Tanglewood holds down the fort with a single single-story.
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COMMENT OF THE DAY: BETWEEN MARKET SEGMENTS “Well I guess my neighbors and I in the neighborhood no one knows what to call (Vermont Commons / Park) can now refer to our neighborhood as ‘the midpoint between the Kirby Whole Foods and the Waugh Whole Foods.’ Rolls right off the tongue.” [Bernard, commenting on Beer, Wine, Art, and BBQ on Tap: Here’s Your New Whole Foods Market, Montrose]
Don’t get too excited over the reappearance this week of Will, Cassandra, Scotty, Mr. Balls, and the rest of the gay leather-or-fur-clad gang on the side of the former Mary’s bar at 1022 Westheimer. The legendary cliche-ridden Montrose mural, which was painted over about 5 years ago, is being recreated by a team of artists in time for next Saturday’s Houston Pride Parade. But according to new building owner Bobby Heugel, the recreation will only remain on the building for a month or so. Heugel tweets that he wants the building’s wall space to become “an evolving urban art centerpiece.” The proprietor of the Anvil Bar & Refuge plans to use the unbuilt portions of the Mary’s site as a parking lot for his new Hay Merchant craft beer bar and Chris Shepherd’s Underbelly restaurant, both going into the former Chances Bar next door, across Waugh Dr.
THE NANNY DIDN’T DO IT In a statement released last Friday, council member Al Hoang clarifies statements he made earlier to the Chronicle and KHOU 11 News’s Jeremy Rogalski that appeared to place blame for the forging of 16 neighbors’ signatures on a nanny no longer employed by Hoang’s family. The signatures were gathered for a petition requesting the name of Hoang’s street be changed from Turtlewood Dr. to Little Saigon Dr. “I have never placed blame on my former personal assistant, as some stories have portrayed,†the statement reads. “I have clearly said that the homeowners association tendered the petition to my assistant at home, not that she maliciously forged that petition.†Hoang says he welcomes the Office of Inspector General investigation into the incident, which Mayor Parker announced last week. [Houston Politics; previously on Swamplot]
THE MISSING LINK IN THE BIKE TRAIL FROM OAK FOREST TO DOWNTOWN 
After surveying a stretch of land mostly along White Oak Bayou from 11th St. to Lawrence Park, Chronicle blogger Martin Hajovsky says he doesn’t see any traffic problems that would stand in the way of a connection between the Katy/MKT hike-and-bike trail and the White Oak Bayou trail. A bayou-side hookup, which would create a continuous off-road path from Downtown to Oak Forest, is just one segment of grander bayou bikepath plans contained in the Bayou Greenway Initiative, which the Houston Parks Board is working on piece by piece. Adding the longer chunk planned along White Oak Bayou north of the current trail would extend the Downtown route all the way to Jersey Village. [Home in the Heights, via Off the Kuff; previously on Swamplot] Proposed Bayou Greenway map: Houston Parks Board
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Come on, come on, come on let’s go — everything’s coming down on Telephone Rd.:
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The Montrose Whole Foods media frenzy has begun! Did the company’s Walmart-alum store-development manager really tell the Chronicle‘s Nancy Sarnoff that Whole Foods decided not to build the store at Waugh and West Dallas on top of 2 levels of structured parking because “the amount of concrete required . . . would have created a ‘huge heat island’”? Meanwhile, bullet-pointed fact sheets announce the 45,000-sq.-ft. store’s smaller-scale innovations: Like LED lighting, 2 electric-vehicle chargers out front, a bike station with tools and an air pump, and much more parking lot than you’ll find in front of the Kirby store. Plus: fascinating facts, like the number of linear feet devoted to prepared items in the chef case (18), bulk foods (44), a beer cooler (32), and smoked seafood (8)! Take a look for yourself:
Got an answer to any of these reader questions? Or just want to be a sleuth for Swamplot? Here’s your chance! Add your report in a comment, or send a note to our tipline.
- Melrose Place: Waiting in line at the Starbucks drive-thru south of Westheimer, a reader snaps this photo of the former Crome Lounge at 2815 South Shepherd next door, and reports: “It has been vacant as far as I can tell for months if not a year. Now there is renovation going on.” What’s next for the former Fox Diner and Monarch Cleaners building?
Galleria: The HBJ‘s Jennifer Dawson reports that ahem, “distracting food smells” from “a fragrant cafeteria” that recently moved onto the same floor as the Houston CPA Society in the office building at 1700 West Loop South are what drove the professional association to leave its offices of 33 years for new digs on Post Oak Blvd. Sadly, the article doesn’t identify the cafeteria or the exact nature of the wafting “spicy aromas” that sent all those accountants packing. Any guesses?
YOU’RE STILL ON CORNER CAMERA Red-light cameras “continue to monitor intersections,” says Mayor Parker — even though no traffic tickets from the machines are currently being issued. Her comments came in response to a ruling this morning by U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes that declared last November’s referendum ending the red-light-camera program invalid. The city charter limits the time during which a city ordinance may be repealed; according to Judge Hughes’s ruling, the referendum simply came too late. “Enforcing traffic signals by cameras may be good policy, or it may be bad policy. . . . The court simply must enforce the rules for making policy choices by charter amendment or referendum,” the Judge writes. “Those who favor repeal will react that this distinction is a legal technicality. In some sense, all law is a technicality.” [Office of the Mayor; ruling (PDF); more info; previously on Swamplot]
Update, 6/20: Hoang has issued a statement about his nanny.
Mayor Parker has requested a separate city investigation into whether council member Al Hoang forged the signatures of 16 neighbors in a bid to change the name of his street from Turtlewood Dr. to Little Saigon Dr. A petition requesting the name change was circulated among the residents of Turtlewood Square — a development of 47 nine-or-so-year-old homes located behind a Bellaire Blvd. strip center just west of Arthur Storey Park. A lawsuit filed by several residents of the development alleges that the when the petition was given to Hoang it didn’t have the signatures of the required 75 percent of residents. The lawsuit claims that by the time Hoang submitted the petition to the city, it had gained an additional 16 names — all forged. Hoang appears to have told 11 News reporter Jeremy Rogalski that he believes his nanny — who no longer works for him — was responsible for the extra names. After the allegations of forgery, Hoang submitted a direct request for the name change to the city’s planning department. The mayor has put both name change requests on hold pending resolution of the investigation.
- Mayor calls for OIG investigation into Council Member Hoang and City council member accused of forging names to get his way [KHOU 11 News]
Photo: HAR
What’s happening with the old Rufus Cage Elementary School on Telephone Rd., just north of Lawndale? Some roof repairs, and . . . a possible sale? “Now we actually have some people that have interest in the property, but our concern is that the interest is in the land, not necessarily in the building,” HISD trustee Juliet Stipeche tells abc13’s Cynthia Cisneros. The Eastwood school, built in 1910, closed in the mid-1980s and is currently used as a storage facility by the school district. An organization called the Rufus Cage Educational Alliance is trying to find a public use for the building and its 1.021-acre site. A deal the school district had negotiated to sell Cage to Historic Houston fell through long before the nonprofit’s recent financial difficulties. Nine other school properties are listed for sale on the HISD real estate website.
- East End residents try to save old Cage Elementary [abc13]
- Historic Rufus Cage Educational Alliance [Facebook]
Photo: Candace Garcia
Okay, okay! It ain’t exactly here, but y’all want to see this, so here ya go. North Montrose’s little bit in this game doesn’t open until . . . this weekend.
- Previously on Swamplot: North Montrose Whole Foods’ Rendezvous with Groceries, Austin Powers the New North Montrose Whole Foods, The New Whole Foods at West Dallas and Waugh, Whole Foods Galleria and North Montrose: Still on Track, In and Around the New North Montrose Whole Foods, A Few Signs the Montrose Whole Foods Market Is On Its Way
Video: Fog and Smog Films
MAYOR PARKER: FEE-FREE IMPERVIOUS SLABS FOR EVERYBODY! Responding to criticisms that the city’s new Rebuild Houston drainage fees came out higher than figures bandied about before voters approved Proposition 1 last year, Mayor Parker announced today that every property owner in the city will receive a permanent drainage-free credit for the first 1,000 sq. ft. of impervious surface on a lot. The median bill, she says, should now be “between 5 and 6 dollars” per month, beginning in July. The credit will result in a reduction of funds available for drainage projects — down to $110 million from $125 million, Parker projects. To make up the $15 million shortfall in the first year, the mayor says she has negotiated prepayments to the city’s enterprise funds. [Mayor’s Office; previously on Swamplot]
A new study from the National Center for Atmospheric Research documents how Houston’s vast expanse of paved surfaces allows the city to hold onto locally developed air pollution for longer periods of time, and prevents breezes that would otherwise naturally develop from sending all that nasty smog and stuff to outlying areas. Concrete and asphalt paving helps by soaking up heat during the daytime. This keeps land areas relatively warm overnight, which means there’s a lower contrast between land and sea temperatures during the summer. The result? Much less of those smog-stealing nighttime summer breezes. During the daytime, Houston buildings help to block local winds and keep things more still in the afternoon. Just another way standard development practices allow Houston to be a responsible steward of its own locally produced airborne products.
