COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE LOW PRICE OF HIGH PROPERTY TAXES “Houston is pretty affordable overall. However, people like to make statements about how affordable the city is and say ‘Prices are low because of __________.’ My point is, property prices are low for a lot of reasons. One of the reasons is that property taxes are high.” [Andrew Burleson, commenting on Houston Home Values: The Property Tax Effect]
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COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHERE SHOULD THOSE LITTLE LOTS GO? “Allowing reduction of the minimum lot width to 15 feet, if an average lot width of 18 feet is maintained within the subdivision may be reasonable and desirable in terms of providing a diversity of residential style and price in large-scale developments, where an aesthetic mix can be achieved, and where infrastructure and amenities are incorporated into the plan for the benefit of the residents. But, think about how this reduced lot size might work and what the cumulative impact would be of applying this one-size-fits-all regulation with 15 and 18 foot wide lots to multiple, small, infill “subdivisions†in neighborhoods where infrastructure and amenities are already less than adequate. . . . If your neighborhood has no deed restrictions, and your block has not petitioned for and received minimum lot size and set-back protection, this would be the time to put that process in motion.” [TxTom12, commenting on Chapter 42 of the Houston Development Story: Letting Out That Urban Belt A Notch]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHICH WILL ROLL FIRST? “Speaking of demolition, the Chicken ‘n’ Egg Roll building is still standing. On the day of the supposed demo, there was a little Bobcat or mini-dozer in the parking lot. A couple days later I noticed a CoH red tag in the window. But the building is still there. Wilshire Village is still standing, too, for the most part. The windows are gone, gaping, and empty, meaning that the interiors have been exposed to the weather (such as it is these days). Some of the buildings have been tagged. The complex used to just look old, but inhabited. Now it looks vacant and sad, very sad.” [GoogleMaster, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Meat Beater]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: DRUG STORE LOCATOR “The Young & Restless children’s consignment shop moved from the red wooden house to the blue metal warehouse, a year or two ago. A CVS won’t go in there because there is no Walgreen’s across the street. Must have a Walgreen’s in place in order to plant a CVS.” [Miz Brooke Smith, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Larsten Space]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: KICKING BACK ON WASHINGTON AVE. “I live in the Core (since October 2008), and I’m certain that there are no plans to extend this complex across the street. The Core is a great place to live, but like every other large inner city complex, they’ve been slow to fill vacancies here. With that said, it would be foolish for them to even consider expanding. The last I heard, there were plans to put a small two story shopping strip there similar to the one on the other side of the Core. Still no solid plans though from anyone. By the way, if anyone wants to live here in the Core, put me as a reference and you and i both will get cash back.” [Hector Garcia, commenting on Washington Ave.: Extending The Core?]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: FLOATING THAT HOUSTON DOME IDEA “This TeeVee show and Gus both imagine the enclosure extending all the way to the ground, in which case it has to withstand surges or deflect bayous or whatever, but Fuller did not: by WWII it had been discovered that a dome that was very open around the base, and vented at the crown, would actually set up a standing current that sucked cooling air into the top and expelled hot air at the bottom (counterintuitively). I believe this was used to turn Midwestern grain bins into instant comfortable barracks for GIs serving in Asian desert theaters of operation. As for whether it could work “around†here, my own scale model tests have been inconclusive, but I know that after the war Fuller set up something like a 30′ radius dome in Kenya and the visitors complained it was too cold – though probably not to the point of condensing the humidity and dribbling it on you.” [Neil, commenting on We’re All Astrodome Now: The Mile-Wide Dome Over Houston]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE RIGHT KIND OF HOME FOR HOUSTON “Question: What should Houston vernacular be? By that I mean, what type of residential architecture design is most logical with respect to our climate, region and lifestyle? The home designs as represented by the Toll Brothers are typical of the amalgam homes that proliferate throughout Houston. The two designs represented in this piece are pure kitsch – regardless of how well made they may be or the ‘amenities’ lavished upon the interiors. The Hill Country and Austin both possess vernacular employing indigenous materials – split face limestone – and a mixture of elements capturing key elements from Spanish Missions, turn-of-the-century farm houses and modernism. While this in itself is an amalgam the end results are more pleasing and ‘honest’ than the stucco containers for humans that dot Houston’s landscape.” [JAH, commenting on Getting Houston Right: The Toll Brothers Come to Town]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THIRD WARD ARTS DISTRICT “‘So how dicey is it really and when will it become artsy and then trendy?’ Question of the day! As Montrose ex-pats now living on Dowling St. I can tell you that we have experienced NO crime in the year we have been here. As for artsy, you can walk to Rick Lowe’s Row House installation and the relocated Flower Man house, among several other art spaces, from our new home. Artsy, yes. Trendy, very thankfully no.” [Cranky Old Coot, commenting on Home Sweet Funeral Home: Washington Terrace Mortuary Seeks Residents]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW CLOSE ARE THOSE NEW APARTMENT COMPLEXES? “I wonder how much the apartment supply in the south areas (below the medical center and rice u) affect the apartment supply along Buffalo Bayou, Midtown, Montrose, and Upper Kirby? From the site development group at my office, they are telling me that the apartment market will heat up if the housing slump holds or gets worse. Right now developers are scouring for new sites for apartment complexes if they haven’t already.” [kjb434, commenting on Comment of the Day: Inner Loop Rents, Hard and High]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: INNER LOOP RENTS, HARD AND HIGH “I have to disagree with rents being soft in the inner loop. I just relocated here in January and, unless things have changed, I found rents exceedingly high and availability low. Granted, I did not want a cookie cutter apartment, but I was blown away by the prices. I looked at the new Gables property on Kirby and they were $2,500 minimum a month for a two bedroom. The kicker was that they’d only accept a 18 month lease. I thought that was crazy. The Alexean on Westheimer was a little cheaper at $2,000 per month but it didn’t seem well built. I preferred condo’s or houses to apartment complexes and most of them were in the $2,000 plus range. Those under $2,000 that were nice rented almost immediately after coming on the market. I wound up in a two bedroom house in Montrose for $2,600 and everyone I talk to seems to think I got an ok deal. I have to concur that it seems more expensive to rent than buy. I certainly could have bought for less in this market but, being new to town, didn’t want to dive in to home ownership immediately. Anyone that says Houston is cheap hasn’t looked at inner loop real estate.” [Charlie, commenting on Where Rents Have Dropped]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE UPPER LIMITS OF INNER LOOP RENTS “The reason the inner loop is ‘soft’ is simple math. A tiny apartment is now something like $1,200 per month. Meanwhile, my mortgage on my inner-loop house is just over $1,300.” [me, commenting on Where Rents Have Dropped]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHERE WILL ALL THE STRIP CLUBS GO? “The city seems to be acting fairly slowly on this (perhaps the right word is methodically). I wonder where these places will migrate to… Unincorporated parts of Harris County? Industrial areas, far from residents, churches, and schools? It seems unlikely that they’ll just disappear.” [RWB, commenting on The Great Houston Strip Club Crackdown]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOUSE PARTS “I drove by the house at 701 Olive during the demolition. I was curious to see if any efforts were made to keep any of the items out of a landfill. What I saw was a house, complete with furniture, cabinets, ceiling fans, windows, clothing, etc. getting crushed by a bulldozer and scooped into a roll off. I saw 3 french doors that would have looked great in my house getting smashed to bits. Such a shame :(” [mstark, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Bacher House Down]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: FLOOD MATH “Or, to put it another way, if there’s a 1% chance that a storm of that magnitude will occur in a given year, there’s a 99% chance that it will not occur. Also a 99% chance that it will not occur next year, etc. Which means there’s a better than 50% chance that a “100 year flood event†will occur sometime in the next 69 years. (log .5 / log .99 is approx. 69; 0.99 raised to the 69th power is just under 0.5) 500-Year = 0.2% Chance Storm Event = 50% probability within 346 years. 100-Year = 1% Chance Storm Event = 50% probability within 69 years. 50-year = 2% Chance Storm Event = 50% probability within 34 years. 10-Year = 10% Chance Storm Event = 50% probability within 7 years.” [GoogleMaster, commenting on Comment of the Day: I-10 and Bunker Hill Paving Report]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: I-10 AND BUNKER HILL PAVING REPORT “. . . as someone who lives on Westview and who has lived in the area mentioned (or near it) for 15 years… let me tell you what was paved over. -Ditches on either side of Bunker Hill between Longpoint and Katy freeway. -Old Katy road, which had grass on both sides and a ditch. -A little shop (maybe a car dealership I dont remember) that was on an island between both sides of bunker hill, dirt and green was taken from there -the already mentioned quarry which was NOT all pavement. I went there often and it was very much dirt. Cars would get stuck there when it rained. -The daniel area that was also not all paved where those new apartments are (where there is standing water when it DOESNT rain due to poor drainage). This is not a flooding that hasnt happened in 20 years, the houses here are much older than 20 years… these houses are 50+ years old and it has NEVER happened.” [Alma, commenting on The Detention Battle of Bunker Hill: Flooding Above the New Katy Freeway]