IS HISD KEEPING REBUILDING JOBS FROM MINORITY-OWNED FIRMS? 
That’s what the Houston chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (or HNOMA) seems to suspect, having sent a letter to HISD superintendent Terry Grier alleging “disenfranchisement” and wanting to know why so few jobs funded by last year’s $1.89 billion bond to rebuild 40 schools have been awarded to African-American-owned firms, reports Hair Balls: “Only two percent of the monies assigned have gone to the six [Houston-area] architectural firms run solely by African-American owners,” says Jeff Balke. “According to the letter, it appears that none of the six firms in question were even interviewed for projects pertaining to the four traditionally African-American high schools being rebuilt,” one of which is Yates High School, shown here. Adds HNOMA veep Anzilla Gilmore: “In the 2007 Bond, all of these firms got work, so we assumed that with a Bond this big, these guys shouldn’t have any issues. . . . They just need the chance, and if they don’t get the chance, they should be told why.” [HISD; Hair Balls; previously on Swamplot] Photo: HISD
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Dunkin’ Donuts announced yesterday where it’ll be sprinkling 4 new stores across Houston. This rendering shows the standalone planned for 18315 W. Lake Houston Pkwy. in Humble. There’ll also be a location inside IAH’s Terminal E, one at 4130 Fairmont Pkwy. in Pasadena, and another, as suspected, at the renovated former Arby’s at 2330 S. Shepherd and Fairview. Last month, the chain opened the first of a reported 24 stores planned for the Houston area at 10705 Westheimer in Westchase.
- Dunkin’ Donuts names next four Houston locations [Houston Business Journal]
- Previously on Swamplot: Dunkin’ Donuts Opening Next Month in Westchase Strip Center, The First Inside-the-Loop Dunkin’ Donuts?, Maybe the Westchase SmashBurger’s Successor Will Do Better, Dollars to Donuts, Dunkin’ Donuts’ Big Texas Push, Dunkin’ Donuts Coming Back to Bellaire
Rendering: Rogue Architects via Houston Business Journal
- Renderings Released of $156M Houston Hobby International Terminal [Click2Houston; previously on Swamplot]
- Metro Educating Houston Drivers About Sharing the Streets with New Light Rail Lines [KUHF]
- First 290 Rehab Project Completed with New Access Ramps at Barker Cypress Rd. [The Highwayman]
- Reliant Park Has More On-Site Parking Than Any Other Big Stadium Complex in America [KUHF]
- Spindletop Restaurant Atop the Hyatt Has Been Rotating Around a Changing Downtown Skyline for 40 Years [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Graffiti Artists Painting GreenStreet This Week [abc13; previously on Swamplot]
Photo of Spindletop Restaurant: elnina via Swamplot Flickr Pool
HOW ITALIAN ARTISTS GET STUCK IN GALVESTON 
Art writer Debra Barrera gets the inside scoop on some of the banana-peel art put up by Italian artist Davide Savorani for this past weekend’s exhibition at the Galveston Artist Residency compound at the corner of 25th St. and Ships Mechanic Row: “Savorani explains The Can’t Get Away Club as part of the nature of living in a place like Galveston; the calm sea breeze, the cheap booze, and endless reasons to never return to a big city can keep people stuck. Each year promises are made, ‘Maybe next year I will move to Houston . . . Maybe I will finally start that popcorn ball franchise.’ From Firenze, a small town in the north of Italy himself, Savorani is familiar with this syndrome and decided to immerse himself in Galveston: ‘I came here with nothing and I wanted to try to understand the city. Something I experienced was this idea of a place where you really face yourself.'” And face others who are celebrating, apparently, Barrera continues: “What I admired most about both Savorani and [his assistant, Michelangelo] Miccolis was their ability to immerse themselves in a completely foreign place and use materials that were part of their daily lives. In the studio, when I asked about a strand of plastic beads hanging on the wall, Miccolis remarked, ‘Yes! We were at some parade and they were just throwing them! We kept grabbing at the air! This is what the city gave us; why not make art out of it?’†[Glasstire] Self-portrait at cottages between 28th and Winnie: Michelangelo Miccolis
This sign, which showed up recently on the fence outside the 136-acre former KBR site at Hirsch Rd. indicates that the air over Clinton might soon be filled with choppers — but for what? City building inspector and helistop specialist Larry LaHaie says that that hasn’t been disclosed, but he does know that it’ll be a “private facility . . . not for hospitals, not for police.” The work will involve clearing the former industrial property that seems to have been “left to go au naturel,” he says, and cleaning up a defunct landing pad that had been discontinued “6 to 7 years ago.” The Ship Channel-fronting site in the Fifth Ward has sat vacant since most of its buildings were demolished a little more than a year ago and it was sold by KBR to undisclosed buyers.
- How should the KBR East End Site be redeveloped? [HAIF]
- Previously on Swamplot: New Mystery Owners of 136 Acres in the Fifth Ward, Along the Shores of Buffalo Bayou, The Clearings on Clinton
Photo: @GoingUpCity via Twitter
- 7707 Lakewind St. [HAR]
‘WHERE’S OUR SHADE?’ 
Shade, Houston Chronicle columnist Lisa Gray writes, is “cheap, efficient, and delicious.” Spurning the air-conditioned tunnels on a walk Downtown, Gray stops to cool off beneath “the deep sheltered walkway in front of the Post Rice Lofts,” she writes, and starts to heat up with questions: “If Houston knew how to create such excellent, pedestrian-friendly shade in 1912, when the Rice Hotel was built, why don’t we make more shady places like that a hundred years later? Where are new buildings’ sheltered walkways, their canopies and loggias, their arcades and awnings? . . . Why do we make do with little patio umbrellas, scrawny canvas awnings over doorways, narrow overhangs that work only if you hug the building at noon?” [Houston Chronicle ($)] Photo: Finding Camelot
The unkempt homes that used to obscure that towering yellow pole on the Gulf Fwy. feeder were undone last month, after 2108 and 2110 Sunnyland St. showed up in the Daily Demolition Report in late April; architect Tim Cisneros, whose firm is named on the variance request, says a 2,000-sq.-ft. law office will be built to replace them. In the East End, the lot faces the feeder between Telephone and Wayside, near where the 2nd inside-the-Loop Walmart is under construction.
Responding to last Friday’s video and story showing Cherry Demolition crews knocking a brick wall of the Maryland Manor apartments onto the backyard fence of Ashby Highrise neighbor (and videographer) Scott Reamer the previous Wednesday, apartment tower developer Matthew Morgan of Buckhead Investment Partners offers a few clarifications. In the video, which was posted on Swamplot and Culturemap, Reamer doesn’t come across as particularly happy about the way demolition is proceeding. “You got it! Good job! Now what about my dog?,” he shouts as the bricks fall, just a few feet from the back of his home.
According to a statement issued by Morgan, however, the 55-second video doesn’t tell the whole story:
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
School’s out. And these are going too:
- M-M Properties To Develop Hermann Park Plaza Apartments [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Company Relocations Bringing in Business for Houston Residential Brokerages [Houston Business Journal]
- Independence Heights Eyed for Affordable Housing Developments [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Burger Guys Opening Third Location with Trailer in Beaumont [Eater Houston]
- Historic Designation Could Complicate Pelican Island Bridge’s Replacement [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- Houston Environmentalists, Businesses Paying More Attention to Fine Dust Pollutant [The Texas Tribune]
- Sargassum Seaweed Invasion on Galveston Beaches Expected To Be Weaker This Year [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- Art Car Being Sold on eBay To Help Fund Dance Company’s New Midtown Digs [Culturemap]
Photo of Montrose Blvd. bridge over US-59: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
It doesn’t seem that this grassy, fenced-in lot along Montrose between W. Dallas and Allen Pkwy. is going to change very much: All that scraping and dragging a few weeks ago was to level the ground for a cricket field, according to a contractor at the firm responsible for doing the dirt work. The Aga Khan Youth and Sports Facility, the contractor says, will comprise that cricket field, a pair of soccer fields, and a concession stand. In 2006, the Aga Khan Foundation purchased and demolished the Robinson Warehouse on this frequently flooded 11-acre property and said it was planning to build an Ismaili Center here.
- Previously on Swamplot: What’s Going On at Montrose and Allen Pkwy.?, Hark, a Fence!, Zero Tolerance for the New Buffalo Bayou Bridge
Photo: Allyn West
COMMENT OF THE DAY: A LITTLE 411 ON THAT 2010 $6 MILLION 380 SOUTH OF I-10 “For the record, the Ainbinder 380 Agreement did not include drainage detention, they simply tied into existing storm sewer systems — there were no ‘improvements.’ The road was widened at the expense of a tree-lined sidewalk. The sidewalk was ‘abandoned,’ which means ‘is no longer in existence.’ There are no street tree wells and/or no ROW accounted for to plant shade-bearing street trees. The removal of $250K worth of mature Live Oaks resulted in a transfer of this public amenity to Walmart’s parking lot. Yes, that’s right. Public trees were allowed to be replanted on Walmart’s parking lot. And, oh yeah, the four-sided intersection has just two pedestrian signalized crossings. Yes, you can’t actually safely cross on two sides because there are no lights and markings. Why? Because PW&E missed it and the developer didn’t end up having to pay for it. The ‘bridge improvement’ is the biggest boondoggle of them all. Ainbinder wanted to pave it and area civic orgs fought them. Turns out, after coring was performed on the bridge, that the dead load was far greater than known AS A RESULT OF previous paving. That was the second load limit drop. So, Ainbinder window-dressed and spent 380 monies for cosmetic treatments — changing out balustrades and painting A BRIDGE THAT WILL BE TORN DOWN. That is an absurd waste of taxpayer money. Unlike other 380s, the Ainbinder 380 had next to no specifications that ensured deliverables. There were no clawback provisions to ensure public return on the investment. Once the money is awarded to the developer, they can strike or change line items and they still get full payment. The development doesn’t even have to perform to produce new taxes (not just poached taxes), it can be a miserable failure and they still get paid. The folks that were championing this development are now trying to pretend the public infrastructure results were worth $6,000,000 of public money. Guess what? You were wrong then and you’re still wrong now. The proof is right there for everyone to see. Own it.” [TexasSpiral, commenting on Headlines: Getting to the Washington Heights Walmart; Learning Lessons from Hurricane Ike]
- 1921 Spann St. [HAR]
