august948 Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 Saw signs like this one the other day driving down Harwin... Found the picture and info at http://en.wikipedia....strict,_Houston Apparently the city has declared the area bounded by 59, Westpark, Hillcroft, and Harwin to be the Mahatma Gandhi District. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTAWACS Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 That is the most ridiculous thing I've seen in a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livincinco Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 That is the most ridiculous thing I've seen in a long time.A group of business owners wants to recognize their heritage (and pays for the signs I might add) and that's the most ridiculous thing you've seen in a long time? What's wrong with recognizing that this is the center of the Indo/Pak population in the city? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highway6 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 A group of business owners wants to recognize their heritage (and pays for the signs I might add) and that's the most ridiculous thing you've seen in a long time? What's wrong with recognizing that this is the center of the Indo/Pak population in the city?Well for one thing.. India and Pakistan hate each other so I doubt the Pak population is too thrilled. That's the problem.. Hundreds of ethnic populations are represented on Harwin... so why should one specific ethnic group win out and set claim to the entire area ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fringe Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Can we designate Montrose area the Timothy Leary District? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highway6 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Can we designate Montrose area the Timothy Leary District?Nope.. Sorry.. I've already put an order in with the local sign manufacturer for 20 "Little Italy District" signs for all the major intersections in Montrose. Go get your own district you non-italian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livincinco Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Well for one thing.. India and Pakistan hate each other so I doubt the Pak population is too thrilled. That's the problem.. Hundreds of ethnic populations are represented on Harwin... so why should one specific ethnic group win out and set claim to the entire area ?The Pakistan/India split occurred after Gandhi led the independence movement from England. He also spoke out against Muslim/Hindu violence and held a fast to protest violence against Muslims and the Indian government's failure to make agreed payments to Pakistan. I'll yield to anyone who has a more detailed knowledge of the situation, but I don't think that is an issue.Besides how is this any different than any designated ethnic district in any other major city in the country? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highway6 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 The Pakistan/India split occurred after Gandhi led the independence movement from England. He also spoke out against Muslim/Hindu violence and held a fast to protest violence against Muslims and the Indian government's failure to make agreed payments to Pakistan. I'll yield to anyone who has a more detailed knowledge of the situation, but I don't think that is an issue.Besides how is this any different than any designated ethnic district in any other major city in the country?True. Gandhi was before the split, and maybe I'm wrong on how Pakistanis feel about him, but lumping them together as if they were one ignores the fact that they've been at war most of the past 60 years. Little Italy in NewYork wasn't populated by 50 other ethnic groups when it was given its namesake.Chinatown in SF wasn't populated by 50 other ethnic groups when it was given its namesake. Harwin in Houston is as multi-ethnic as you can get... Are Indians even the majority minority group there? There are countless other ethnic groups on Harwin that would have as legitimate a claim to the namesake of the district. The NYT's census mapping project shows that the 3 tracts along Harwin are 60% Hispanic.EDIT :I hate negotiating around the Census website so by all means if anyone can find better info, go for it, but here is the data sheet for one of those 3 tracts as of 2000.Indian population was a whopping 3.7%. I'm sure it's more now esp. if you want to combine the Pak population.. but even if they were 51%, which they are nowhere near, would that even merit naming rights when so many other ethnic groups are represented there.. I don't think so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fringe Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Nope.. Sorry.. I've already put an order in with the local sign manufacturer for 20 "Little Italy District" signs for all the major intersections in Montrose. Go get your own district you non-italian.Ha. I think Griff's might challenge that. At least this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTAWACS Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Didnt Ghandi have special loathing of african-americans? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livincinco Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 True. Gandhi was before the split, and maybe I'm wrong on how Pakistanis feel about him, but lumping them together as if they were one ignores the fact that they've been at war most of the past 60 years. Little Italy in NewYork wasn't populated by 50 other ethnic groups when it was given its namesake.Chinatown in SF wasn't populated by 50 other ethnic groups when it was given its namesake. Harwin in Houston is as multi-ethnic as you can get... Are Indians even the majority minority group there? There are countless other ethnic groups on Harwin that would have as legitimate a claim to the namesake of the district. The NYT's census mapping project shows that the 3 tracts along Harwin are 60% Hispanic.EDIT :I hate negotiating around the Census website so by all means if anyone can find better info, go for it, but here is the data sheet for one of those 3 tracts as of 2000.Indian population was a whopping 3.7%. I'm sure it's more now esp. if you want to combine the Pak population.. but even if they were 51%, which they are nowhere near, would that even merit naming rights when so many other ethnic groups are represented there.. I don't think so.I understand your point, but it's more about the concentration of the South Asian population in the Houston area. That population is most heavily concentrated in that area and that area serves as the social center of the region for that particular ethnic group. I don't think that you can say that about any other ethnic group that lives in the area. I'm still struggling to understand why it's so ridiculous for Houston to have an area named in honor of Mahatma Gandhi regardless of the ethnic breakdown of that particular neighborhood. We pride ourselves on being a diverse international city. This is just one manifestation of that.BTW, I don't know if you guys are aware, but these signs went up over a year ago... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highway6 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 For me, just because an ethnic group is highly concentrated in one area, unless they are also in the vast majority, then they shouldn't get naming rights.. and I'm sorry, but that view does eliminate lots of ethnic groups from contention. If 100 Mongolians moved to the East End and became the highest concentration of Mongolians outside of Mongolia.. who cares.. their .01% of the East End population reality trumps the highest concentration claim. Hispanics are the majority ethnic group of the Ghandi District. (based on the most up to date census data I've seen)And really, I don't care, I'm just playing devil's advocate. Plus, I now get to rename Montrose.Though, after reading Ltawacs post, and doing some googling.. I did find numerous links that he did in fact not think too highly of South African blacks. That was interesting. I also found it interesting that he approved of Hitler exterminating the Jews.. But heck, both of those tibits appear to be from sources quoting the same book, so who knows the accuracy of that. And who cares.. because I now get to rename Montrose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livincinco Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Nope - I'm with the fringe on this one - it should be renamed the Timothy Leary district, but the signs should start to melt if you look at them for too long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 If it were me I would call it the. "cheap cellphone battery, and knock off designer purse district". Probably too long for a sign though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbigtex56 Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 Nope.. Sorry.. I've already put an order in with the local sign manufacturer for 20 "Little Italy District" signs for all the major intersections in Montrose. Go get your own district you non-italian.Wouldn't the trendy name be W-O-P?edit: Apparently, that racial slur is excluded by built-in software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highway6 Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 Wouldn't the trendy name be W-O-P?edit: Apparently, that racial slur is excluded by built-in software.I don't know what's trendy about that by itself... maybe WopDo though.. DagoDo.. I don't know. But you're right.. Little Italy district just isn't trendy enough.. Order now on hold pending a more trendy name for my district.Actually.. wait. I need a prominent Italian do-gooder to name my district after. Too bad the Pope isn't Italian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editor Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 As long as the signs aren't paid for with tax dollars, it doesn't bother me. Though I think Houston should do what other cities do and only honor the person with a single street, not with an entire district. You can run out of districts pretty quickly.FWIW - I used to live near "Honorary Frank Sinatra Way" in Chicago.In New York, it is legal to address letters with the "Honorary" street name, but nobody does that. The Times did a test of this a few years ago, addressing letters to "662 Joey Bishop Lane" and such things, and they got through about 80% of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbigtex56 Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 As long as the signs aren't paid for with tax dollars, it doesn't bother me. Though I think Houston should do what other cities do and only honor the person with a single street, not with an entire district. You can run out of districts pretty quickly.FWIW - I used to live near "Honorary Frank Sinatra Way" in Chicago.In New York, it is legal to address letters with the "Honorary" street name, but nobody does that. The Times did a test of this a few years ago, addressing letters to "662 Joey Bishop Lane" and such things, and they got through about 80% of the time.Avenue of the Americas be damned. It's 6th Ave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunchtastic Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 Actually.. wait. I need a prominent Italian do-gooder to name my district after. Too bad the Pope isn't Italian. Careful, or we'll end up with the Tillman Fertitta district. Speaking of Italians... Beware the ides of March. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little frau Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 Careful, or we'll end up with the Tillman Fertitta district. Speaking of Italians... Beware the ides of March. Et tu? I was actually thinking of Fertitta for the Italian district also! Only problem is, how could he fit a carnival in Montrose? Granted though, at times there is a sideshow somewhere nearby. Or, at least there was when I lived there in the late 60's, early 70's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 Careful, or we'll end up with the Tillman Fertitta district. Speaking of Italians... Beware the ides of March. Too late...he already built his in Kemah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 The NYT's census mapping project shows that the 3 tracts along Harwin are 60% Hispanic.EDIT :I hate negotiating around the Census website so by all means if anyone can find better info, go for it, but here is the data sheet for one of those 3 tracts as of 2000.Indian population was a whopping 3.7%. I'm sure it's more now esp. if you want to combine the Pak population.. but even if they were 51%, which they are nowhere near, would that even merit naming rights when so many other ethnic groups are represented there.. I don't think so.No doubt that's because, while many of the businesses in the area are owned by Indians and Pakistanis, they actually live in much nicer neighborhoods elsewhere in town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VicMan Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Highway6: The "Harwin" and."South Asia" areas are two distinct places, according to the Greater Sharpstown website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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