Texasota

"Setting retail along Westheimer back from the street even just a little makes it safer and more accessible..."

How exactly does it do that? Because this sounds more like your opinion based on your preferred method of navigating that part of town. I would argue that, in one respect, Westheimer is actually safer than surrounding streets because of high pedestrian activity and visibility. Drivers *have* to pay more attention. Do drunk drivers and people from out of town cause problems? Sure, but there's enough traffic on Westheimer to create a de facto maximum speed, particularly with the amount of street parking.

Ultimately I think we might just completely disagree about what we want from this city. I love Westheimer and I think it's beautiful. I love its diversity, its density, and its general liveliness. I'd like to see that increase in fact.

Jaywalking does not equal Calcutta. It's a normal part of a dense, mixed urban environment. Not to say I wouldn't support changes to Westheimer to mitigate it, but increasing setbacks would not be helpful in that regard.

Eh, I don't think your experience is typical, Niche.\

I wouldn't describe lower Westheimer as either loud or ugly, and I see plenty of pedestrian activity along it at all hours of the day.

I personally prefer to walk along Westheimer itself because it is much more active than nearby neighborhood streets.

As for traffic calming? The shape of the Westheimer curve combined with street parking actually do a pretty good job of that. Plus I've noticed that jaywalking seems to be becoming way more common in the area which is actually helping as well.

Eh, you specifically had to specify "multi-tenant" retail, Niche, because areas like Westheimer @ Dunlavy are mostly 1-3 tenants per building. Again though, why is "that's the way its generally been done before" a good excuse not to do better today? I respect your dedication to contrarianism, but it this development could easily have been built with exactly the same amount of surface parking AND a stronger relationship to Westheimer.

I didn't say it was the worst thing ever, Niche, but I'm not sure why settling for "better than a strip mall" makes sense in this case. Its relationship to Westheimer *is* a strip mall.

eh, i think it depends on location somewhat. I'd argue that this development is just close enough to Highland Village to be quasi-walkable, but it's not like it's in Rice Village or lower Westheimer or Midtown. Of course, the only way to fix that is to actually build developments with a better relationship to the street.

Taking out mature live oaks without an extremely good reason is, in this city, unforgivable. Nothing is more important than shade, even if you're just walking from your parked F-750 to Wal-Mart to buy 10 pounds of butter and 3 cases of bullets.

That devolved into an elitist rant waaaaay too quickly.

Well.

I'm definitely not in love with this development's relationship to Westheimer, but other than that it's really not bad at all.

But honestly, why even do that weird little strip of parking lot? They could just as easily have integrated surface and head-in parking throughout the development, which would have preserved the development's relationship to one of the most important streets in Houston.

Unfortunate? I beg to differ.

Don't get me wrong- I like what Post is doing, but if a little old lady doesn't want to sell, more power to her.

Besides, I like that house. It could make a great little restaurant or bar.

Pretty much all contemporary high rises are curtain wall lockmat. That just means the exterior wall (generally glass) is hung outside of the structure. Think of any tower in "uptown" or, more attractively, the new building that looks like a lighter downtown. Or any number of other buildings really.

Ah, I see- I looked at the wrong picture and assumed a really tall first floor. Bah.

It looks like the existing building is 8 stories, so hopefully were talking about a major renovation, *not* another teardown.

Is it ok if I don't like Wal-Mart OR Apple?

A "simple verdant green" sounds an awful lot like a vacant lot. One of the reasons that Discovery Green has been succesful is that it was heavily programmed and has maintained a steady, almost daily stream of various events.

Oooh, street level retail. I think I love Ashby Highrise.

Well, don't forget that there's an enrmous difference in scale: Minneapolis is all of 50 square miles so it might be more meaningful to compare Houston to the Twin Cities as a whole. Additionally, Google Maps doesn't really show the difference in quality. Our best trail is probably the MKT trail, which, while great, does not even remotely compare to the Midtown Greenway. In terms of connectivity, the Greenway runs through Uptown and Midtown, but connects to the Grand Rounds trails to the West, the Mississippi River trails to the east, and the Hiawatha trail which squirts you to the UofM campus and downtown. There's a bike store that fronts directly onto the Greenway. Most of the Greenway is below grade, so it feels incredibly safe and separate from traffic.

I realize much of this is not directly transferable to Houston (a trail below grade would quickly just become another bayou) but I do think it shows that safety and connectivity are extremely important to increasing cycling. MKT connecting to the Heritage trails is a great start, but it is just a start. A direct connection through Downtown to the Columbia Tap would be great and would make commuting from greater Heights to UH more appealing. My personal biggest pet peeve as a cyclist is the lack of north-south routes through Montrose. There are a few areas where traffic can get really dicey, and Waugh, the most logical street by which to cross Allen Parkway, seems to get worse on a weekly basis. I would argue for restriping Waugh from Gray to Washington so that its 2 lanes of traffic in each direction, a consistent center turn lane, and nice wide well marked bike lanes.

There are other factors as well though.

Example: long term maintenance. Dedicated bike paths dont get the constant pounding that roads do so they dont cost as much to maintain.

I know when I lived in Minneapolis they had a better bike path system, but I don't think they spent more than 15% of their transportation budget on it (I think thats right- I knew the exact number at one point but id have to look it up to be sure. To give you an idea of what they have there: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=minneapolis,+mn&hl=en&sll=29.700579,-95.40184&sspn=0.540967,1.128845&gl=us&hnear=Minneapolis,+Hennepin,+Minnesota&t=m&z=12&lci=bike

They've been doing it longer than Houston has though- honestly I'm impressed by the new trails and work on the bayou trails over the last decade. Plus our trails are rarely covered in ice and snow.

While I realize that most people don't really take cycling seriously, some of us actually do commute by bike, and the combination of the existing MKT trail and the Heritage trail will create a nice, safe and direct bike trail from the Heights into downtown. I *wish* we had something similar in Montrose. It's much cheaper to build a bike trail than a road, and it's a great way to get people who aren't comfortable riding in city streets on a bike.

Exactly why those damned feeders are being built.

Ugh, not that I much care for Boondocks, but that's ridiculous.

Eh, they're quite a bit better than TJ's, with the exception of wine/beer. Have you seen their spice wall upstairs? It is amazing. All of their baked goods are infinitely better than anything you can buy at Trader Joe's.

Thank god. It's not like it costs any more to put the parking in the back. Here's hoping for awesome tenants.

This seems unquestionable positive. The only way downtown can contine to improve is if people actually move there. This initial subsidy should pay for itself as long as the city continues to encourage development. On top of that, this is currently a derelict building that, once renovated, will become a gorgeous historic landmark downtown.

So much better than cheesesteaks

That map is bizarre. 77006 is probably the best served zip code for grocery stores in the state. I can walk or ride my bike less than two miles to 2 Krogers, 2 Randalls, an HEB, a Fiesta, and 2 Whole Foods.

Haha, it means I've been in grad school too long.

Basically- how do you make two city blocks separated by a street feel like a single continuous experience? How do you dissolve the boundary created by the street?