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TGM

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Posts posted by TGM

  1. Which oil company owned stores are you thinking of? ExxonMobil has sold all of their stores in Houston, Valero isn't an oil company, but a refiner only, Shell stations were sold several years ago, and there aren't that many other oil companies with stations.

    The daily mimeographed talking points only refer to BigOil, Robber Barons, and Current TV.

    5608784094_11be434e96.jpg

  2. Point taken on the Nazi references. It's old hat and over the top.

    I will apologize in advance to anyone of Turkish background for my substitute phrase to describe the members of HAHC.

    I'm offering up the term "Byzantine" as I think it fits rather well.

    Byzantine definition

    jargon, architecture

    A term describing any system that has so many labyrinthine internal interconnections that it would be impossible to simplify by separation into loosely coupled or linked components.

    The city of Byzantium, later renamed Constantinople and then Istanbul, and the Byzantine Empire were vitiated by a bureaucratic overelaboration bordering on lunacy: quadruple banked agencies, dozens or even scores of superfluous levels and officials with high flown titles unrelated to their actual function, if any.

    Access to the Emperor and his council was controlled by powerful and inscrutable eunuchs and by rival sports factions.

    [Edward Gibbon, "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"].

    (1999-01-15)

  3. Breaking news from the HAHC! Attention all potential buyers of HD homes, attention all potential sellers of HD homes....the peak is in, prepare yourselves for market adjustment.....3,000 sf is too big to get CoA, adjust property value to accommodate life how it was in 1929 when we packed 6 kids into 1200 sf.

    Have no fear the jack-boot architecture facists of the HAHC have plenty of experience stuffing people into small confines, boxcars, etc.

  4. Personally, I don't really consider the retail at Post to be thriving other than the restaurants and even that is debatable.

    One of the reasons why the Post ground-level retail has ebbed and flowed was the person/company they had managing it. I'm not sure who they are working with now, but in conversations with a few former retailers this guy drove away and turned off many a business owner. There is always going to be challenges in leasing these types of developments, it would make more sense to be less appraisive to the people who actually want to be there. Not so for Mr. P.

  5. Greyhound has never really felt the heat from the community on their Houston location. The closest they got to it was when this Dallas-based company was confronted about the policy of dumping Huntsville TDC parolees into Midtown on a weekly basis.

    The parolees would come to Houston first and then were supposed to catch a bus to their final destinations. So if they were returning to Dallas, they would first arrive in Houston, then go to Dallas. The problem was that people would hang out here for a few days before catching their next bus and HPD at the time testified that their was a noticeable spike in Midtown crime after the Wednesday drop-offs. After some pressure from the 2016 Main folks, the parolees were met by TDC or some other gov entity and routed to their proper bus. At some point this stopped when they figured the public stopped caring. Greyhound always does the bare minimum until forced to clean things up. Maybe it's again time to ask them to bring more to the table.

  6. Greyhound is not going anywhere. It's funny how no one seems to mind them, but everyone goes rabid at the thought of them being relocated to their area.

    Some time ago Midtown ponied up $20k for an intermodal study that ultimately got high jacked by Metro. There were grand plans for Near-Northside intermodal facility, but nothing ever materialized besides Metro spending the money. When I last asked about it I was told there would be nothing before 2017, which pretty much made my decision to cash-out for me.

  7. In the past I always would find Fiesta to be cheaper on produce items, but more expensive on everything else. I stopped buying produce there because no matter what Fiesta location I would visit there would always be a serious issue with flies in the produce section. I never experienced this at Kroger, HEB, or Randall's. The occasional fly or bug is normal, but at Fiesta I was expecting to hear Charlton Heston to yell "Let my people go" at any minute.

  8. Love how the article states that their services were needed in the neighborhood because their was always a line out the door. I always scratched my head about the wisdom of that location, but from a landlords perspective I'm sure it made total sense. I wonder what changed to make the landlord rethink leasing to someone who always pays their bills. (Besides more $$$$)

  9. I have already admitted that, so far, I am surprised at how weak the crowds are at Walmart. I have scoped out the parking lot several times on weekends and evenings when it should be packed and have seen about the same number of cars I would see at Whole Foods or Kroger and generally less than I see at Target.

    Bollocks. I have a hard time believing that you are performing recon in the Wal-Mart parking lot. I will now have keep an eye out for a fellow with a pair of Bushnell bi-nocs parked way out in employee parking land.

    My last visit to the Heights Wal-Mart had me waiting for a primo space up front for over 2 minutes while bubba searched for his lighter to light one up before backing out. On the way out the parking lot 3/4 full.

    So much for tales of tumbleweeds blowing around at Heights Wal-Mart.

  10. Also the new Kroger seems to be a gathering place for female Russian spies, and I have been attempting to draw them further into the occupied lands with no success.

    Good to know others are out there. We've taken up positions and have inserted a mole into Taco Cabana. To pass on a message order the #5 combo at 5pm and exclaim "Che What?" when asked if its a to go order.

    Recon has determined that there are good values in the vegetable section, and deals can be made on the Ministry of Rubbish approved trash bags. Parking is never an issue.

  11. Just checking in to see how everyone is surviving post-invasion.

    Has everyone found a tribal leader in the post-apococlypse? Are we all organized into clans now? Information is scarce.

    Everything in Red Sector A appears to be okay. Any word on how many Mom & Pops, Mom & Moms, Pop and Pops, etc that we have lost?

    I realize I am trading with our occupiers, but my experiences there have been great. I feel so guilty and self-loathing....

  12. Youre right, Im sorry, lets just forgo Houstons history and let it all dissapear, who cares I guess anyways.

    Which era of history do you wish to preserve, and which one do you wish to see fall by the wayside?

    Architecture and music have much in common. Your parents hated what you listened to and you feel this generations music is hollow and contrived. In 50 years some overbearing group will be protesting the destruction of McMansions for the purpose of building the latest faux-neo-classic-Victorian-revival-du jour. I hope you hold true to your word and protest this outrageous destruction of historic Houston architecture.

  13. So Caroline is the Champs-Élysées and the San Jacinto building is the Arc de Triomphe?

    Someone needs to tell the Caroline street drug dealers to start hawking souvenirs and offering to take your photo.

    Urban planners always swing for the fences, but they might get close on this one given the complete lack of anything on this street.

  14. Codes may or may not prevent basements in Houston, but the water table does...I would never intentionally store a car below the natural grade in Houston...it doesnt take long with a sump not running to fill up your "basement" with water...some ares around Houston you can find water less than 8' below the surface...Ive got a place east of town where we hit water at 3 feet.

    My folks had a basement up in northwest part of town in a home we lived in back in the 1980's. We convinced my dad to add a basement to the house he was building for us after visiting some friends of ours in Denver. I guess as a child you have no concept of relative humidity, but when all was said and done we had a seldom-used game room complete with cinder bloc walls that sweated. I'm sure the fact that it was pier and beam didn't help with the dampness.

    On the same note the home he built down the street had a wine cellar and subterranean garage ramp that I believe also had one of those widow-maker pits. My guess is that they did not fare too well during Allison.

  15. The beauty of this solution is that you don't have to move the car on bottom to get to the car on top. You just lower the whole assembly, drive the top car off and then since this is Houston and it floods, re-raise the lower car back to ground level just in case it rains hard while you're away. The only down side that I can see is that because the top deck is solid, you can't use it to work on the underside of a car. Oh yeah, and try explaining this install to the guy at the permit office.

    Love it! (Also dig the turntable in front)

    The only issue I would need to figure out in my situation is how cope with the dampness in the pit when the car has been lowered. That and some other questions about my foundation, 30+ year old oak tree roots, etc.

    I've been thinking about my car basement options ever since I started viewing some of the options out there on YouTube land. I want to maintain the footprint and external esthetic of my house, and since I have my kitchen and a nice live oak behind the garage I cannot extend it back. It's up or down.

    So are there any city codes that would prevent me from tunnel boring under my house? ;-)

    I mean caves are like (pre) historic or something...

  16. Anyone know the minimum lateral setback for an alley-facing detached garage? Lot is 33'-4" wide, not deed-restricted, outside the HD's and on a block without MLS and MBL restrictions, and I'm curious if it might be possible to build a 3-car garage someday.

    Another option would be to go with a 4-post lift if you have enough ceiling height. Even if it does require some ceiling redesign you may come out ahead vs building a new garage and the pleasures of dealing with the city.

    Like in most urban land situations sometimes the only option is to go up or down.

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