THE CASE AGAINST GOING PAPERLESS At least 72 safety-violation cases against the owner of a run-down apartment complex just outside South Houston were dropped last year because the paperwork was lost, say city officials. A toddler drowned in the apartment’s pool earlier this week. “Randy Zamora, the city’s chief prosecutor, said an outside company hired to digitally scan some 7 million archived and pending tickets might have misplaced the documents. The error allowed [Nanik] Bhagia, who did not return telephone and e-mail requests for comment on Wednesday, to delay for a year facing a jury or making repairs to the Vista Bonita Apartments, 9313 Tallyho. . . . Police investigators said the boy may have reached the murky pool by stepping through a damaged fence or a faulty gate, both of which are violations of city code.” [Houston Chronicle]
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Tag: Hazards
It’s Friday afternoon . . . and the rumors are flying! It’s looking like the shelving of the company’s planned Boulevard Place apartment highrise is only the beginning of a much-more-serious towering hangover for Hanover. Word has begun to spread that the private multifamily developer is shutting down its local office. The Hanover Company is based in Houston.
Employees with brand-new pink slips: Got any details you’d like to share? Swamplot’s completely anonymous tell-all line is open.
Swamplot’s story last week on that extremely dirty apartment in North Houston left out a few photos the photographer originally posted in the Houston-Imports forum. Our photo editing choices were meant to highlight the more “artistic” qualities of the display. And really, how much filth do you need to see?
More than we showed, apparently. The story was one of the most popular ever posted on this site. Who are we to prevent smut-hungry readers from viewing the trash they so obviously want to see?
So here they are, fresh from the . . . uh, cutting-room floor: 11 more photos of the messiest apartment in Houston. Ever. We hope.
A word of warning to the easily nauseated: Yes, there are a few images of the bathroom. No, it is not pretty.
IKE’S TOXIC IMPRINT “So far, regulatory officials have identified 228 sites potentially poisoned with gasoline, industrial chemicals, feces and other contaminants from Greater Houston to Lake Charles, La. But none of the reported spills is considered major, authorities said. Cmdr. Virginia Kammer, who leads the U.S. Coast Guard’s cleanup efforts along the Texas coastline, said the largest spill was about 3,000 barrels, and the responsible facility moved quickly to get the problem under control.” What about the region’s 28 Superfund sites? No word yet, but the EPA has “started to investigate.” [Houston Chronicle]
SHOULD GALVESTON BE REBUILT? “The city and its environs rest on barrier islands, which are made of sand, low-lying and prone to significant geological shifts. In Galveston’s case, even before Ike’s landfall, the island was both sinking slowly and becoming sharply eroded along its west end. Moreover, a couple of years ago, the city itself commissioned University of Texas geologist Jim Gibeaut to create a geohazards map for the island, that is, where should development not occur? The research study found that nearly all the development along the beach front west of the seawall, which protects the core of the island, is in ‘red’ or ‘yellow’ zones, where Gibeaut says development should not occur.” [SciGuy]
Note: Updated below.
A tenant in a north Houston apartment complex has an overdue payment for more than a month. No one can get in touch with her. Eventually the bookkeeper goes inside to leave a note. And finds . . . this:
Royce Builders has finally shut down. The company slipped out somewhere between gusts of Hurricane Ike, leaving only a note on its website.
Looking for an earnest money refund? Try Royce’s handy new sounds-like-spam Gmail address! But do it before October 1, because . . . well, just because.
Got a home warranty issue? Well then, just . . . read the warranty!
A reader comments:
My concern is for the people who closed on one of their poorly built homes in the last 365 days. Royce was the backer of the new home warranty for the first year of ownership and now they are gone. My friends who used to work for them tell me there are thousands of unfinished warranty requests that were never completed or even addressed. I wish all the home owners good luck on getting things fixed. At least they will have the Two to Ten Waranty beginning in the second year (if Royce paid the premium).
Royce’s happy farewell message is after the jump!
A note from the City of Taylor Lake Village:
Taylor Lake is closed to recreation – swimming, boating, fishing, and water skiing. The Gulf Coast Waste Disposal Authority industrial wastewater treatment plant on Port Road was inundated during the storm and its ponds of untreated industrial and sanitary waste overflowed into Taylor Lake. The Lake may be contaminated with industrial pollutants (volatile organic and other compounds) and bacteriological contaminants. Residents should avoid all contact with Taylor Lake water until further notice.
Any other area industrial pollutants gone AWOL after Ike? Where did they end up?
- Hurricane Ike Update [Taylor Lake Village]
Photo of house and damage on Taylor Lake: Flickr user Linda Railsback
There are so many lessons to be learned from destruction! Take the house at 2205 Bartlett St. in Greenbriar, for example. Here’s a photo from earlier this month, as the house was prepared for demolition.
What happened next?
From the seemingly ubiquitous Pankaj, a few choice images of Hurricane Ike kicking some Houston ass:
SURVIVOR GALVESTON: MAYOR VOTES EVERYBODY OFF THE ISLAND “‘There is nothing to come here for right now,’ [Mayor Lyda Ann] Thomas said. ‘Please leave. I am asking people to leave.’ City officials have yet to decide whether to force people off the island. . . . The bottom line is that Galveston can’t adequately accommodate its population,” [City Manager Steve LeBlanc] said, adding that if people returned, the city ‘would go into a downward spiral.’†[Houston Chronicle]
“Kirby Drive is just as purty as ever,” writes the Swamplot correspondent who took these photos Saturday.
The evidence?
That Sunday open house scheduled for this townhome at 18224 Lakeside Ln. in Bal Harbour Cove on Clear Lake? Probably not going to happen. Sadly, it may be that the only open houses taking place in the Houston area this weekend will be unscheduled ones.
If you find any impromptu open houses taking place in Hurricane Ike’s wake, how about adding them to this weekend’s Open House Tour? Send pix to the Swamplot tip line, or add your comments or directions below. Have any other Hurricane Ike photos, videos, or stories you’d like to share?
HELPFUL HINTS FOR HURRICANE IKE HOME SELLERS A special notice on the HAR home page: “As Hurricane Ike advances toward the greater Houston area, the Houston Association of REALTORS® (HAR) urges homeowners to remove or secure all objects outside their homes that could become deadly projectiles in high winds. This should not be limited to patio furniture, barbeque grills and other large pieces, but include yard signs promoting home sales, contractor services, home security services and other messages.” Well sure, but won’t that make househunting a little difficult this weekend? [HAR]
They didn’t name this site Swamplot for nothin’! Now’s as good a time as any to stake our claim on the Google as the go-to website for photos, videos, and salty tales from Hurricane Ike — of waterlogged, flooded, or otherwise fluid-besmirched homes and businesses in the greater Houston and Harris County areas. Have we stuffed enough sticky keywords into this post yet? How about real-estate damage resulting from Category 2, 3, 4, or 5 hurricane-force winds in Southeast Texas? Yeah, come here for that stuff, too.
And where will all these videos and photos and stories come from? How about . . . from you? You’re charging your camera phone anyway — and loading up the address book with email addresses . . . Why not add Swamplot’s tip line to the list?
Once you’ve captured it, send us that great shot of newly waterfronted property — just tell us where it was taken and who to credit. If your neighborhood stays high and dry, send in the pics to prove it! It might make things a whole lot easier a few years from now, when you’re trying to explain to a skeptical potential buyer that your house didn’t flood during Ike.
Of course, it may be a little while before we can post the stuff that comes in. It’s all gonna depend how long it takes our laptops to air dry.
We do hope everyone has a safe, dry, and floating-ball-of-crazed-fire-ants-free Hurricane Ike experience. Maybe this thing will simply blow over! In any case, why not have your camera ready?
- We Only Know What We Read in Our Email [Swamplot]
Photo of flooding after Hurricane Alicia, Houston, 1983: Michael Glasgow
