COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: THOSE CRAZY DIY HOUSTONIANS 
“And what is up with everyone wanting to build a house? I have friends who are building in the Heights, Spring Branch and Oak Forest. I can tell you that it is a miserable process. Lots of delays (trades and materials can be in short supply), cost overruns, failed inspections, builders who don’t return calls until you start dropping the ‘l’ word (not ‘lesbian’) and having a double bill for housing if you buy the land. All of that just to get a ‘custom’ home that is really just a slight variation on a form of residential design that an architect has recycled dozens of times for different clients all around Houston. Why not just find a house you like well enough, make an offer, sweat the inspection and move in after 30 days?” [Old School, commenting on Garden Group Looking To Turn Gus Wortham Golf Course into Botanical Wonderland] Illustration: Lulu
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COMMENT OF THE DAY: A JUICY BURGER IN OIL TOWN 
“I went there relatively frequently, but I was turned off by how much grease the burgers had — there would just be puddles and puddles on the tray by the time I was done, and it got the bun all soggy. Once when I ordered, I asked if after they finished cooking the burger they could let it sit and drip off the grease a little bit. The chef came out and told me no, that was impossible, but they gave me a second ‘backup’ bun.” [MindTheGap76, commenting on Downtown Burger Guys Closes Down] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHAT’S THE SCOOP ON EASTWOOD? 
“I’m new to the site and researching Eastwood. Considering buying a lot or tear down and building. Currently own/live in a wonderful townhouse in Montrose, but have a growing family and we’re outgrowing a townhouse and can’t afford to buy what we need in Montrose. So, we’re looking in Eastwood, Third Ward, and other close-in neighborhoods that are more affordable. Anyone have suggestions on the ‘best’ residential streets/blocks in Eastwood? We’ve driven around a lot but I haven’t committed the streets to memory — there are a few with a median that are gorgeous and walkable with a stroller. Any info will help! Oh, and what about Idylwood as a place to live with a young family?” [Htown Convert, commenting on A Bayou-View Property Rises in Idylwood] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WITH OR WITHOUT LIGHT RAIL 
“I would dispute that the light rail has had any substantive quantitative impact on Houston’s development patterns, except to shuffle around the placement of some developments within a distance of several blocks. (That is to say, for instance, that downtown was destined to pick up a few big highrises over the last decade, but perhaps they were closer to Main rather than Allen Center.)
A lot of people forget that the re-gentrification of the Heights took place over a span of decades — without light rail. The gentrification of 3rd Ward, the East End, and the Near Northside has been ongoing for a shorter period of time, and these neighborhoods simply aren’t as well-located as Rice Military — which also transformed without light rail. I would suggest that these neighborhoods are all destined for gentrification, that it will happen slowly because we’re talking about a huge geographic area — and that it would’ve happened with or without light rail, just as with other neighborhoods.
I might be swayed if it were the case that some meaningful number of people move to Houston because it has light rail, but aside from some extremely narrow subset of people, that strikes me as bullshit. It’s not an effective economic development tool, and certainly not without zoning (which I also oppose).” [TheNiche, commenting on A First Look at the Strip Center-and-Apartments Combo That Could Go Up Between UH and TSU] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHEN IT RAINS, IT’S RECOUPED 
“I live close to Buffalo Bayou. I lost two cars during a heavy rain in 2009. The water came up too fast to save the cars. By the time I found out they were flooding they were in a couple feet of snake infested water. The insurance company paid up right away and didn’t raise my rates. These people should have no problem if they have insurance.” [jgriff, commenting on Headlines: Putting the Creek in Cross Creek Ranch; Flooding the Omni Hotel Parking Lot] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: SIGHTS UNSEEN 
“Pictures don’t sell homes. People don’t buy sight unseen. At best, high quality photos will give you a few more showings (by people who were enticed by the photos, thus not likely your buyer).
List a property in Montrose, and take 6 photos of various homeless people, old-man armpits, and urinals, and it’ll still sell in a day.” [Cody, commenting on Houston Home Listing Photo of the Day: The Back Carpet] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: ROLLING OUT A NEW PIECE OF THE FIFTH WARD 
“Did y’all know that Montrose used to be within the 4th Ward, or that Midtown and EaDo used to be mostly within the 3rd Ward? The neighborhood that the original commenter referred to (south of I-10, west of Bringhurst) needs to be rebranded because it actually is different in character and is affected by different factors than what exists north of I-10.
And I really hate to say that because it’ll pick up some cliched cutesy-ass name at some tremendous expense to the community in consulting fees. But as I can see from the comments on this thread, the results would amply compensate for the expense and embarrassment.” [TheNiche, commenting on Comment of the Day Runner-Up: Throwing Out Some Numbers on the Fifth Ward] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW TO WORK AROUND THE HOUSTON HEIGHTS DRY ZONE 
“Can someone explain to a non native Houstonian how this ‘private club’ thing works? So you can’t sell alcohol in some areas, but you can if you’re a ‘private club’? So what’s to stop anyone that wants to open any regular type of place that sells booze to call themselves a private club?” [Cody, commenting on Putting the Finishing Typefaces on the Heights General Store] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENTS OF THE DAY: SELLING THE BEAUTY OF NORTH SHEPHERD 
“I can tell you for certain, that most typical national retailers would have a hard time jumping into the Shepherd/Durham corridor without some serious handholding. Regardless of what the demos might look like in the surrounding neighborhood, it’s tough to sell non-locals on being surrounded by cheap auto malls, pawn shops and tax-preparing locations.” And later: “At a previous job I was managing the Texas expansion for a large national retailer. Circa 2006 or so my Houston-based broker brought me a site in the neighborhood of Shepherd & Washington. I visited the site and told him no way. It was across from a pawn shop and had general junky retail around it. He eventually talked me into it. I took it to my boss. He rejected it and my broker and I had to talk him into it. We took it to my boss’s boss. She rejected it. My boss, my broker and I had to talk her into it. We sent it for approval to our local Operations manager. He had to be talked into it. When it went up for approval before the Real Estate committee, there was a big fight and only after much cajoling was it narrowly approved.
When that store finally opened, it was the #2 performing store in the chain.
It’s tough to get people to look outside the box, but sometimes it can be very rewarding.” [Drew J, commenting on Comment of the Day Runner-Up: Drying Out North Shepherd] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE COMING FLOOD OF FLOOD INSURANCE PREMIUM HIKES 
“If flood insurance becomes as expensive as predicted by the Chron article, it would make large parts of Houston financially uninhabitable. Folks owning property in the Heights now have even more reason to be pleased with themselves.” [Chef, commenting on Headlines: A PAC for the Astrodome Plan; A Kibosh on Free Rail Rides to Texans Games] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE CAR LOT TOLLWAY 
“I know that this suggestion wouldn’t be popular, but I would really like to see a toll road run down the N. Shepherd corridor from I-45 to Memorial & Allen Pkwy.
It’d be perfect for that.” [TheNiche, commenting on The Coming North Shepherd Transformation] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: A GUIDE TO NORTH SHEPHERD’S AUTO PARTS 
“North Shepherd is a complete car continuum from south to north. Start with new cars: Tommy Vaughan Ford at 11th. Just north of there are the used car lots, one after the next. Keep going for repair shops and auto parts stores. Continue on for the pick-a-part places (BYO tools).” [Miz Brooke Smith, commenting on Comment of the Day: The Coming North Shepherd Transformation] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE COMING NORTH SHEPHERD TRANSFORMATION 
“I live off N. Shepherd and it is hideous, but I think that restaurants and bars will be replacing those car lots over the next ten years if the economy holds. It’s already happening: Feast and the Down House owners are teaming up to open a Thai place called Hunky Dory between 18th and 19th. I saw another large car lot has closed nearby and is for sale. There is too much money in that area for it to be Houston’s Hooptie Bazaar.” [John Nova Lomax, commenting on Comment of the Day Runner-Up: Houston Can’t Keep Up] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE DEEP, RICH BEAUTY OF HOUSTON’S FEEDER ROADS 
“Houston is ugly, but there are hidden benefits to this ugliness. I was in the NE this summer going from DC up the Eastern seaboard visiting friends and family. Feeder roads do not work out east because freeways are frequently dug out of the hilly terrain and there isn’t any flat land along side the freeways to build. The result is that a lot of the freeways are just lined with trees. While this is attractive, it also gets boring after a while. There isn’t much difference between the trees in DC, Philly or Boston. Houston’s endless feeder road developments make driving around town much more interesting. You can observe the various layers of strip mall sediment that lines the highways: from fresh new bundles of Academy Sports, HEB and Toys R US to middle of the road, tired Kohls-anchored strip with Cici’s pizza to the ramshackle strips with the accident and injury clinic, Pho noodle #3 and tax/bankruptcy/notario and divorce ‘law’ firm. There are ooohs and aahhhs at sites like Luz de Estrella on 59, Gallery Furniture on I-45 and an ad hoc gallery of steel sculptures on 288 south. And in between all of that, miles and miles of car dealerships. Never a dull moment on Houston’s highways.” [Old School, commenting on Comment of the Day Runner-Up: Houston Can’t Keep Up] Illustration: Lulu
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW TO LIGHT UP THE ASTRODOME 
“It just occurred to me that the best use would be to turn the Astrodome into a giant Concentrating Solar Power plant — you know, the kind with all the mirrors pointed at a tower. Simply chop off the top, install the tower, and replace the seats with mirrors, and you’re done. A rough, napkin calculation says we should get over 2M W, enough to power almost 1,000 homes. Wikipedia says CSP costs $4/W, so about $9.5 mil for the project. This would make the Astrodome a true symbol of the future while keeping the history mostly intact. Reliant Energy could then promote next door Reliant Stadium as being 100% renewable powered all year.
There was talk of turning it into a conference center with photovoltaic solar panels on the top, but converting it to CSP means much more power per square foot generated, especially if you use the stadium’s natural bowl shape (25% efficiency for dish-shaped CSP vs. 15% for regular solar panels). [Derek, commenting on Anyone Got a Better Idea for the Astrodome?] Illustration: Lulu
