MikeRichardson

I'm in 77027, an involuntary cord cutter living on the 3rd floor of an apartment building.

What's neat though, is that I seem to get KBTX very reliably, using a $9 RCA VHF/UHF antenna that I duct taped to the outside of my window. Since I get KBTX and it's CW sub-channel, I get some syndicated programs at different (more convenient) times, and Craig Ferguson at it's intended time.

Do I have an advantage being on the 3rd floor? This isn't some sporadic DX (I used to document my adventures in DX on the old Radio Discussions forum), this is reliable consistent reception. Google Maps says their transmitter is roughly 75 miles away.

Density! ^

Did you look at the elevations? It's basically the old apartments, except with a strip mall stuck underneath them. Residential density is only coincidentally improved because the new apartments are smaller.

One thing that I think that Safeway doesn't get...at least not anymore, is that stores are different and carry different things for the neighborhood. Even H-E-B has clued in on that: even within a metro area (Houston, San Antonio, Austin, or even College Station), there are some rather obvious shifts in merchandise depending on demographics. Safeway never really got that, with (from what I've read) barely anything for the Chicago market, and certainly not neighborhood by neighborhood.

I can point to one example where Randalls/Safeway, as well as Kroger, do seem to get this right. I used to live in Meyerland a few years ago and both the Randalls and the Kroger had tons of kosher stuff all year round. I remember the Randalls specifically had a good selection of kosher meat. There's not really a Meyerland HEB to compare to, although the Sellers Bros store had no visible kosher products the few times I went there.

Some employers that give gift cards as a gift, or bonus, shudder at the thought that the employee might use the card to buy evil stuff like alcohol and tobacco (much like employers that won't pay for a movie in the hotel when employees travel because they might watch one with naked people in it). Safeway is just offering a variety of cards to widen the appeal of their product.

I thought about that, but then, think about all of the evil stuff that employees could buy with just their salaries? Porn, drugs, hookers, gambling, whatever.

Edit: Ross' quotes also applies, but there is no way to edit this post to add another quote. So you could still say, well, the employee of a trucking company could use their salary to purchase alcohol which then causes the employee to have an accident with the truck.

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OK, there's been sale of the "E" building, 2220 Westcreek Ln only. It has been sold to an "individual owner". No evictions. Kaplan is still the management, and they are putting in a leasing office in the building. Going forward, rent checks are to be made payable to "Highland Terrace".

I'll post a scan of the letter later.

That case has nothing to do with religious or moral beliefs, as unlike food items, cigarettes and alcohol are heavily taxed but also much more profitable. I remember working in a supermarket that had a very nicely stocked beer and wine department (even a few types of sake), so clearly they had no moral qualms about it, but they wouldn't let the rewards card be used for alcohol purchases.

The point was that Randalls (Safeway) is offering both types of cards for sale, one which permits the "vice" items, and one which does not. I don't know if this is Safeway policy or just some old holdover, or if Kroger offers a similar thing, etc. I only got the one mailer rather arbitrarily.

I never liked shopping at Randall's in the past because it consciously did not sell beer or wine for years. It was almost like the owners were trying to force their morality on the shopping public. I even remember one of the companies that I worked for back then made sure to hand out "Randalls" gift cards at christmas time to it's employees, thinking that they were doing us some kind of favor by not allowing us to spend the card on beer! I would always give my gift card away anyway, usually to one of the apprentices'.

As a small business owner a couple of weeks ago I got a mass mailer from Safeway/Randalls/Tom Thumb/Vons/Whatever. They were advertising their gift cards as a kind of holiday bonus to employees. They offered two different kinds of gift cards. One kind could purchase anything, but the alternate card could not be used to purchase any kind of vice items (cigarettes/alcohol/gambling/etc).

I know. If I recall correctly, they finally dropped it in the mid-1990s after they absorbed Tom Thumb. Their greatest sin was still selling it to Safeway.

Both of these. The sale to Safeway, in retrospect, was a travesty.

In regards to alcohol sales. Some of my earliest memories as a child were taking a trip to Randalls. I remember back then, 1993 or so, it was possible for anyone to retrieve cigarettes from any of the displays at each checkout line, you know, where they have the magazines now. I still remember what brand my mom smoked because I could walk right up there and pick out the package. But she was a single parent, worked 40+ hours a week, didn't touch alcohol at all, and Randalls didn't sell it. Yet they had the cigarettes right there.

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/28120-westcreek-mixed-use-san-felipe610/?p=434586

Whatever may or may not be going on, it will not involve all 6 remaining buildings.

I still don't even know who bought the 2 buildings. I spent a few hours looking up stuff on HCAD, looking into the little shell LLC companies, checking news sources, real estate still being marketed, any kind of filings with the city, etc. The most promising stuff I found had to do with "replats", the county has to redraw the lines so that the 2 buildings on the northeast side of Westcreek can have a different owner from the remaining buildings, but there have been no replats (as of a few weeks ago). (disclaimer: I probably screwed up some of the terminology or understanding here, real state is not my forte)

Wow, slightly more dense apartments. yawn

These would probably be the residential units replacing the ones HEB tore down, in order to move their store half a mile away so they can have an excuse to raise prices and set up the rat's maze layout whilst absolutely not leasing their store out to any other grocery store, meaning it will probably sit abandoned.

Randall's has always been way more expensive. Good riddance.

Prove it. I am so tired of seeing this garbage that Randalls is always and without exception more expensive than any other store on earth.

Who wants to bet on what the old HEB will become? Abandoned derelict building for hobos to live in?

After demolishing the B and D buildings, you get a narrow tract of land, sandwiched between Westcreek Ln and the Target. These renderings only make sense if the developers intend to purchase and demolish the Target as well.

Only two of the six buildings have been sold and are being cleared out. Any story claiming the entire complex is being evicted is false.

It is also true that the sale has nothing to do with River Oaks District, because "F" building was not sold and has not been evicted, and it stands in the way between B & D and the River Oaks District land.

No text.

kaplan.pdf

Pretty sure no one cares, mike. There is nothing special about these apartments other than that they provided you w a relatively inexpensive place to live in a prime location.

I wasn't posting to see if anyone cared whether or not I will have a place to live next month.

I did, however, make a post relevant to the topic at hand, which concerns a potential mixed-use development at the corner of Westcreek and San Felipe, and the status of some of the buildings that currently stand in the way of the aforementioned development.

Being that I actually live on Westcreek Lane, I believe I'm in a unique position to provide updates as to the development going on here. The fact that I included remarks concerning my future residential situation merely reflects my own self-interest, and the precious few seconds you had to waste reading them are the price you pay for the otherwise topically relevant information provided.

Westcreek is being chopped up piece by piece. Buildings B and D are being emptied out by November 30th and are to be demolished.

Residents are being offered apartments in the other remaining buildings on a first come first serve basis.

I'm in building B and got on the short list for an apartment across the street, so I guess I'll be moving pretty soon. Gotta make way for more juicy organic couture yoghurt granola shops or whatever the bloody hell it is they're planning on building. I'm sure I'll be moving again sometime next year when they sell the other buildings as well. Probably gonna head west out of the loop, maybe get some place near the beltway that's less likely to be torn down.

I'm liking the windows of the apartments.

I'm sure the patrons of the various handbag shops will appreciate being gawked at after spending $500 on a purse.

Now there's been a dumpster fire in the building adjacent to the demolition. The dumpster next to the gas meter.

This has to be the most fascinating place I've ever lived. Just now there was a car fire at the endmost building, the one right next to the demolition. You can smell the smoke all the way over here in the B building, the one next to San Felipe.

A few more bits of gossip.

Tomorrow they're doing an "asbestos inspection" and "may need to enter the unit".

For the last two days this truck with some kind of huge drilling rig on the back of it, marked with the company "Van & Sons Drilling", took some kind of samples or something out of the parking lots, from the back of the adjacent building yesterday, and this morning right outside my bedroom window.

I'd never seen a truck like this before, and the drilling rig, when erected, was taller than the building. Maybe 40 feet tall.

Eviction. Surveyors. Inspections. Drilling... hello handbag shops...

Problem should be fixed by now.

The street is back open although CenterPoint is still working on it.

So much for "Precision Demolition".