staresatmaps

I love the giant gate in front of it .. Can't have the public using our little plaza now.

On 4/6/2024 at 5:33 PM, __nevii said:

The tweet below pretty much gives a good summary. Houston's LRT + expansions (either additional rail or BRT), while not the most extensive, is doing good in hitting key employment/dense areas (Red Line, future University Line), along with reaching more underserved populations that don't have access to personal vehicles (Green, Purple, and northernmost Red Line). 

Hence, in spite of rhetoric that was oft-said in the past (and currently channeled by personalities like Bill King), this is not "a train to nowhere." If the "University Line" had been built successfully, the perceptions would be total night-day from how the transit system is talked about now: Culberson and ilk were a huge thorn, but they merely delayed the inevitable.

A true grade-separated rapid transit will be a useful future addition. Most likely EL-form, in case subways draw too much concerns with flooding.

As far as rail across the metro, it would have to be some sort of "regional rail" if there is going to be consistent (all day) service: extend from Conroe down to Galveston area. In contrast, I am not the biggest fan of commuter rail, since that form is too tied with the "9-5" lifestyle in mind.

 

Car "access" like it's some form of disability to not own a car.

On 4/4/2024 at 6:36 AM, Texasota said:

Yes, good point. Apartment dwellers rarely buy groceries. 

It's just a fact that the average home owner in that area has a much higher disposable income than the average apartment dweller. People with more money to spend are more likely to shop at whole foods. I know plenty of people living in apartments in Midtown. They all shop at Kroger or HEB. If they want something close they go to Randalls. Nobody ever went to Whole Foods except the one richer family I knew that owned a house there. I don't see how this is controversial at all.

13 hours ago, TacoDog said:

Is this BS or accurate? Why does he care so much about the fire department?

It's never actually about the fire department when it comes to street planning. It's always a scapegoat to make people feel bad.

13 hours ago, bookey23 said:

@wilcal, I'm not disagreeing with you, but what do you see as a recent spark? My feeling is that Midtown is in a very tough spot right now, with the closure of the Whole Foods and High Fashion Homes, as well as the lack of further planned high-rise development

I don't see the closure of those things having a negative effect at all. Those businesses are for home owner level wealth, not apartment dwellers. 90% of future residential growth in Midtown has and will be middle tier apartments.

15 hours ago, steve1363 said:

At what point does it become illegal to block a public street?  I see this on one particular street in my neighborhood all the time and there are no restaurants nearby.  On my walk today I saw two vehicles parked the wrong way (against traffic) on various streets and at least 4 vehicles were blocking the sidewalk.  I know from experience these are traffic violations but where is the neighborhood constable when he could make himself useful?

If you call the police nonemergency line and say someone is blocking access, a tow truck driver will show up very fast. Then the cops will shop up to write a ticket so they can get towed.

On 3/28/2024 at 3:43 PM, samagon said:

no doubt, there's all sorts of sides to the subject, and no one way to do it is the right way. the thing of it is, it needs to be understood that there are trade-offs both ways. in some scenarios the business owner suffers, in others, the local homeowners suffer. 

if you have less requirements for parking minimums because it's a neighborhood level business, when the store/restaurant/coffee shop that is opened with every intention of being used by locals becomes popular and people who aren't local want to come, so now, if they don't have appropriate parking in a city like Houston where driving is the only option provided by government, we are stuck with people parking on neighborhood streets. the locals that once sang the praises of that amazing local business are now cursing everyone that goes to it.

as an example, you want to go to Permission? if you don't grab one of the 10 slots shared by it and Pho Binh, you are either paying for parking in the lot formerly known as Fitzgeralds, or you are parking on a neighborhood street. and that's the case for any place on White Oak.

if only we had a real public transit option, then the minimum parking discussions kind of just disappear. 

If you can't handle people parking on the public street in front of your house, you need to move to the suburbs.

2 hours ago, 004n063 said:

All I want is CDMX-style carts in all of the parks. Not sure if it's a demand problem or a regulation problem, but dammit I want a torta with salsa from a bucket.

If only street vending was legal here like in Los Angeles.

19 hours ago, editor said:

I don't think that's universal.  I've seen the heads of cathedrals moved around more than once.  Not in Houston, though.

Yes, its not universal but standard. The Bishops getting moved is more of a promotion though to a bigger diocese. There's also different kinds of non parish Priests.

On 7/3/2023 at 10:56 PM, Ross said:

I believe he was halfway through his second 6 year assignment at Sacred Heart. The Arch Diocese gets to do what it wants, but it was very sudden and annoyed a lot of people. Father Troy asked to complete the full term, but was told no. The new building wasn't quite done, and the chancery work wasn't complete either. He had been very sick for a while during construction of the new cathedral, due to stress and travel. I liked Father Troy. His homilies were decent and Mass was done on schedule instead of dragging out like my wife and son have told me it does now. Father Troy is far more charismatic and interesting.

If priests get moved every 5 years, why has Father Troy been at SJV since 2008? That's 15 years.

Another good priest was Father Rivers Patout, pastor at St Alphonsus on Manchester Street just outside the loop for 20 years. That's where my wife's grandmother went to church. He did her funeral mass and I had a chance to talk to him after. Another good guy. He was also the main chaplain for the seafarers hall in the Port of Houston. Obituary here https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/houston-tx/rivers-patout-5995647

The senior priests get to stay. It's the junior ones that get moved around.

Walker Street From St Emmanual to the Columbia Tap Trail. There's a really crazy Y shaped crossing over Emancipation that merges the lanes on both sides of the street. These lanes and the 10 or so handicap spots on Walker street get blocked off with concrete barriers whenever there is an event at Shell Energy Stadium so all the cops and friends can use the street as their personal parking lot.

Lidl is way better if you have been to both. It's not on the same level. Lidls have a really nice fresh bakery, where Aldis do not have one at all.

I wonder how many members of that church actually live in or near Downtown.

19 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said:

There are definitely some growing pains with these well executed bike lanes in this city. Residents in each neighborhood are having a hard time wrapping their heads around the idea that some people prefer not to drive. Even Council member Shabazz continues to bash these lanes on Blodgett saying they cause traffic. She's the moron who said the new highway connection from 610 to 45 was a transit solution for students while data shows that fewer and fewer young people are opting in to getting a license or a car. 

Imagine a pedestrianish city like Venice. Now let's say we built a few sporatic side roads that kind of connect but don't really connect to anything and they are filled with potholes and trash and are semi-unsafe to use. Would you be surprised if you saw only a few people per hour using those roads? I bet if they started connecting the roads, building branches, and building parking lots the amount of drivers would increase exponentially. Sorry a little unrelated, but I'm a little tipsy :/

On 6/29/2023 at 8:32 PM, Ross said:

The property is owned by the Arch-Diocese of Galveston Houston, and was not a parish church, as it was the co-Cathedral along with the one in Galveston. When they were building the new cathedral, the arch diocese was very involved. The arch diocese then annoyed most of the people who go to Sacred Heart by reassigning Father Troy, a main participant in the new building, to St John Vianney. When the folks complained, the Arch Diocese told them to stop moaning and that church decisions were none of their business and that all priests are the same.

Isn't it common policy to transfer newish priests every 2-4 years? That way they can gain more experience in different settings before being "promoted" to a main pastor or other position.

If you want these facilities, you should encourage them in your own neighborhood. Concentrating homeless services has been shown to destroy neighborhoods. Share the load.

1 hour ago, 004n063 said:

I've come to assume that first tenants in mixed use developments will always be Instagram-forward and pricey. I wish they were more inclusive, but I wouldn't be a very happy person if I couldn't accept that there are places that aren't meant for me.

I'd also care a lot more if there weren't hundreds of other much cheaper, equally bike-accessible, and honestly probably better food options out there for me. 

It feels true enough to say that places like this are good for the health of the Houston restaurant ecosystem, and I'm good with that.

Plus it's a cool building, and the benches are free.

More people should understand this. It's exactly the same way with apartment buildings.

Nice, I hate driving by that empty lot. Now I just need someone to put a 4 story odd shaped house in that small block to the east.

On 4/9/2023 at 5:54 AM, HtownWxBoy said:

Also, as someone who grew up in the Northeast (Northeast Pennsylvania), I wouldn't pay much mind to what the Governor of Connecticut thinks ..... while Connecticut is a nice state, the only thing they (the entire state) are known for is being a suburb of NYC.  Unless you have friends/family there, there is literally no reason to visit.

He actually lives in Greenwich, CT which is as close to NYC as you can get and has a history of growing up in extremely wealthy areas and going to school at the prettiest campuses in the US(Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard, and Yale). So I kind of empathize with his struggle of nowhere being as pretty as where you've been.

On 4/8/2023 at 7:56 AM, Ross said:

These elections would be to establish whether property should be treated in a different manner. Renters should not get to say whether their landlord's property should be subject to restrictions that have nothing to do with the renter.

It's true you cannot be forced to join an HOA, but your logic would allow a renter to force their landlord to join, whether the landlord wants to or not.

It's not just about YOUR property though. People are allowed to make decisions for their property. This is voting for a law(legally enforceable rule) for an entire area. It effects others properties, not just your own. It's not about renters or landlords or who is effected. As a general consensus we, as a country and state, have came to an ethical consensus that the only reasons to restrict voting is by age, citizenship status, mental incapacitation, felony status, and place of residence. That's it. You can't just add other requirements.

If we are voting on a law on reproductive rights, it's not only women that get to vote. If we are voting on a law on gun rights, it's not only gun owners that get to vote. If we are voting on driving laws, its not only drivers license holders that get to vote.

I can go even further. Here's your neighborhood. One property is half an acre with 30 people living on it. The next property is a quarter acre and has 1 owner living there. The next one is half an acre with ownership split between 30 people. The next one is a storage facility with 3 owners that are non-US citizens living in Argentina that never visit. The next property is a quarter acre lot with a 200 million dollar house on it with 1 owner. Who gets how much vote? Does each property get 1 vote? Does each owner get 1 vote? Does the property tax come into calculation? Does the land size come into calculation?

Now as I'm sure you already know they skirt this by not using the words voting or ballots, they are just "collecting response forms". And if the property has more than one owner, they have decided that only 1 needs to give their support. 29 can say no, but as long as 1 says yes it counts as a yes.

And yes, residents should and do get a say on things that effect their landlords all the time. It's called voting. Happens all the time.

I can go all day on how unethical it is to only allow property owners to vote on a neighborhood law no matter what the law is.

48 minutes ago, Ross said:

Why should non-property owners get a say in whether an area becomes a conservation district? Shouldn't that only be up to the property owners that are affected? It's the same logic that disallows renters voting to decide whether to form an HOA for an area - it's a property owners only thing.

How are non property owners not affected? Do they not live on the properties? HOA's are voluntary non-government entitities. You cannot be forced to join an HOA. Should only property owners get to vote for the city council? Should only property owners get to vote on zoning laws? The last state to abolish property qualification to vote was North Carolina in 1856. That's how long ago this debate was settled.

On 4/6/2023 at 7:15 AM, trymahjong said:

Ten years ago- or so, When Mayor Turner had all the historic districts do a "do-over" Avondale had to start over...51 %...still  not easy to accomplish.

I'm not sure why you label non owners second class.

I thought about the notion of " anti construction" - There are many empty lots within Avondale  that never seem to get bought for new development. In my twenty years here I've watched, good serviceable  historic homes torn down to make room for four cookie cutter town homes......ugh. So maybe somewhere, somehow that might translate to anti construction.  IMO Houston is a huge place, why are historic homes the first thing on developers radar?  It doesn't matter.....once those houses are gone, they're gone.

I'm labelling non owner residents second class because they do not get a vote. Only property owners get a vote.

28 minutes ago, LosFeliz said:

Not sure how it worked this year but in years past, two team hotels were downtown and two were in the Galleria area. If you got stuck at the Westin Oaks as a team hotel, I could see how it would suck. You'd need bus transfers for everything for your cheer/band/dance teams as well as alumni events. I'm hoping all four were downtown this year as it seems as if Hyatt, Hilton Americas, Marriott Marquis, and one other could do the trick. But it sure would be nice to get that W built and the Astros hotel and in the future all 4 team hotels could be near Discovery Green.

I know UConn cheer/band/dance was at the Magnolia downtown

1 hour ago, trymahjong said:

Okay

i do live in an historic designated neighborhood in Montrose getting that designation was not easy.

This is a new process- I will go out on a limb and say: I doubt it will be an easy process.

The thing to grasp IMO with trying to conserve certain neighborhoods is the plain fact that when those neighborhoods are gone....they are gone.

This is designed for people that want, but couldn't get historic district status for their neighborhood. It's also only 51% vote instead of 67% vote. With second class non-owner residents still getting zero vote. This is a purely anti-construction measures and has nothing to do with protecting historic structures.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/houston/article/houston-creates-conservation-districts-17878204.php

"Houston City Council on Wednesday approved a program that would allow the city to designate conservation districts in six neighborhoods"