COMMENT OF THE DAY: HERE FOR THE MONEY “I think coming to Houston to work and make money is a great thing – let’s face it, we don’t have mountains, the weather is horrible (except for when it’s not), and the beach is too far away to be much of a draw. No one is going to come to Houston because of the city’s natural beauty – they will come here because there is no better city in the US to pursue the American dream. What exactly is wrong with that? Last time I checked, most of us do have to make money to survive – there is no shame in having to earn a living. Houston fosters an [entrepreneurial] spirit bar none. Personally, I think that is great. You can keep your East Coast, blue-blood cities and your reformed Southern Aristocracy – I’ll take good old fashioned, pull yourself up by the bootstraps raw capitalism any day. Y’all so down on Houston need to go back and re-read some of the quotes on http://www.houstonitsworthit.com. There are thousands of reasons why people do love Houston – and not all of them have fallen under the bulldozer of Perry Homes.” [LT, commenting on Comment of the Day: Battle Hymn of the Inner Loop]
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COMMENT OF THE DAY: OUR HOUSE “I imagine that a lot of people are like us: we lived in a 1500 sqft old bungalow in the Heights during our DINKhood, but cashed out and moved to the burbs once the children came. Now we have 3000+ sqft and 4 baths for our growing family and for visiting family. We have no extended family in Houston (this thread has already established the fact that no one is actually from Houston) so we have to house a lot of people throughout the year. The big house helps. We do miss Heights-style living, but function trumps form now, and the burbs aren’t that bad. Another thing: A lot of professionals that I work with have no intention of living in Houston long term. They are here for the cash and aren’t terribly concerned about building up the fabric of the inner loop. They may not particularly like living in suburban Houston, but [it’s] cheap and temporary.” [CV, commenting on Comment of the Day: Battle Hymn of the Inner Loop]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: BATTLE HYMN OF THE INNER LOOP “Obsolete is obsolete. Out with the old. In with the new. That’s the Houston way. Forget living in the past. I want progress. I want Houston’s core to continue to grow and thrive. Bring in the bulldozers. What if West U was still filled with crappy little termite infested cracker boxes? Would Houston be a better place? I say No. Progress is good. Rich people want to live in big houses. If Houston refuses to accommodate them, the suburbs will gladly accept them. Let’s send the rich packing. Then we’ll let the high paying jobs and commercial development follow them outside the city limits. Houston will rot from the inside out.” [Bernard, commenting on Comment of the Day: How We’re Building the Heights]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW WE’RE BUILDING THE HEIGHTS “. . . I’ve been in the Heights for 17 years and I can count the ‘stucco mcmansions’ on one hand. 90% of new construction in the Heights is 3,000 to 4,000 sq. ft and at least gives a nod to some turn of the century style. A 4,000 sq.ft house is ALWAYS 2 stories and would . . . have an average footprint of about 2,400 sq.ft including porches. With a 500 sq. ft. garage that is a total of 3,000 sq.ft of coverage on a 6,600 sq. ft. lot, which, according to my calculations, is 45% of the lot. Where do I get my numbers? I’ve built about 50 of them and designed close to 200. All of my houses sell at the top of the market so I know EXACTLY what my competetors are building. The days of dividing a lot and building multiple units is over, at least for now. Prevailing Lot size and Building Line rules cover about 60% of the Heights and the market just doesn’t want them, so nobody is even thinking of doing it. The exception on 15th and Rutland has been in the planning since 2003 and is going to fail badly. . . .” [SCD, commenting on The Houston Historic District Repeal Scramble Begins]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: FUNNY, THAT’S NOT HOW DOCTOR GALE’S MEATLOAF AT BARNABY’S USUALLY SMELLS “I was around there last weekend and ate outside. I smelled the odd waft from time to time but couldn’t place it. This is so much more disturbing now that I know what it was.” [eiioi, commenting on Oh, That’s Just Mom]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: 2 TRANSMISSIONS ENTER, 1 TRANSMISSION LEAVES 
“Surprised someone doesnt snap it up for a roller rink or ultimate fighting venue. Thunderdome!!!” [SL, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Demolishing the Dome]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: MULTIFAMILY MADNESS “It’s crazy that there are still so many [multifamily] properties trading at such a low price considering the land value, anticipated land value, and strong rental market/income. I’ve been buying whatever I can and suggest readers to the same. Some of the property is commercial (5+ unit) and extremely hard to get loans on (full discloser: I have a 5+ unit for sale with seller financing offered), however there is a lot of 1-4 family buildings that are fully occupied where instantly you’d be buying a building that would easily pay all costs (mortgage, taxes, insurance, maintenance, etc.). And those are very simple for most people to get. No one seems to be going after them which is keeping prices low. I just bought four 4plexes at near land value where the rental income is about 2x the payment. Not sure how they were not snatched up earlier.” [Cody, commenting on Montrose H-E-B Market: What Happened To That Grocery Store on Stilts?]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: APARTMENT COMPLEX SEO “It’s not just for marketing. Some naming is also for search engine optimization. If someone is searching for an apartment in a specific area, apartments are naming themselves to come up in as many area searches as possible. So Alexan Heights becomes Midtown Heights so a web search will pick it up when someone types in “Midtown†or “Heights†and “apartments†in Houston.” [Heights Weirdo, commenting on Top City Development Officer: What Makes the Heights So Special?]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: FREE ENTERPRISE CITY “And can we stop repeating the myth that Houston is some big unzoned city of freedom? Houston has a ton of ordinances regarding building forms and how property is used, from parking requirements that are stricter than most cities, to rules about setbacks, weirdly random designations of areas as ‘suburban’ and ‘urban’ with accompanying rules, rules about the sizes of townhouses, and so on. People love to say that we’re some kind of mecca of affordable housing because we have ‘no zoning.’ It’s nonsense. We have affordable housing because we have no natural boundaries preventing expansion and therefore have spread out more than most cities, and because we subsidize the building of big roads to make it easier to get to remote places. . . .” [John (yet another), commenting on Preservation Ordinance Passes]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: AND WHAT ARE THE STATS ON GALVESTON COUNTY’S STRIP CENTER OUTPUT? “If you look at production data, Galveston County is currently producing around 30000 BOE (barrel of oil equivilent) per month on over 20 wells. One of the fields that is producing is less than 1000ft off 45 just south of [Kemah]. Depth of producing interval is around 4000ft. I have a hard time believing that moving a rig out there for about the 3 weeks it takes to drill a well to 3000ft, set casing, and complete it to a producing well, would be any worse than having some tacky strip mall taking 6 months to construct.” [Mr. Hand, commenting on League City’s Neighborhood Drilling Boom]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: MAKING HISTORY IN GALVESTON 
“what’s equally funny is that the sign on the [pier] now reads ‘[coming] soon: galveston’s historic pleasure pier’. i guess on this island, things are now considered historic even before they’re built.” [JC, commenting on Landry’s Kicking Galveston’s Flagship Hotel Off the Pier, for Amusement] Photo: Ellen Yeates
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HANGING OUT A SHINGLE, BUT QUIETLY “In Houston, Some Obra lots have been purchased by Frontera Homes, they are also using the Obra Floor Plans. While researching, I could not find any relationship between Obras Owner and Staff Vs Frontera Owner and Staff. However, Frontera’s information is hard to find, only contact number is to the salesmand/building supervisor. I can not locate a CEO, DBA or board members for Frontera. It is awfully secretive, like Obra was when going under.” [Gayle, commenting on Obra Homes Secret Hiding Place Revealed!]
HAIKU OF THE DAY: AMUSEMENT PARK WEATHER Landry’s not on land, sell gale storm rides with dinner. OK, Fertitta? [houku, commenting on Landry’s Kicking Galveston’s Flagship Hotel Off the Pier, for Amusement]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: DUMPSTER MODERN 
“This one looked like the love child of Bushwood Country Club and the Houston Junior League building on the inside, but remove the Boise State football field, consign grandma’s victorian chandelier collection, remove grandpa’s smoke infested wood paneling and replace with a mix of ranch-modern interior and 21st century awesome…[and] this place would rock.” [jg, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Ocee What’s No Longer There] Photo: HAR
COMMENT OF THE DAY: RING ROAD REASONING “And people said there is no need to build the Grand Parkway. If Exxon forces all the people out at the West Houston Location they’ll need [the] parkway to get [to] this site.” [kjb434, commenting on Is Springwoods Village the New Exxon Mobil Eco-City?]