westguy76

Those are some fine ladies.

Is having a tramp stamp a prerequesite?

I'm just sayin..

I would wholeheartedly agree with you here, as this solution would not have infringed on anyone's rights, yet accomplished the stated health related goals. However, just as the smoking lobby has its own obvious agenda, the anti-smoking lobby has its own. The second-hand smokescreen is just as nefarious as what the tobacco companies put out. It is just that those on that side of the fence choose not to see it. The co-opting of science and scientific studies for political purposes is very dangerous. The EPA is one of the worst. Your use of their edicts to prove a point means little if the science behind it is suspect, or worse, in the case of second-hand smoke, nonexistant.

Are you saying there is no scientific proof of second hand smoke?

I was heading to Wal-Mart the other day in Pearland. A co-worker asked me which one I was going to; the black one(West), the hispanic one(Highway 35), or the white one(Dixie Farm). I was dumb-founded by her ignorance, but everyone has their opinion I guess.

1) The west one is closest to Cullen drive McHard road and 288. All which lead to predominately black neighborhoods.

2) The one on Hwy 35 is close to the Beltway which leads to south houston and north up 35 towards Hobby airport both towards areas where a lot of hispanics live.

3) The one near dixie farm road is nearer to some of the older established neighborboods in pearland, near to friendswood, and in both cases also near to older declining neighborhoods that have a healthy mix of not wealthy people of all races. Not too many black people though.

This isn't even close to being true. Maybe certain areas in North Katy, but not the ones immediately around the Grand Parkway/I-10. The homes off of Mason and Fry, maybe. Ever heard of Cinco Ranch, Firethorne, Kelliwood, Seven Meadows, and all of the other communities in Katy?

Katy is full of cheap home that will go through suburban decay. Stay away from Katy like a plague. Stick with Sugar Land. Pearland, I still see nothing special. Could become the next Katy.

Lots of areas have cheap housing in or near them. Katy also happens to have in and near it very expensive housing. But keep the myth alive.

I think in these little dips the high income homes do just fine. People tend to forget just how much "family money" is in Houston. Its made a few lists as being one of the cities with the most multi-millionaires. Generations make family loans to each other at family interest rates.

Its the burbs that take the hit the strongest. Property values are low and the native wealth is almost non-existant. We finally unloaded our Woodlands house. Our closing was the day after many mortgage companies went belly up. It took three tries for it to fund that day. The people were financing about 90% of the purchase.

The big oil bust was really the only hiccup in the higher income market in Houston that I can remember. We swooped in, in the early 90's and picked up a house for a song. Well, for us it was a major stretch but it paid off in the end. The property value alone on that little house is now almost 3 times what we paid for the whole thing. Even with that dip though, the houses came roaring back for those that "sat it out." Trendy high income areas are mostly about location and location always rebounds.

I guess I live in a trendy area in suburbia as my values have risen well the last 2 years. I have very little cash equity in my mortgage, It's just the way I choose to move in because I plan to be here 20 years. I do plan to refinance my loans and I wonder how these mortgage industry problems will affect me doing that and when it will be best to do it. Do they expect the interest rate to rise steadily for a while? Does anyone know how this is affecting the prime refinance rate or market?

usually when i set off my own alarm. the monitor calls me and asks for a password. I recieve this call within a minute. If I don't give them the password they call the police. I have know idea how long it takes for them to get there.

Correct me if I'm wrong, the bar owners will be fined if someone is smoking in there establishment. What will be the cost to the bar? Who will hand out these citations? Health inspectors? Meter maids?

Any more info on the Target?

Just that their will likely be one built here. Still in early stages of planning

I ride a bike just like this that I had since my child hood but with the Tuff II's then get in the truck to go roofing.

That sure is a "happy" looking bike.

seriously though you don't ride that do you?

do you have the little plastic things that clip on the spokes to make noise? the ones you get out of the coco puffs box.

Monroe Rd is also being widened, which is essentially right across the beltway from Pearland Parkway.

A Super Target is in planning at this intersection as well.

Looks great Red. How did you attach the boards to one another. Sometimes I see them notched and sitting together like lincoln logs. trying to decide which way to build one.

We also store are cars in the garage. It's tempting to use that space for other stuff and park in the driveway I suppose but I never gave in. I have decked my garage attic and store stuff up there. I also have a 6X6 shed in the back yard to store lawn equipment, that helps.

So now I am a fascist. Well, that's not so bad. Fascists are pretty snazzy dressers, and boy can they march.

Yes, I demand that a bar owner provide a healthy environment that is not full of airborne carcinogens. I also demand that his employees wash their hands after using the restroom. I demand that restaurant owners keep meat, eggs, and dairy at proper temperatures. Maybe a bar owner's way of conducting business as he pleases involves spitting in the glasses to clean them, but I doubt arguments about his "rights" will cut any ice with the city health inspector. I don't think arguments of "if they don't want to get diarrhea, they can choose not to come here" will get him out of a citation. I guess the health inspector is a fascist, too. Maybe he'll save a seat for me at the next meeting.

No business owner has a right to conduct business "as he pleases". As soon as he opens the business to the public, he has a responsibility to provide a safe, healthy environment for anyone over 21 who wants to patronize him.

BRILLIANTLY SAID

Imo the East bund feeder between 99 and Mason is a dump, and by far the ugliest frontage in Katy. I'm very surprised this was the chosen location.

can you explain. how is it a dump? What is there I am not thinking of?

Yep, that was me. Rather inauspicious start to my acting career, if I do say so myself.

...and yes, they were serious about the human remains.

Why did I think you were african american? Thats strange, cool that you made the cut and nice looking street (minus the blue warehouse) I guess it's better than a beer can house.

Some of you have noticed a blue metal warehouse in the background of pictures of my house. Well, that blue monster is my neighbor's loft studio/home, and it is featured tonight on HGTV's "What's With That House?" TV show at 10:30 pm. There is a cameo of yours truly in it, as well. I make no promises as to my comedic abilities, as I am sure my best material ended up on the cutting room floor.

Anyway, the show should be interesting. This house has been converted from a glass company office/warehouse into this artist's home and studio. It is extremely interesting inside. So is his art. If you get a chance, check it out. For those interested, my house is the yellow bungalow with blue and red trim, next door.

Repeat at 2:30 am.

I'll try to remember to Tivo it. The host of that show can be annoying though.

A pad at Katy Mills would have been so much better. Even one in that Westgate Shopping Center would have been better.

I sort of agree, however, when they ever finish the mall across the freeway near the Cinemark it will be a good spot. You know in like 5 years....

thanks for the photoes MrFootball. I like the one looking across the pond to the bridge.

Looks like a nice place. Last time I drove that was it was open fields with a couple of bridges they had built.

My wife and I are sitting back at looking how Telfair come up. At the same time, we are looking for anything decent that pops up in the Avalon/Sweetwater Area too. I convinced her to wait a year if necessary, so that we can really be sure if we want to live in Sugar Land. We are also considering The Woodlands, West U, and Bellaire. we are leaning towards Sugar Land and the Woodlands because they are more conservative areas and are really good places to raise a family. Too many flakes and fruits in West U.

If these are your qualifications and you are considering these areas why not consider the Cinco ranch area? just curious?

Interesting thought process. You must have really studied the Houston market hard when you came up with those findings.

That must be why;

38 out of the top 40 Houston-based public companies are located in the city proper and 27 of those 38 are located Inside the Loop or in the Uptown market.

9 of the top 10 accounting firms are located inside city limits with the other being in Bellaire

23 of the top 25 law firms are located in downtown proper. The other 2 are in Greenway Plaza and on the West Loop.

9 out of the top 10 stockbrokerage firms are in the city and all 9 are located in the central area.

9 out of the top 10 venture capital firms are located inside city limits.

All 10 of the largest architectural firms are located inside the city and most are downtown now.

9 of the top 10 commercial building contractors are located inside Houston.

All 10 of the largest financial institutions are located in Houston with most being downtown.

All 10 of the largest money management firms are in the city.

Houston fares very well in comparison with most other metro areas with the number of headquarters (national/regional) located in the city proper. That's why you'll find these names all based in Downtown, Uptown, Greenway, Allen Parkway, Montrose, Upper Kirby, etc... Marathon Oil, Plains All-American, Halliburton, KBR, Lyondell Chemical, Waste Management, Enterprise, Continental, Kinder Morgan, CenterPoint, Reliant, Teppco, Apache, Baker Hughes, Enbridge, Cooper, Weatherford, El Paso, Frontier Oil, EOG Resources, Cameron, Westlake Chemical, Stewart Information Services, Adams Resources, Dynegy, Southern Union, Pride Int'l, ExxonMobil, Shell Oil, Chveron, Duke Energy, Minute Maid, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Amegy, WaMu, Compass, Sterling, Prosperity, Frost, AIM, Fayez Sarofim, Vaughan Nelson, Private Bank, Merrill Lynch, UBS Financial, Morgan Stanley, AG Edwards, Sander Morris Harris, Deloitte + Touche, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst + Young, KPMG, UHY Advisors, V+E, F+J, Baker Botts, Andrews Kurth, B+G, Locke Liddell, Haynes + Boone, Manhattan Construction, Gilbane, Linbeck, Camden Property Trust, Camden Builders, Hensel Phelps, WHR Architects, EDI Architecture, Gensler, 3Di, PBK, HOK, PGAL, Morris Architects, PSP, etc...

While it might be true that labor doesn't like sitting in traffic, they don't get to call the shots. The people that decide where to locate local businesses live in River Oaks, Memorial, Tanglewood, Southampton, West U, etc... They want to live close to work but they also want to locate in areas that are convenient for the professional services they require. If you see the list above (I know you love my lists), you'll see why by and large they choose to remain not only within Houston city limits but within the central core. They also know that due to the international nature of much of Houston's business, they want to be located in areas that have high end hotels and restaurants for their international/national guests. It's important to have things like the Four Seasons, Omni, Hilton Americas, Westins at the Galleria, Artista, Caffie Annie, Mark's, etc... nearby. That's also why you are seeing areas outside of the true core trying so hard to lure higher end places to SugarLand Town Square, Woodlands Waterway, and even the new Memorial City.

I happen to work in the civil engineering field and we are located in the westchase area. There a lot of large firms in the area and up and down the west side of the Beltway, along I-10 in the area as well. My firm moved to the westchase area about 5 years ago from a business tower at woodway and 610. By the way, the principals of our company live in the memorial area as well as the sugarland area. I commute (if you can call it that) from Cinco ranch. when I was single for a while I lived near off Allen Parkway for a while.

Lights out Lidge is back!!!!!!!!!

Isn't this post in the wrong place?

I think with a little updating it would be fantastic. Don't listen to the h8ers. Listen to your heart.

i would be concerned about freeway noise/ light pollution

Texans just signed veteran WR Keenan McCardell and P Matt Turk. They have released several others.

this is unconfirmed and now denied by McCardell. they did sign the punter though.

per rotoworld.com

Texans released RB Darius Walker, FB Cory Anderson, G Atlas Herrion, C Enoka Lucas, CB Derrick Roberson, P Eric Wilbur, and LB Zac Woodfin.

Texans signed P Matt Turk.