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MAA Afton Oaks: Multifamily At 3131 West Loop S.


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Please excuse the crappy rush-hour, out-the-window, drive-by picture, but here's the progress as of yesterday.

 

At least you can get a good view of that corner they had to notch, just for that billboard to exist. 

 

post-14325-0-43399400-1446068718_thumb.j

 

 

Edited by AREJAY
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Agreed. Billboards are like zits on Houston. One of the many reasons I have very little respect for Houston leaders...for allowing such an out-of-control blight on the city.

 

Just for the record, you will need to direct your ire at past leaders, not any recent leaders.  New billboards have not been allowed in Houston or its ETJ for decades (since 1980).  Most remaining billboards in Houston are along federal highways, where federal law governs and does not allow Houston leaders to remove them.  While 40 years ago, Houston was probably noteworthy for having out-of-control billboards, that is no longer the case. 

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I hear you, but Houston's past leaders allowed them to proliferate, and its recent leaders have allowed them to fester. With a new mayor/council coming on board in January, a deal for the reduction of billboards (especially, and at least, those that are ridiculously placed) should be a goal.

 

In 1980 there were around 10,000 billboards. Recently, in 2008 almost 900 were removed; 67 in 2010 and 2011 which leaves around 1,500 in which most are within city limits. This year there has been talks of a new deal that is going to see the removal of 140 more. So all in all, there has an 85% reduction in billboards across the city.

 

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/City-eyes-deals-on-billboard-eyesores-6013365.php

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I like the flying piano...

 

A week or so ago I saw a post by someone who knew more about the street repair program - he said something like all of Houston needs repairs, but even with the current money they can only repair a few.  I wish I remember where I found this, but it was on HAIF

 

The main thing is street repair by law has to be done pay as you go (it was in that post) and not with bonds.  

 

I'd love to see smooth roads everywhere, especially with buried power lines, but would the higher cost of construction if that was mandated push out a lot of development?

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Great, a reduction of 140 more billboards is very good, especially if they remove those that are ridiculously placed (i.e., hovering over or too close to buildings...or way too high interrupting skyline panoramas).

The next order of business for the new mayor/council is:

1. Issue about $2B in bonds to remake/repair/fix Houston's miles of raggedy-ass streets/curbs/sidewalks...and as they do so, bury the ugly power lines/leaning wooden utility beams lining signature streets and major boulevards (at least ITL [inside The Loop]). Imagine Westheimer, Richmond, Main (North and South), Kirby, etc, without them and smoothly paved for miles.

2. The city should mandate that all new development (done by developers or by the city itself) include the burial of utilities around it.

3. The city should also mandate the no commercial/business signage be above 30ft high (especially in business parking lots next to freeways), and that any above that now be lowered to 30ft or below (I was driving along 59S recently and saw a giant piano suspended on an ugly 50ft high sign advertising a piano store below). Enough with the ugly skyhigh signs everywhere.

I like the giant piano too, and I think your proposal to lower all signs 20 feet or more is preposterous. Whose expense will that be, taxpayers or private businesses? Why not just grandfather them in? Besides, there's a big difference in a tall sign near a freeway and a tall sign in the middle of the neighborhood.

 

The problem with buried lines is that they're still vulnerable to flooding (source: studies on the subject) and those smooth streets won't look so nice if workers are digging up streets to work on hidden power lines.

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I like the giant piano too, and I think your proposal to lower all signs 20 feet or more is preposterous. Whose expense will that be, taxpayers or private businesses? Why not just grandfather them in? Besides, there's a big difference in a tall sign near a freeway and a tall sign in the middle of the neighborhood.

 

The problem with buried lines is that they're still vulnerable to flooding (source: studies on the subject) and those smooth streets won't look so nice if workers are digging up streets to work on hidden power lines.

 

I always wondered why they bury power lines below the streets...why not below the sidewalks instead? Unless I'm missing something, "wasteful" would be an understatement. It also seems less likely that they would be subject to the conditions of their surroundings if they were buried properly. I could be wrong on that...just thinking out loud.

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1.  The giant airborne piano is from the late 60s - early 70s, and is one of the few remnants of what used to be some truly amazing neon, like the animated eagle that spun over the Anheuser Busch brewery, or Bubba... (**sniff...**)

 

920x920.jpg

 

 

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