sarahiki

are you the parent that brings things to the elementary school children's parties that the kids don't eat?

Ha! No, I only torture my own children with goodies like baked kale. For school, it's crowd pleasers... pumpkin muffins disguised as cupcakes.

Oooh baked sweet potato slices! I also threw in some sliced zucchini the other day (happened to have some hanging out in the refrigerator) and they came out pretty good, too..

Here's a really healthy one: baked kale. Same process, but cut up the kale and bake it til it's crispy (but not burnt). Quite yummy. I swear.

I am impressed with all the posts. You HAIFers are healthier than me, by far.

That would work for about a day or two. Americans in cars, in general, are too impatient to wait for people to cross the street.

People walk all over NYC, despite steady traffic at every intersection. You don't need a bridge or tunnel for people to cross the street. Just a culture where cars actually look for a pedestrian, and don't try to run them over.

That Nissen Leaf is pretty cute. Electric, or hybrid?

He probably wasn't there. I've met him plenty of times at various events and know his MO pretty well. He pops in for a few minutes before folks start speaking, makes the rounds, and makes a discrete exit. If he's a speaker or is introducing a speaker, he leaves immediately after he's done and provides no opportunity for Q&A, whether formal or informal.

The guy's got no class. Mayors White and Lanier make themselves approachable by others. Peter Brown approaches you, and then only on his terms.

I don't see how popping in and out of an event means he has no class. Popping in and out is typical of any politician. They have multiple events every evening, they make their appearance, say a few words and discretely leave. I'm not arguing for or against Brown; I don't know enough about him (except he supported our efforts to get trash cans at Calumet Lofts a few years ago, which of course I appreciated). Just saying it's not unusual or bad behavior.

I don't think anyone mentioned Napoli's Flying Pizza. I like it... NY style, thin crust, not soggy. Lacks the refinement of Dolce Vita, but it deserves mention.

Any other afficionados of really small, inexpensive cars? I'm all about a 5 door with great gas mileage, currently driving a Scion. I'm getting about 32 in the city and can't justify a $25K new car hybrid for a bump in mileage. But, My BF saw a new Kia Soul up close and was fairly impressed. I also noticed the new Suzuki AWD compact/crossover, but I'm guessing the mileage is crap.

I love that Kia ad with the gerbils.

Just saw this... I'm with you. I drive a Mazda Protege and love it. If I were buying a new car I'd get the Mazda 5 (microvan), since it would have room for a friend or two of the two rugrats already occupying the backseat. We were just talking last night about what car we would get if we won a million bucks. We agreed we'd still get the Mazda. Or maybe go wild and get a little Volvo 5-door. We are wild, wild, wild people.

I like Romano's. But Dolce Vita makes the best. Star cheese pizza is disgusting.

There is limited electrical service to Westbury Square. I was over there this afternoon and could only find 1 apartment unit that had a good electrical meter. It is probably some friend of Antonelli's or something like that. The rest of the square except the theatre group and the school house has no electricity unless they have hidden the meters.

It is interesting that you mention crime around the shopping center. I spoke with 2 HPD officers this evening and they told me that the shopping center has very little crime. Not sure where anyone gets information to the contrary. Westbury as a subdivision has very little crime. And I do not appreciate anyone spreading talk that there is a crime problem. I have lived here since 1994 and have monitored the crime reports periodically and there is not a crime problem in Westbury. Take a look at the HPD stats versus areas like Spring Branch or Montrose or Midtown or look at Bellaire's crime stats. It is unfair to paint Westbury in the same brushstroke as places like Sharpstown or Fondren Southwest or Mission Bend or the east end.

The auto repair place that is there now is an independent and very nice guys. Much nicer and I feel very honest vs Angels (Burdine/Chimney Rock). You are correct we DO NOT need 2 check cashing places in the shopping center. But right now these are the cards we are dealt. I think these type of places are simply a cancer that has infested all areas of town including Kingwood, Clear Lake, areas of Memorial, and the Heights. The sooner Congress passes legislation regulating them the sooner we get rid of them. My understanding is that Weingarten still owns the shopping center through one of their off-shoot companies. A commercial real estate friend tells me they have several branches that they lease their "lower tier" shopping centers via. I may be wrong, but that is based on information from several real estate folks.

Now I know for a fact that the HEB where 99cent only is now was not closed due to crime. A very close friend of mine is in a very high level management position at HEB's corporate office in San Antonio and the reason the store was closed is 2 fold. 1. They had planned to open a new store at W. Fuqua and Beltway 8 within 1 year of closing the W. Bellfort store. This plan was scuttled because Chimney Rock would not be put through, being replaced by Ft Bend Tollway. HEB's plans were to have a HEB Plus concept there and since the CIty of Houston had planned to run CR through they would have access to Westbury & Meyerland residents. They would then close down the Chimney Rock/S. Braeswood store. Secondly, the W. Bellfort store was also closed due to Weingarten's greed. They wanted to raise the rent significantly on HEB so HEB chose to close the store when their lease expired. Many in Westbury knew of the stores closing months before it closed, not days. Another contributing factor to the closure was HEB's decision to end the Pantry concept in Houston. This W. Bellfort store was smaller than the S. Braeswood store and could not be easily converted into a "regular" small footprint HEB. (Just an FYI, it appears the HEB in Bellaire will be closed when the HEB on Buffalo Speedway is opened)

As for demoing the shopping center and letting it grow over. The civic club would not let that happen. There is enough political clout these days with Mayor White and Councilperson Clutterbuck that it simply would not be allowed to happen. I think Anne is gathering enough political steam to be like Martha Wong when she did a lot to update parts of Fondren SW before leaving office.

The plans for the centerette are communuted due to Pizza Hut and Auto Zone. The entire block bounded by Cedarhurst/Moonlight/W. Bellfort/Chimney Rock will be demolished EXCEPT Pizza Hut and Auto Zone. There will also be a 're-engineering' of the NE quadrant of the intersection to smooth out traffic turning from W. Bellfort (westbound) to Chimney Rock (northbound). My understanding is that CVS will build a new standalone store on the parcel and there will be a shopping area with 2-3 stories of residential units above that. I'm trying to get someone to take the old Centerette sign and repair it and relight it with the clock once the new center is opened. Time will tell.

Once we get past the economic problems there are some other projects that are very exciting planned for the area including covering the drainage ditch running in the middle of Chimney Rock. And I believe the COH is looking at the storage tank at Kinglet and Chimney Rock to "rightsize" that facility. I'd love for them to build a nice water tower like at Bellaire Blvd and S. Gessner and let Westbury put its logo on the tower.

This is all very good news, Dr. Food. Thanks for the updates. Westbury is such an enormous, solid residential area that is can clearly support new retail. CVS, HEB, these would all be terrific additions to the neighborhood. It would be great to see some more mom & pop-type local establishments open, too, though I guess that's unlikely these days.

I checked out the new taco place on Caroline near the entrance to the park at the HMNS. It was pretty good. Slow, but the food was good. Basics: tacos, burritos, quesadillas. Plus they have a little patio outside, a bar inside, good music. Definitely a good option to have near the park.

Speaking of stupid, did anyone catch the Chron.Com's Q and A this morning?

Someone asked if he should WASH his BACONBITS before putting them on his salad in order to avoid getting the swine flu! Seriously.

Please don't laugh about that. It's too easy to make fun of stupid people, and we shouldn't do it. Niche says so.

I really don't think that it is that simple. Opinions as to what the optimal level of government spending should be (or as I've often brought up in the past, whether spending of various sorts should be the responsibility of the federal, state, or local levels) vary widely. However the debate does not occur at the extremes but along a spectrum. The positions that spending is excessive or inadequate are not the same as positions that government spending should represent all or nothing out of the economy.

Seriously, are you trying to make a jab at anarchists (in which case, why bother) or are you trying to make fun of fiscal conservatives?

Don't get your knickers in a knot. I'm making a jab at the stupid. Those who complain, unthinkingly, about taxes, but still expect services. I think I've explained that three times now.

Nonetheless, it's clear from both of your posts that you really need to learn more about what Rick Perry and the others are upset about.

You don't seem to get it all because it's not taxes or federal health services, nor is it "our own country and federal government."

There didn't seem to be a single, unified viewpoint among the tax protesters. Your own view may be clear to you, but I don't think everyone out there at tea parties was as clear on it as you may be.

Anyway, I never even mentioned tea parties in my original comment. I was talking, in general, about people who complain about taxes. People don't want to pay them, but expect services.

What does taxation have to do with it?

I'm pretty sure that most of the people you're sneering at have various opinions on taxation but would agree that disease control and public health are legitimate governmental responsibilities.

Out of control federal entitlement spending and unfunded mandates to state governments for even more of the same, probably not so much.

It would be nice if the people who make fun of the tea party movement - and politicians like Rick Perry and Mark Sanford - would actually try and understand it rather than make strained jokes about at all being about income taxes.

Not sure where you get "sneering" from my post, but my point is that responding to a public health crisis, and distributing this kind of medication is one of the things our tax dollars pay for. So every time people whine about taxes, they conveniently forget all the services they expect from their government. Like this one.

If anyone was sneering, it was Rick Perry, sneering at our own country & federal government. Not me.

Correct. Additionally, what has them even more concerned is that in Mexico, it has been killing young, otherwise healthy people, as opposed to the old and the very young, as these things usually do.

Luckily, Governor Perry had not yet followed through on his threat to secede from the Union, allowing him to ask the federal government to send 850,000 doses of flu medication from its national stockpile.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/health/6393889.html

LOL. Should we ask anyone who wants to receive the medication what their position on taxation is?

Bonhomme is an awesome street. Drive down Treefrog at the end of it one day. You will forget you are in SW Houston. Yes, the schools stink, but there are some great ones in adjacent neighborhoods. Make HISD magnet vanguard work for you!

Off topic, perhaps, but a word of realistic warning to people thinking that magnets can solve their school problems... I am one of several people I know who have kids that did not get accepted into ANY of the magnets to which they applied. It's a lottery, and for some it works out well, and for others, it doesn't. Make sure you have a long list of magnets and a back-up plan.

I wasn't clear, sorry.

I meant this neighborhood is roughly a mile or 2 from MedCenter/Rice homes and the same distance from Upper 3rd Ward homes.... polar opposites.. it's a middle (transitional) area of which honestly, I've never had reason to be curious about.

Course.. this is houston, so there are transitional areas everywhere.

Oh yes, sorry I misread you. But nevertheless, people do think of this as a transitional neighborhood, in the sense that I was talking about. And I'm not sure it is.

The problem is that this neighborhood is not a "transitional" neighborhood. It just is what it is. It would seem like it ought to be transitional... still priced low, close to everything. But many people living here really don't want it to change. Plus there are a lot of really trashy apartment complexes, and an awful lot of police activity.

Maybe it will turn out to be a model of healthy development... some plots, here and there, developed into denser townhomes, mixed with large single family houses, and apartments. There are certainly enough buses to make it a no-car urban neighborhood. But it is in serious need of decent retail, and I just don't see that happening with the perception (and reality? I don't know) of crime here.

We are planning to buy a house somewhere in these neighborhoods (Westbury 1 or 2, or maybe 3; Parkwest; Maplewood South). My preference would be Parkwest, because it is pretty & zoned to Parker (we have little kids). But we could be in a nearby neighborhood and magnet in to Parker or Kolter. My question, for residents there, is whether there are other differences that might not be readily apparent. Are there more kids in the neighborhoods zoned to the better schools? (Fewer kids in Maplewood South, for example, than in Parkwest?) And the fees in Maplewood South are higher... do you get more for that? If so, what? Any other insights into the little differences in these neighborhoods would be appreciated. Thanks.

thanks everyone...

I've heard that Sugar Land schools are excellent, and I've heard good things about a lot of different subdivisions in Sugar Land. I'm hoping someone can help me narrow my search a bit by telling me:

1. What are the BEST elementary schools (and high schools, for future reference) in Sugar Land?

2. In terms of access to freeways, and mature trees, are First Colony and New Territory my best choices? Are there others that are close to freeways (and as close to Houston as possible) that also have mature trees?

thanks for any advice/suggestions.

Me too, but also it might be nice for them to make it more obvious to the Richmond line riders that they are there. I'm sure Lucky Burger and Cafe Artiste would like it. And replacing the vacant white building with something useful could be nothing but good.

Gosh I hate that place. Rotho Chapel too.

I think Cafe Artiste is closed now.

Little-known fact to some, Menil owns many of the houses surrounding Menil. For example, I used to live at a house on the corner of W. Main and Mandell (across from Cafe Artiste) and my landlord was Menil. They have a property management office across Mandell from the museum. I always thought owning all those houses was part of a long-term expansion plan. No need for any mess when they want to expand. Just let all the leases expire and then bulldoze the houses. Incidentally, they already have a minor presence on Richmond Drive that they can use, Richmond Hall, a 1930s grocery store that now houses a light installation by Dan Flavin. Furthermore, there is already a Menil-owned path that leads between some houses from Branard to W. Main @ Loretto.

I see nothing but potential for Menil.

I think they also own that industrial building on the corner of Richmond and Mandell; used to belong to the power company, I believe? The white building with the ugly fence around it. It will improve that block of Richmond tremendously if/when they do something with that property.

They are very much up and out of the ground now, but today was the first time I actually noticed...

I can't give much detail since it was a pretty quick drive by, but my initial reaction was "not impressive."

Tall, skinny houses. Good in a latte; not so good in a house.

Can someone explain to me what the appeal of this place is? I heard it was "amazing" so I took my kids and another family to the one in Galveston. After waiting an hour for a table among swarms of people and the shlock in the gift shop, we were finally seated... I must say, what I remember are the wait, the crowds, and the noise, not the food. I have no idea what we ate or whether it was good. I was scarred. Is it always crowded? Why do people like it?