- Dunavant, Floor & Décor Outlets of America Sign Leases Totaling 1.2M SF in Bay Area Business Park [HBJ]
- Texas Medical Center Property Medical Towers To Be Redeveloped, Get 230-Room Embassy Suites [Houston Chronicle]
- Urban Planner Steven Spillette Predicts Uptick in New Development in Houston’s East Sector [Realty News Report]
- Affordable Housing Units Disproportionately Located in ‘Low Opportunity’ Areas, Finds CAP [The Urban Edge]
- Bradley Ogden Hospitality’s Closes Funky Chicken and Bradley’s Fine Diner, 2 Out of Its 3-Restaurant Stake in Houston [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Johnny Carrabba Buys Common Bond Bakery, Has Already Leased More Parking [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot]
- Trees, Squirrels, Woodpeckers To Blame for Sienna Plantation’s Power Outages, Says Centerpoint Energy [Houston Public Media]
- Relocated Heights Post Office Now Open at 1300 W. 19th St. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
Photo of South Loop 610: Jan Buchholtz via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Johnny Carrabba at the helm of Common Bond frightens me. But, I have to admit he is spot on about the needed improvements.
I am not surprised that the Bradley Ogden ventures failed. No one is going to pay $16 for a hamburger at a location that is a strong 4 iron away from I-10. And Houstonians are very sophisticated diners. We are not star struck when a big name restaurant or chef comes to town. There are too many amazing restaurants and a very deep bench of local talent for a celebrity chef to come to town and get away with phoning it in.
Fast pick up at Common Bond is going to be awesome! Can’t wait for the changes.
uhhhh…… affordable housing in poor areas is what makes it affordable…..
I like the new made up politically correct name “Low Opportunity Neighborhood” to replace ghetto. Although it’s a useless word as it applies to Houston because everyone has a car, no matter how poor you are, which means you don’t NEED opportunities in your neighborhood, the entire city is open to you to take advantage of all of the opportunities.
@commonsense
It’s simply not true that everyone has a car in Houston. While many poor people do manage to scrape together enough money for a vehicle (often for only a short time after they are taken advantage of by by-here-pay-here stealerships), plenty are forced to get by with public transport.
Of course, it’s news to nobody that housing is cheaper in less desirable areas. Basic economics means that will always be the case.
Yes, commonsense. It was likely brought to us by the same bs peddlers who came up with “food desert” and “food insecurity” among the many other fake problems that we taxpayers are supposed to fund for these do gooders to fix.
So now they want to give the people with housing vouchers their picks of neighborhoods cause it’s not fair. These universities are cranking out some people with screwed up heads.
Not only does the US have one of the lowest costs of car ownership of any developed country (thanks to cheap gas and road taxes), but Houston’s public transportation is downright cheap. $1.25 for a local bus anywhere in the city…try to find public transport that cheap anywhere in western Europe.
People be running out of things to complain about….
Bradley Ogden is even a has-been chef in the Bay Area for the last decade, which I have a feeling is why he tried his luck at opening up in a city far from home. It’s interesting to me that Houston was in full on boom cycle from late 2010 until Spring of 2015, yet so many were unable to see that boom and cash in on it early on, and therefore came late to the party.
The whole thing about “low opportunity neighborhoods” is a real issue. But Federal housing policy, and the SCOTUS ruling that reaffirmed it after some housing advocates in Dallas complained, is only going to make it worse.
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Most people would agree that the healthiest thing for cities to do is to bring new opportunities to low opportunity areas. Better schools, better policing, new parks and libraries, and yes, rehabilitated housing. The last item on that list is exactly what the developers were doing when they use housing tax credits to build in low opportunity neighborhoods.
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Unfortunately, the housing advocates from Dallas won their SCOTUS case, and they’re not supposed to do that. No. Affordable housing advocates are to remain deadlocked in ugly land use battles with wealthy suburbs; and low opportunity neighborhoods will struggle even more to attract any type of new development or blight reduction. I’ve seen it first hand, and it makes me want to pound my head against the wall.
@Toby: Economic reality and common sense have no place in today’s society. Trying to bring them into a conversation will get you labeled as a micro-aggressor.
I’ve never understood the argument for putting affordable housing in “high opportunity” neighborhoods. Its purely a highest and best use issue, apartment land in the loop had been selling for crazy prices why would anyone put subsidized housing there?
@ZAW Exactly how do you and who is supposed to bring better schools to a ” low opportunity” neighborhood?
One reason these areas are low opportunity is the residents do not value or see a value in education. It isn’t necessarily the shiny new building that makes a great school. So that’s kind of a pie in the sky type of statement.
@JT
“One reason these areas are low opportunity is the residents do not value or see a value in education.
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You could be trolling but I’m guessing you are actually a real-life ignoramus. What a disgusting statement.
You will never get all the poor out of ‘low opportunity’ neighborhoods, because the sad truth is too many poor in any neighborhood can turn it into ‘low opportunity.’ You need find that critical mass and stay below it. The other key is a simplified version of affordable housing tax credits. No jumping through hoops. Your average rent must be 25% (or whatever) below the published average rent for your neighborhood. This won’t guarantee the poor the housing, but we are just talking about ‘opportunity’ right?
@Lykos, don’t be so melodramatic, truth usually hurts. My wife was a teacher at school predominantly with “At Risk” children, which is PC talk for uneducated broken family from the hood. I’ve met a lot of these families and parents and they don’t care, they just don’t care. A lot of them don’t care how their kid performs, they don’t care what the teacher has to say, they don’t care if their kid graduates, they believe they’ve done just fine dropping out of high school and waiting tables at a strip club, their kids can do the same.
@Commonsense / Lykos – Both of you could be considered right because not all residents fit in the square hole or round peg. I worked with 5th ward to improve schools trying to promote Teach for America and it can be a challenge because there are NO PTAs, Parents are not involved unless they smell a lawsuit, and teachers are mostly checked out or have given up in low income areas. With that said, look at the success that the 2nd ward has had with Lantrip Elementary and Yes Prep and Eastwood Acadamey. 2nd ward isnt as high an income as some of the other areas in town, yet the schools seem to be performing much better. Is it an income thing or a cultural thing?
@Lykos “You could be trolling but I’m guessing you are actually a real-life ignoramus. What a disgusting statement.”
Nice little ad-hominem there. Why don’t you allow that part of the problem is getting residents of these areas to invest in something they don’t see value in? Why should they see value in it? What has their experience with education been such that it would provide any real tangible benefit? It is not disgusting to note that these areas may not see any value in educational opportunities. Your name calling, though, is.
@common
Interesting that you always seem to knos someone who does something that relates to whatever you are talking about. Anyway in this case my wife is teacher at at inner city predominantly Hispanic school. Sure, there are cases with some parents that make you really wonder about whether they care or not. However, that can be said about some parents in affluent districts as well. I was lucky to attend a good school – my parents were able to let the school teach me without too much intervention on their part. I know you are flaming ignoramus and take pride in it. However I will just say that there is a big difference between not caring and not having the ability or energy to affect change in their childs’ education. Bashing economically poor, tired and strung out people by labeling them as apathetic is pitiful.
@Lykos. Okay if you are the voice of social conscience on the board…cough…..go ahead and make an intelligent suggestion on who is supposed to bring a better school to low opportunity neighborhoods. Really, I am quite interested to hear your thoughts.
Middle class parents tend to pull their children out the public schools when poor kids show up. Whether that’s justifiable or not is a matter of opinion. Nevertheless, it means that if “high performing public schools” (and I’m assuming that means non-selective public schools – so someplace like Eastwood Academy would be excluded) are part of the criteria for a “high opportunity neighborhood,” then it will be well-nigh impossible to have more than just a few low-income families within any one school zone, because academic performance of children seems to be extremely correlated with household income. No amount of physical improvement of affordable housing or school facilities is going to change this.
Shame about BFD. I’ve eaten there several times and the food and cocktails were always good. No need to get the stupid $16 burger – there were other inventive dishes on the menu that had a good price/quality balance.
I knew they were in trouble though when the last two weekend night dinners we ate there we were never accompanied by more than 3 other tables in the whole joint.
I guess it’s just a reminder of how brutally competitive the Houston fine dining scene has become.
@lykos
“…not having the ability or energy to affect change in their childs’ education. Bashing economically poor, tired and strung out people by labeling them as apathetic is pitiful.”
Talk about clueless…….Well if that sentence is not the epitome of what we”ignoramuses” are talking about, I don’t know what is. Not having the energy?! Newsflash Lykos–that is a parent’s duty regardless of their economic circumstance. Well maybe if they are so tired and strung out, they should practice some birth control instead of producing more non producers. That just simply isn’t a viable excuse. Period.