COMMENT OF THE DAY: YOU’LL GET YOURS, YOU OLD DEMO-HAPPY POSTMODERNISTS! “What a waste of asbestos abatement. More deep seeded envy of MCM by the prevalence of the baby boomer Post Modernists. When my generation comes to power we will be sure to demo the Williams Tower or the Pennzoil Place just to spite them while they raise their fists at the clouds in their beige geriatric care centers.” [Unemployed Architect, commenting on Old Sheraton-Lincoln Hotel To Be Torn Down for the Views and Parking Spots]
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COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHY THEY’RE BRINGING WALMART TO THE WEST END “I once wrote a frustrated letter to Wal-Mart’s corporate office in Arkansas begging for a better store to serve the Inner Loop than what was available on S. Post Oak and 610. It may very well have come off as begging. Had they ever followed up with me about the particular issue, I almost certainly would have begged for the store. And had they come to my door, I’d have groveled at their feet in admiration of their corporate largess and magnaminity, even.” [TheNiche, commenting on West End Walmart Development 380 Agreement Gets City Council OK]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: KEEPING UP APPEARANCES “It’s basic human nature. Everyone likes to build. No one likes to maintain. I would concur that Houston shows its human nature unashamedly; however, I would posit that that only makes the places that make a concerted effort to cover it up somehow…less human.” [TheNiche, commenting on Swamplot Street Sleuths: Giving 59 a Light Twist]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: AS SEEN ON TEEVEE “Remember the show “Houston Knightsâ€? I loved watching that for [its] single season. My favorite part was the [scenic] hills off in the distance, and the heroes speeding to downtown from NASA via the Galleria. The scenes were always the same loops that they filmed here at one point put into different orders and called by different landmark names. The Astrodome was usually consistant but that was the only landmark they got right. I can’t wait to see all of the Dallas/FW landmarks called by Houston names. Sounds like a drinking game to me.” [SCD, commenting on Jerry Bruckheimer Knows All the Hottest Houston Cop Action Is in Dallas]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: SHHHHH! MONTROSE IS CHEAPER NEXT TO THE CLUBS “Economics? You get the benefits of the Montrose in general at a pretty big discount relative to a few blocks in almost any direction. For us the annoyances just aren’t that big a deal. (Obviously they are for lots of people…thus the discount.)” [jt, commenting on Swamplot Street Sleuths: The Dunlavy Dangle]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE ENDS OF AN ERA “Sorry to hear this, I used to shop for groceries there long ago when I lived at 4900 Caroline with a bunch of other Rice students. It was at this store that I purchased the raw ingredients for my legendary ‘Chicken Butts in Wine Sauce.’†[Reeseman, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: MiniMax Axe]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: GRADING RESTAURANTS ON A CURVE “There’s been a long line of restaurants there, starting with Monterey House. Some of them were pretty good. It’s too close to the the street on a scary curve. I hate driving in that part of Shepherd, regardless of how good the food is.” [marmer, commenting on Sabetta Café: In and Out on South Shepherd in Less Than 5 Months Flat]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: APPRECIATING ARCHITECTURE IN A STATE OF DISTRACTION “Sad to see the area lose some of its deco history. That being said, I shop at the Walgreen’s next door once weekly, and I’ve never even noticed this building.” [Superdave, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: MiniMax Axe]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: MINIMUM LOT SIZE ORDINANCE EXIT STRATEGY “. . . The future of the minimum ordinances will depend on the individual blocks when the ordinances themselves expire. A few of my neighbors are planning for their retirement as soon as their ordinances expire with several options: duplexing their house with a garage apartment for rental income or selling out to condo builders as a last laugh for the looming McMansions next to them. If I don’t think my block will re-up our ordinances, I’ll be sure to sell out before the vultures start circling.” [Studes Second, commenting on Where Houston’s Lot-Size Restrictions Went, Year by Year]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: ARE YOU ALL SHORT-TIMERS HERE? “I have often wondered… Why is there such a collective push towards “improving property valueâ€? I think it’s a terrible thing! My preference is for the value of my property to stabilize. I don’t want it to fall, because it would make the neighborhood as a whole lose value and therefore invite blight; but I don’t want it to rise either, because I will simply have to pay more taxes on it. The only reason for anyone to hope for their property value to rise is because they would prefer to sell it. In my opinion, that’s not a sustainable model, because the only ones that benefit from it are the ones that do not want to keep the house long-term. That’s how you end up with sub-par quality ‘houses’ built by seedy developers. Am I off base?” [Alex, commenting on Where Houston’s Lot-Size Restrictions Went, Year by Year]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: FULL DISCLOSURE “. . . maybe real estate [listings] should include all the important viruses previous owners might have had, like herpes, or HPV, or hepatitis, or epstein-barr, or mononucleosis. Not to mention bacteria! Or addiction! Or the viewing of pornography! Gosh, it might be hard for [some] to ever live in a previously owned building.” [Karen, commenting on Nicer Than a Log Cabin: John Staub River Oaks Deb, at $9.5 Million]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: RACING AHEAD “Dunno about demolishing before [a] permit is issued. But I do know that when they took down the Nissan dealership on the Katy Freeway a year or so back I was able to look at the already demolished and cleared site on StreetView the day the permit came up in the Daily Demo Report. So it certainly happens.” [Jimbo, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Chelsea Place Lately]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WE’RE ALL INTRUDERS HERE “Now, if I lived next to it . . . I would be vocally opposing it based on its proximity to me, but I have to say, those of you living near its proposed location were on the WalMart end not too long ago, changing the quality of life for many of your neighbors with your big stucco three and four story homes going in next to small bungalows. So, while you are throwing stones, you might want to consider that in the not so distant past those stones were being thrown at you.” [EMME, commenting on Y’All Can Discuss the West End Walmart on Your Own]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHAT LOCAL REALLY MEANS “How can you explain that the TacoBell/KFC, Panda Express, Smoothie King, and Subway aren’t local? Each of these are owned by a franchise company which is local. Only a portion of the local money spent there go to the corporate parents and the rest remain with the franchise owner. This is also true for MOST McDonald’s, Starbuck, and pretty much every ‘casual’ dining establishment. Yes, they are national names, but locally owned.” [kjb434, commenting on The New Strip Centers Coming to Heights Blvd. and Other Details of the Washington Heights District West End Walmart Plan]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: CAN’T EVEN BEGIN TO TALK ABOUT THIS HOUSE “. . . There is no calliope in the rumpus room to mock. No discount Hall of Mirrors to deride. Nary a bevy of Spring Bok heads lining the walls, nor herds of cattle skins adorning the marble floors, can be found in this fine salt box. Little Elliot’s do-it-yourself version of Serrano’s ‘Piss Christ (with #2!)’ is nowhere to be seen. It’s pretty much tabula rasa with some ecru, antique white, eggshell, and Sonoran sand thrown in the mix. To answer the eternal question of, ‘Is there color in your world?’ Sometimes, not so much.” [wilf, commenting on A Little Bit Country, a Little Bit Town]