20thStDad

Wow! Lots of inaccurate information here and a seemingly lack of desire to have accurate information or, at the very least, to dismiss accurate information when it is offered.

Here are some facts: additions will still be allowed, there's nothing about paint color, most requests get approved by historic commission, demolitions of dilapidated property get approved now and will continue to get approved, there are tax incentives for improvements and they will continue, new construction will still be allowed. That's just a start on the facts.

There's a lot of discussion about property rights, but what about when an owner's right to do what he/she wants with his/her property infringes on my property rights to continue to enjoy my property and what I bought into, which was a historic neighborhood.

A small group of builders and realtors who don't even live in Houston Heights are behind the inaccurate information and fear mongering. That is not surprising.

BTW, Nicholson is not in any historic district.

You kind of had me until the bolded part. Sorry, but in no way do your property rights extend beyond your property line. Wanting your surroundings to remain exactly they way they were when you bought is nothing more than a hope, it's certainly not a right.

The more I read about it the more this feels like a really bass ackwards way to get around the lack of zoning.

Go to this site, and at the top they have all of the districts listed. If you click on them, a map pops up. Based on your screen name and past posts about Mam's, my guess is you're in Heights West.

http://www.preservehouston.org/

The current district doesn't go north of 16th St. I didn't see a link to future/possible extended boundaries.

Maybe starting around page 20....it just references exterior changes, but it could easily be taken to include paint colors, etc. Unless you have a photo showing there were numbers on your house in 1925 in the same style, color, size, etc. (sarcasm rears its' ugly head).

Sorry I'm vague lately - probably due to insufficient bourbon consumption. I meant I'm looking for any boundaries of proposed districts. I did take a decent read through, vegetation seems to be safe for now, I can plant or dig up whatever I want.

Audi makes some really slick looking cars. Does the performance match? Are they generally worth the price?

Can someone explain why the email I received today from the HHA regarding the HAHC meetings only lists the one meeting designated for the Heights Historic Districts, but NOT the one for all of the districts? Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but shouldn't this email also show the date for the primary meeting for ALL of the districts, which is tomorrow (27th). And, generally speaking, am I the only one ticked off about the 3-4 day notice on the primary meeting for tomorrow. I imagine they've had these places/times reserved for more than 3 days. This just smells wrong.

Meeting

Public Meeting for Proposed amendments to Houston Historic Districts Ordinance Including Heights East, West, & South

Tuesday, August 10, 6-8 p.m.

United Way, 50 Waugh Drive

Click HERE for proposed admendments.

I didn't see the part that said they would/would not be targeting my house for having to submit an application and post a sign if I want to change the address number style on my house. Is that published yet?

Ok so fines and liens, that's what I figured.

I'm assuming that if this passes they still can't force people to change what is already on their property, it would only affect new work. What does it accomplish then? If something gets built it has to be some kind of neo-craftsman? Meanwhile, the old codger who lets vegetation grow up to where you can't see how dilapidated his house has become continues to be a worse problem, IMO.

I imagine it would work like an HOA and the owner would be responsible for all the costs.

What true enforcement do they have? What if someone just says no, and also refuses to pay a fine or something?

I read the ordinance and I'm shocked that the HAHC has so much authority over how we even maintain our homes. The restrictions being considered go far beyond the deed restrictions we have now. There is language that the HAHC can require maintenance if they decide that the property has fallen into "...disrepair so as to result in the deterioration of any exterior architectural feature." That means that it is within their subjective authority to tell us when to paint our homes, etc "No person shall conduct any mandatory repair of a landmark, protected landmark, or of a building, structure or object within an historic district or archaeological site without a certificate of appropriateness."

If you care about our neighborhood and want to stop this movement to impose HAHC authority over your decisions concerning your property, please come to the public comment meetings and speak up.

I stand by my earlier post that the proposed amendments are designed to run off modest income families. It is snobbery, elitism and racism we have to fight, as well as our freedom and property rights.

"Certificate of appropriateness" - what a joke. Too many people have this mythical notion of the Heights. It's too late for this to work the way the historic district freaks want it to. Something like this should have been put in place 75 years ago to have their desired effect, because at this point the definition of "appropriate" has a world of difference from one house to the next, not even one block to the next. Why don't they just open up a fascist hardware store and sell Heights-approved fencing, paint colors, and plants. I just don't understand the oxymoron, this is the utmost attempt at control, and when I think of Heights residents someone who responds well to that doesn't come to mind.

OK, I'll bite. What is Wienerschnitzel? I've never seen one.

Fast food hot dog joint (is that repetitive?).

you're too young so don't try and lead a discussion on this subject.

How young to you have to be? I don't think I have that many years on lockmat but have had my share of Wienerschnitzel. They have at least one in Baton Rouge, when we were feeling really cheap back in college we would make it there. The only thing that annoyed me were the really small drinks. And I think they only had 1 size, it was maybe 10 ounces. The place we went do didn't even have a dine-in area, it was drive through and walk-up to eat on outside tables only.

I bet Spec's does have a good one, I like their deli. That's a good idea.

if you go to big mamou....why are you asking the question?

We went there once and haven't been back - maybe I phrased the question wrong due to scotch intake. I checked Big Mamou's website and their muffaletta is $9.50, and I think that's too much so I'm not going there.

Where can I get a good muffaletta around here (for less than $9.50 so not Big Mamou - self proclaimed cheap bastard)??? I've got a wicked hankerin for one and we're not going back to Baton Rouge for at least a month.

Maybe the ugly side of this building should have a giant 20-story jumbotron facing the park. Think of advertising revenue. All the haifers that want more lighting for DT at night would be so happy.

That reminds me of the fun, heated debate about the tackiness of public jumbo-trons in the Houston Pavilions thread. There was much disagreement. As far as I know, there are still no jumbo-trons at HP and there may never have been any plans for any. We tend to make things up and run with it in this wild west internet place.

Sounds like you got it right. It's just a shame that when you stand in the park you get the ass end -- a very unwelcoming and ugly end -- of that building. At least from a park visitior's perspective, no view was better than that view.

Maybe its ass end can be the canvas for some large urban art expression. For instance, a mural of an oil derrick mounted on the side by a space shuttle and atop by a squatting Bagwell.

300' Oil derrick with 50' Jeff Bagwell at the top and the retired shuttle Discovery mounted on to the side..... all bronzed....

Yes.

Before I even got to this post I was planning to search for this awesome rendering of yours. I'll just link to the post rather than confuse innocent googlers searching for Discovery Tower info.

Umm...ever heard of cleaning crews?

Unacceptable, the cleaning crews should be staffed only with morlocks so they can keep the lights off. Anyone working late during a new moon is asking for it.

What a sad, depressing world this would be if each building were like this. Why are people against lighting? Downtown would certainly look much better like this:

Now, downtown looks dead at night, hopefully the Hess Tower lighting can inspire these boring owners. Heck, even the Methodist Outpatient Center turned off it's lights, what's the deal?

It's not depressing, it's eerie, could be chilling depending on the noise level in the area. Some lights are ok, extravagant light pollution for no reason isn't necessary.

The water fountain play area is great. This morning was nice and overcast so no baking alive, but still warm enough to enjoy the water. Whoever thought of that is a genius. We need one every quarter mile in this city.

Great view from the discovery green water play thing.

please don't tell me this building is complete. I'm pretty disappointed on how architecturally uninspiring this building is. Even the lighting at night is very bland looking, although the wind turbines look cool while spinning at night. It would look cooler if they lit up the crown in a different color other than boring white. Kind of like the Memorial Herman building in the Medical Center that changes color inside its crown. Downtown needs some buildings like that.

Wouldn't a building that has wind turbines to offset power usage contradict itself by having an extravagant lighting scheme? I think it should be pitch black at night except for whatever the FAA requires.

I read that the YMCA is changing its name to "The Y", although the new logo still has "YMCA". Will they have to change the windows?

Kinda funny that the letter they are going with is "Y". When I think of the Y unfortunately I think of all the gross old men who inexplicably hang around naked in the locker room. Especially at the downtown one, it's not near as bad at the northwest Y where we go now.

Agree, I am heading to Greenway and previously to Galleria so no luck for me.

If the feeder additions include sidewalks you could take that down to Shepherd, other than that I think heights is your safest crossing. Crossing at Shepherd now sucks because you have to cross it at some point, either over the ROW on Durham or over the bayou on Shepherd. There aren't sidewalks on both sides there, it makes it suck. Past that it's easy to shoot down one of the small streets parallel to Shepherd and get anywhere. I kind of doubt the feeders will have sidewalks the whole way though, since it'll be elevated most of the way.

I hope they build a good bike/walk path to cross I-10 and the bayou on Yale, and connect it to the trail along 7th. Why ride farther to Target to pay more when I can ride to Walmart for more interesting people-watching?

Was it the Wedge tower garage or another garage? I was just there Wednesday, glad the douche waited until I was gone. I would be doubly pissed at his cop-out ass if he caused me to get home late. No sympathy for suicides, most especially public ones.

The new street connecting Koehler and 2nd will have lights at yale and heights and the new feeder road will add some lights to Yale and I-10 which would bring the total lights up to four I guess instead of six.

I bicycle to work and this is the bike trail, I am not aware of a safe alternative route to cross I-10. This stretch of Heights is already the most dangerous part of my commute and I feel that putting a wal mart on top of it without adequately considering the bike trail would adversely affect me.

On the other hand if they did not build the connector road and made Heights Blvd south of I-10 look like Heigths Blvd north of I-10 I would be all for it. I simply do not believe the bike trail will be adequately considered.

Crossing under I-10 on the hike & bike trail is way easier, unless you aren't heading toward downtown.