Additions to This Sunday's forum on Vanishing 'hoods

[Sheila]

Houston

[musicman]

Wow with all those topics, how long do you expect the meeting to last?

[editor]

You might do a better job spreading the word if you were to add it to the Calendar.

[TheNiche]

The Topic: The future of urban neighborhoods that lack strong and consistent deed restrictions.

We will discuss the changes caused by the demolition of early 20th century housing and the subsequent building of lot-covering houses and townhomes which effects property values, taxes, community stability, historic preservation, urban tree canopy, soil permeability (flooding), a number of environmental issues and access to affordable urban housing.

I'm only curious as to whether Sheila has come to the realization that her agenda (if implemented; not happening) would cause housing to be less affordable. Somehow I doubt it...gee, I wonder what Ms. Lee will say...

There seems to be a lot of grasping at straws, here...all so Sheila can keep her little pocket of Houston's urban core a relatively low-density suburb. I wonder whether she owns a home there. If so, I'd raise questions regarding a potential conflict of interest. After all, a massive preservation plan implemented to cover her neighborhood would ensure that prices would appreciate there and that nearly all risks from future demographic change would be abated. Seems like a very politically-salable profit-maximizing scheme to me.

What's that? The helpless pleas of the lowly consumer attempting in vain to get into Sheila's hood... And that over there? The shaking head and rolling eyes of a well-known (though frequently misquoted) UH economist? Oh, don't mind them...Sheila knows best. After all...it's Sheila!

[FilioScotia]

Here's your chance to have your say about developers who swoop into old neighborhoods that don't have deed restrictions, buy up old 19th and early 20th century houses, tear them down and replace them with high end apartments, townhomes, trophy houses and starter castles.

Do you think people in those neighborhoods should have a say in what developers do there? Do you think there should be some controls over what developers can do in an old neighborhood? Currently there are no controls. In the first six months of this year, the City issued demolition permits for 72 addresses in the Heights area alone.

Houston's old neighborhoods are disappearing fast and the City of Houston is doing nothing to stop it. The Historic Preservation Ordinance is useless. The National Register of Historic Places is just a list.

Concerned Heights residents have invited some public officials to a public meeting Sunday 9-24 to talk about all this. Be there. More info at http://www.SavetheBungalows.org

Moderator edit: New duplicate topic merged with existing topic.