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heights_yankee

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Everything posted by heights_yankee

  1. heights_yankee
    It's always been funny to me that in Houston people hate the idea of living on a busy street or near the highway. In pretty much most of the world, the most expensive and highly sought after real estate is in high traffic, high density zones. Think Boston's Back Bay, Union Square, Mahattan... I have been thinking about this a lot lately b/c I have been wishing that a couple of the houses on Pecore were for sale when we bought our house. They have been on the market forever and I know no one is buying them b/c of the street but they have HUGE lots! Anyway, I'm willing to bet those apts will do just fine and I am beyond thrilled to hear they won't be stucco!
  2. heights_yankee
    The old River Cafe, which was their marketing HQ, is now for lease. I have been taking that as a sure fire sign that the project busted. Frankly, I think no one out there wanted to say "I am going to live at The Riparian" no matter how cool the place was.
  3. heights_yankee
    Eatzi's closed b/c that whole strip center is being demolished. I don't know what Cafe Annie is going to do... but they are going to have mixed use- residential on top and retail below. It's going to be the home of the new 25,000+ sq ft Whole Foods!
  4. heights_yankee
    I never said anything about "my part of town" or where I live "being affluent." There have been several news stories lately stating that Wal-Mart wants to compete more with Target and any urban stores that it plans on building will be a higher-end-then-the-normal-wal-mart (which is not that high end, mind you). One can easily assume, then, that if Wally was to build inside the loop, based on the over all price of inner loop real estate they would go with this new concept. This is also not just about the Heights, but also midtown, Montrose, and downtown. Whatever stats say about the "median income" of any of these areas, the fact is all of them are chock full of yuppies and dinks. Perhaps you should step down from the high horse...
  5. heights_yankee
    By moving closer to 610? If they wanted to do that they should have moved to W Gray...
  6. heights_yankee
    Actually, they were not located where CM is now. They were in the building across the street from Smith&Woolinski (or however that is spelled). Their old store front is now Waterworks. I worked in Highland Village at the time of the move and the talk was they wanted to expand but HV was/is also pushing out any independents for all national chains with more name recognition (which is why Fitigues moved to Uptown Park as well). IMO, the main issue with their current location is the same issue that plagues many independent retailers and restaurants in Houston- parking and street access. That HUGE store has about 5 parking spaces and there is nothing else near it that would bring foot traffic in.
  7. heights_yankee
    Actually, if Wally World does decide to try and move in to this part of town, it will have nothing to do with saving money for poor people. I can't find the article to link to, but there have bee several news stories lately about Wal-mart's new concept, which will be "higher end" to attract the Target loving, yuppie and dink crowd. I feel confident that's what they would try to bring inside the loop. Either way, I hope they keep their stores far, far away from me. I hate Wal-mart. I agree. Those stores stay around b/c people in the neighborhood want them here.
  8. heights_yankee
    I've been wondering the same thing. I mean, it's not like they're cheap either. How does a store that sells name brand (read: expensive) matresses stay in business at Shepherd/11th? I just don't get why these companies or developers feel this kind of stuff is needed in this location? You know one of the worst parts about the Chili's? If and when it closes, it will sit vacant forever b/c no one wants to start a local restaurant with the cost of making the building not so Chili-ish.
  9. heights_yankee
    This we can agree on.
  10. heights_yankee
    I love how you editted your post to make me look like a C student. Your original post said 1999, NOT 2003. Nice try though- I may be a C student, but I can still read and actually retain information over night. I also never mentioned 10% as an acceptable tip. I waited tables all through college and, like any good liberal arts major, for almost 10 years after as my only source of income. I know who tips and who doesn't. Again, your responses are all about speculating what you think is going to happen. I am talking factually about businesses in other cities where the ban has not only NOT closed down business, but in Boston has lead to increased business to the point where establishments had to hire additional people to keep up with the demand. Read the article- that's why I posted the link. Until you can provide concrete information about a city where a smoking ban has forced establishments to go out of business and pushed service industry people in to abject poverty, you don't have a factual argument- just your opinion. AND opinion is fine, but don't pass it off as as fact. That's so Fox News.
  11. heights_yankee
    If a waiter or bartender's tips havent' increased in 10 years, that is not going to be b/c of the smoking ban. If establishments raise their prices in accordance with inflation, the patrons will still be tipping on percentage and the waiters take home will increase. This has nothing to do with the smoking ban at all, but A for effort.
  12. heights_yankee
    The ban hasn't been in place in 10 years (I think it was in 2003), but I could only see that is going to be the trend. After all, in another 5 years it's going to be just the norm and people who always went to bars will continue to. After 10 years, people aren't suddenly going to say "Well, I haven't been smoking in bars for 10 years, so now I guess I am going to stop going."
  13. heights_yankee
    Well, after 10 years in the service industry in 3 major US cities I see it just a little differently: industry/ex industry are the biggest, drinkers would be second and smokers 3rd. And as far as the tips going away- again, many other cities already prove this is not going to be the case. Waiters in Boston, NY, LA, San Fran and all minor cities surrounding these will tell you they're doing just as well as they ever did. from Boston.com "Sales and employment at Massachusetts restaurants and bars grew slightly during the first six months of a statewide smoking ban, disproving predictions that the prohibition would inflict serious damage on the hospitality industry, Harvard researchers are scheduled to report today... The Harvard researchers reviewed state tax records for all restaurants, bars, and nightclubs from July through December of last year -- the first six months of the statewide ban -- and compared them with receipts for the comparable period in previous years. To make an apples-to-apples comparison, the researchers took into account inflation. Even after doing that, they found that tax collections on meals rose about 9 percent after the ban went into effect compared with the July through December average for 1999 through 2003. The researchers also found that alcoholic beverage excise tax collections remained essentially steady. Similarly, the figures showed a slight rise in the number of people working in restaurants and bars. ''We had anticipated that and projected that, but no one believed us," said Joyce Redford, director of the North Shore Tobacco Control Program, which covers nine cities and towns. ''Now look: Lo and behold, it's exactly what happened." Even the business alliance that once stood determinedly in opposition to the ban, sending it to repeated defeats on Beacon Hill, concedes that the law has had no persistent negative effects." Boston.com Article
  14. heights_yankee
    I don't think anyone has mentioned the employees in bars. After all, there are a lot of people (i.e. students) that need this kind of work schedule. Why should they be trying to do something as simple as put themselves through school and be subjected to smoke?
  15. heights_yankee
    And the states of California and Massachusetts. My smoking friends back east actually like it. They like not having to wash/dry clean everything they wear out on a Saturday night or feeling like they need to shower before getting in to bed. Also, my single friends swear it's a great way to meet people- all the smokers congregate at different times and it's like a mixer.
  16. heights_yankee
    What I'd like to see is some mixed use, like what they have in midtown. Let's have retail and restaurant space with lofts or apartments above... Just no more pink brick townhouses please. I can't stand everything looking the same
  17. heights_yankee
    I am slightly disturbed by the "no white people" comment, but I'm going to move past it... Anyway, this has not been my experience at the new Target at all. It's been a mix of people everytime I've been there. A mix I would say that is very representative of the different neighborhoods it serves. Plus, I know that all my Heights yuppie friends have shopped there multiple times Perhaps it was the whole Monday night thing, as most people who work until 6 or later (like my husband and myself) do our shopping on the weekends.
  18. heights_yankee
    A woman on my neighborhood forum said the "For Lease" sign was down and it looked like someone was doing some work inside... Any info from you wise folks?
  19. heights_yankee
    I wish I could, but I am limited to message boards that are already in my cache. Thanks, new firewall!
  20. heights_yankee
    This is a C&P from another website I am on, but I thought y'all would like to see it. If it belongs on another part of the forum, please feel free to move it: If you didn't see the article in the Chronicle, tenants of the River Oaks Shopping Center on West Gray have been informed by the owner of the property that much of the property on the corner of West Gray and Shepherd will be razed in order to put in a high-rise residential building and, of all things, a Barnes and Noble. They plan to demolish the entire center on both the south and north sides of Gray, including Black Eyed Pea, Three Brothers Bakery and, worst of all, River Oaks Theater, a Houston landmark. To make matters worse, because Barnes and Noble owns Bookstop, many also fear they will eliminate the Bookstop inside the old Alabama Theater building on Shepherd and Alabama and demolish that as well. That Bookstop won awards for its unique preservation of the classic theater. Losing the River Oaks Center and the River Oaks Theater is unacceptable. A petition drive has begun at the link below. Please visit the link, sign the petition and pass the information along to as many concerned people as possible. You can also get more information through the links below. Thanks! Sign Petition Here
  21. heights_yankee
    I thought I had heard rumors about one of the bike trails being developed in The Heights making its way down to Sawyer Heights... Anyone?
  22. heights_yankee
    I was going to wait until Sunday, but you just sold me with every garment in her size comment.
  23. heights_yankee
    Chain eateries that I might actually like to see in SH: Sweet Tomatoes Panera Bread Another Myako location/ or Azuma a steak-house type restaurant as well, be it Flemings or Houstons I think the guy who owns Mi Luna, etc... should look at this location. Anyone EXCEPT Tilman!
  24. heights_yankee
    I was being sarcastic. Very sarcastic. I guess I should have used my emoticons.
  25. heights_yankee
    Don't forget an Applebee's. There simply aren't enough of those in the area.
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