Swamplot Archives by Category: Trees

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Wednesday, February 4, 2009

A Bright Future for Street Bushes

February 4, 2009 – 7:56 am
   

“A proposed ordinance before council would prohibit the planting of tall trees, including live oaks, under power lines. The measure originally was intended to strengthen existing rules to protect trees in public rights of way from being cut down or hacked up by developers. But the proposed ban on planting live oaks under electric lines — a last-minute addition to the measure — has a vocal group of tree lovers dismayed. Their main complaint centers on the live oak’s usefulness for hiding power lines. ‘If this were to pass, we would have to look a lot more at the ugliest feature of our city: power lines,’ said Hugh Kelly, a former general counsel for Houston Light & Power who advocated against the change on behalf of two neighborhood groups. ‘And we would not be able to look at one of the prettiest features: live oaks.’” [Houston Chronicle]

7:56 am | 6 Comments | Read more about Development Restrictions, Landscape, Quicklink, Streets, Trees
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Friday, December 12, 2008

Curtains for Kirby Court?

December 12, 2008 – 5:49 pm

What will happen to the Kirby Court Apartments just west of Whole Foods? The 1949 garden apartments on oak-lined Steel St. make up the major portion of a 5.744-acre parcel at the northwest corner of Kirby and Alabama being offered for sale or ground lease, the River Oaks Examiner reports. Also included in the parcel being sold by the Dickey Estate: retail properties facing Alabama, Kirby, and Kipling.

Cushman & Wakefield’s flyer for the property brags that there’s “potential to abandon Steel Street for an additional 33,750 sq. ft.” How much abandonment could those oaks survive?

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5:49 pm | 4 Comments | Read more about Land for Sale, Neighborhoods: Upper Kirby, Real Estate Marketing, Trees
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Monday, November 3, 2008

Galveston for Tourists: Not Quite Yet

November 3, 2008 – 3:01 pm

Dead Trees in Galveston after Hurricane Ike

Sure, we’ve all heard about the damage to Galveston — from news reports and the sad tales of returning residents. But how’s the place looking to tourists? Lou Minatti took his kids for a visit over the weekend:

The island is in sad shape. But there were some bright spots. The Moody Gardens Aquarium is open, and since there are so few tourists they have greatly reduced the entrance fee. (The Rain Forest Pyramid is closed until further notice.) The kids did get to see a beautiful shrimp trawler up close. They were fascinated.

What struck me most was the fact that all of the trees are dead. All of the beautiful live oaks, planted soon after the 1900 hurricane, are no more. They were killed by the flood of salt water. The only trees to survive are the palms and Norfolk Island pines. My best guess is that every deciduous tree more than 5 blocks from the seawall is dead.

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3:01 pm | 3 Comments | Read more about Disaster Aftermath, Galveston, Tourism, Trees
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Thursday, October 16, 2008

Got Mulch?

October 16, 2008 – 9:59 am
   

What to do with the 5.6 million cubic yards of wood waste left after Hurricane Ike? The city doesn’t know either — so it’s sponsoring an ideas competition: “The contest will pay $10,000, $5,000 and $2,500 for the top three ideas for how to best use the heaps of debris, which city officials have said would be enough to fill up the Astrodome nearly four times over. . . . So far, the city has given about 700,000 cubic yards of wood waste to two companies that will turn it into mulch and compost for resale. But the sheer volume of debris far outstrips local market demand for recycling it. . . . ‘We don’t want to have to fill up our precious landfill sites with a bunch of wooded waste, so we’re going to try to recycle all of it,’ [Mayor] White said. ‘It will probably be the single biggest recycling project that there is in the country this year.’” [Houston Chronicle; competition site]

9:59 am | 5 Comments | Read more about Construction Materials, Disaster Aftermath, Green Design and Development, Landscape, Quicklink, Trees
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Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Seen on the Street: Blown Away

October 15, 2008 – 2:49 pm

Van Missing Letters, Houston

A few fun — and not-so-fun — sights around town: First, Houston visitor Mike Smith’s photo shows some of the few letters left after Ike’s attack.

More hurricane photo souvenirs below!

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2:49 pm | 2 Comments | Read more about Art, Construction Materials, Disaster Aftermath, Neighborhoods: Humble, Neighborhoods: Seabrook, Neighborhoods: Spring, Trees, Wildlife
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Thursday, October 9, 2008

Southeast Houston Full Employment Plan

October 9, 2008 – 12:01 pm

White Seeds of Chinese Tallow Tree, Houston

Collect white berries from all those Chinese Tallow Trees. Save them for winter, then sell them in fancy boutiques. There’s a market!

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12:01 pm | Add a Comment | Read more about Home Decor, Landscape, Trees
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Monday, August 11, 2008

Costco $17K Left Turn Green Light

August 11, 2008 – 11:41 am
   

The new Costco on Richmond gets on okay for tree-free left turns: “According to Craig Cheney, spokesman for partner-developer Trammell Crow, nine bald cyprus and three other trees will be removed from the Weslayan median and replanted elsewhere. The developer will ‘buy out’ three live oaks that will be cut down on Richmond to make way for two left-turn lanes for a total of $17,000, a spokesman for the city said. [River Oaks Examiner, previously in Swamplot]

11:41 am | 1 Comment | Read more about Neighborhoods: Greenway Plaza, Quicklink, Shopping Centers, Streets, Trees
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Monday, August 4, 2008

Southgate Demo: Save the Tree!

August 4, 2008 – 12:14 pm

2202 Addison Rd., Southgate, Houston

Calling it “perhaps the most elegant and beloved in the entire neighborhood,” some saddened neighbors send in a deathbed photo shoot featuring the former Southgate home of retired Rice University architecture professor Elinor Evans. Evans sold the home at 2202 Addison in January.

Lovett Homes plans to build a new house on the property. (HCAD lists the new owner as “5177 Builders Ltd.”) In June, the Planning Commission granted a variance allowing the new garage to maintain the existing 10-ft. setback along Montclair Dr. — in order to preserve a large live oak tree in the back yard. In applying for the variance, Lovett promised to maintain the existing home’s footprint.

After the jump: highlights from the photo shoot, plus a link to the riveting, tree-saving Planning Commission hearing video!

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12:14 pm | Add a Comment | Read more about Buying and Selling, Demolitions, Development Regulations, Homebuilders, Neighborhoods: Southgate, New Construction: Residential, Trees
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Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Those Aren’t Live Oaks on Kirby Anymore

July 29, 2008 – 9:12 am
   

“Overnight, crews cut down dozens of trees lining Kirby between Richmond and Westheimer as part of a controversial construction project.” With chainsaws and backhoes in the middle of the night — what excitement! [11 News, previously in Swamplot]

9:12 am | 2 Comments | Read more about Neighborhood Disputes, Neighborhoods: Upper Kirby, Quicklink, Streets, Trees
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Wednesday, July 16, 2008

The Kirby Street Trees Are Officially Toast

July 16, 2008 – 2:21 pm

Street Trees on Kirby Dr. Between Richmond and Westheimer

At last — maybe now we’ll actually be able to see the store signs on Kirby between Richmond and Westheimer:

TIRZ President Buddy Bailey said the new high-rise oaks, which can reach a height of 40 feet, “grow straight up and straight down,” which will reduce problems with root systems and underground infrastructure.

The plan calls for the exiting 135 trees to be replaced with 148 trees.

“We will match the old trees caliper for caliper,” he said.

2:21 pm | 5 Comments | Read more about Neighborhoods: Upper Kirby, Trees
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Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Left Turns at Weslayan and Richmond: Trees Get in the Way

July 2, 2008 – 11:15 am

Costco at Richmond and Weslayan Under Construction

Street trees in medians on Weslayan and Richmond will likely be disappearing soon, reports Sarah Kortemeier in the offline-only Village News. Three left-turn lanes on Weslayan and two on Richmond are planned for the new Greenway Commons Costco-powered Power Center under construction on the northeast corner of that intersection:

Trammell Crow Managing Director of Retail Development Craig Cheney says that the company was required by the City of Houston to put the turning bays in for traffic mitigation purposes, and his company was not made aware of any extra permitting required to remove trees. . . .

The median does not appear to be wide enough to accommodate extra lanes without removing trees. Cheney says that Trammell Crow is “open to any suggestions [the City] might have” about relocating or mitigating the effect on trees, but that the turning bays cannot be constructed without removing or relocating at least some of the trees.

Photo of Costco construction: Flickr user Graustark

11:15 am | Add a Comment | Read more about Neighborhoods: Greenway Plaza, Shopping Centers, Streets, Trees
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Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Hogg Bird Sanctuary Park: Mowing the City’s Back Yard

June 25, 2008 – 10:07 am

Some residents of Glen Cove St. have been encroaching on the Hogg Bird Sanctuary with their lawnmowers and destroying the birds’ habitat, complains an area resident. The sanctuary is nominally a part of Memorial Park, but is adjacent to Bayou Bend, the former Ima Hogg estate.

Abc13’s Miya Shay comments:

there are about a dozen homes whose own lawn shares a border line with the sanctuary. One of the women who actually lives there is complaining her some of her neighbors are mowing the grass, and putting up a hammock in what is technically city property. Instead of respecting land deeded by the Hogg Foundation, the neighbors are using the land as their own property.. for free.. forget the birds. As you can imagine, some folks are not so happy about it.. and demanding that the Parks department do a little more than just send angry letters and putting up “do not mow” signs….

Shay reports that City Council wants to get to the bottom of it . . . and maybe store some construction equipment in the sanctuary too!

10:07 am | 1 Comment | Read more about Environmental, Gardening, Neighborhoods: Crestwood, Parks, Trees, Wildlife
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Wednesday, May 21, 2008

That Enormous Parking Garage Behind the River Oaks Shopping Center

May 21, 2008 – 2:31 pm

Landscape Plan for River Oaks Shopping Center

In case it hadn’t already become obvious from watching the construction, that uh . . . “stealth” four-level parking garage in back is the real game-changer for the River Oaks Shopping Center.

Clearly, what’s unfolding is a strategy even more ingenious than anyone could have imagined. With a new monster garage looming behind the next targeted would-be landmark, Weingarten will soon have people begging it to rip down more of the north side of the center and build something taller, just to screen those four stories of cars from West Gray. Meanwhile, focusing attention on the complaints of a few pesky neighbors in back is a classic outrage-bait move. Throw in a little hush money to make sure those protests aren’t too loud, but then make sure news of the offer gets leaked, so the decoy works. Send in the demo crews, redevelop, and repeat!

The site plan above comes from a Weingarten variance request that will go before the Planning Commission on Thursday. The city’s landscape ordinance apparently requires the new development to switch out some of those existing sickly-but-iconic palm trees for live oaks. Naturally, Weingarten wants to save the palms!

River Oaks Shopping Center landscape plan: Heights Venture Architects, via Houston Planning Commission

2:31 pm | 2 Comments | Read more about Commercial Real Estate, Development Restrictions, Development Strategy, Historic Preservation, Neighborhoods: River Oaks, New Construction, Parking, Shopping Centers, Trees
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Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Bellaire Field Study Notes

March 25, 2008 – 4:22 pm

From the course description for Anthropology 325L: Ethnographies of Ordinary Life, spring semester, UT Austin:

This course tries to approach the “ordinary” through ethnographic research. Each student will choose a project for participant observation. Questions include: how is the ordinary made to seem meaningful or made invisible or naturalized? How is ordinary life experienced by particular people in particular situations? How is it the site of forms of attachment and agency? What are the practices of everyday life? How do people become invested in the idea and hope of having an ordinary life? How does ordinariness dull us, or escape us, or become a tempting scene of desire?

And an excerpt from a recent posting of student fieldnotes on the Ethnographies of Ordinary Life class blog:

Bellaire has a different story. My mom often tells friends of the family about how over the course of our first ten years in this house, there was always at least one house being torn down and rebuilt. Our house along with three or four others are now the only original houses on the street. And they are now dwarfed by the pseudo-stucco three story behemoths that have come to characterize Houston exurbs. The street is littered with showy luxury vehicles, and most of the new neighbors don’t really socialize with us or one another. And you should hear my father lament the plight of the trees on our street (and I am totally with this one). My mom stopped organizing the block party a few years ago simply because no one else expressed interest or willingness to help out.

4:22 pm | 1 Comment | Read more about Demolitions, Neighborhoods: Bellaire, New Construction: Residential, Trees
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Thursday, March 20, 2008

Farb Gone: Will the Signs Go Down on Broadway?

March 20, 2008 – 4:42 pm

Sign at Broadway Square Apartments, north of Hobby Airport, for Harold Farb Apartment Homes

The last of the Harold Farb apartment complexes has been sold. Cypress Real Estate Advisors, an Austin firm, bought the Nob Hill Apartments on North Braeswood and the West Point Apartments on Woodway last December. And Post Investment Group, an LLC out of LA with some NYC backing, just closed on Farb’s Broadway Square Apartments just north of Hobby Airport.

David Beebe, who’s just posted his own account of the southeast-side walking tour he took with John Lomax last month, has a few comments about his stroll along Broadway:

The [trees] throughout this neighborhood are mature and beautiful. They are, for the most part, oaks. This is a big difference between the Harold Farb pioneered Hobby Airport area and the Frank Sharp designed Sharpstown. If [Sharp] had been as pro-active about tree planting his nighborhood would look more like this. The architecture and age is about the same.

. . . and on the Broadway Square Apartments, which Farb built in 1975:

His apartments here on Broadway are still the best looking of the entire area’s- French Victorian style, but without falling off shutters and with better built and ornate wrought iron railings and kempt landscaping.

There’s been no announcement about it, but the iconic signs along Broadway showing a silhouetted Farb wielding what appears to be a roll of blueprints are likely to be replaced. Globe St.’s Amy Wolff Sorter reports that Post Investments is planning a $2.5-million renovation:

Work will begin in two months on the 182-building complex and take 1.5 years to complete, according to Jack R. Ehrman, Post’s acquisitions director. The lion’s share of the tab will be used to replace 90% of the roofs.

Photo of sign at Broadway Square Apartments: David Beebe

4:42 pm | Add a Comment | Read more about Apartments, Buying and Selling, Neighborhoods: Park Place, Real Estate Investing, Trees
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