fwki

Yeah, the local interweb is buzzing about it, calm and delightful gun rights discussion to follow...

Double-header extends reversal streak for out-of-touch HAHC when Planning Commission overturns twin asinine rulings........story at 11..........http://houstontx.swagit.com/play/08082013-604

I heard this last night as well.  So he is keeping the original Christians Totem on Washington and I10?  My source said the name is being sold along with the businesses.

Last week I heard they all were sold, but that was fourth-hand and slurred.  Then I checked with a business associate of Steve (Christians owner) and Steve told him he was keeping the Totem because all his friends drink there.  When I first moved here in 1991, staying out 290, it was Ken's Totem, a perfect stop for a tall boy before getting on the 290 HOV on Old Katy Road, pre-open container law.

Christians changes coming, word is owner sold out to SherlocKk's,all sites except old quik stop....more live music on White Oak...

......

 

So, in the Heights HDs, 40% of additions were denied, without very clear criteria as to why.  Not sure I'd want to roll those dice if my life savings were on the line.

Uncertainty is the bane of capital investment and anyone who professes that this uncertainty is good for Heights property owners is a fool or has a hidden agenda.  After the last HAHC embarrassment in front of the Planning Commission, Parker finally stepped in with her subcommittee idea to stop them from making asses of themselves and her indirectly.  One month later the children are at it again tossing good citizens’ life savings to the wind just because they can.  Power is a wonderful thing.  It enables corruption and spite, and this HAHC looks full of both.  Parker entered the fray last month taking a political risk, but she had to do something because of the public roasting they endured.  Let’s do our best for a repeat and see how she dances this month because sooner or later she’s going to step right in a big pile of it.

Except for the one area that has the most significant architecturally interesting Historic homes... River Oaks.   But for some reason they were bypassed?   Oh yeah, don't bite the hand that feeds you......

This is the smoking gun that it's not about history or architecture even in the least.  The Ordinance and the preservation movement itself is about power and control.  Parker owed a political debt and served up this power to her political supporters from the Tudor clique to the GLBT's. 

River Oaks has more declared historical "landmarks" than any other neighborhood.  Council was asking serious questions about the ethics of giving property tax breaks to these people at recent vote because they know the scam.  River Oaks will never fall victim to this Ordinance....as it stands the landmark "Preservationists" from River Oaks run their remodels through HAHC to see if they can slip it by with their "friends" in City Hall, if so, tax breaks for the rich, if not, no biggie, wait 90 days and do it anyway, the best of both worlds and you get a plaque to show off.  Meanwhile back in the Heights, wannabe collaborators are playing the game; families and regular Joes get hosed.

Wake up Heightstonians and take back your rights and political power.

.........Their end goal is very clear.

No kidding, Gafrick has been very clear about it in four or five public statements made formally in session at both the HAHC and PC.  I posted a you tube video about one of the big lies she spewed, the one nullifying the Heights Design Guidelines.  But there hasn't been a big outcry from Heights homeowners.  Maybe we're seeing ghosts TGFTH, but they sure look real to me.

Scale police on recognizance.

Part of the New Deal by Gafrick, she stated it at the HAHC & PC meetings.

Since the former districts no longer have Design Guidelines for CoA use, supplanting with Scale Police database and their new Web-based mouse maze.

..........The council, the HAHC, everyone is making sure that everyone who appeals wins - that is not coincidental.  To appeal costs money, if you have the money to appeal and to stage the fight, then you probably have the money to sue too - As it is right now, there is an argument that the ordinance has not actually caused anyone harm...without harm or damages there is no standing to sue...It will most likely take someone being denied at the appeal level to gain standing.  If the council just approves everyone, the ordinance can not be judically over-turned, which is why everything gets approved.  It takes money to win, and so far not enough of it has been ponied up.........

The outcome of the sub-committee should confirm or rebutt this argument.  I'm not sure this HAHC faction is smart enough to actually be gaming the system to prevent a significant lawsuit though.  The Planning Committee on-the-other-hand is definitely focused on the bigger picture and they are tired or even pissed off at having to clean-up after the HAHC.  Ths is latest one took the cake with absoultey NO reasons or basis discussed or given by the HAHC for denial, thus a unanimous vote to overturn.

So the goal of the sub-committee is to gain alignment between the two commisions on appeals, and what they come up with will certainly tell us a lot about the politics behind the scenes.  If it drags on until after the election though, get ready for World War Z because the outcome will end the big additions, ditch precedent and what we were sold as CoA guidelines.  If you look at everything Gafrick has been doing and saying over the last two years, that is her intent.

Just got this email from Mayor's staff referring to the earlier email I posted above:

Dear Council Member Lovell, Mr. <redacted> and Mr. <redacted>:

I need to clarify the note the Mayor sent yesterday in terms of the subcommittee’s charge.  The mission of the subcommittee is to work through what happens when the Historical and Archeological Commission denies a Certificate of Appropriateness and the appeals procedures for the Planning Commission.  It is not charged with revising the ordinance certificate of appropriateness criteria.  The Mayor regrets any misunderstanding the language of the note might have created.

Madeleine G. Appel

Deputy Chief of Staff

Office of the Mayor

City of Houston

832-393-1078

.... Developers are evil, unless they are your catchy named Renovation Developer, then they are okay.  The HDs are PRO-Developers if you haven't noticed....  just a different kind of developer.  Guess who gets to charge a premium because they are always approved by the HAHC.  Yes they are rebuilding old houses, but they are still in it to make money and the HDs help them make even more money.  

 

Dont get me wrong though, I support the Renovation Developers and their milking of the system to make big money.  Taking advantage of a situation is the Real Estate way.

I'm with you on that one.  It works just like zoning.....Da Man lets you know who to use, and the money goes round and round.  That's why the working man is totally against zoning in any form, cause he gets the short end by design. Look at all these prima donna "preservationist" architects circling this HAHC crowd like sharks, with no more scruples.  And they have a built-in advantage with this corrupt mandatory make-up of the zoning board..."citizens", as they call themselves, get five seats, and look at the freaks that have those.  They all 'bout crapped themselves when Brie made a run.

The anti-family coalition is beginning to crack...I received this from our mayor's office in response to one of my suggestions, forgot which one, but I get a wrist slap first, then we see they are getting concerned about the meat grinder they face at the Planning Commission:

Dear XXXXXXXX:

Whether you or I agree with all the decisions made by the Planning Commission and/or the Houston Archeological and Historical Commission, the members are all dedicated volunteers who spend many hours trying to do their best for Houston.  Additionally, both Commissions, by ordinance, are independent decision makers who are not obliged to take the recommendations of staff nor do they take direction from the Mayor.

Having said that, the Director of Planning and Development is establishing a subcommittee of the two Commissions, comprised of three members of the Planning Commission and two members of the HAHC to develop clearer standards and guidelines for both bodies.  I hope this will make the process easier to navigate in the future.

Sincerely,

Annise D. Parker

Mayor

http://houstontx.swagit.com/play/07112013-622

Item V

Commentary to follow...sharpen your pencils.

Unanimous vote to overturn....Gafrick and the 6 hahc fools should resign after this one if they had any self respect. But I have a feeling the State AG will help them along soon. Hats off to Brie for helping out a new neighbor and introducing me to some fine new friends.

.....But, when you equate an architectural committee with the Nazis without blinking, drawing comparisons to the Klan is actually an improvement.

Hey Walter, your over-active ego is skipping beats again, but when you falsely accuse a man of German Jewish heritage of making light of Nazis you show your elitist WASP colors.  But I forgive you because you really believe all the crap in your head, including the falsity you spewed just now and all the lies you pack into your posts.  I really feel sorry for you.  With your grandiosity always on display, it is evident you suffer from a narcissistic personality disorder that forced a connection between those posts made about Nazis and the HAHC and the latest poster to call you out, who happens to be a direct descedant of German Jews.  And your reference to the Klan fits right in with your desires for a perfect world, wholly populated by............you.

Sub (3), the condo loophole, is what I am talking about. There are a lot of old garden style multifamilies and warehouses in the Heights that can be demoed and built into Morrison-esque mid rises even with the MLS....

Now you see his overreach, now he wants a MAXIMUM lot size too.....that way the nasty vermin-infested fire trap garden-style multi-families will never get converted to new multi-family.  But it shows his duplicity.  It just kills these freaks that they don't have a time machine to actualy set back the Heights to the first 1000 all white families, just skip over the post-war era multi-family 50+ year-old stuff and all the racial/ethnic integration that went with it.  These hateful elitists would love to have the original Deed Restrictions back too with the "Coloreds must reside in the Servant's Quarters and only work in the front house" clause. 

And I was talking to a friend who lives in the HD in Woodland Heights.  She said that she is so glad that she lives in an HD after seeing what they are building on Morrison.  She said that lots of people just outside the Woodland Heights HD are scurrying trying to find a way to get included or get another HD set up so they do not end up with another development like the thing on Morrison.

Apparantly your lady friend is the typical, uninformed citizen of Houston who jumped immediatlely to the cut-your-nose-off-to-spite-your-face solution that the elites chat about while planning to save the great unwashed.  The brand new Chapter 42 allows two methods for minimum lot size that prevents town homes in established neighborhoods, one block-by-block and one neighborhod scale.  See the redline of Chapter 42 Clause 197 forward: http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/DevelopRegs/docs_pdfs/ch_42_ordinance_redline.pdf .  That's the easiest solution and it does not hand over control of your property to a panel of freaks on a power trip.

In cases no one noticed, the slippery slope on adverse behavior by the HAHC continued at the June meeting.  The HAHC, all decked out with their new doozy of a Chair, disregarded Planning staff's recommendation, long-set precedent and other rulings that very day in DENYING a CoA for an addition on Harvard Street due to gut feeling on size.  Of course they were led by foremost social engineer Doug Elliot.  When will the citizens have enough of governance by unelected prima donnas or being Wayne Brady's <delicate flower>?

Heh heh. Want to know how I know that you just made this entire post up? Two reasons. One, Walmart is currently running a store specific ad campaign. They do it for a lot of different stores. Two, radio ads are NOT expensive, especially for the #1 largest corporation in the world. You made up this entire post to make it sound like you know something, when in reality, you know nothing...and guessed wrong.

Ditto for all the diatribes, clearly a case of grandiosity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandiosity

I hope everyone who has been through the COA process takes the time to give feedback to City Council through briekel because from what I see going down, Council is completely out of the loop on this monster they created.  The Mayor sees to it that Gafrick filters all communication coming out of Planning, so if you don't bypass the system and communicate directly you won't know who to vote for in November.  Some in this group think the process is no problema, some like me think it's the biggest hosing any property owner in Houston could endure.  But I just see the horrific meetings and many posters here don't even watch those, so how bad or good is it?  What does it cost it in extra time, treasure and control of your dreams?  Is the staff professional?  Does the Director of Planning really lie right to owners' faces like she did in the town hall meetings?  If it is as bad as I suspect, then a stack of emails delivered directly to Council will force accountability.  Then we will see where each of these politicians stands.  If everything is going swimmingly, then Parker was right on May 1.

Or a school bus full of screaming children plunging off the Bridge of Death....that was fun and funny. But getting serious for a bit, what really pisses me off is misdirected, demeaning pity. Even humorless people must steer clear of that insult.

Apparently the 380 wasn't big enough to do the job the way sm wants, shoulda been a $12 million loan to the city.

As he should, same as if I loaned you money for an obligation, but you'd have to pay back in cash.  I imagine Airbanger gets paid back in reduced obligations (such as tax) since that's all the City borrowed from him, obligations.

Edit: Of the anti-ordinance folks here, who thinks the route to go is to attempt to take back the decision making process by working within the current set-up using political force?  Conversely who thinks the system is stacked internally against us at he local level and repeal is the only hope to save the neighborhood we love and own? We are watching a political faction intent on societal engineering using property law in a city where central zoning is prohibited by law. I really want to hear the pros and cons of both because we can't fight this divided.

The Freak Show continues, time to contact Bradford's committee about Elliot's poor performance...from CM Cohen (emphasis hers):

Good Afternoon,

Thank you for contacting our office regarding appointments to the Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission (HAHC).

City Council was previously informed that Position 11 on the HAHC would be open to nominations, as its current member was term-limited. The incumbent was first appointed in 2008 to fill an unexpired term, and then served two full terms after that. However, just this week, City Attorney David Feldman reviewed the ordinance and notified Council that:

“Since the limit on consecutive terms [in Sec. 33-212©] specifically refers to full terms, then one could fill an unexpired term and three consecutive full terms, in succession.”

Given this new information, and relying on historical precedent, which provides for the re-nomination of existing volunteers, Council Member Cohen will be re-nominating Mr. Doug Elliot to Position 11.

Council nominations are considered by the Ethics, Elections, & Council Governance Committee, which is chaired by Council Member Bradford. Like all Council Committee meetings, they are open to the public.

We regret any inconvenience or confusion to interested parties caused by the erroneous information originally provided to us. If you should have any additional questions, please contact our office.

Sincerely,

Office of Council Member Cohen

District C

832-393-3004

That's the problem, you weren't joking. You can call my jokes classless, as they were intended to be such. But when you're serious it's not the post that's classless it's the author.

I like the yard sign idea...people be scratching their heads, start asking questions....Ill have to make a "best of Elliot" YouTube to educate the masses.