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Yes.. let's go frolic in IronTiger's thought provoking threads. I'm sorry, but this forum is better with Niche, Red, and Meme contributing.

Over the last couple of days I've been contacted by two individuals about restoring RedScare's HAIF privileges. These two had the tact and contact me privately about this and presented their arguments logically, rationally, and with respect. Pretty much the opposite of what TheNiche and Memebag have done. Last night I decided that the two people who talked to me privately were right, and that there is a road ahead for RedScare on HAIF. I even stayed up late and drafted an e-mail I could send to Red to begin the reconciliation process. I put it aside so that I could polish it up in the morning. This morning I made the mistake of reviewing this thread. And you know what? I'm not going to send that e-mail to RedScare. I'm tired of his lackeys -- Niche and Bag -- berating, belittling, and second-guessing me in this public forum. This forum is my property -- in a way an extension of my home. Yet these two feel it appropriate to attack me in my own home because they disagree with how I run it. What ever happened to "Texas Friendly?" Or how about basic respect for other people, especially when you're their guest? Their actions are beyond rude, they're outright hostile. They make all sorts of claims about "censorship," yet neither one of them knows the first thing about the subject. I know censorship. I lost a job over censorship. I had to move to another market because of censorship. I've donated tens of thousands of dollars to free speech causes. Niche and Bag's first-hand experience with censorship could fit in a pack of cigarettes without removing the cigarettes. These two think that if I remove a sentence from a HAIF post referring to another HAIFer with an expletive that it's "censorship." They can shout "censorship" all they want. It is not. My name is "Editor." I edit. I feel that I have been more than patient with this. I run HAIF very permissively compared with other fora. I can't think of another web site that I frequent where these two wouldn't have been banned long ago. I have always been willing to answer any questions people have about the forum and how it is run. I have gone above and beyond what is required and customary in explaining HAIF and it's operations. I don't hide things from the users. There is no secret club of users who get extra privileges. Everyone is treated the same. And everyone is expected to do their best to adhere to the, comparatively permissive, rules. In all the years of HAIF, I have only banned two or three people. I've been told that is a remarkable achievement. Last night someone suggested to me in PM that maybe I should restore RedScare's privileges on the condition that Niche and Bag get banned. I thought that was pretty funny, but also slightly tempting. Some people get to 10,000 posts by channeling their intelligence, thoughts, and wishes through the keyboard and into the forum for others to see and comment on. Others do it by insulting, challenging, and mocking every single post they don't understand. I'm sorry, Red. I understand your situation, and I know you want to come back. I want to let you back. But I just don't think I can allow it. It would merely embolden these two ass-clowns and have them running even more amok. Right now, I am drawing their fire. But if things go back the way they were, they'll be sitting at their computers desperately hitting "Refresh" waiting for the next post they can jump ugly with. That's not something I think I should allow to happen. Niche and Bag, I know you're both smart people. It appears you simply have too much time on your hands, or a persecution complex, or both, or something else. I don't know, and I don't care to find out. I'm not banning you. You are both welcome to participate fully in HAIF, but like everyone else on this web site you must show respect for your fellow HAIFer. All I ask is that you think before you post. Evaluate what you've written and decide if it improves or degrades the community before you send it. I don't know what's so hard about simply being nice and respectful to the other HAIFers. But if you two can't play nice with others -- a rule that any five-year-old knows and understands -- then we're at an impasse. If you two decide that you're simply not capable of respecting other people on HAIF, including me, then (since this is the internet) I'll let a cat deliver the message: I am no longer going to debate this matter in the HAIF forum as it only seems to throw gasoline on the fire. I will discuss it in the forum when a resolution is reached. If anyone has questions or comments, PM or e-mail me. All reasoned discussions are welcome.

Quantity ≠ Quality

Huh? I haven't said anything about censorship. I'm not trying to get Red unbanned. I stopped in to see how HAIF was doing, see if anyone was talking about the Bookstop/Alabama Theater, and maybe say hi to some friends. I posted in this thread because folks were talking about how I left. Now I'm leaving again. I'm not leaving because this is the editors private property and he gets to do what he wants here. That's all cool. I'm leaving because I don't enjoy how he abuses his authority. Y'all have fun.

I bet 1% or fewer of the folks who take the carts to their apartments, ever bring them back. I would even venture to say that 99% of the folks taking them, do not give a hoot about the environment. The people taking them, are the people who cant afford cars...they are the people who dont care what your front yard looks like, they are the people who consistently throw trash on the ground... For those of you who ARE environmentally friendly, they make these cheap little carts that fold up to nothing, and roll....You can actually BUY them yourself, use them yourself, and store them at YOUR house.... When you push that cart out of the parking lot, your not being green, or a good citizen, your a thief...plain and simple. You might as well just not pay for the groceries that you put it in that cart. Rationalizing that the cart is paid for already, does not magically transform that act of stealing into anything less than that. It is stealing. Cops should write a misdemeanor theft charge every time they see it. Im not saying arrest them necessarily (unless you re-read my first post), Im saying ticket them...force them to appear in court....make them pay cash money for the crimes they are committing...just b/c you think its ok and you think your being good for the environment, does not make it not stealing. Destruction of the environment...HA - Global warming....errr I mean "climate change" is a joke - all the crimes that are going to be committed in the name of the environment....its getting very ridiculous.

Are you trying to imply that you didn't write that to me? You can check for yourself. Edit: Someone suggested that folks here may doubt what I'm saying, so here's a screen shot from the message itself. I've clipped the bottom off because I'm not sure the editor wants all of this made public, but will share that as well if he wishes.

responses across the board about this are a disappointment to me while not surprising. my 18yr old son turned out to be quite knowledgeable about the shirt and he's a basketball player from another district! fraternity attitudes of "boys will be boys", "jeez can't you take a joke", "this is tradition" etc illustrate how the "good ol' boy" culture perpetuates. i have counseled victims of sexual abuse where women have viewed things like this ambiguously & impassively, observed offender group sessions where perps were genuinely perplexed how sexually degrading images to children or women contributed to their deviance, and sat through constitutional law classes where first amendment rights were lectured to reign supreme above all else. for me it comes down to this, how can ANY credible justification exist for something that inflicts emotional duress or damages self esteem to any student, female or male for that matter. for me the answer is none does exist. the drawing could find a home at hustler or somewhere where like minded individuals gather to enjoy such images under protected speech, like a college campus where adults make up their minds about its fundamental right to exist. but not a secondary educational setting. the subtext of the message is clear, and how many of the students and their parents who defend this would feel the same if each football player and coach ppeared in variations of the shirt for sale. my guess is not even one could manage a smile. was this printed in someone's garage or did a business feel ok to handle the commerce aspects, morality aside? societal sexism aside, is it clear that beatings, stabbings, shootings and deaths occur for lesser perceived transgressions of honor? throw the book at them all is my opinion, and start with each and every teacher & administrator from every school involved in the long term cover up. if the image can be matched to a RL likeness, the cheerleader & her family should sue the school & whatever moron parents raised these little darlings. it's what has girl & boy students labeled sex offenders for "sexting".

From a racial standpoint - Lots of gentrification is re-gentrification. White flight happened in every major city in the country as inner urban neighborhoods became desegregated in the 50s. For lots of areas, desegregation was only briefly achieved as the scale tipped all the way to the other side as opposed to finding a balance point. White Return flight is not a bad thing. Gentrification is not evil. No ethnic group has the sole right to populate an area. It was true in the 50s, its true today. The Heights was developed at the turn of the century for working class Houstonians. By the 70s it was run down and poor as a result of white flight. Today after gentrification it is 40% white and 50% Hispanic. Gentrification is the balancing of the scale that desegregation meant to achieve 50+ years ago. From an economic standpoint - Renters are not possible unless someone owns the rent property. Do minority property owners that own those rent houses in poor neighborhoods not have the right to try to make as much money off their properties as the market will allow ? I'm poor. I'm a renter. Does the minority (asian) owner i send my rent checks to once a month not have the right to charge for as much as the market will allow him to ? Do i not have the right to go find someplace better and cheaper nearby if my landlord raises the rent? Yup.

I find it hard to believe that the poor are not forced out of gentrifying neighborhoods. I've seen more than one neighborhood activist decrying the loss of a poorer neighborhood's demographic character as redevelopment and wealthier residents move in. And in economic terms, rents are only going to go up as the neighborhood gentrifies. The poorer members of a neighborhood are only going to be able to remain if rents remain fairly low and/or they own the property the live in before prices start to rise. If the studies show the opposite, I think you'd need to delve into them further to see what assumptions and constraints are implicit in the research. Of course you can't point to one neighborhood and say 'that's where all the poor people went'. Unless there are only two neighborhoods in the city, residents are going to move to various other locations depending on all kinds of personal reasons. Gentrification benefits the neighborhood and homeowners, but not pre-existing renters, who are more likely to be poor and minority.

I say . . . I think the membership is large enough that even if a few key member decide to take a permanent break, there is still plenty of active members to compensate. This recent announcement and honor of being the best local website should ensure a continuous flow of new postings.

The govt used to have a program set up along Westheimer to capture the buggers. The had a series of open fields with high powered lights which were aligned in an E-W direction. The hope was to attract the UFO's into a landing pattern. They had large nets set up to capture them. They put golfers in the areas so that the public would think that they were driving ranges, but those who were in the know quickly recognized the areas for what they were. I would go by at night hoping to spot a UFO ensnared in the net. I think the Govt quickly moved them to Ellington field when they captured them cause I never was able to see anything.

No tizzy here. I was merely asking you to stop insulting people, that's all. I didn't say anything about rules, violations, etc. I don't think laying off the insults a bit is too much to ask. We're all here for a common reason - to talk about Houston, and in this particular subforum - The Heights. And, as I said in a previous post, I was happy to correct the mistake. I notified the mods, and asked them to combine the threads. Again, no tizzy - just proper forum etiquite. If you have any further problems with my posts, and if I have any further problems with yours, let's take them offline. No sense bogging down the threads with pointless BS like this, eh?

I have another theory regarding the mysterious movement of shopping carts during the night. We all know that we are visited by ET types during the night. It is a known fact that their UFO craft set up powerful magnetic fields, thus as they fly near an accumulation of shopping carts they can cause them to be pulled to various locations depending on the movement of the UFO. Strangly, this "magnetic" force not only affects steel carts but plastic ones as well. Scientist still do not fully understand the mechanism resposible for the magnetic attraction to plastic but they suspect that it may be associated with dark matter.

I stayed away from this thread because I thought some silly off topic talk was going on, needless to say it was some interesting reading. I am stunned at the comments going back and forth. I am indifferent to the news of a RedScareless HAIF, "m e h", theNiche will be missed in my eyes, and memebag, didn't know ya well enough to comment. Give poor Wayne a break and show him the respect and gratitude he deserves guys. This really is his baby. We are invited in here. HAIF is a privilege, not a right.

I'd take that bet. I'd take that bet too. You've demonstrated in the past to have absolutely zero grasp of the lives and lifestyles of those less economically fortunate as you, so I think your speculative opinion here is moot. And frankly, even though I'm not economically disadvantaged, I don't care what your front yard looks like either. In fact, I don't think anybody other than your neighbors cares what your yard looks like. Why is it ironic when you tell others how to be environmentally friendly? I'll mark the answer with an asterisk, so you won't have to strain yourself to get it. It's not thievery if you're returning it later and the store has an expectation it'll happen. Perhaps you missed that part when I explained the differences between urban and suburban markets. Regardless of what penalties you're asking for, you're suggesting cops spend more time dealing with petty crap than contend with real issues. People in the Heights are already paying extra dues to get more cops on the road, and every other day it seems another pyromaniac sets something on fire, but if you think cops need to spend their days tracking the basket bandits, sure, that makes a ton of sense. *This is why. Consistently, Marksmu, your posts have made me think you must the result of genetic testing - the embryonic fusion of Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage and Bill O'Reilly. Perhaps we should all just drive our Tahoes three blocks to pick up groceries for the week. That would be much more sensible. Sorry guy, your model works in the 'burbs where you're already disconnected from your community, but it's just plain dumb in the city.

Some work going on.

Well yeah, because like I wrote in the very next sentence, it's an operating expense and therefore not really affecting the bottom line outside expectations. And, you'll never see me shouting support (or shouting much in general) for any misappropriation of limited police resouces. I tell you what, if a black market ever develops for shopping carts, and trolly bandits ever rise to power like Al Capone, then I'll support expending government resources on this heinous crime against humanity. In the mean time, accept it or move to the 'burbs where people drive all their groceries home in an oversized SUV. The only crime there is the destruction of the environment, but hey, at least Kroger doesn't have to spend a grand or two every month to replace some wheeled baskets.

The Chron doesn't delete articles. Look in the archives. Here's the info: "six stories housing administrative offices, nine studios (they currently have six), a black box theater (a new amenity) and a dorm for 20 students (eight more than they now house in two townhomes). Including the land purchase, it's a $53 million project."

Interesting study. Gentrification is inevitable for the urban core of growing cities like Houston, where commutes continue to worsen and the number of desirable points-of-interest within the loop grow. And it's true that many of the neighborhoods experiencing gentrification were solid middle class years ago, before the urban decline and white flight of the 60's-70's led to a poorer and minority demographic. It is hard to believe that the opportunity brought by gentrification compensates for the increased cost of living for low-income folks. These are typically the very people who do not own their own homes but rent, and thus they do not benefit from increased resale value, but instead suffer with increased rent. The article suggests ideas like rent control, government subsidies, and doubling or tripling the number of tenants in an apartment. I do think there is a valid point in that gentrification isn't all bad. Sometimes I think the complaints against gentrification are just the result of altered or diminished expectations. I'm not happy that gentrification prevented me from buying a small house in Montrose, and I want to blame someone. Might as well blame the rich straight yuppie couples working for oil companies for taking over the community. And hey, I could still get that drab 70's era dream townhouse if I value location above all else. But ultimately, I just don't want the inner loop to become a Houston-version of Manhattan, where only the folks at the very top income brackets can actually afford a decent residence. I also don't want the other negative side effect of too much gentrification...where much of the charm and quirkiness that makes some of our spaces special in the first place are taken away in the quest for larger developments and more money, like mega-chain bookstores and condo towers. It's probably the result of denser development (townhouses and condo towers) displacing older homes and smaller buildings.

I always appreciated the proactive and attentive job the moderators did on this site. What I found intolerable was the silent edit and the personal grudge. For some reason I was never able to understand, the editor disliked me personally, and changed and deleted my posts without any visible indication. If you hadn't seen my post before he changed it, you would never know that I didn't say those words. I tried to talk with him about it, and it seemed like we had found a resolution for a while, but we hadn't. He kept changing what I wrote, not because of what I wrote, but because I was the author. That was proven to me when he edited my post for content I had quoted from another post, but didn't edit the post I quoted. And when he told me he had a grudge against me and the way I wrote. I understand that he owns this site and its content, and can change anything he wants. That's as it should be. I just can't invest my time and energy in a site that is run this way. If he wants to get into personal feuds, he should do it on a site he doesn't own. On this site he should be preventing feuds, not using his special power to win them.

What a bunch of crap. Kroger has no responsibility to hunt down their stolen property. The responsibility lies with the thieves that took the carts and the HPD who are charged with arresting them. Kroger & its law abiding customers are the victims here.

What?? You've GOT to be kidding me. You think a high school student would be more interested in an a new engineering building over where they'll be living on-campus? Students want exciting, new places to live. Also, I don't believe that Calhoun Lofts is the same business model as Cullen Oaks, Bayou Oaks, and Cambridge Oaks. Calhoun Lofts is physically owned by the university, not just the land its on. It's possible that they're doing some contracting for management, but that'd be it. The store is currently under construction as well. So I'm guessing there is no real road plan for Tier I either. UH is condemned to be a crap school because they don't care about their students or about their education. It's all just a made-up little conspiracy to allow for administrators to line their own pockets and beat their chests about how much they've ripped-off the community. Is it that, or is your opinion of the administration is that they're wholly incompetent. What IS reality to you?

So, not to derail this lively, thought-provoking conversation, but what's the current status of the Kroger re-opening? Anybody heard about an official date?

AWP at a Thievery Corp. show? That's funny. I guess they were confused by the keyboards and then became angry once they realized it wasn't the Kroger guy playing.

After consulting with the moderators, I'm going to make one last statement in this thread and then close it. RedScare is gone of his own free will. He was not pushed out. He was not coerced. Red was a good member of this community for a long time, but that doesn't make him above the rules. In an e-mail exchange, RedScare told me the reason he left. It wasn't because of what I wrote, or what I think, or the admonition I gave to the can't-dos in the audience. It was because I dared to edit one of his posts. For some reason Red believes his writing is sacred and should not be tampered with. He specifically talked on his large intellectual capacity compared to the rest of the HAIF members. The line I removed from his post was an attack on another forum member. I don't find name-calling particularly intelligent. Since Red's tantrum, I have received several e-mails from HAIF members that were very supportive, and I thank you all for those. I received one message concerned that "censorship" is "rampant" on HAIF. That may be one person's perception, but the facts don't bear it out. The moderators make fewer than 20 post edits per month (mostly fixing image inserts and bad URLs), and the average month has tens of thousands of new posts. That doesn't sound like rampant to me. As always, if anyone has concerns about HAIF, send a message to a moderator or to me. As I've stated before, you can e-mail me directly at editor@houstonarchitecture.com. It's a shame that RedScare chose to leave, but no member of HAIF is above the rules. Not even me, which is why I put the resolution of this in the hands of the moderators. They have decided that I do not need to be suspended even though it was an option I specifically offered them. For a community to work best, everyone has to treat everyone else with respect. We're not all perfect and we all have our mood swings and stressful moments in life, so occasionally blow off steam in a public forum like HAIF. That happens. But it is the job of the moderators to moderate, and that includes removing personal attacks from posts. If someone believes anything they've written on HAIF is above scrutiny, then an interactive web forum is not what they're looking for. They'd be better served publishing a one-sided blog. HAIF is about interaction. It is an evolving organism. We all learn from our mistakes and move on to create a better forum tomorrow.

sounding human isn't enough. we need a leader and none are running.

I think the lesson that citykid is learning here is that the age of dreamers and doers in Houston is over. There will never again be a massively audacious project like the Astrodome or Johnson Space Center, or Chase Tower again in Houston because anyone with a vision or an idea will be shouted down by the "not my tax dollars" and "show me a study" and "I don't want no outsiders in here" crowd. The age of big Texans with big plans is over. Now Houston is being run by armchair cowboys who drive around in SUVs criticizing other people who actually want to make the city better. They are happy to let Houston slide toward backwater status long as they have a cold beer and memories of their high school football days. What's good enough for them should be good enough for everyone else, because they are the example of the perfect human form in mind and body, and are superior to all. Citykid, I think you no longer have to wonder why talented people move out of Houston. King of the Hill has been cancelled. But the do-nothing "yup" alley loafers live on in Houston.

That space has been empty for years. During the Super Bowl, they put up the plywood so that it would not look so bad.

UH has already made very clear that it would like to build or expand new campuses in Pearland, Sugar Land, and in northwest Harris County, and they're also moving towards providing a broader selection of classes as UH-Clear Lake. Meanwhile, UH-Downtown continues to expand, and they also have satellite facilities that I wouldn't be surprised to see become full-fledged campuses in the future. It's really remarkable, in a way, that Houston has a home-grown university that is expanding so much not only at its core campus but so aggressively into the suburbs...all without the ridiculously high amounts of Tier One funding that are granted to the UT and A&M systems or the commensurate level of alumni support. Its an ingenious strategy too, by way of which they use open-enrollment suburban campuses as a feeder system to the main campus, filtering out the wheat from the (Cougar High) chaff to create a respected institution without neglecting their traditional role as a low-cost provider of four-year degrees. In a matter of perhaps 15 to 25 years, I can very easily see UH not only achieving Tier One status, but using the funds to make them one of the preeminent universities not located on the east or west coasts. UH should absorb TSU as a conservator (in exchange for Tier One status) and consolidate its regional market share before UT or A&M realize the opportunity they're missing to block the expansion of the UH footprint within the State's education budget.