COMMENT OF THE DAY: LOOKING FORWARD TO MISSING YOU TOO “It’s weird to think that Rice Village had, at various times, a porn theater, a reggae bar, and a former gas station converted into a barbeque place called the Poor Man’s Country Club. A lot of the funkiness has gone, but that’s what the residents in the vicinity want. It’s an upscale neighborhood–and that tends to push out some of the more marginal businesses. But new funky neighborhoods are always coming into existence, so while I mourn the disappearance of great, unique neighborhood businesses, I welcome new ones elsewhere. Who knows — 20 years from now, Radical Eats might be a beloved neighborhood institution in a gentrifying neighborhood.” [Robert Boyd, commenting on Po’ Boys Priced Out of the Village]
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Tag: Near Northside
Saves me money!!! Radical Eats owner Staci Davis has taken to Kickstarter — and this woozy video — to raise money to add a water filtration system, better air conditioning, and a beer and wine license to her new vegan Mexican restaurant location at 3903 Fulton St., just north of Moody Park. Davis, who jettisoned plans to work out of the kitchen at the Heights Ashbury Coffeehouse after only a few weeks there, took over the former Kiko’s Mexican Cafe location just before the July 4th holiday. So far, she’s raised $325 of $8,000 she hopes to net for improvements to the Radical Eats Cafe. What will you get for your contribution, besides — if the target is reached — the ability to buy and drink a meat-and-dairy-free cold one on site? For $5, a written thank-you note and a hug at each visit. For $500: a dish at the restaurant named after you or your organization, a few more goodies, and a custom-made hula hoop.
- Radical Eats Beer and Wine Garden [Kickstarter]
- A vegan Mexican restaurant with a beer garden and a killer brunch? Staci Davis gets Radical [Culturemap]
- Radical Eats Cafe – Comida Vegetariana [Radical Eats]
- Previously on Swamplot: Here Comes That 19th St. “Hippie Vibeâ€: Radical Eats Opening in Heights Ashbury Coffeehouse
Video: Kickstarter
- 1120 N. Luzon St. [HAR]
Has Metro ever made a more expensive mistake than spending $42 million on a contract with a Spanish rail-car construction firm that violated federal procurement rules? Now that the American subsidiary of Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles has agreed to return $14 million of that money, the answer is yes: That would be the $41 million Houston’s transit agency reports it spent on developing an intermodal terminal at the corner of Main and Burnett streets just north of Downtown. Metro CEO George Greanias confirms the agency has given up on the design (above), which would have included a giant octopus-like dome, bus bays, a commuter rail terminal, a “kiss-and-ride” area, and maybe a Metro RideStore, restrooms, newsstands, food stands, and gift shops. There will still be a Burnett Transit Center station with a North Line rail stop, but Greanias tells the Chronicle‘s Chris Moran the trashed design would have been too expensive to run. Metro may have even killed the bus station part: Greanias says they haven’t decided whether any other modes of transit will connect to the light-rail line at that location.
- Metro admits it blew a large fortune [Houston Chronicle]
- Intermodal Terminal Frequently Asked Questions
- Previously on Swamplot: Main St. Intermodal Transit Center Kiss-Off, On the Shelf: That Grand North Main Intermodal Center
- Previously on Swamplot: Houston’s Next Light Rail Lines Delayed Until 2014, Feds To Metro: Back off the Spanish Trains and We’ll Fund Your North and Southeast Lines
That North Main St. Intermodal Terminal planned for just north of the UH-Downtown business school has been renamed a little more humbly as Burnett Plaza, according to a note on the Metro website. And . . . it’s going to be just a little simpler than the fancy rendering shown above.
Rail watcher Christof Spieler points to a few key sentences that describe the downgrade:
The initial phase will include a half-circle on the east side of Burnett Station. There will be vertical circulation down to a 4-bay transit center with access to a “kiss and ride.”
METRO intends to construct the facility in phases, commensurate with funding and environmental clearances. Phase I transportation services will include METRORail, and local bus service, along with shuttle vans and taxis.
Spieler translates:
What this means is Phase 1 is an elevated light rail station with an elevated half-circle plaza with stairs down to a small parking lot with 4 bus bays.
- Intermodal Terminal Frequently Asked Questions [Metro Solutions]
- On the Shelf: That Grand North Main Intermodal Center [Swamplot]
Rendering: Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects
What’s the status of those plans for a big Intermodal Transit Center at North Main and Burnett just north of I-10 Downtown, meant to link commuter rail and bus lines to the coming northern reaches of Metro’s existing rail line?
L.A.’s Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects are now showing off this rendering of the terminal at the company’s website, along with the kind of encomium that usually accompanies abandoned or massively scaled-back projects. Rail-watcher Christof Spieler reported back in March that the terminal project on the North Line had been “shelved (for now, at least)”; plans to extend the new East End Line to that station were abandoned last year.
- Houston Northern Intermodal Transit Facility [Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects]
- Proposed Metro Intermodal Terminal [HAIF]
- We have (part of) a contract! [Intermodality]
- The New New Metro Rail Map: University Line Takes the Uptown Express, TSU Takes a Hike [Swamplot]
Rendering: Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects
