trymahjong

That House was in fairly good condition, so I innocently wondered out loud why not give it away to moved, with buyer assuming moving costs. All Avondale business members went on to explain how that notion didn’t make economic sense. Economic sense seems to be my biggest stumbling block, I guess. Pure and Simple I hate seeing useable historic homes bull dozed.The remaining houses on the west side of Crocker are in better than “fair” condition. Extensive remodeling was done to each. One of the houses has a better than average historical story attach. It was the home of Billie Bath, part of the Levi family and sister of Harriet Bath, who helped found TheHouston Ballet Guild.

The Central 1&2 division PIP ( positive interaction program) will honor Officer Wayne Pates retirement after 14 years at the HPD storefront on Westheimer. Tuesday, Dec 3 at 7 pm refreshments served 1602 State street.

A little uturn concerning owners being responsible for sidewalk repair in front of their houses......... I think that sidewalk repair in Historical Districts is a complicated issue. It is down right difficult to get home owners to repair those side walk presently. How should that be addressed? Why not offer a COH tax incentive if Property owners can produce a more walkable side walk? That seems like an odd way to phrase it but here is my reasoning: I will use Avondale as an example since many people have contact with the crap sidewalks while visiting our bars and restaurants. First off COH requires it chooses the contractor. A house on my block was charged &7k for sidewalk replacement ( + he did newdrive way from sidewalk to street).........an eye opener to many here who are retired, on a fixed income with no additional revenue. That piece of property had no historic trees (Avondale was treeless in 1907 when developed, some trees here are 100 years old) I have personally heard COH state ( Yup I want sidewalk repair also and that is the question I usually ask at those pesky town hall meetings:/)that trees should be removed in order to “ properly” repair sidewalks. The overwhelming sentiment here in Avondale is to protect our 100 year old tree canopy! There is a cadre of volunteers that check for permits when ever a tree is likely to be cut down by developer- whether a “good” or “trash” tree)So what to do? Everyone wants wheelchairs and strollers to be able to use sidewalks. A few owners have “ thought outside the box” One homeowner built a boardwalk of sorts over the roots of the tree. A law office laid charming pavers over the tree roots. As far as I know, no one specifically asked permission from COH— Nor has COH filed any violations against them. Result nice walkable sidewalks. so why not a have a City tax incentive, maybe more of those types of fixes might be possible.

Note first page article on Westheimer improvement delays.https://communityimpact.com/uploads/pdf/19/11/HRM-19-11.pdf

Oh my I lived in Lagos just after 9/11, when literally there wasn’t a single traffic light -really not one traffic signal in the largest city in Africa. I am told that at least has been installed since I departed. Still it strains my imagination that there would ever be enough money thrown at Nigeria to alleviate the traffic chaos. When I lived there, most Nigerians spent around 25% of their day involved in traffic. Even after all this time and a best case scenario(rare in Nigeria, where Murphy’s Law seems tailor made for what goes on) of of cutting time spent in traffic down by 50%........not many tourist would find that appealing, no matter how pretty those towers are.

I thought I might be one of the first 200 in line to get that insulated bag. Alas a conflict came up..............sigh Wont get to experience the whole “kazillion people in line” Kazillion people trying to check out at the same time not to mention everyone looking and exiting parking at the same time.......oh my so how was it?

It’s funny you should bring up “Edesel”, who I understand was a remarkable poet with connections to that house and TSU? I hope I got that right. At one of the community meet and greet Dwight Boykin hosted between the owners and the residents, that name was mentioned and a more neighborhood friendly idea put forth to use the inventory from the typewriter shop ( yes there was a lot of inventory apparently) for decoration and have a coffee oriented business ( as opposed to a posh $40.00 per plate place )with Edesel and his written works as the focus...................NAW! Same notion as before......sigh

I get your point about not being able to see into the inside, plus i observed the gutting of the house almost three years ago. So now as I drive by a few times a day, I don’t notice any doors open, contractors or their equipment. I see the Daiquri Hut is probably finished and contractors for most part have left but I don’t see a lot of patrons. I did notice painter at The DBar sprucing that place up. I am am going to be blown away if D’Legacy saddened opens as a revamped business since I don’t see those doors opened either. But as long as I drive by so frequently I thought I’d post .......

https://m.chron.com/entertainment/restaurants-bars/article/Montrose-Tex-Mex-mainstay-El-Real-closes-14567849.php?utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=facebook.com I am so sorry this happened. in 2011 after the video rental store closed- I was so afraid this property would be torn down. at the beginning of Montrose Monday’s it was sooooo crowded. somehow tho it all faded. I’m sure his house catching fire and the messy divorce didn’t help things. I will miss Bryan Caswell in Montrose.

I still drive by daily and see nothing has changed. Two years or so the owners of restaurant asked for the patio option to be moved- the neighbors said “NO” not sure if anything in designer renderings reflects that. The owners wanted a COH handicap cut in curbing along side Emancipation, where valets would be accommodating exiting patrons of restaurant. I’ve notice some improvements or sidewalk along Wheeler but no curb cuts on Emancipation..

I missed the mark correct start time is 7pm

Neartown/Montrose is sponsoring aDistrict C candidates forum at The Montrose Center tomorrow 6:30 pm- informal meet and greet before and after with the 11 candidates.

Noticed the Variance sign and got an email about it. Seems they want to reduce the building set back from 5 feet along California and Grant street and by pass the requirement of a visability triangle at the intersection. googled it just to be sure but it means the triangular area adjacent to the intersection of any public street or public alley within which no obstruction may be placed which would block the sight lines for vehicular traffic. The triangle is established by measuring a distance of 45 feet from the intersection of the extended curb or edge of the pavement of a major thoroughfares, and 25 feet from the extended edge of the curb or pavement of local streets. A straight line connecting the ends of each measured distance which forms the hypotenuse shall establish the visibility triangle. The visibility triangle should not contain any visual or physical impediments or obstructions to the vertical view between 30 inches and seven feet in height. Messing around with the "visibility triangle" sort of sets off a few warning bells to me. A few Civic Clubs wrote wrote a letters of Objection when Shaws jewelry wanted to do that at Gray and MOntrose-- of course the traffic through Grant and California is minimal but still......... BTW........I never heard the number 600 used by the developer at Cohens Town Hall thingy when talking about number of parking spaces.....I wonder why?

About that HPD storefront removal........... In our fast moving digital age an HPD store front with limited hours ( no ability to confront nor relay instantly “call in”active crime happenings either) limited person collecting paper citizen complaint forms.....seems pokey and superfluous. However there is something intangible about relations ( both the sergeant that passed and current patrol officer had been assigned at least since 2005)with actual nearby residents. Not to mention the patrol cars comings and goings that does have a positive beneficial impact on local neighbors. Yes of course there are a kazillion antidotes where the storefront “dropped the ball” and solid reasons why a short staffed HPD should consolidate storefronts downtown. Still, those patrol cars coming from everywhere 24/7 to use that storefront as a way station was invaluable— actual HPD patrols in our neighborhoods helps prevent crime! I am not hopeful with the arrangement for ALL storefronts to move Downtown. I was hoping for a space in the new Radom development ( Radom indeed make a tentative provision in early talks)for an unmanned space where officers could continue to drive to 24/7 and perhaps unknowingly patrol our neighborhood. HPD is indeed short staffed and getting HPD permission for increase in dedicated patrols for a specific area are hard to obtain. So I am wistful for those patrols that were “ happenstance” but now gone.

Montrose TIRZ still a thing? yes— meeting 3rd Monday’s at St Stephan’s Lots of negotiations for TIRZ will help fund public parking spaces which could increase in number to up to 100- available after the business there close for the day. for myself, it surprised me that COH actually owned that part of strip mall housing the HPD storefront. Apparently that ownership set the whole new library idea in motion. Radom build the shell of the new library building instead of outright purchase of land, I guess.There is a piece of land in Midtown that COH was considering since current Freed building needs $$$$ repair.