linen . . .” [Debnil, commenting on Center St. Recycling Center Is Now Closed; Site Ready for Recycling] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: A FEW REMEDIES FOR THOSE TRAFFIC PROBLEMS YOU’VE BEEN HAVING 
“Number one. Eliminate dead ends inside the loop. Every neighborhood in Houston has blocked off 99% of its streets. There are times when I need to wait multiple cycles at a light because it’s the only ingress into the development. Houston is a CITY.
Number two. Learn how to merge. There is construction at Mid Lane at San Felipe eastbound, and traffic is backed up to 610 because everyone is terrified of being in the barren empty right lane, which in turn is because they know people will be hostile to allowing them to merge. This is the single most stupid driving behavior I can think of. You need to queue AT the point of the merge, and alternate left and right lanes, quickly, cleanly, efficiently and politely. A whole mile of road empty? Come on people.
Number three. Get out of the way of people behind you who want to be in the left-turn lane. Many of those turnlanes have sensors, and will not give a left arrow if no cars are at the line — AT THE LINE — when the other side’s light turns red. Or yellow! There are multiple examples of lights where you don’t get an arrow unless you beat the other side’s yellow. So every time I see a driver with two empty car lengths in front of them, and a driver with their left-turn signal behind them, I just wonder. (The reason I stressed ‘at the line’ above is that I was once behind someone who was a car’s length away from the line. I asked myself, should I honk or shouldn’t I? I wasn’t sure about this light, so I bit my lip. You can guess the rest).
Number four. Make all streets one-way. Every single one. Even Westheimer. In residential neighborhoods you can only get one car through anyway, because everyone is parked on both sides. Just get it over with already. The left and right turns will also be that much easier.” [J.V., commenting on Comment of the Day: We Have Met the Traffic, and It Is Us] Illustration: Lulu
