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]
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Tag: Fires
No one knows yet how it started, Friday’s 5-alarm fire that took out the Southwest Inn and caused the death of 4 Houston firefighters working to put it out — and the hospitalization of 14 others. The investigation, says HFD spokesperson Ruy Lozano, will take time. Meanwhile, much of the attention has shifted to the Sharpstown motel’s rather colorful history.
What’s a shed with barn doors doing in the yard of this modish house? Possibly standing in for a garage so detached that’s it’s flat-out gone. And so is half of the tall front hedge that once screened the walkway to this side-entry home on a cul-de-sac in Barkley Circle. The mid-month listing for this 1962 far-Meyerland-area property mentions that the garage was removed as a result of a fire. And that there’s still more to be removed: namely, the smell of smoke. (“Chemical cleaning is needed.”) The home is offered “as is” — for $185,000.
A fire to one of the pits at Central Texas Style has forced the Pearland barbecue joint to shut down — but only for a few days. The older of their two pits, reports the Houston Chronicle, got a little carried away late Tuesday night, though Pearland Fire Marshal’s spokesperson Sparkle Anderson says the damage appears to be minimal. Since the fire, updates to Central Texas Style’s Facebook page suggest they hope to be back up and smoking at 4110 W. Broadway by Thursday or Friday.
- Fire damages popular Pearland eatery [Houston Chronicle]
- Central Texas Style BBQ [Facebook]
Photos: Central Texas Style BBQ (storefront); Facebook (fire)
According to several reports, the fire that appeared to be coming from the building that housed the recently shuttered Broken Spoke Cafe began this afternoon at the duplex next door, at 1807 Washington Ave. That structure has been completely destroyed; fire department officials report that the Broken Spoke, at 1809 Washington, has “sustained major damage.” A third house nearby got mighty warm. No injuries have been reported.
- The Broken Spoke Goes Up in Smoke: Pictures and Video [Eating Our Words]
Photos: John Luu (fire), Matt Hackworth (smoke)
Do you miss the old Galerie Mado Chalvet building at 1706 Westheimer? And, um . . . another question: Do you need a backpack? Designer Julia Gabriel has just the thing for you, then: Your very own handmade 1706 Westheimer Rd. backpack, modeled after photos she took of the hulking duplex-turned-antique-store after it burned last July. It’s since been torn down — along with the neighboring structures on the corner of Dunlavy and Westheimer — for a new development. The HSPVA grad watched the building’s demolition from across the street at Domy Books, but she’d already decided to memorialize the building as a backpack. Yeah, she does that sort of thing: “My backpacks are what I imagine these abandoned buildings were like in their prime: fresh and new with a dash of color,” she writes. “They include a stitched map that shows the buildings original location so it can always find its way home.”
Surveillance video from a car lot across the street showed 2 men removing a long object — later identified as a bench — from Late Nite Pie not long before the Midtown pizza joint at 302 Tuam St. went up in flames in the early morning hours of February 8th. 10 minutes later in the video footage, after the bench removers had driven off and as smoke rose from the west side and southwest corner of the building, a man is seen exiting through the front door, hesitating, then driving off in a Chevy Astro van. Police have now charged that man, identified as Raymond Pecher, the restaurant’s former day shift manager, with arson.
- Manager of Midtown pizza restaurant charged with arson [KHOU]
- Raymond Pecher, Late Nite Pie Manager, Accused Of Arson (Read The Criminal Complaint) [Hair Balls]
- Previously on Swamplot: Headlines: Virgin Mary in Garden Oaks; Early Morning Fire at Late Nite Pie, Will Late Nite Pie Rise Again?, Late Night Pie Scheduled To Reopen Monday, The Late Late Night Pie, Latest on the Late Late Night Pie Location
Photo: Candace Garcia
PLEASE BRING YOUR FINAL PURCHASES TO CONROE FORÂ CHECKOUT 
Any plans to rebuild the Garden Ridge store at the northern border of The Woodlands on I-45 near Hwy. 242 — destroyed by fire today — will likely get careful scrutiny: “As one of the city’s ‘big box’ stores, Garden Ridge straddles the city limits between Conroe and The Woodlands Township. The cash registers are located in Conroe, the result of an annexation agreement reached between the neighboring communities in 2006.” [Montgomery County Courier] Photo: KHOU
BECAUSE WHERE THERE’S SMOKING, THERE COULD BE FIRE In the aftermath of a West Houston grass fire that scorched 1500 acres of George Bush Park, Mayor Parker and some city council members are considering instituting a temporary smoking ban at all city parks for as long as the drought lasts. This week city council gave its blessing to a ban Parker instituted earlier on open-flame barbecuing and grilling in city parks. A burn ban in county parks — which includes smoking — has been in effect since April. [Houston Chronicle; park fire]
Thanks to some fun-loving neighbors in the Isabella Court apartments just across the street, we have this brief video documenting the wild final moments of the former Simpson Galleries building at the corner of Main and Isabella in Midtown. The building burned Friday night; the Spanish Colonial storefront structure facing onto the light-rail line has been vacant since the Simpson Galleries moved to a new location near Fountainview and Westpark in 2007. Demolition crews knocked down the remaining structure the next morning.
- Video of Teardown of Simpson Galleries After Fire Friday Night, Fire Ravages Simpson Galleries, and
Fire Strikes Third Antique Store This Year [Hair Balls] - Fire destroys vacant building in Midtown [abc13]
Video: Eleanor Williams/Jeff Balke
Looking for a safe place to keep its voting machines after the previous storehouse on Canino Rd. was destroyed in a mysterious fire last year, county officials have at last found the perfect uh, match: a 1980-vintage tilt-wall car-storage facility owned by the estate of a billionaire plaintiff’s attorney who died in a car crash. No harm came to the $250 million worth of cars John M. O’Quinn kept in this warehouse at 11525 Todd Rd. after he was killed in an accident on Allen Parkway 2 years ago, but the building was available. One of 3 suites in the 123,930-sq.-ft. structure near the Hempstead Highway and 34th St. currently serves as the black-box home of the Houston Academy of Dramatic Arts. The county is paying O’Quinn’s estate $4.35 million for the facility, with some of that money coming from the fire-insurance claim. Also moving into the building, after a $2 million renovation: county tax assessor-collector Don Summers and his collection of old license plates and tax records.
- County voting machines find a home [Houston Chronicle]
- Warehouse blaze still a mystery and Police: O’Quinn driving nearly twice the speed limit [Houston Chronicle]
- Voting machine fire not arson [Houston Politics]
Photo: LoopNet
A view of the cleanup after yesterday’s early-morning fire on Dickson St. west of Patterson in Magnolia Grove, to the north of the High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice. A single structure in a row of 31-year-old townhouses burned after what neighbors say was a large explosion.
- Firefighters: Body found in rubble of charred Houston townhome [KHOU]
- Man’s body found in Houston townhouse gutted in fire [Houston Chronicle]
- Body Found After 2-Alarm Fire [MyFox Houston]
Photo: Swamplot inbox
COMMENT OF THE DAY: NAMING RIGHTS “. . . How ironic that the Astrodome is now called ‘Reliant Astrodome’ and suffers from an ‘electrical fire.’ Lame.” [David Beebe, commenting on The Short History of the Astrodome]
THE SHORT HISTORY OF THE ASTRODOME 
The Astrodome’s electricity was cut off today after a small transformer fire broke out in a vault on the stadium’s east side. After extinguishing the blaze, firefighters used fans to escort a domeful of smoke out the exit ramp. [MyFox Houston; previously on Swamplot] Photo: MyFox Houston
Raw helicopter footage from abc13 of the fire currently raging at the Enterprise Products natural gas fractionation facility at 135 Sun Oil Rd., just east of Hwy. 146 in Mont Belvieu. By 3:55 in, the view gets better, and you can hear the commentator noting that the fire was visible from above Hobby Airport, just 30 miles away.
- Explosion, fire burning at Mont Belvieu facility [abc13]
- Plant burns in Mont Belvieu [Houston Chronicle]
Video: abc13