COMMENT OF THE DAY: A NARROW, GENTLE EARTHQUAKE ZONE ON HOUSTON’S WEST SIDE “. . . The Long Point fault cuts straight through the area, hitting brittmore just south of I-10, crossing saint mary’s just to the west, then going through wycliffe and Wilchester, crossing Kirkwood just south of Memorial. It goes all the way down to around Whittington just west of Dairy Ashford. But if you don’t buy a house directly on the fault, you’ll be fine. Judging from the location of this house and where the Long Point fault map shows the fault, this house should be fine. Its neighbor to the west, maybe not.” [Lost_In_Translation, commenting on Yards of Yard in Britmore Oaks]
Sign up for the Newsletter
Landscape
COMMENT OF THE DAY: CHOOSING WHICH HISTORY TO PRESERVE “I don’t understand how we’re supposed to decide which moment of time in history we are all supposed to value more than all the other moments in history. A vacant lot is actually much closer to the historical use of this site. It was vacant for millions of years before someone built a farm there. Many decades later someone decided the farm had to go to make room for a house. Several more decades pass and someone else wants to use the site for a bigger house. To argue over the type of house best suited for this lot seems silly. I propose that we use eminent domain to condemn every non-agricultural structure that currently exists more than one mile from Allen’s Landing. Let’s bulldoze them all and write zoning laws that allow only farm, ranch or wildlife use for everything else within the city limits. We can all move into downtown high rises that are super duper dense, walkable and mixed use. And we’ll have a choo choo train on every street and ban cars. Yippeee!!!!!!!!!!” [Bernard, commenting on A Brief Illustrated Guide to Bungalow Removal]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: UP FROM THE SHIP CHANNEL “Many will think I’m crazy, but I don’t care . . . Buffalo Bayou (even on the east side of downtown) can be an aesthetically pleasing stream, and could be developed into something nice. Look at the recent improvements and re-naturalization at Eleanor Tinsley park, just a mile upstream. The section between downtown and the Ship Channel (the S.C. technically does not begin until the Turning Basin, about 4 miles east of downtown) is currently mostly idle with vegetated banks and a surprising variety of wildlife. A few more floating litter booms like they use upstream would clean it up a little more, and make for a nice park-like setting.” [Superdave, commenting on Along the Shores of Buffalo Bayou]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: INSTALLING THE SAGO PALM HOME SECURITY SYSTEM “But I guarantee that a burglar will bypass your house if you have the palms near windows. They do not want to get stuck anymore than you do. Granted, it will be more difficult to clean the windows, but I’ll take that any day.” [PYEWACKET2, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Against Law]
For almost 2 years after it caught fire in October 2008, the 2-story home at 803 Kipling St. in Audubon Place stood vacant on the property as a burnt skeleton. Now the recent purchaser of the lot that remained after the property was demolished has plans to turn the land into a community garden.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE HIGH COST OF BEAUTY “. . . admittedly, i’d love to live in a much more beautiful city such as san francisco, paris, nyc, or any number of the hundreds of small quaint towns dotting the american landscape. however, i don’t want to spend 50% of my budget on housing and i want access to plenty of jobs. i choose to live in houston fully knowing that my living expenses support nothing more than a cheap, ugly and easy city to live in. i love houston because it provides an alternative. i can understand other peoples viewpoint, but me and tons of others don’t want to pay exorbitant living expenses just so you all can have better views on your way home from work or while you walk your dog in my yard, there’s tons of other cities that can provide that to you. this will all change as the city becomes richer, just wait and you’ll get your day, but for now let’s just accept the city we all choose to live in for what it is and revel in the benefits it provides now.” [joel, commenting on Comment of the Day: We’ll Do It Our Way]
- 2010 Hewitt Dr. [HAR]
A second Swamplot reader sends us a pic of another Burger King sporting what appear to be recently hacked-up live oak trees — this one at the corner of Scott St. and Cleburne. That’s far away from any freeway feeder roads, but across the street from UH’s Robertson Stadium. How recently were these trees guillotined? The reader isn’t sure, but the cuts look kinda fresh, and Google Street View is ready with images from last June showing how the sidewalk-side residents looked with their limbs still bushy and intact.
Spot any further Burger King beheadings around town? Snap a photo or 2 and send them in!
- Previously on Swamplot: Mysterious Oak Beheadings at the Yale and 610 Burger King
Photos: Swamplot inbox
A graduate of the crape myrtle school of chainsaw insta-pruning appears to have gotten a little creative with the oak trees surrounding the Burger King at Yale and the 610 North feeder sometime over the last 2 weeks. The oak trunks are still standing tall, but all its broccoli-like heads have been knocked off. Is this the work of a rogue landscaper, or a concerted action meant to send a message to any other oaks that dare raise their leaves near power lines, feeder roads, or fast-food signage? “Its the most bizarre thing, and one can only presume it will get more odd appearing once they start to sprout out,” a Swamplot reader notes. “I know there are regulations to plant parking lot trees, but I guess there are none to make sure that they remain? There must be a story behind this odd act, but I can only drive by and drop my jaw each time I see it.”
More closeups of the oak hackery, and a “before” view, courtesy of Google Street View:
A RANCH-THEMED DEVELOPMENT FOR HOUSTON’S LAST RANCH? 
Lisa Gray tries to find out why the owner of the 19 acres at the northwest corner of George Bush Park that constitute the Marks LH7 Ranch has requested that the Texas Historical Commission remove the landmark designation on the grounds of Houston’s last remaining undeveloped ranch: “‘The property hasn’t been maintained for decades,’ explains Mark Wolfe, executive director of the Texas Historical Commission. ‘The buildings are so badly deteriorated that the owner says the property is a public nuisance, that it could hurt people who come onto the property.’ The development that would take the ranch buildings’ place, Wolfe says, would have a ranch theme and interpretive signs. The developers might reuse artifacts from the ranch, such as a windmill. And the ranch buildings would be painstakingly documented before they’re demolished. . . . I called Milo Marks to ask about his plans. ‘We’re working on a project,’ he said. ‘I’ll just wait to talk until May or June. Thank you!’ And with that, the phone went dead.” [Houston Chronicle] Photo: Louis F. Aulbach
Here’s the feel-good Houston bayou hit of the season: a dreamy, 11-minute-long video talking up a $5.4 billion plan (that’s the proposed budget, anyway) to build a new interconnected system of parks and trails out of “derelict” properties along Houston’s extensive network of bayous. The goals: better air and water quality, reduced flooding, and economic development.
Properties not directly located along bayous would also be included. In all, the plan calls for acquiring 3,800 acres of land and turning 3,200 acres of them into parks and stormwater detention sites. The remainder would be “set aside” for future redevelopment. Continuous greenbelts would be established along 10 major Houston bayous, connecting parks and community gathering places. In all: 300 miles of trails and 1,600 acres of linear greenway space.
But that’s just for Houston.
“They have been taking down buildings like crazy the past few weeks and we are wondering what is planned,” writes a reader from the lower Fifth Ward, who wants to know what’s going on along Clinton Dr. near Jensen. More’s been coming down, apparently, than just the former KBR warehouses. “This morning,” read a note sent to Swamplot yesterday, “there was a Sheriff substation across the street, this afternoon it is a pile of twisted metal.” The demo work on Clinton Dr. just east of Gregg St. continues: “I can hear the bulldozer over there piling up debris as I send this,” reads a note from this morning. And here’s a pic from today of what’s left of it:
LOCAL WEBSITE MAKES BOOK 
Does li’l ol’ Buffalo Bayou qualify for a river guide? It does now. Longtime bayou history boat tour guide Louis Aulbach — author of 5 river guides chronicling the courses and histories of a few West Texas waterways — has just published Buffalo Bayou: An Echo of Houston’s Wilderness Beginnings as a book. If you’re a bayou or local history buff and that title sounds familiar, it should: Aulbach has been posting extended excerpts from the project on his old-school HAL-PC website for years. [Memorial Examiner; Amazon link]
Over the weekend, volunteers placed reclaimed clay tiles next to the I-45 overpass at the northern end of Downtown to create raised beds for a new city garden, Houston’s third. The garden is meant for employees of the city’s new permitting center at 1002 Washington — there’ll be one raised bed for each floor.
- How to Build a Raised Garden Bed: City of Houston Edition [East End Escapades]
- Houston Permitting Center Employee Garden (PDF) [Houston Permitting Center]
- Previously on Swamplot: Pods Appear on Downtown Building, Grab Solar Panels with Wrench and Garden Hose
Photo: Lauren H.
MISSOURI CITY GROWS ITS OWN TRAIL MIX 
Missouri City forester Paul Wierzbicki tells reporter Cory Stottlemeyer that he expects the Jujubes, Mexican plums, Mexican persimmons, mulberries, pomegranates, figs, pears, and kumquats he began planting along the Oyster Creek Trail last fall to survive through the year. The 70 fruit- and nut-bearing trees now growing along half of the Missouri City section of the trail between Mosley Park and FM 3345 were selected for their tolerance to local conditions, including drought and Gulf Coast pests. Planted in 7 separate groves and interspersed with signage bearing descriptions and the corporate logos of sponsors, they constitute the region’s first-ever edible arbor trail. By next fall, Wierzbicki hopes to have the city’s entire portion of the trail lined with tree bounty trailgoers can reach out and eat. [Fort Bend Sun] Photo: Missouri City
