COMMENT OF THE DAY: WILL NO ONE RID ME OF THIS TROUBLESOME BUNGALOW? “Can we tear down during ‘Reconsideration’? Please? Please!” [tcp IV, commenting on 8 out of 16 Houston Historic Districts Are Now Up for “Reconsiderationâ€]
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Tag: Comments
COMMENT OF THE DAY: A DEMOLITION THAT REALLY HITS YOU IN THE GUT 
“Boy, seeing smashed Bibas truly hurts. It has been my ‘Hungry Heifer’ for the past 2 decades. The food was always kinda ‘meh’, often left me feeling horrible and greasy afterwards, but I had a wonderful love/ hate with that place. Oh, how I wish for one last mediocre gyro or [Aphrodite] pizza. My colon will never forget you.” [wilf, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Bibas Lost Pizza] Photo of Bibas Greek Pizza: Sonya Cuellar
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHERE THE MONEY IS ON KIRBY “Yes, it was getting tedious having to drive 75 more feet to find a bank.” [SH snooty, commenting on Children’s Kirby Assessment: Bike Barn Site Bank and Drive-Thru]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: CRIME BLOCK “Does having a wall at a dead end street make it more secure? In some ways, criminals may be safer where no one can see them during the day, or night. The wall may act as a buffer for thieves instead of hindering their action. There are many stories in the neighborhood where high walls and fences encouraged thieves. Typically, pedestrian areas seem to be more safe since there is always someone watching. So I’m not sure about the safety for those residents on the dead end street with just a wall.” [Montrose Slums, commenting on Open and Shut: The Montrose H-E-B’s Pedestrian Gates]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: SELLING OUT FROM UNDER THE KIDS “Would anyone charged with this project done it any differently? If you have to move your family to a new neighborhood, do you seek your kids’ permission first? Yeah, it affects them, but it’s not their decision.” [Carol, commenting on Getting a Good Look at KTRU without Tipping Off Students]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE SHOPPING CENTER WITH THE MOST PARKING SPACES WINS! “Reducing the number of parking spaces at this store would not encourage people to walk to get their weekly grocery shopping, it would just encourage them to drive to a different store.” [Jimbo, commenting on What the New Montrose H-E-B Is Gonna Look Like]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHEN ALL WE SEE IS THE VIEW TO A KILL 
“I like the ‘idea’ of this house, and the view of downtown is very nice. However, what about the well-documented health [effects] of living near (or extremely near, in this case) freeways? Are the increased risk of cancer, heart disease, asthma, premature births and so on a worthwhile trade-off for living in a conceptual design statement? Maybe they have some kind of cool air-pollution filtration system….” [Mies, commenting on Self Directed: A Modern House Angled for 288’s Best Freeway Views]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WE’RE UNDER YOUR BEACH HOUSE, GRILLIN’ YOUR BURGERZ “It may appear that the homeowner ‘won’ this case, but read the law again. Texas law allows anyone to place a blanket on the beach, right up to the vegetation line, even if it’s an intrusion on the privacy of a seaside home. Basically, you can have a cookout under the house, park your car, spread out, whatever, and the homeowner has zero ability to do anything about it, as the home is within the vegetation boundary.” [mikeyyc, commenting on Texas Supreme Court: Private Properties Can Erode Public Beaches]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HEIGHTS PLAZA RESIDENTS, TELL US YOUR STORIES “I’d be curious to know what happens to these people after the wrecking ball has come through. Will the folks be homeless? Will they have found their way elsewhere? I’m assuming the latter, but I don’t really know and I think it’s pretty uncommon for many publications to follow-through on this type of article.” [tcv, commenting on Walmart Coming — Everybody Out!]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: DID YOU VOTE? “Wow, when Swamplot revealed the choices, nobody voted for this one. Someone actually said it was ‘the worst.’ So much for Swamplot readers speaking on behalf of the neighborhood.” [Jessie M, commenting on And the Winner of the Montrose H-E-B Roof-Design-by-Vote Is . . .]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHO’S SITTING ON ALL THOSE VACANT BUILDINGS IN MIDTOWN? “I don’t get why there are so many empty buildings in the area. With such high land values (and tax rates), why don’t they sell them? It seems there are a lot of people that can afford the massive expense of sitting on a property (taxes, insurance, minimal upkeep to keep the city fines away, taxes, etc.) I’m sure a lot of instances it’s someone asking too much for a property. But if it’s still sitting after YEARS on the market (and YEARS of expense), something should tell you that you have it priced too high. I don’t know… I guess I’d just start freaking out if only a few months passed and an empty property of mine was just sitting there. I have had multifamily properties on the market but they’re full and [bringing] in income while on the market so I’ve never been in a rush. But a vacant building? *shudder*” [Cody, commenting on How You Can Help Large-Scale Graffiti in Midtown Get Off the Ground]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: AN UPDATE FOR POTENTIAL CONDO INVESTORS AT PINE VILLAGE NORTH 
“the HOA has financial and legal problems. it’s operating month-2-month; no reserves. even though our assessments are supposed to cover exterior repairs of our units, you may never get your units repaired, unless you do it yourself. many of the units have serious plumbing problems. if the HOA is dissolved, PV may become a free-for-all; it’s almost that now. if you’re willing to risk all of that, then go ahead and buy, otherwise, don’t.” [Marina Sugg, commenting on Pine Village North Open House Welcome] Photo of Pine Village North: HAR
COMMENT OF THE DAY: OF COURSE, RESTORING THE ACTUAL ASTROWORLD WOULD BE A LITTLE MORE INVOLVED “I went to see this Saturday night. It’s in fairly ragged shape, but with a little skill and time it could easily be restored. I think the skills that an avid model railroader possesses would be adequate to restore this. Many of the familiar Astroworld rides are depicted, although no rollercoasters (except for the Alpine Sleigh Ride, which just barely qualifies). All the big roller coasters came later. Among the excellent features in the 1:144 scale model were Judge Hofheinz’s personal on-site office as well as his personal train station!” [Robert Boyd, commenting on For Sale: Early Model AstroWorld]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: PRAIRIE HOME COMPANIONS “In Houston, I think a tree over 20 years is considered ‘old growth.’” [Hellsing, commenting on Shopping for Antique Stores on Ferndale]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: LUCK OF THE DRAW “Houston lucked out in that it held on to the oil industry, even after a major bust that had the Houston real estate landscape looking much like what we are seeing in parts of FL, NV and CA. The energy industry is now king again, and we are all lucky that the City did not hedge its bets on dot coms, financials or casino gambling. And the energy industry did not [choose] Houston because there was no zoning or because their executives could knock down bungalows in the Heights. The energy industry chose Houston because it was where the oil was. Refineries were built in Houston because it was a good location for them, not because it was cheap to do a strip mall on FM 1960. Yet, Houston’s good fortune has been warped into a specious argument that Houston is successful because it shuns anything that might be good for citizens quality of life, but that would impede a developer’s bottom line. Thus, instead of using our oil riches to construct a better and more liveable city, we think that any attempt to keep a developer from dropping a highrise or big box retailer in a residential neighborhood would send the energy industry packing . . .” [Oh please, commenting on Comment of the Day: Here for the Money]