Tiko

Red maybe you'll know this better than me... (i've only been around for 7 years), but wasn't white linen nights started because 19th street was on the verge of drying up and dying (despite the turnaround the neighborhood was making).  WLN is my favorite heights event... because everything on 19th (as well as other streets) stays open late.

I don't think so, WLN is a good idea but I think it started because all the Katrina refugees brought the idea over from NO.  Seems like the Heights Street Festival was just as big, though my memory may be playing tricks.  Totally different crowd, of course.  The "old" part of 19th seems to have been relatively stable over the years with most of the growth coming from the "new" part west of Ashland.

Went into Cricket's the other day, and it's been sold to a group including Scott Tycer from Kraftsmen.  I talked to the new owner/manager and talked for awhile.  He said they were looking into a bigger kitchen, more food options , and possibly staying open later.

We've used Carlos Cruz at 713-256-7499 a couple of times. Highly recommended.

I don't really have a dog in this fight, but I do know from personal experience where I have seen Walmart pressure entice encourage its drivers to violate regulations or strongarm their suppliers into doing it for them. Just my opinion, but they wouldn't take action against a driver unless it could be traced back to them.

I had assumed that their trucks would be taking the road further up the feeder on the West side and not crossing the bridge, but if they're coming from the ship channel area then I guess that doesn't make sense.

So, I saw a flyer up in Jenni's Noodles about the city deeming the Yale Street bridge unsafe and demanding its replacement. Is this a sneak attack on Walmart?

http://blog.chron.com/heights/2011/05/yale-bridge-demonstration-planned/

Hey, I was just four years too early. Sad to see Phil's close, too.

I've seen some of SC Design's work (www.scdesignllc.com) and been impressed, they don't list their renovation work on their website but they do it.

So, what does this mean?

http://blogs.har.com/774/17370/CITY-COUNCIL-REJECTS-RECOMMENDATION-TO-KEEP-HEIGHTS

The bungalow just up the street just got reduced about 7% and has been for sale for at least six months. The sweet, elderly owner supposedly had a buyer until the yellow signs and Mr. Truxillo's victory flag appeared and the buyer got scared off. The seller is the kind of person who is really getting hurt in this.

There are plenty of builders who have learned how to work with the HAHC to build new and renovate old inside historic districts. They are making plenty of cash doing so and will just have more opportunities now that the historic ordinance has thinned out the heard.

There are builders who have learned to work with the HAHC, but now that you have removed the 90-day wait period the HAHC no longer has any incentive to work with them. In the past the HAHC approved a percentage of projects because they knew the builder/homeowner could just wait them out. I expect it to become exponentially more difficult to get approval for anything.

One issue that I have received conflicting answers on is regarding "remuddling", or remodels that put the wrong architectural elements on a house. A prime example (and a pet peeve of mine) is putting colonial columns on a craftsman house. Craftsman homes generally have tapered square columns. My understanding is that the ordinance will not allow you to replace those columns if they are already on the house. My neighbor said that they WANT you to go back to the original columns. However, it is still unclear whether the wording of the ordinance states that. It is also unclear how the HAHC will act.

Bill Baldwin had an example of exactly that in his presentation a month or so ago. He got denied on the column switch.

Meanwhile, here is a blog illustrating what impact the new historic district ordinance has on actual Heights residences.

Did I miss the link? Was it to this? http://www.myhoustonhouse.com/?p=1195 Thought that was an excellent post.

Thanks for posting, Matarene - I enjoy these glimpses of the past, and it's a nice break from all the squabbling on here lately. Got any pics to share? You must have seen some amazing changes to the Heights and Houston as well.

The amended historic ordinance passed. Clutterbuck was swayed by a preservationist at yesterday's open meeting. The turnout of supporters of the amended ordinance out numbered those against yesterday by over 2-1.

I stand corrected. Do you have any more details on what was amended?

Just got an email that the ordinance passed 13-3 (without amendment I'm guessing). We now have 30 days to get 25% of district residents to sign petitions for a re-vote.

If a Wal-Mart does go in on Yale, my only concern is the traffic. I frequently use Yale to avoid the possibility of a train on Heights Blvd.

Ditto - combined with the new ramps....uck.

I like the Northwest Mall location idea, that makes a lot more sense.

Oh and that house - the modern Victorian on 22nd at Harvard...I had heard it was a modern interpretation of the Cooley mansion (rebuilt on the SE corner of Heights & 18th.)

Pretty sure it was based on the original house on the NE corner of Harvard and 18th.

I saw a sign posted at the bike path and White Oak saying that the hearing for the South Heights district is on July 15th at 3 pm.

Does anyone know how our Council Member stands on this issue? I just tried to call in and speak with him or one of his staff members and they referred me to Laura Thorp (his community liaison). She's a past president of the Heights Association if that's any indication.

<snark>She lives in an amazing, very large Victorian, too, but her block is almost entirely bungalows. I guess if it burned down she'd be forced by the Committee to rebuild a bungalow on the site.</snark>

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

link

(Well, you asked...)

Hey Dbigtex, you're not basing your opinion on a grainy pic from Google Maps are ya? Go by and take a look at the place.

if residents don't want it, they can keep their "historic" designation rather than be protected

I'm told there won't be an opt out, at least not for quite some time - the city council will put a moratorium on permitting at least until the end of the year while they work on making the changes to the districts. If they want to change them, it seems fair to continue under the current rules until new voting/petitions can be circulated.

I don't know anything about the moratorium but i have been hearing a lot of rumors about this for the last few months. the last i heard was that historic districts would be made in to protected districts, thus giving them the No Means No authority and getting rid of the 90 day wait. what i also heard, and i have no idea how true this is, is that districts will be able to vote to opt out if they do not want to be protected.

personally, i think this is great and hope it really does happen.

Leaving aside whether or not it's a good thing for a sec (I have mixed feelings), is this what the people who signed the petitions were sold?

I just had a friend call me SCREAMING about something the city is doing wrt historic districts. He said there's going to be a moratorium on permitting until Dec 31 put into place and the mayor is going to bring a vote to change them to protected districts. Anybody know anything?

so, never mind the *ahem* moderne style strip center. what about the house between that and onion crek? it looks wonderful! i just drove by without a camera but hopefully someone else can grab a shot of it. love the green with brick red trim. wonder what's going in there?

The strip center/house project won the Heights Association Commercial Community Improvement Award last Sunday. The guys from APD gave some interesting details on it and gave a touching tribute to a friend of theirs who was involved in the project and had passed away. Kind of shocking to find out tonite that they were probably talking about Carl Sims - if you knew him even as casually as I did you probably liked him, too.