barracuda

^ True. Some people really buy into the perception of image and quality promoted by car manufacturers, despite the reality that some brands like BMW, Mercedes, and Audi rank near or at the bottom of reliability rankings, well behind most domestic and Asian rivals whose vehicles don't carry much snob factor.

But there's a lot more to making Houston more walkable, denser, etc. than just putting retail on the ground floor of every building.

- You need to make it safe and easy to walk. Crosswalks need to be in convenient locations, marked, and have signals, for starters. Also, you need pleasant environments to walk in. This does not have to mean retail on the ground floor of every building. I would say that trees are a more important requisite.

- Density is not a silver bullet to livability. Niche can correct me if I'm wrong, but Houston's densest residential neighborhood (in terms of population per square mile) is actually Gulfton. Some would argue that Gulfton is one of the -least- livable neighborhoods in Houston.

- We need to accept that Houston is a suburban city, and we need to make our suburban neighborhoods more livable in their own right. Think about it. Are we going to bulldoze single-family neighborhoods to build midrises? Probably not.

When people think 'livability' for Houston, the immediate assumption is usually that we need to copy what they've done in Seattle or Portland. Light rail going everywhere. Midrises with retail on the first floor. They're missing the point.

Spot on. Making every development mixed-use isn't critical; there are plenty of apartment buildings in Manhattan that are not mixed-use, yet the residents have no problem walking a few blocks to buy their groceries. Some of Houston's older neighborhoods like Montrose are livable not because of high density or mixed-use, but because of proximity to destinations and the general ease it takes to reach them on foot or on bike (i.e. - no inhibiting freeways or massive thoroughfares).

While it may sound odd, this was one of my motivations when I moved from Midtown to the Heights. From my street, I can walk a couple blocks to Fiesta for my groceries, to numerous restaurants on 11th or N. Main St., and I don't have to deal with massive 4- or 5-lane thoroughfares designed to get vehicles from the 527 to and from the CBD as fast as possible through the streets of Midtown. Narrower, tree-lined streets with slower-moving traffic make for a much more pleasant experience on foot or on bike, regardless of the density or mix of retail and residential.

Magazine street in New Orleans is another good example of this. It's not a high-density area and is comprised of mostly 1- or 2-story structures that are not mixed-use, but the narrow road and mix of business and residential in their respective buildings make it a walkable and livable neighborhood, and one that developed organically to fulfill existing demand rather than being part of a master-plan based on estimates.

^ Most politicians view their constituents as little more than campaign donors. I always find it a little offensive when I receive invitations to fundraisers masked as "fun" events.

However, streetview still shows an image between mid-2006 and mid-2009.

Streetview in my neighborhood (Norhill) is definitely from the early part of that time span. Some houses on my street are unrecognizable compared to their current state.

I hope they plan to update the streetview images regularly but leave the existing images available, as with the satellite images. This would make it considerably more valuable, albeit with some privacy concerns (especially for those who don't want HCAD to easily monitor their renovations).

There are just too much great choices to pick only one.

Improving the aesthetics of shopping centers is the ultimate example of lipstick on a pig. The pig is the parking lot, and you can't hide it.

I kind of agree, but I think the best options are to use parking garages and street-side parking as much as possible, and landscape like crazy to break up the ugliness when a large surface lot is required.

The soon to be vacant Fiesta site on 14th and Studewood?

Soon to be vacant? I know the property was listed for sale in 2009, but I hadn't heard anything ever happened...

This ball was in motion long before Obama took office and has little to do with increases or decreases in overt activity in Afghanistan or Iraq. This came from years of pavement pounding by the intelligence and military communities during both administrations. It wasn't Obama that got this guy any more than it would have been Bush. It was the people working for years following up leads and squeezing those detainees behind the scenes who got him. If we have to give politicos credit, then it was Bush who started the ball going almost 10 years ago and Obama who finally caught it.

Since folks insist on giving equal credit to Bush, remember that it was he who said, "I truly am not that concerned about him. I know he is on the run" with regards to Osama Bin Laden back in 2002. This was the time frame when the administration's attention started to refocus on invading Iraq.

. The building will feature a 3-story wine tower & waterfall integrating three entertainment floors destined to be a one-stop destination for fun, food, and music.

Sounds like a fit for the Midtown crowd. I wonder if they will have an acrobat to retrieve the wine bottles, like in this London Radisson.

I was just thinking, the Chrysler building could use some sandstone elements and corner turrets too.

I'm appalled you can't see what's going on in your own neighborhood. I admit I'm generalizing and all of Montrose does not have these problems but enough of it does that it needs to be addressed.

You're referring to the rampant gentrification?

If it is political, it's as much a failure of state and local representatives as it is a snub by their adversaries. As per the quote in the Chronicle, ideologues aren't good at dealmaking.

What's really more important is that JSC continue it's role as NASA's preeminent space facility. Hopefully the backlash will put more pressure on keeping more jobs and projects based at JSC.

Maybe they should extend this ban to texting while walking. I say this after recently seeing a grown woman walk right into a crowd of people while busy staring at her phone. Good thing she wasn't driving.

I think it has the definite feel of a bunker due to the concrete block construction and lack of standing-height windows.

I don't know if the realtor was insinuating the home's dearth of landscape appeal with the last photo, "view of neighbor's beautiful yard", but it made me laugh.

C) Maintenance - OK, it sounds nice to live in an apartment or condo, where theoretically everything's taken care of. But you can't always trust a landlord to fix things right and in a timely fashion. The bathroom vent fan stops working - you call the office - they come by and remove the vent, leaving a gaping hole in your bathroom. Weeks, then months go by, and despite your phone calls, the hole is still there. This happened to me in one of the apartments I rented. It's the old mantra "if you want something done right, do it yourself."

Yes, and in my experience, most apartment landlords are only interested in the minimum of repairs and maintenance. Being a bit of a control freak myself, I actually enjoy repairing and improving my dwelling to my own tastes rather than relying on someone else to make very minimal effort. And with a house, I can perform my own low-cost customizations without getting charged by a landlord upon move-out.

E) You're Trapped - You can't just up and decide to leave one day, because you have to sell the house. Renting isn't the panacea Altucher would have you believe - if you break your lease to leave early, it can be costly. But the real question is: is it really that bad to be locked into a house? If the neighborhood is stable and safe, and you have friends there, why are you so eager to leave? Do you really want to uproot your children and put them in a new school every few years?

(And I wonder if Altucher actually studied history before he gave his rant about how big corporations fomented the "myth of homeownership" as a way to keep workers from moving. The 19th century industrial town was built around renting. Factory owners built houses, and rented those houses out to workers as a way to take back their wages.)

Being trapped in a house is mostly an issue in a down market or if you overpaid for your property and jobs in your area are scarce. But I can attest that it does limit the desire to move - I have had job opportunities in other cities, but have no desire to sell because of the amount of work I've put into my place and due to market conditions.

What the whole argument boils down to is that, in most cases, homes should not be purchased as investments. They should be purchased as shelter. And, really, whose fault is it that home ownership became the big investment thing in the last decade? Well, in large part, it was the Wall Street investment firms, as in hedge funds, like this guy. I suppose that now that he is no longer investing in home mortgages, he is touting the lousy investment housing has become. But, for hundreds of years, housing was never an investment at all. It was shelter. And, for the overwhelming majority, it is still that. Even those that realize a profit from their homes generally only use that profit as a means to move into better homes.

Bingo. Speculation and investment in certain housing markets helped create the artificial demand that crashed with the mortgage crisis. I only really feel bad for the home buyers who actually intended to move into developments that are mostly abandoned and in decline following the crisis.

The problem is, the tablets don't do much. They talk like they're the greatest thing since sliced bread, but for business, they're a bit underwhelming. They need to do more than let me peruse facebook, browse the web and watch a stupid movie if I'm going that direction. I wish they would soon. I'd love to downsize from this 10 pound satchel.

I would suggest the MacBook Air. It has the benefits of flash storage and is really thin and light, but it's still a real computer with a keyboard. I was really tempted last time I was at Microcenter and they were on sale.

A few years ago, I was disappointed when Studewood was reconstructed as I was hoping that there would be an extraction of the original rails that went down the street. No rails were there, which made me wonder if my father was wrong in his recollection. I simply don't know at this point.

There are numerous references to the streetcar rail running down Studewood to downtown (including the map posted earlier in this thread). It was probably torn out when replaced by the bus system.

What's with the keyboard demo percussion in the background?

It encouraged people to evacuate faster.

The headphones have been $3 for almost two years now. If you're on a flight with DirecTV, they're free.

You may be correct about the date; I only recently noticed the price hike. I tried the free headphones once awhile back, but they seemed useless against the background noise of a 737. That and the frequent PA interruptions made my ears want to bleed.

And which elites do they charge for the exit row? Plats and Golds can pick them for free at booking and Silvers can have them for free at 24 hours out (online check-in time).

They now charge silver elites $59 for exit row seats prior to check-in time.

They didn't wait long to start charging elite customers for exit row seat upgrades. And I noticed on my flight yesterday they're now asking $3 for those crappy headphones that used to be $1 or free for elite/first class.

Something barracuda said earlier has been bugging me all day. Would I really have to apply for permission just to replace my front door? Really?? I have to replace my own 100 year old door that's been warped, shimmed and planed to death. As it is, I'll need to have a new one custom milled to fit. It's just unconscionable to me I'd have to ask permission from a committee.

Whole parts of the Heights still have open ditches for drainage, and you have to permit a door? Sorry, but Onion Creek, a mac n cheese place and a couple of antiques stores ain't all that. Boy am I glad I chose the east end instead.

You could probably replace it without anyone noticing, but yes, you are supposed to get a COA, per sec. 33-201. This is why I suggested such routine alterations be fast-tracked for approval instead of requiring the full COA process. Replacing a door shouldn't require going through the same review process as the construction of a new house.

Alteration means any change to the exterior of a building, structure, object or site. Alteration shall include, but is not limited to, changing to a different kind, type or size of roofing or siding materials; changing, eliminating, or adding exterior doors, door frames, windows, window frames, shutters, railings, columns, beams, walls, porches, steps, porte-cocheres, balconies, or ornamentation; or the dismantling, moving or removing of any exterior feature.

I hope at least this aspect of the ordinance can be changed. There are plenty of two-story houses and second-story additions sprinkled throughout the historic districts from before the ordinance, and I personally think additions that are flush at the front are much more natural and functional. Not only that, but less yard space is consumed in a vertical buildup, allowing a back yard and more drainage area. The camelback additions are awkward both in appearance and in terms of the floor plan, and they are particularly unbecoming on a corner lot where the profile contrast is most visible. I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, as I there are a number of camelbacks under construction right now by folks who are just following the rules in order to add square footage. But I would love to see this rule scrapped before more and more houses are given a humpback.

Is it just me or does the house not seem to exist in the 1957/1964/1973 historicaerials.com imagery? No access to Google Earth at the moment..

Google Earth shows it as a field or farmland in 1944. It appears to be a construction site in 1953, and something possibly resembling this house in 1978 but it's very grainy.

I attended the HAHC meeting last week, and I have to admit, the approval process is not as bad as I had feared. The bulk of the certificate of appropriate items on the agenda were approved as part of a consent agenda, and the HAHC board was sympathetic towards the remaining projects that were flagged for various reasons. Even projects that had questionable design elements were approved when the owner or architect explained the reasoning and the board discussed the ramifications and benefits to the value and appearance of the property. And looking back through previous meeting minutes, it appears that nearly all submitted COAs are approved. It seems that unless a project is particularly egregious in violating the ordinance, they are willing to consider approval. To be honest, I wish someone had proposed something overtly in violation of the ordinance just to see what would happen.

I do think the process could be sped up for simple COA requests. It requires being added to the schedule, and HAHC only meets once a month. This combined with the permitting process can easily add more than a month to getting a project started. It seems reasonable for larger projects like new home construction, but I think routine projects (like a COA for replacing a front door) could be done quicker. But I suppose it forces the property owner to think long and hard about their project, which is usually not a bad thing.

P.S. - I'm not suggesting that the design restrictions of the ordinance are preferable to everyone, just that the commission is easy to work with and the approval process is probably not worth getting worked up about - they seem willing to work with you and not fight you.

Then Barracuda comes out of left field with the "TeaParty", because if we're talking Intolerance, that must obviously be what the conversation is about.

No, I was making an analogy to Tea Party indignation at all government spending, warranted or not. But your interpretation makes sense too.