IS RICE WORTH IT? 
Having stood up for Houston’s heat, humidity, flying cockroaches, mosquitoes, sprawl, flooding, “no mountains,” and other typically unheralded features of the local landscape (even as more official civic campaigns shied away from the task) the folks behind the cité vérité Houston. It’s Worth It. promotional campaign are ready to move onto their next crowdsourced publishing project. “Contrary to the way it might sound,” declares a splash page announcing the project, HIWI: Rice “is not a cookbook. Nor, for all you anxious undergrads, is it a text book.” Instead, the publishers at communications firm ttweak are hoping to produce a collection of comments, stories, and photos that’ll end up serving as “part love letter, part roast, part remembrance” of Rice University, on the occasion of the institution’s 100th birthday. Working from the same model that produced the original Houston. It’s Worth It. book and HIWI: Ike, the publishers are soliciting contributions from anyone who has anything to say about the campus, its people, and its place in the city: “Have you ever shot bottle rockets in the parking lot? Were you there for Kennedy’s speech? Ever knocked back a few at Valhalla? . . . Even if you’ve never set foot inside a Rice classroom, we want to know what the ‘Institute’ means to you.” [HIWI; previously on Swamplot] Photo: ttweak
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On the road to these addresses, helping to spread a little dust, destruction, and delight:
- Energy Industry Boom Helps Boost Houston’s Commercial Real Estate Market [New York Times]
- Aldi Grocery Store Coming to Mason Road at Oak Park Trails [Prime Property]
- Montrose Blvd. Campanile Office Buildings Sold [Houston Business Journal]
- Fashion Designer Billy Reid Leaving Galleria for Bungalow Next to Chuy’s [Culturemap]
- Memorial City Mall To Get South Texas’s First American Girl Store [Culturemap]
- System Glitch Gives Texas City Resident $637K Water Bill [Houston Chronicle]
- Fire Damages Late Nite Pie on Tuam at Baldwin in Midtown [Houston Chronicle]
- Image of Virgin Mary in Garden Oaks Resident’s Tree Becomes Spiritual Attraction [Click2Houston]
- City of Houston Remains Top Purchaser of Green Energy Nationwide [KUHF]
- Slide Show of Greater Houston Preservation Alliance Good Brick Award Winners [Culturemap]
- U.S. Closer Than Ever to Achieving Energy Self-Sufficiency [Fuel Fix]
Photo: MyFox Houston
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE EADO VIRUS “For goodness sake, when are people going to stop referring to random areas within the East End as EaDo! EaDo’s northern most tip is on Commerce. The KBR site is pretty far removed from EaDo’s borders! And realtors, please stop coming up with new names. I recently saw a listing near EaDo, with a location described as “SEDO†(Southeast Downtown). When will the madness stop!” [Eddie, commenting on The Clearings on Clinton]
COMBINED ITALIAN WINERY AND PIPING PRODUCTS PLANT OPENING IN WESTLAND BUSINESS PARK 
What could better symbolize this city’s international sophistication and industriousness than the construction of an Italian winery in a Houston business park off West Rd. and Eldridge? Easy: Putting the winery inside a 60,000 sq.-ft. pipe-machining plant in said business park. Stefano Farina brand Chianti, Barolo, barbaresco, and prosecco will be fermented and bottled in a 5,000-sq.-ft. winery with its own separate cooling and ventilation systems after the dual facilities open, likely in March. Grape juice will be shipped there from the Farina Group’s wineries in Tuscany and Piedmont. Meanwhile, next door, the same company’s ITEX Piping Products plant will produce stainless steel flanges, stud bolts, nipples, swages and various piping products for Houston-area oil and gas businesses — from steel forged in the company’s Western European plants. [Houston Business Journal] Photo: Stefano Farina
“They have been taking down buildings like crazy the past few weeks and we are wondering what is planned,” writes a reader from the lower Fifth Ward, who wants to know what’s going on along Clinton Dr. near Jensen. More’s been coming down, apparently, than just the former KBR warehouses. “This morning,” read a note sent to Swamplot yesterday, “there was a Sheriff substation across the street, this afternoon it is a pile of twisted metal.” The demo work on Clinton Dr. just east of Gregg St. continues: “I can hear the bulldozer over there piling up debris as I send this,” reads a note from this morning. And here’s a pic from today of what’s left of it:
NEW ROTATING GARBAGE TRUCKS WILL KEEP ON TOSSING YOUR TRASH Behold the new German-made Rotopress collection trailers, now making their North American debut — in Houston. Local refuse braintrust Waste Management is introducing the new vehicles in a pilot program here, before rolling them out to 4 other U.S. cities. The natural-gas powered tumblers hold 40 percent more waste than conventional collection trucks, are quieter, have fewer moving parts, and separate from their truck cabs, which the company can switch out and upgrade independently. The rotating drum helps distribute the load more evenly on the trailer, and mixes wet and dry materials, which the company tactfully says “reduces the amount of free liquid in the system.” That should result in fewer leaks and a less pronounced rotting-garbage smell. [GreenBiz] Video: Waste Management
Time to get in a few good whacks.
- West Ave Katsuya by Starck’s Bento Box Design [Culturemap]
- CBRE Takes Over Leasing and Management of Houston Center; Renovations Coming [Houston Business Journal]
- Opposition to Galveston Public Housing ‘Scattered Sites’ [Galveston County Daily News]
- City Council Voting Wednesday on Red-Light Camera Case [Houston Politics]
- Rains Slow Dead Tree Cleanup, Prescribed Burning of Jones State Forest [Woodlands Villager]
- Kashmere Gardens Residents Upset over Illegal Dumping [abc13]
- Bankruptcy Liquidation Sales at All 5 Houston RoomStores Begins Thursday [Houston Business Journal]
- Installation of Wider Span Drawbridge Near Galveston’s Causeway [Galveston County Daily News]
- Art-Adorned Bus Stops, Benches, and Trash Bins Planned for East End [KUHF]
- Montrose Webcam Monitors Downtown Skyline, Sky [Jackson D. Myers]
Photo of Post Midtown Square construction at Gray and Hadley: InnerLooped
Here’s a scheme for the Independent Arts Collaborative building in Midtown that won’t get built. It’s one of at least 2 concepts developed for the block bounded by Main, Travis, Francis, and Holman streets by Morris Architects — the same firm that had earlier put together the first round of “initial concept drawings” for the IAC center, helping the fledgling arts organization sell the concept to city officials and local arts groups. What’s the big idea here? An inverted yurt. Filled with people and art. A garden and light on top. Like so:
A self-proclaimed “loyal reader from the First Ward” ventures into Woodland Heights to snap and send this photo documenting construction taking place at the former gas station at 2631 White Oak — home most recently to Beer Island — and the continuing transformation of White Oak Dr. When construction is complete, the spot on the corner of Studewood will become the 5th Houston location of Little Woodrow’s.
Photo: Swamplot inbox
You’ll have the remainder of this month to say goodbye to another piece of the old Washington Ave: The Guadalajara Bakery at 4003 Washington announces, through a sign posted in a front window, that it’ll be closing down on February 29th, after 45 years in business. The Houston Press‘s Katherine Shilcutt reports that new building owners have plans to turn the breakfast-taco spot on the corner of Leverkuhn into a bar, and gave the bakery 30 days to vacate; the Chavez family has no plans to reopen elsewhere.
- Openings & Closings: January 2012 [Eating Our Words]
Photo: Swamplot inbox
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Bending over backwards to give you the score on all the latest home thrashings:
- City, Harris County Spending $6.5M Total To Remove Drought-Stricken Trees from Public Land [Houston Chronicle]
- City Saving Landfill Costs, but Not Turning a Profit on Recycling Pilot Program [KUHF]
- Half of Houston’s Carjackings Happen at Victims’ Homes [Houston Chronicle]
- New Texas City H-E-B Booting 30-Year-Old Watering Hole, Roller Derby [Galveston County Daily News]
- Woodlands MUDs To Consider Mandatory Water Restrictions [Woodlands Villager]
- Lake Houston Level Back to Normal After Recent Rains [Houston Chronicle]
- Dates Finalized for Houston’s Dueling Art Fairs [Culturemap]
- Housing Authority Meeting Tonight on Proposed ‘Scattered Sites’ Public Housing [Galveston County Daily News]
- Byzantine Frescoes’ Removal Embedded in Chapel’s Design [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of Elysian Viaduct: Patrick Feller [license]
