- Guefen Development To Break Ground This Week on 5-Story ‘Haven at Main’ Apartment Complex on Former Motel Site at 8700 S. Main [Prime Property]
- Prologis Picks Up Another Building in Prologis Park West by Northwest Industrial Complex [Prime Property]
- Tel Aviv-Based Azrieli Group Buys 8 West Centre Office Building in West Houston [Prime Property]
- New Bar from Oxheart Duo Opens ‘Secretly’ in Former Cotton Exchange Space Downtown [Culturemap]
- Niko Niko’s To Open Inside H-E-B Plus! in Pearland on Sept. 26 [Your Houston News]
- New Light Rail Lines Won’t Open Until 2015 Because of Unexpected Repair Work, Problems [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Neighbors Living Behind Steakhouse V Live at Richmond and Greenridge Say It’s a ‘Nuisance’ and Strip Club [abc13]
- Sugar Land To Install 27 License Plate Recognition Cameras in Traffic Areas as Part of $1.6M Crime Prevention Program [KHOU]
- UH To Install Temporary Pop-Up Parks Designed by Architecture Students in Parking Lot on Friday [Prime Property]
- Lightning Strike During Yesterday’s Storm Destroys 2 Crude Oil Tanks at Hollimon Oil Corp. in Baytown [Click2Houston]
- Complaints to 311 About Illegal Dumping Sites in Houston Topped a Record 365 in August [abc13]
- A Sneak Peek at an Ando-Inspired Heights House, Featured in This Weekend’s Houston Modern Home Tour [OffCite]
- Prada Marfa Reclassified as an Art Museum To Save It from TxDOT Regulations on Illegal Advertising [Texas Tribune]
Photo of 802 N. Nagle: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Unexpected repair work and problems? On the light rail? Unbelievable! Who could possibly have seen that coming?
I’m all for crime prevention, but all of these new crime camera’s everywhere I have real “1984” feel, or maybe “London 2014”. When I was in London I could never get past the feeling I was being watched everywhere I went. I think the entire city it on camera, at least that’s how it feels. All of this over policing often has unintended consequences. Sugar Land is of course only following the trend and I’m sure this will be popular, but be careful what you wish for, just ask the Germans.
I pass by the V Live every morning at about 7AM and things are just winding down. I wouldn’t want to live behind it either. I would imagine Ruth’s Chris was a better neighbor. Especially considering Ruth’s Chris was probably locking up about the same time that V Live employees are just rolling into work.
Rename it Big Brother Land
If I’m not breaking the law why would I be against it.
Technically, Big Brother Land is called ‘Oceania’. And on the ubiquity of camera surveillance, there was a recent Chron piece:
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Proliferating-public-surveillance-means-U-S-5733862.php
which may have been linked from this blog before, and if so, sorry.
Christopher, because you might look like somebody who’s breaking the law. And there’s a lot of stupid and petty laws that you might not know you’re breaking.
@Christopher, because the government always finds a way to abuse it. NSA, IRS, that weirdo Sherriff in Arizona comes to mind. You give them an inch they will always take a foot.
the thing about cameras is does the benefits outweigh the negatives. it seems every week you hear about inernet sleuths solving crimes from video feeds and such. See the philly gay-bashing incident from just last week for example.
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in this day and age where cameras are cheap accessories i fully believe every property owner should have full CCTV coverage of their premises, whether private or public. the concern is over what data is recorded and accessible to whom. I’m actually surprised there aren’t 3rd party companies being contracted to monitor properties on a massive scale. could even do the same with traffic monitoring. just out source it all and remove cops off the roads. this would eliminate some concerns of the data being centralized in the govt’s hands, but of course with the rights that the NSA and such have been given in our day and age i’m sure any private contracts established for customers benefit would be mere stepping stones to tear up and disregard.
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just wait till we have monitoring drones and skynet.
The money from the cameras came from the Feds, who have no jurisdiction outside of DC, national parks, federal buildings and US territories. So they ignore that or do a workaround with grants to cities, counties etc. And the idea is always explained that it’s keeping us safe. And they will keep telling us that until we’re living in a virtual prison with zero privacy. These cameras will soon be loaded with facial recognition software and your whereabouts will be tracked 24 hours a day.
Not doing anything wrong, you say? That’s a simplistic response that hasn’t though much about the various raminfications of living in a surveilance state. Here’s one scenario you’re not considering; let’s say you realized Sept 11th, 2001 was a govt operation and the can of worms that was opened had you awakened to a reality that had to wanting to alert your fellow humans that we’ve been lied to and we’re all in danger. Let’s say you decide to become an activist, forming groups, attending meetings etc. Then you realize that your every move is known. Would this stop you from moving forward with your plans? Would it at least make you hesistate and think twice about them knowing that you could be set up or worse? What if you’re a Congressman or Senator? What if you’re someone who knows or govt crimes and feel the urge to become a whistleblower? Emails, cell calls, cameras…your life has been uploaded and they know where to find you and how to destroy you, what you like, love, hate and need.
It’s the “chilling effect”, the power to blackmail and to track you down. If you think this scenario is ridiculous then you’re going to go along with everything that is coming; drones, cell phones and other devices that spy on and listen to you etc. So, “I’m not doing anything wrong” doesn’t work when those who are in control of the data are. And they are.
I have cameras that capture all the street traffic in front of my house and in the alley behind it. Every time there is a crime anywhere nearby, the victims ask me to check my cameras for clues – which I happily do. They are a great deterrent, as well. I’ve gotten lots of people asking how to install their own, commenting that they noticed mine.
Ah ha! No wonder we can’t get enough bike trails. The “Crime Prevention Ministry” can’t use their identification toys.
I am all for cameras. When you leave your home, you give up the right to privacy. You will be watched by other people; including police officers (if they’re around.). Cameras merely allow people who are not physically present at that particular time to watch you as well.
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But here’s a question of urbanism and livability, too. I’ve noticed that most of the people who argue against cameras, also choose to live in carefully gentrified, low-crime areas. (Some even go so far as to label areas that aren’t fully gentrified as “terrifying.”). The real question here is: which is worse, a few crime prevention cameras; or kicking all the poor people out of your neighborhood so you feel safe?
One place I don’t mind cameras is that police should wear body cameras at all times, and the footage should be stored and reviewed by a separate agency.
@ZAW How come we seem to see most cameras going in nicer places? I have seen some reaction to cameras like this in higher crime areas. They come off as being racist to put cameras in poorer areas. Officials are accused of targeting and profile folks. I think you have the perception of people complaining more because people in those areas they speak out on a lot of things where as people in the other areas only speak out on the things they are told to.
The license plate cameras are cool but scarey stuff. They have scanners on some college campuses now that create a digital ‘geo-fence’. If a car with license plate tied to a sex offender comes on campus, an alert is auto sent to the campus PD. They also have some companies that are toying with the idea databasing license plate scans. They drive cars around that have scanners all over, scanning all the cars around them matching them with time of day and GPS. Then they sell that data to private Is and others if they have a person of interest. They have tried to get data from toll booths but unable to.. yet.