05/15/14 8:30am

houston-aerial

Photo: Christof Spieler via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines
05/14/14 3:45pm

Bike Racks at Hawthorne Square Shopping Center, 3407 Montrose Blvd., Montrose, Houston

Montrose District Bike Houston Bike Rack, Montrose, HoustonIn case the names carved in steel plate on each don’t make it clear to you, the Montrose Management District and Bike Houston want you to know that they are the parties behind these new bike racks going up around Montrose; they’re part of an effort to “improve bike safety” in the neighborhood (or at least keep the ones being used around for longer). New racks went up in front of MV DiY beer, wine, coffee, and candle café at 3224 Yoakum last month; this week a few more were installed in the Hawthorne Square shopping center at 3407 Montrose Blvd. graced by Starbucks, Einstein’s Bagels, and Berryhill Baja Grill (see photo at top) as well as Gratifi Kitchen + Bar at 302 Fairview:

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Steel This
05/14/14 2:45pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: NEW NEIGHBORHOOD NAMES STICK Scrabble with Neighborhood Names“I came from DC and we saw this time and again . . . what I learned is the pro-namers almost always win. Turns out it is fairly easy to name an unnamed area. Of course, in DC (and SF, and LA), the names are almost always douche-y NYC-wannabe abbreviations. The naysayers should just be glad they aren’t calling it TriNoMa (Triangle North of Main).” [CAHBF, commenting on Tampico Heights Rises Again, This Time in a Bumper Sticker Campaign] Illustration: Lulu

05/14/14 12:30pm

YES, YOU’VE BEEN SIPPING WHAT DALLAS HAS BEEN FLUSHING Diagram Showing Flow of Treated Sewage from Dallas and Fort Worth to Houston“For the large chunk of population that lives downstream from a big city and whose water supply flows through a river, more than a few drops of the water in their glasses was probably once in someone else’s toilet,” Neena Satija drily notes in her reassuring survey for the Texas Tribune of sewage-treatment projects throughout the state. Her story is worth checking out for the animated image diagramming the flow from a Fort Worth-area toilet to a Houston highball glass alone (excerpted screenshot shown at left, above), but she does stir up some oft-repeated local poop: “Let’s start with Houston, which, as Texas State University professor Andy Sansom says, ‘has been drinking Dallas’ crap for decades,’” she writes. “Wastewater from Dallas and Fort Worth is deposited into the Trinity River, where it flows down into the lakes that supply Houston residents. The wastewater is so clean that it’s credited with helping the Trinity River stay strong during recent years of severe drought.” [Texas Tribune; previously on Swamplot] Illustration: Todd Wiseman/Alessandro Suraci/Luis Prado

05/14/14 10:45am

A spokesman says the Houston Police Department has “long been aware” of most of the 127 vehicles Texas Equusearch found submerged in Houston bayous back in 2011, when the nonprofit search-and-rescue organization used a sonar-equipped boat to hunt for the rented car of an elderly woman who had gone missing. But until Equusearch went public with the data this week, it appears no one from law enforcement had bothered to bring the rusting cars and trucks to the attention of environmental organizations, families of missing persons, wrecker drivers, classic-car collectors and restorers, bayou boaters, noodlers, or other groups that might have wanted to know.

No matter, now: Above, courtesy of Texas Equusearch and the Houston Chronicle, is an interactive map identifying the coordinates and descriptions of the vehicles — including at least one full big rig — that have been gently rusting at or near the bottom of Brays and Sims Bayous for at least 2 and a half years. The Chronicle data appears to exclude the half-dozen or so transportation options Equusearch searchers found beneath the waters of the relatively un-trafficked Buffalo Bayou. But you can spot some of them in the upper portion of this screen capture published with Joel Eisenbaum’s original report for KPRC of a similar map:

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Submerged Bayou Secrets
05/14/14 8:30am

i-10 road maze

Photo of I-10: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines
05/13/14 4:45pm

AN APARTMENT DEVELOPER’S NEW MIDTOWN PEARLS ARE MISSING Site of Proposed Pearl on Smith, 3100 Smith St., and Pearl on Helena, 105 Drew St., Midtown, HoustonThe Morgan Group’s Pearl Midtown apartment building is still under construction at the corner of Elgin and Smith streets in Midtown, but a couple of follow-on projects have recently drifted away from the process for gaining city approval — for now, at least. Signs announcing a variance request for the Pearl on Smith went up last month in front of the 1940 building at 3100 Smith St. that used to house the Social Security Administration’s offices (pictured at top), across the street from the Pearl Midtown. And on the block surrounded by Helena, Dennis, Albany, and Drew, a sign is still up for a variance request to allow construction of the Pearl on Helena. On that block is the building that until last fall housed the Kindred Hospital Midtown (bottom photo) — along with this 1930 mansion. Applications for both projects showed similar 5-story apartment complexes built around a small courtyard on top of 2 garage levels. But both projects have now gone quiet in the city’s tracking system. The variance application for the Pearl on Smith was withdrawn before its scheduled April 17th hearing. And the Pearl on Helena is listed as an “inactive application” in the city database, even though it was originally scheduled for a hearing on the same date. Photos: O’Connor & Associates (3100 Smith St.); Swamplot inbox (Kindred Hospital)

05/13/14 2:15pm

Home and Office Under Construction at 832 Yale St., Houston Heights

What’s this new construction being framed in wood and steel on the site of 2 former bungalows at 828 and 832 Yale St. in the Heights? A single 23,000-sq.-ft. residence that will also serve as the offices of homebuilder Fisher Homes, a source tells Swamplot. The builder is perhaps best known for the Morrison Heights 5-story condo building near Houston Ave. and White Oak; it is also planning a Studemont Mid-Rise at Studemont and Center St., just north of Washington Ave.

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Fisher Homes
05/13/14 12:15pm

WHAT THEY’RE TWEETING ABOUT YOUR LEASE RATES 2502 Dunlavy St., Lower Westheimer, Park, Montrose, HoustonWe now join the Twitter discussion of the potential lease of spaces at 2502 Dunlavy St. just north of Westheimer Rd. in Montrose, currently home to the offices of Eurostone Marble and the Bacchus Mediterranean Winebar and Coffee Shop (both still open), already in progress. [Twitter] Photo: Davis Commercial (PDF)

05/13/14 10:35am

Man Defecating on Sidewalk, Woodland Heights, Houston

Fiesta Mart, 1020 Quitman St., Near Northside, HoustonNote: Story updated below, with further detail.

A man suspected of pooping on the sidewalks and driveways of several homes in and around the intersection of Byrne St. and Helen in the Woodland Heights has been apprehended and taken into custody, a Houston Police Department spokesperson tells the Leader. The story of the Woodland Heights excrement attacks clogged up the internet last week, with stories of the repeated front-yard exploits reaching international and local news outlets around the globe — but only after a repeat victim went to teevee reporter Jennifer Bauer with surveillance footage from a camera hidden in a tree near her home. The captured images (above) of the man dubbed a “serial defecator” in various follow-on news reports appeared to show the perpetrator in the act.

Perhaps the most astounding aspect of the arrest: The public-pooping suspect was apprehended after he was found urinating — on a wall at the Fiesta Mart at Quitman and Fulton, according to the Leader report: “Police arrested the man, who appeared to be the same man as the one from Woodland Heights’ resident’s surveillance video, and charged him with public urination.

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Huge Relief
05/13/14 8:30am

dry stormwater ditch

Photo: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines