COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: THE NEXT STAGE FOR WASHINGTON AVE “It’s amusing to hear all of the talk about Wash. Ave. becoming the next ‘Richmond Strip.’ Ever since Washington became popular, people have made this quip. But it is simply not true. For one, it’s a different time and completely different location. It is a major thoroughfare in the inner loop, and close to many popular and affluent residential areas. If it ceases to be a clubby/trendy destination, then all the better, since that is in all likelihood not the best use for the area. The surrounding areas have experienced large growth and will continue to densify. Washington’s future will not be determined by the clubby bar scene, nor should it. It is a prime location for mixed use — restaurants, more casual bars, and residential. Houston is BIG, growing at a fast pace, and increasingly becoming populated by a younger generation who don’t want to live in the ’burbs. Areas like Washington will simply not revert back to their old ways and become ‘the next Richmond strip.’ The market will not let that happen.” [thedudeabides, commenting on How About Washington Ave Jitney Rapid Transit?]
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COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHAT DO I HEAR FOR AN ORIGINAL TANGLEWOOD RANCH? “serious question . . . as the number of 1 story ranch houses in tanglewood dwindles to what is now only about 20% of the market, does this type of product ever carry in ITSELF a premium for being a certain ‘historic’ structure? or is the value of these houses always going to be simply a function of their dirt value? and if they are renovated enough for entry level tanglewood families (like mine) to live in, is there a value to be established there? the answer is probably as suggested. i realize that ultimately these houses are saddled with 8′ ceilings and outdated wiring/plumbing, but it’s still a 1:4 coverage ratio housing product, where you want to be, surrounded by the schools you want to send your kids to, and spending $1.25 to buy it and $250,000 to renovate it (to the studs)” [HTX REZ, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: School of Hard Knocks]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: ONE WAY WASHINGTON AVE COULD GO “What is the plausibility of turning Washington Ave into a one-way, eastbound road with three lanes with one lane dedicated to on street parking? And then having Center St become the outbound counterpart –– three lanes, no parking, so that less additional right of way would be needed? [Vmel, commenting on Planning for the Future of Washington Ave]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: NEIGHBORHOOD NAMES STICK “Alief didn’t start getting rebranded as the International District till about 3 years ago; as a matter of fact, no one that lived there knew anyone was calling it something other than Alief. It wasn’t until they put those idiotic balls in the medians that anyone local knew someone was calling it something other than Alief. The Super Neighborhood is still called Alief. Hong Kong City Mall was transformed from a pasture to a Mall over a decade ago, that huge strip center at Wilcrest and Bellaire is almost as old. Maybe in 40 or 50 years people may latch onto the name International District in favor of Alief, but then they’re going to wonder why the Library is still called Alief Regional Library, and the school district is still Alief Independent School District, or why the community center is called Alief Community Center. Or why there’s a animal hospital called Alief Animal Hospital. I have a strong suspicion Alief will always be called Alief, no matter how many weird balls they put in the medians. And I’d also rather just call it Montrose and have people ask me if I’m gay than call it Lower Westheimer and have the 15 minute discussion about where it is, and the end result being that I tell them it’s the new name for Montrose and I’ll still be asked if I’m gay.” [toasty, commenting on Headlines: Eating Steak at CityCentre; Watching SkyHouse Rise]
COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: BEFORE HOUSTON’S TREES LEFT THE BAYOUS FOR THE PLAINS “The Heights actually does sit on a rise above White Oak Bayou, which made it prime back in the day before any types of flood control existed. It’s hard to imagine these days, but when Houston was forest along bayou edges and grassland everywhere else, and people showed up in wagons, the ‘Heights’ area was like a little hill or knoll that was visible from anywhere else in town. You can still see this on topographic maps, and on I-45 headed south towards downtown, near North Main.” [Superdave, commenting on Comment of the Day: How Houston Neighborhoods Can Rise Above the Floodwaters]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW HOUSTON NEIGHBORHOODS CAN RISE ABOVE THE FLOODWATERS “Sawyer Heights . . . Upper Kirby . . . Washington Heights . . . I guess when you have a city with no hills they add ‘Heights’ or ‘Upper’ to the northern portions of an area. Coming soon?: Montrose north of W. Gray, will all the new construction, will be Montrose Heights, and Clinton Dr. will be Upper EaDo.” [Dana-X, commenting on Headlines: Eating Steak at CityCentre; Watching SkyHouse Rise]
COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: THE ‘DON’T ASK’ BUILDINGS “Sadly, buildings like the Southwest Inn are all too common in our City, and especially in lower middle and working class areas. They’re in too good shape to be condemned outright, but they suffer from all sorts of serious problems as a result of long-term deferred maintenance. They’re frequently victims of what I call ‘pump and dumps’ — where a slum lord buys the place, pumps it for every last penny, and then dumps it (sells it to the next sucker). Rarely, if ever, are these places torn down and replaced with something better. Contrary to popular belief, places like the Southwest Motel don’t stay occupied because people don’t have the choice or because they’re cheap. In fact they can be quite expensive. They stay occupied beause they don’t ask questions. Anything goes — so they’re attractive ‘cribs’ for criminals and gang bangers. The thugs love them. The slum lords make a killing from them. But they wreck neighborhoods and ruin lives. What can be done? We need a multi-faceted approach. Cities in Texas have to fight the problem with one hand tied behind their back, thanks to State laws that heavily favor land owners. Neighbors are wise to approach private interests who have more leeway in buying and tearing down nuisances. And get creative, too. One slum lord, who controlled a condo complex was brought down by the new HOA regulations. We have to bring these guys down, or there will be more shootings, more overdoses, more 5 alarm fires.” [ZAW, commenting on The Story of the Southwest Inn]
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]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THEY GET AROUND IN THAT PART OF TOWN “. . . Welcome to the East End, where humble homes like you are still welcome (for now). And within walking distance of both MetroRail AND Elbow and Nipple. Take a train or fix a drain.” [Dana-X, commenting on Chapter 2: The Little Gibson St. Bungalow Finds a New Home]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: MIXED USES GOTTA MIX “When did adding a strip mall next to an office building qualify as mixed-use? Just like the law, are we going to have to parse out if a development is just a literal mixed-use property (as in there are two possible uses of the land on it) or if it’s in the spirit of mixed-use? Do skyscrapers downtown qualify as mixed-use due to the retail in the tunnel and the public space they add by having a pedestrian plaza outside? I guess I should have realized that the ‘Campus-like Mixed-use’ oxymoron is really just . . . well, moronic.” [DNAguy, commenting on Headlines: Houston’s Bilingual Cinema; Galveston’s Holiday Weekend Crowding]
COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: FROM THE INNER LOOP REAL ESTATE LEXICON “Remember, ‘Craftsman style’ doesn’t refer to what a structure is going to look like. It’s a magical incantation that developers recite to make Heights residents feel calm.” [John (another one), commenting on Assisting the Living in the Heights]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE COMING AUTO-AUTO UTOPIA WILL SAVE THE GALLERIA FOR WOODLANDSERS “. . . I think you have a good point. Except that ‘travel is good for the soul’ bit. It is, but commuting isn’t travel, and I defy you to find more than a dozen people who think commuting from the Woodlands to the Galleria is good for their souls. (I work with a couple, their descriptions are more along the lines of ‘the soul-crushing hell of my day.’) But this actually becomes a driver for density. If you have really fast trains and you pair that with dense destinations, commuting by the maglev from Columbus to Houston becomes practical — you have to be able to get somewhere when you hop off that train. And technology changes will figure into this, which is why ‘freeways vs transit’ is a busted argument. Take a look at the self-driving car technology that’s developing really fast. When that hits usability, and you turn the roads into smart networks, you have a situation where they can handle a lot more capacity (because networked smart cars can use it far more efficiently than distracted primates). You also have the possibility of breaking the one-car-per-person paradigm, when you can order up a self-driving car to show up at work and take you home — cars no longer need to sit unused 95% of the time, and can be parked farther from destinations (‘Car — leave the parking structure to be at my door at 5PM, please’) which also makes density more practical — you don’t have to account for all those cars and junk up the streets with parking.” [John (another one), commenting on Comment of the Day: First We Crowd]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: CHEAPER, CLOSE-IN “I would just add to what Cody said. You can avoid traffic AND get a big house and lawn here in Houston. You just need to set aside your prejudices about certain neighborhoods. We’ve been living in the Brays Oaks area, formerly known as Fondren Southwest, since 2007, and it’s wonderful. Houses prices are on-par with far-flung suburbs like Jersey Village and Spring; far less than Inside the Loop. Barring any major accidents we can get from our house to the Museum District in less than 25 minutes; the Medical Center in under 20. My commute to work only takes me one exit on the Southwest Freeway. I take a certain satisfaction and watching all the people from Sugar Land sit in traffic, knowing that they spent more and got less house than we did. (Crime issues here are overblown, by the way – the result of sensationalized local news reports. The public schools are lousy, but we have some great private schools.)” [ZAW, commenting on Comment of the Day: First We Crowd]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: MANIFEST DESTINY “One day, this entire area will be called The Texas Medical Center.” [john@UHD, commenting on The New Mixed-Use Building in the Museum District]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: FIRST WE CROWD “. . . those folks thinking Houston would ever actually be capable of creating infrastructure to adequately manage increased density developments are living in a fool’s paradise. you live in a state where voters actively vote against such propositions by favoring no income taxes and keeping the pressure on no property tax increases to fund such transit initiatives. the density will have to come first, that’s a given.” [joel, commenting on Comment of the Day: Bring It On]