editor

45 minutes ago, mkultra25 said:

As I understand it, the Central Library had previously been designated as a cooling center, but that designation was removed recently due to unspecified "safety concerns".  But the homeless can apparently still use the library as a de facto cooling center as long as they follow library policies (have to wear shirt/shoes, no exposed undergarments, etc.). I haven't been to the Central Library in some time, but the last time I was there, there were more than a few homeless folks hanging out inside. They weren't bothering anyone, and no one was bothering them. Perhaps things have changed more recently.

I think it's part of an ongoing pressure campaign from the city against a group called Food Not Bombs that feeds the homeless outside the library. There's been a bunch of articles about it in the newspaper over the last couple of years. 
 

The city is happy to have FNB relocate to a different place on the other side of the bayou where other charities do the same, and the city has social services people available, but FNB won't move, and has been given dozens of tickets. They just don't care, and pay the fine. It's a very weird situation. 
 

Not having the library as a cooling center reduces FNB's client base. But I don't think that will bother them. 

18 minutes ago, august948 said:

It is, but for the tiny fraction of people who are homeless, suggesting they go to the park when there are in fact many public places that have air conditioning plus the cooling centers set up by the city seems a bit silly.

The cooling centers are few and far between. 

For example, there are zero cooling centers in downtown Houston.  The nearest one is a 40-minute walk, mostly in full sun, in 100+° heat, and heat indicies over 110°.  

Many of the people who live on the street have problems which require them to take various medicines. A lot of medicines exacerbate any exposure to heat and sun.   As an example, many high blood pressure medications make people very sensitive to heat and direct sun. 

Moreover, many of the people living on the streets congregate downtown because that's where they can get help.  Either from the Beacon, or from the city-designated places where charities are permitted to hand out food, or from other municipal and social services, or from the suburban churches that drive vans into downtown and hand meals and hygiene packs out through the barely-cracked windows of their vans because they're afraid of the homeless, but have to keep up their charitable appearance so they can drive back to their McMansions in Spring and The Woodlands and tell their friends what good Christians they are for braving the scary, dark, crime-infested streets of the big city for their pastor and hey, I ordered a double-foam doppio oat milk frap, and this is a single-foam doppio oat milk frap, I demand you get your manager while I rant about this injustice on FaceTube. 

I don't like that sometimes there's a guy who sleeps in the planter in front of my building during the day.  But I can also understand why he might not want to walk an hour in the  hot sun just so he can sit in an air conditioned room for a few hours, and then get kicked out on the street again.

The cooling centers are only open 9am to 5pm.  The same hours that most social services are available.  So, the choice has to be made — sit in a cooled room, or find food  Sit in a cooled room, or try to get your stolen ID replaced so you can get a mailbox and eventually a job.  Sit in a cooled room, or sweep the gas station parking lots in Midtown for a few bucks so you can eat tonight.  Sit in a cooled room, or direct tourists into the parking lots for Astros games so you can earn a few bucks to buy some bandages to cover the sores on your feet you got from being shuffled from neighborhood to neighborhood.

When I lived in the desert, it was well-known that 5pm is the hottest time of the day.  I don't know if that's true in Houston, as well, but it always seemed strange to me to kick people out of cooling centers at 5pm.  It's like saying, "Wow, it's really hot out.  Like life-threateningly hot out.  But my shift is over, so out you go.  Good luck.  Try not to die."

3 hours ago, august948 said:

On the other hand, except when the sun is directly overhead, tall buildings on both sides of the road in a built-up urban environment will provide shade (as seen in the picture above).  Not against the concept, but it would be more relevant in suburban areas.

Only if the sun suddenly appears directly overhead.  

Generally, in urban environments — including downtown Houston — one side of the street ends up in full sun in the morning, they both bake in the mid-day, and the other side gets full sun in the afternoon.

3 hours ago, august948 said:

When it's 101 outside, seek refuge inside.

Easy to say when you have an inside in which to seek refuge.

I think they're probably legal. The older portion of what is now The Star has one. 
 

In downtown Chicago, they're encouraged. If your building has an arcade, you can get an extra floor or two on your permitted height. Same if you allow the public to use your lobby to traverse from one side of the block to the other. 
 

Obviously, that don't work in Houston, since there is no zoning. 
 

No zoning = No way to encourage good design. 

6 hours ago, corbs315 said:

Signage

Looking forward to it.  That strip mall has been so forlorn for so long.  I guess that's why there's been a dumpster out front for the last few weeks. 

3 hours ago, wilcal said:

Welcome to the War on Cars.

Good idea.  I'll make a mint selling bike locks on Fannin Street!

2 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

I think we can give Editor the "Least Reliable Witness Award".

Truly deserved.  Pretty much anything older than last Tuesday is a blur for me.  A good portion of my brain is Jarlsberg.

2 hours ago, mkultra25 said:

No doubt in the pre-Starbucks era the bar was pretty low for coffee, just like before the craft beer movement took hold most Americans' frame of reference was defined by Budweiser and Miller Lite.  I will say that the guy I've known to have most consistently complained about Sbux tasting burned over the years is European, and quite used to espresso.

It's always funny how Europeans complain about American chain restaurants but the ones in Europe are always packed, especially in non-tourist towns.

I think the only place where there was any real backlash against Starbucks was in Vienna, but even there after all the talk about kicking Starbucks out of the country, it still survives and thrives in Austria. 

The times I've gone to Starbucks in Vienna or Berlin or Frankfurt, there wasn't a single person speaking English.  Ditto for T.G.I. Friday's.  Europeans just like to complain about stuff.

On 6/12/2023 at 10:00 AM, sapo2367 said:

I'm kind of surprised that the trolley survived -- I thought it was one of those 'looks great in renderings' design features

From my days living at Dakota Lofts, I remember train tracks running down Sterrett. I wonder if those will be rehabbed, or if new ones will be put in. 

1 hour ago, mkultra25 said:

I've known folks who claim that Starbucks has always tasted burnt, and typically refer to it as "Charbucks".  I'm fairly agnostic about their coffee - although I've never been on board with the cult that sprang up around them, there's certainly worse coffee to be had, and sometimes their convenience and ubiquity trumps all other considerations.  

The "burned" cliche grew out of people who were used to drinking coffee not being used to espresso. 
 

When Starbucks became popular, most  people were used to Dunkin' Dishwater, and Taster's Choice. 
 

My problem with Starbucks these days is that it all tastes so sugary. I'll get one as a treat, but my go-tos these days are Three Valves, Fifth Vessel, and Day Six. 

6 hours ago, samagon said:

I comprehend it, it just doesn't make sense to me.

if the government offers them money to buy them out, and they don't want to sell, then why is the issue being forced?

issue them a variance that says no FEMA money will ever be available, good luck with insurance, give them one more chance, then wash your hands of it.

it's already costing the public money if they sell, but if they are forced, then that's going to cost so much more in lawsuits. 

Since it was 100% voucher housing, maybe the city didn't want to be in the position of knowingly putting people in harm's way?

5 hours ago, Justin Welling said:

campesino coffee house #2 on Prairie a few blocks over is really good. Sad about Minuti coffee (at least the Midtown location is still open). 

Hope Mamajuana Cafe does well! I'll support anything that will bring night and weekend visitors to DT!

I didn't know about Campesino.  I thought that block was all the cathedral's property.  Is the entrance under the metal awning?

18 hours ago, Highrise Tower said:

 

 

"Cut the red wire?"

"No, the black wire!"

"They're all black wires!"

A shot from today.  Metro's web site says this should be over by Monday morning.

Well, @ChannelTwoNews — I actually went.

I drove up to the Conservancy's Warren Lake unit.  I didn't stay too long because it was 99°, and there's no place to sit.  But I'll go back again when the weather is friendlier, and I remember to bring snacks and a shooting stick. 

Not too many birds around, but that's to be expected, since there's not much wildlife left in Texas compared with when I lived here last time.  Also, it was 99°.  I saw a flock of Egrets, and a few Red Wing Blackbirds, and a whole bunch of what appeared to be Swifts.  Fortunately, lots and lots of dragonflies, which means not many mosquitoes.  But as we've learned recently, Houston is so hot now that it's become inhospitable to even mosquitoes.  (Thanks, Exxon!)

It's a good place to go and get a sense of what Houston used to be like before strip malls and cheap concrete. 

Even this far out, the reserve is bring surrounded by boring beige suburban drek.  There's one development that looks several years old, and another one being built across the street ("Sunset Prairie" or some similar excretion).  Except the new cookie-cutter development is being built six feet higher than the old cookie-cutter development.  We've been to this rodeo before: When the rain comes, the water will run off of the new development and flood the old development.  Then the property values of the old development will suffer, it will become run down, and it will eventually become gross.  Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Wipe hands on pants.

Here's some pictures:

1 hour ago, Naviguessor said:

Your quote. It was careless and very much misrepresents and disparages a very fine non-profit, doing great things.  You could retract it. 

I'm not going to do anything just because some rando on the internet says I should.  Primarily because I'm not sure how it disparages anyone.  Rather than derail this thread, I'll discuss it with you in PM.

8 minutes ago, Naviguessor said:

Is that what extended stay hotels do?  Provide sick children and their families, free accommodation, meals, support services, transportation and a community?  Guess it’s me who misunderstands what extended stay hotels do. My bad. 

I don't understand what you're trying to say here.  You seem to be trying to have an argument, but have me at a disadvantage, because I'm not sure what point you're trying to make.

I wonder what it will be like to have one of those apartment/condos facing this development.  Will it be quiet like facing a cemetery, or will it be noisy like facing one of those temples that shoots off fireworks every week.  (I lived near one of those once. The immediate neighbors were not happy.)

If it's quiet, I'd love to have that place as my view.

3 hours ago, samagon said:

basically, the city is condemning an apartment complex that flooded, but the apartment complex wants to rebuild, so a lawsuit happened.

This is happening more and more, and I expect that some laws will have to be passed to give guidance before the courts get flooded with similar suits.

There's a lot of talk about moving entire towns out of the way of flooding.  It's already happening in Louisiana and Washington. 

What does "NNN" mean?

I saw that building from the Amtrak the last time we went through Beaumont.  My wife was disappointed that was not open at the time.  We're fans of historic hotels.

On 7/13/2023 at 10:40 AM, X.R. said:

I didn't know you could grab older trees like that for newer developments.

You can, but they're super expensive, for obvious reasons.

I've seen large developers save big old trees from one project, and move them to another project they have happening at the same time.

21 hours ago, Brooklyn173 said:

Preservation Houston had a very good Zoom on Post HTX last night. The admin building is still a few years away from redevelopment, but it seems Lovett is talking to hotels for that site.

Hotels seems like a good idea.  With the expense of concerts these days, people are making concerts like a summer vacation trip.  It might also help Post get bigger names for its venue.

This week, the Federal Reserve in Philadelphia's Beige Book included information about how the Taylor Swift concerts have boosted the tourism economy, and especially hotel occupancy.

12 hours ago, IntheKnowHouston said:

BuiltNearby posted a photo of Mamajuana Cafe to its Instagram Story today. I don't know how recent the photo is, but it's a shot outside the restaurant.

According to a banner hanging outside, Mamajuana Cafe, the restaurant's grand opening is August.

Mamajuana Cafe is an East Coast-based restaurant serving Latin and Nuevo Latino fare. I think it's a supper-club or vibe dining type of dining concept. The restaurant is located on the ground level of The Rice at 909 Texas Ave, Suite E.

 

I walked right by that an hour ago and didn't even notice!

Maybe I keep averting my eyes because I'm in mourning for the coffee shop with good fare and no seating.