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Original Timmy Chan's

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Posts posted by Original Timmy Chan's

  1. On 5/2/2019 at 11:26 AM, Timoric said:

    Flooding?

    Relatively easy to prevent water from getting in, by raising the driveways/penetrations into the garage.  Imagine an elevated levee around the perimeter of the garage, and a driveway going over the levee.

     

    As long as the top of the "levee"/driveway is high enough, no concern for surface water pouring into the garage.  Of course, like any levee, it can be overtopped at a certain point.

    • Like 2
  2. OK, saw some info through Harris County Housing Authority that indicates that this complex would be built partially on undeveloped portions of the Southeast Transit Center.

     

    My best guess is that they're using the undeveloped east half of Southeast Transit Center, plus the commercial strips & movie theater fronting OST.  All of that adds up to 6 acres.

     

    Of course I've been wrong before....

  3. As an area resident, I am happy to see this.

     

    Yes, but as a frequent customer of the Walgreens pharmacy, sounds like my wait time will increase. :)

     

    Just kidding of course...as I get older these jokes about old folks just aren't as funny as they used to be.  Hits too close to home.

     

    Looks like a nice development.  I also don't see an available 6-acre parcel for this development, but whichever corner it goes on, it will be an improvement.  Wouldn't mind it replacing the run down strip center south of OST next to the transit center.  Wouldn't mind it replacing the warehouses and apartments north of OST.

     

    • Like 2
  4. My roots in the area don't go nearly as deep as many long term residents in the area, but I have frequented the area for 25 years (since my days as a student at UH), and I've been a resident of the area for 12 years.

    This intersection is I'm the Almeda OST TIRZ, and there have been definite improvements with landscaping and aesthetics over the last few years. The stretch of OST is seeing development now. It may be fast food and nail salons (as is most strip center development in Houston) but it's an improvement over used tire shops and abandoned buildings.

    Your comments about the nail salons and beauty shops are just ignorant. There are also nail salons and beauty shops in River Oaks, Galleria, and Memorial. It doesn't degrade those neighborhoods any more than it does my neighborhood. Only difference is the demographics.

    Your comment about safety is just wrong. What evidence do you have to say HEB, CVS and Walgreens aren't safe? I've not heard of any problems there.

    • Like 4
  5. I saw METRO had a 2-car train on the SE line at Palm Center for testing on the 24th. It was pretty cool to see.

     

    Funny, I saw the same train the same afternoon.  Were you also bypassing whatever it was that had the South Loop shut down?  

     

    Anyhow, it's the first train I've seen them testing on the SE line, and I drive along the line somewhat regularly (at least once a week).  I don't know if they've been testing the line before that day, but I certainly haven't seen it.  Interesting coincidence that we both saw it.

     

    I didn't have my son with me but I know he'll flip his lid when he finally sees a train on those tracks.  He's been watching them build the lines for the last few years.  I was hoping we'd be able to take the train to a UH game this season, but that's not to be.

  6. Why does there need to be vehicle lanes on the bridge?

     

    To reduce number of cars crossing the UPRR lines at grade.  It reduces the risk of accidents between cars and trains at that crossing.  I thought at one time they were going to completely eliminate the at-grade crossing there by forcing all cars to go on the bridge, with u-turn lanes on both sides of the UPRR tracks allowing access to properties on both sides of the bridge embankment.

     

    Doesn't look that way from the images...looks like the at-grade crossing remains.

  7. TXDoT is already in the advanced planning stages of putting HOT lanes there (that's why they didn't bother extending the landscaping farther south), but I think they might be making a mistake making them two-way when one-way reversible makes more sense given that the flows are strongly inbound in the morning and outbound in the evening.

     

    I was also going to say that there's no use in trying to come up with fantastic plans for rail down the 288 median...that space is already spoken for with toll lanes.

     

    I know that the construction plans are nearing completion for the Brazoria County portion of the toll lanes.  Construction could begin next year, I believe?

     

    I do love the landscaping in the median of 288 north of Binz, but know that's it's days are numbered.  I only hope that TxDOT will use that area as a "nursery" and transplant some of those trees rather than simply clear cutting them.  There are great number of mature trees in that median now.  Those trees are nearly 10 years old.  I don't know for a fact, but I assume it's not cheap to buy 10-year old trees.

    • Like 2
  8. I didn't see it listed, but there was an old school Taco Bell at the SE corner of Fuqua and Sabo when I was a kid.  Based on Google Earth it looks like the building was demolished in 2006.  

     

    Katty-corner from it was an old KFC, at the NW corner of Fuqua and Sabo.  Looks like that corner has been replaced by a Walgreens.

     

    Of course there's the C&D Burger Shoppe at 10606 Fuqua.  I still remember getting push-up pops from the freezer at the front door when it was a Dairy Queen.  It's been C&D Burger Shoppe since 1981.

     

    Continuing down Fuqua, at 10598 Fuqua is a Dominos that used to be a Jack-in-the-Box.  Right across the street from what used to be Beverly Hills Intermediate.  When I was at Beverly Hills, we always looked forward to hearing the words "three o' clock, Jack-in-the-Box", which meant that whatever heated discussion was going on at the time would be settled in the Jack-in-the-Box parking lot.  Saw many a fight there at 3 o'clock.

     

    Only thing I see that's still standing along that stretch from when I was young is the Shipley's Donuts.

     

     

    • Like 1
  9. The parking situation is pretty amazing at times. The police close down Hermann Drive at Cambridge often to prevent any more traffic from entering the park.

    It sucks for those who load up the kids for a day at the park only to arrive at a massive traffic jam on MacGregor. But such is the price of popularity.

    Even though I live 5 minutes from the park, if I'm not going to arrive before 10 am, I take the train from Fannin South. My little boy prefers the train trip anyways.

  10. I like the update to the UC. It was needed. Now, please tell me they kept the awesome cougar-eating-longhorn sculpture.

    Also, I can also add my two thumbs up for the nook. Spent a few late nights working there in December. Excellent coffee for excellent prices. Great set up with free WiFi and lots of electrical outlets for laptops.

  11. It hit on my 10th birthday. I don't recall a whole lot of the storm itself, other than the power being out for a bit, listening to the ominous reports on the battery powered radio, and getting around by flashlight.

    We lived in Sagemont, right off of what is now the South Belt. I do remember when the eye went right over us. After all the pounding winds that sounded like they were treating the roof off, there was this terrific calm...and everyone in the neighborhood poured out of their houses to check the damage. Lots of roof damage and fence damage. I distinctly recall the green skies, with lightning flashing in the distance...first time I ever saw green skies (but not the last). I later learned that's an indication of tornado weather, and sure enough there were dozens of twisters that hit Friendswood and Pearland just south of us.

    My grandma's boyfriend had a beach house in Sea Isle on Galveston Island. If you recall, the National Guard wasn't letting anyone on the island without proof that they owned land there. My grandma made a huge sob story about going to look for her boyfriend's body, we hadn't heard from him. It worked, and we were able to go check his house. His house was standing, but the piles had all moved around, and most of the stairs were gone, so my dad wouldn't let me inside.

    I remember seeing lots of homes down there that was nothing but the piles, the floor, and a toilet! Walls, roof, furniture, all gone, but that toilet was safe. So...next time we've got a hurricane bearing down on us, go sit on the shitter! :-)

  12. There WAS a bowling alley on the SE side of town, on a street close to the Gulf Freeway, west side, I'm guessing, in between College Rd. & Almeda Genoa Rd.

    You're thinking of Mimosa Lanes? It was on Mosely between Airport and Gulf Freeway. I believe there's a hotel there now.

    I ate more than my share of grilled cheese sandwiches in the snack bar there as a kid. First place I ever bowled.

    After that we spent a lot of Saturday mornings at Meadow Creek, and later Armadilla II off of Fuqua. Armadilla II had the fancy automated scoring on TV's!

    • Like 2
  13. I was coming back from Project Row Houses yesterday by driving West along Alabama St back towards Montrose and noticed a rather large construction site on the North side of Alabama just to the West of the Spur/288/59 cluster. There are two large concrete cylinder forms (about 3 or 4 stories high) on-site and wood framing is starting to go up around them. I assume it's an apartment but hadn't heard anything about it... Anyone in the know? I didn't catch the side street it is fronting but it is the first North/South street just to the West of the highway cluster.

    If it's what I'm thinking of, it's not even close to the Montrose, not even to Midtown. Pretty squarely 3rd Ward.

    If it's what I'm thinking of, I pass it every morning on the flyover from 288 northbound to 59 southbound. Site is immediately north of Amabala and immediately west of 59?

    I thought I read somewhere on here that would be a midrise. The concrete structures would be for elevators (or stairwells?), and the rest of the structure is wood frame.

  14. The place that needs an under-the-bridge path the most is at N/S Braeswood Blvd and Buffalo Speedway. I have to deal with on coming cars from both directions. ... oh even maybe build a seperate bridge for the brays bayou trail. Besides that, I agree. They definitely need a path under Almeda too. Would make a pleasant ride from UofH to TMC

    They're working their way up the channel. You're probably a couple years from that section being complete. HCFCD's construction schedule indicates that the Buffalo Spedway bridge and adjacent channel work should be complete in 2011...but I wouldn't count on it.

    • Like 1
  15. In all seriousness, I can't help but wonder what would go through the children's minds as I paddled by. Some of this group of non-Caucasian children (or at least, this is who I'm led to believe would be there from the City's graphic art) might realize that they themselves have been co-opted by their municipal, educational, or parental authorities to perform unpaid grunt work for the exclusive enjoyment of a fringe minority of white people that are affluent enough to put themselves at physical risk while utilizing a ridiculously expensive watercraft (in terms of dollar per unit of displacement) lacking any conceivable practical application.

    You're forgetting your childhood...no sane kid is thinking like that. They'll just be awe-struck. And if you start up a trash war, it just increases the amount of awesome.

  16. Damn. I was going to kayak the Bayou tomorrow. ...but with this event going on, screw it. I don't want to look up at a bank and see blue-, green-, and purple-colored children waving at me as I glide past. That's just creepy.

    Actually, it sounds like fun...hurl your empties at the kids as you drift by! What are they going to do, jump in and chase you? Even if they do, you've got the upper hand with that paddle blade...

    I think you're being short-sighted here.

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