10/04/10 3:31pm

Longtime Swamplot readers may remember Richard Maier as the listing agent who advertised his own Talbott Wilson modern as a freebie that just happened to come with the 1.35-acre lot on Glencove St. he was selling. (The pitch was successful, luring buyer David Mincberg and later, a demolition crew.) Michael X. Flynn was the designer and contractor responsible for transforming a small Upper Kirby office building into this little villa of vaguely Corbusian pleasures. (That one’s still on the market.) Now they’ve put their own little uh, white house on the market. The pair moved into 26 Crestwood Dr. a few years ago, though they previously owned the 2 properties that flank it. All 3 mansions share a gated driveway that faces directly into the southern reaches of Memorial Park.

Now’s your chance to peek around what they’re leaving — the scene of that Annise Parker fundraiser you missed:

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10/04/10 10:42am

CALCULATING DANGER IN GALVESTON The data miners behind the Neighborhood Scout website have declared a small but notable section of Galveston to be the 21st most dangerous neighborhood in the U.S. — and the second most dangerous in Texas (the top state honor goes to #15, an area near E. Lancaster Ave. in Ft. Worth). Working from secure offices in Rhode Island using the company’s “patented, patent-pending, exclusive or proprietary” data, Neighborhood Scout calculates residents of the area in Galveston from 19th to 26th streets between Broadway and Harborside (labeled the Church St. neighborhood) have a 1 in 11 chance of becoming a crime victim over a 1-year period. No, the risks of becoming a storm or flooding victim appear to have had no effect on the rankings. Included in that little hood: The heart of Galveston’s Strand Historic District. [Wallet Pop; details]

10/01/10 5:05pm

WHAT IT WOULD COST TO GET THOSE 59 BRIDGE LIGHTS WORKING AGAIN Mike McGuff follows up with details on what might be holding up the undangling and rekindling of that fiber-optic lighting on the Dunlavy, Montrose, Hazard, Graustark, Mandell, and Woodhead St. bridges over 59: “The lights originally cost $275,000 when they were first installed. To get the old ones out and the new ones installed, you are looking at a price of $90,000 per bridge. With six bridges, that comes out to more than half a million dollars.” [39online; previously on Swamplot]

10/01/10 3:59pm

The little ’uns have left the buildings: The Infant House, the Little Treasures House, the Wee-Bits House, the Toddler House, and the Bloomer & Sunflower House are all vacant now. The Esperanza School, a Heights daycare institution, has moved west to the former Ben Milam Elementary at 1100 Roy St., leaving its unique campus cobbled together from Heights Blvd. and Harvard St. houses behind. Founded in a grand Lovett Blvd. home in Montrose, the school moved to Heights Blvd. in the mid-eighties, expanding into adjacent and nearby kiddie cottages one at a time. And now they’re all for sale, in little mortgage-bite-size pieces!

Well, almost: all except the main school house at 639 Heights Blvd. (now under contract, snatched up before it could be listed), and the Discovery House at 429 Heights Blvd. (which the owner is keeping).

But 5 of the 6 listed and deed-restriction-free properties form an almost-contiguous (okay, there’s an alley down the middle) 35,700-sq.-ft. plot across 7th St. from Donovan Park. One reader comments: “The two on Harvard back up to two on the Blvd., so that is at least a dozen townhomes. No law against a high rise, either.” A quick tour of the homes standing in the way:

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10/01/10 11:32am

Rice University Facilities, Engineering, and Planning department spokesperson Susann Glenn denies there’s been any increase in the number of reported on-campus sightings of rats over the last 2 years. But senior Marina Masciale tells the Rice Thresher rats have “pretty much infiltrated” the new section of Hanszen College. Her evidence: “rat turds all over the floor of my room and even on my bed.”

A sticky rat trap was put up in her room to try and catch the rat, but the trap only caught a cockroach which Masciale believes the rat then proceeded to eat, as it was gone the next day. “Housing and Dining has since then upgraded to heavy-duty rat traps – the ones that snap,” Masciale says.

After some holes were patched, Masciale is sleeping in her own room again. But she tells reporter Brooke Bullock

she can still hear the rats scratching in the A/C unit. The girls across the hall have heard it in their room as well, according to Masciale.

“It’s still alive, and it’s trying to escape,” Masciale said.

Photo of Hanszen College New Section: Wikipedia [license]

09/30/10 1:20pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: MICROLOTS BY THE PARK “I think most people flee because they think they need yards for those kids, and with X amount of money you can either buy a house from the 50s on a lot or a townhome from the 80s to now on a microlot. I have a five year old and moved from my last two homes on lots (including Lazybrook) to a townhome in the 77007 and couldn’t be happier. We live next to the biggest, most amazing parks in the city, the arboretum, etc – why would I mow my own yard when I can walk a block to that?! This is turning out to be a better place to raise my kid than any of those neighborhoods were.” [Brandy C, commenting on Comment of the Day: Moving for Kids]

09/30/10 11:21am

TOOT TOOT! The Houston Press says a bunch of nice things about us while naming Swamplot the Best Local Blog of 2010. Hey, thanks! From the citation: “In the past year, the blog was the first to report on plans about a supposed move for venerable indie club Walter’s on Washington, and it has also been keeping keen tabs on the proposed Walmart development in the Heights. Got a nagging question about that ‘For Sale’ sign you just noticed? Ask Swamplot.” Really, though, that’s too generous: Y’all had your story up on the big Walter’s on Washington non-closing and non-move a good 26 minutes before we did. [Houston Press]

09/30/10 10:18am

LOW SPEED AHEAD FOR ELECTRIC SHUTTLES Jilted by the city’s recently altered jitney ordinance — which shuts out new vehicles for hire that have fewer than 9 seats — Rev Eco-Shuttle founder Erik Ibarra is cheering on a long-promised “Low Speed Shuttles” ordinance that would allow him to expand his (6-seater) electric-vehicle service, which currently serves Downtown, Midtown, and Washington Ave. If the city’s development and regulatory affairs committee approves a draft of this new ordinance this morning, it’ll go before city council for a vote soon. The new regulations would cover 4-to-8-passenger vehicles that move slower than 25 mph — including pedicabs. Update, 1 pm: The committee approved the draft. [Hair Balls; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Rev Eco-Shuttle

09/29/10 4:15pm

THE PROP. 1 DITCH INCENTIVE If Houston voters pass Proposition 1 in November, the average homeowner will pay about $5 a month to the city’s new drainage and street-renewal fund, Mayor Parker announced today. Commercial properties and homes on curb-and-gutter streets would be assessed 3.2 cents per sq. ft. of hardscape (including building footprints, driveways, porches and parking lots) per year. But owners who live on streets with open ditches would only have to pay at a 2.6-cents-per-sq.-ft. rate. That’d save the average ditch-side homeowner a whopping $11.40 a year. The assessment rate would be fixed for 10 years, and require a two-thirds vote from city council to be raised after that. Reporter Miya Shay has the calculations. [abc13; previously on Swamplot]

09/29/10 1:20pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: YOU COULD’VE HAD A CHAIN STORE! “this was a terrible gym location, and parking was going to be a battle from day one. hate to be johnny-come-suburb, but it was a better call to work a deal to redevelop the site with CVS and give them their free-standing deal with drive thru. Soma would be down the street somewhere, hopefully with easier access/parking, crew would not be under, and this property would be better served than the future it has. now the owner spent time/effort with this problem, has a built-out gym that is not usable for another gym (nightclub, here we come…for 9 months), has 3500 sf that doesn’t lease (my guess is from lack of parking/ability to pay the rent) and has a basement (???) that will never lease. all of this, and he could be on a beach right now, getting his checks in the mail from year 4 of 20 with CVS as the return addressee.” [jg, commenting on Fitness-Club Scavengers at the Washington Ave Crew] Photo of West End Shopping Center, Washington Ave at Shepherd: Aaron Carpenter

09/29/10 12:25pm

THE TALE OF THE ENTERPRISING RENOVATORS The owner of the South Acres house where that angel dust lab burst into flames last night told arson investigators he hadn’t been living at home because it was being worked on, and didn’t know anything about any drug manufacturing operation going on in his single-car garage. Neighbors living a couple blocks away from the tiny Donegal Way cul-de-sac off Akard St. south of Sims Bayou said their houses were shaken by the explosion, and observers reported seeing flames leap 20 to 30 feet into the air. “The investigators said they are planning to question the people renovating the home.” [MyFox Houston]