houston_urban_fan

Or they could just wait because the commercial property market is going to experience its own correction in the next few months. Its going to be a buyers market.

The other magnet for transients are the 3 bunkhouses in Midtown. Do a sex offender search on their addresses and you will be surprised. Midtown is now a magnet for the homeless. You would think the management district would care since the tax-paying residents fund them, but based on what I witnessed during the last evening meeting they do not. Yet another example of an unaccountable (quasi) government agency.

Sure. But take it a step further and help individuals develop skills that will prevent the re-occurrence of homelessness. The definition of homelessness is not the absence of a home, but a break in the process of ones ability to generate the income needed to provide basic needs and desired items. Sometimes this is based on misplaced priorities and sometimes its unavoidable circumstances that contribute to the loss of income or re-direction of income to other areas. Placing someone in a free home does not break the cycle. I think many groups like to paint people with the same brush and think that the solution is just to find them a job in a Fast Food restaurant and call it a day. I think you serve the individual and overall society in a much better capacity if you listen to the individual's personal story so that you can gain a better insight into what fits them the best. My beef with many homeless groups is that they fail to see that for a 50 year old homeless man there may be more dignity being homeless than being yelled at by your 21 year old boss at McDonalds because you did not mop to his standards. Yes, the correct choice in that matter would be to keep you cool and not take it personally, but for many it

Westguy76, it

Lately I've noticed a mass increase in what I call "random" traffic. These are people that I typically do not see on a daily basis walking their dogs or kids, running, jogging, etc. So in the past few weeks I've noticed on an ongoing basis: - Skinhead fellow with tattoos on right shoulder, baggy pants that hang below his boxers. - On the streets of Austin and Caroline. - Female wandering in the middle of the road (Austin at Tuam intersection) screaming out for someone or something named Zachery (My neighbors also watched this individual get slapped around by a man living in 2818 Austin st.) - Maroon van with Georgia plates almost permanently parked on Caroline. - Increase in foot traffic by individuals wearing "head scarves" on Austin street. (with optional white towel...) Has anyone else noticed a sharp increase in this type of foot traffic? Has anyone experienced any recent property thefts or attempted theft in the past few weeks? Something has changed in the past month or two (new flophouse, rehab, crack-house, drug-dealer) because I have not witnessed a significant increase in this type of traffic in this amount of time since I moved here 10 years ago. What is weird is if I head east down Dennis or Tuam past Crawford I do not see anything approaching the same level of traffic or characters. (lucky you) It just seams to be concentrated in the areas between LaBranch and San Jacinto and Dennis and Anita. I caught something on the news over the weekend about how one Atlanta neighborhood is using Twitter, Live camera feeds and other web resources to quickly notify residents and the police of suspicious activity and crime. I think HAIC is a good tool to let others know if you've experienced a property theft of witness suspicious activity.

9 months!?!? Either their horribly inefficient or we should expect the Taj Mahal when complete. Maybe their the same crew that built out the Pinks Pizza on Gray? (took a year, right?)

At one time there was a posted TABC Alcohol Permit notice. It is no longer posted. What ever it is hopefully it is somewhat up class. Wine bar patrons typically will not relieve themselves on your lawn. I cannot for the life of me find tax or ownership information for that small shopping center on Tuam and San Jacinto. The center I am referring to is the old location of Saigon Cafe, which has now moved across the street to the 5 story(?) shopping center. That place could be a great location if the owners would just spend a little money to refresh the exterior. I would love to own this shopping center. Tuam Shopping Center You could open a cafe at the corner and call it the Speed Trap Cafe or something kitschy like that. I can see some hired hands waving big signs marked "SPEED TRAP" in big letters and "cafe" in slightly smaller ones. That would be a good way to pick up a loyal customer! (You may not win any friends at HPD, but then again they seem to think speeders are the big issue in Midtown, not prostitutes and drug dealers)

I read about this project on the Baldwin Park thread and it looks like they have moved the dumpster to the north side of the building and are already tearing out cinder block for windows. Can someone post the architects drawing of the finished building? This is a great deal more exciting than the "free clinic" going up at Fannin and McGowan.