dbigtex56

Just a bump for this thread. Another HAIFer mentioned that seeing the vacant land formerly occupied by Wilshire VIllage was a bit depressing.

There were several viable structures which were demolished on this site for a project that has yet to be realized. Another ugly vacant lot, due to the short-sighted greed of incompetent speculators.

Discuss.

Perhaps they're correct. The Houston and Dallas metro areas seem to be similar in size, depending on what criteria are used.

The relative merits of each are, of course, subjective.

Hard to see it happening. I just want them to build something already. Depressing biking past that lot every day, and so strange to think of all the lives that were lived there...

Such is development in Houston. Richmond Landing, anyone?

That PDF from the GHPA - is propoganda. I am not faulting you or saying anything at all about your posting it, you are doing a service by posting it here for discussion....I'm just stating, and I am stating it as fact, that what is written on that PDF is 100% not supported by what is written in the ordinance. Does anyone else not think that it is very odd, and extremely untruthful, that the GHPA is taking the time to create a web site, and have meetings to dispel the myth of all these untruths, while 100% refusing to do the much faster, much better, more legitimate process of just modifying the ordinance to actually say what they want you to believe it says?

I'm 99% sure that you're not 100% correct.

While taking the #34 Heights bus I noticed a "Request for variance" sign on the apartment complex which is (I assume) scheduled for demolition as part of this project. Obviously, I couldn't read it in its entirety.

Although the hearing has probably already been held, does anyone know what issue was being addressed?

It's a malady that affects all older people. I think his problem is that he views his surroundings through the eyes of an old man, not that he views his surroundings through the eyes of a modern man.

Is your view of the world the same as it was ten years ago? twenty? If not, you're suffering from the very malady you decry, m'lady. Find a toddler to set you straight, or better yet, a fetus.

Why oh why must old people delude themselves into thinking that a lifetime of experiences, education and thought count for something?

Unless, of course your "address on Alabama" happens to be on W Alabama, which is, after all Alabama Street as well. Gee, how have people ever been able to locate the Alabama Ice House or Alabama Theater? With names like that confusing them, one would think they would be wandering around over there somewhere east of Spur 527. ;-)

btw: I am aware of the distinction between Virginia and West Virginia. States are quite different things than city streets; perhaps you've noticed that.

I'm not sure how we got to this particular tangent. My initial point was and remains, that the W on street signs merely indicates you are on a street with an east-west bearing and you are to the west of the dividing line. That applies to Alabama Street as well, and I imagine that east of the dividing line, which for Alabama appears to be at Spur 527, there are "E's" on the Alabama Street signs.

I'll concede the Alabama Theater (which, after all, is on neither Alabama nor W Alabama.) However, I cannot concede the ice house. Google "alabama ice house" (with quotation marks) and every reference is to West Alabama Ice House.

My point (and I do have one) is that there is not an E Alabama. It's just called Alabama east of Main St., and no Metro buses run down it. Not even the misnamed 78 Alabama bus.

My contention received an unexpected boost this past week.

As I was walking down W Alabama (near Mulberry - 1500 block), a car pulled up. The passenger opened his window and asked, "Excuse me, where's the museum?" I explained that if they turned onto Mulberry that the Menil was just one block down. "But we're not looking for the Menil. We want the other museum." After some discussion, turns out that the 'other' museum was Station Museum of Contemporary Art, which is located at 1502 Alabama. (No West.)

Thank goodness they didn't take the bus. That would be one heck of a walk back.

I remember the Der Wienerschnitzel on Westheimer (in Montrose.) It was on the site now occupied by Wendy's, and the name was changed to 9ers sometime in the early 80's. Another post referenced 9ers as well - was there a name change or buyout?

Cheap, greasy food served through a dirty greasy window, is all I remember about the place. It was demolished circa 1983.

While the image may be considered 'crap', this part does seem true as I've read somewhere that these apartments are part of the sale and will be demolished as part of the project.

Very interesting, if true.

So, the building of this Wal-Mart is going to benefit low-income citizens ... by demolishing their affordable housing?

The drawing is not to scale...meaning, it has no bearing on reality. It's crap. In fact, in oh-so-many ways, the girth of this particular crap is anatomically improbable. It might be mistaken for a woodland critter that climbed up through the plumbing into the bowl, just in time to die and rot.

Not quite sure I'm picturing this correctly - perhaps an animation would help.

The drawing is confusing, too.

I wonder how the Johnsons' future relations with the neighbors will go. If pride and envy don't rear their ugly heads, there are some exceptional people on that street. It's called human nature for a reason.

("If they'd only built a 3200 square foot house, maybe they could have fixed our rotted floor, too!")

Here's how to read your smart meter:

http://www.centerpointenergy.com/staticfiles/CNP/Common/SiteAssets/doc/How%20to%20Read%20Your%20Smart%20Meter%20020410.pdf

Thanks for the information. I'm puzzled as to why the Centerpoint and Reliant representatives couldn't provide me with as much help when I called them last year.

Time marches on. Analog is for the past. Digital is the future.

I loved my typewriter in back in the day but now I use a computer.

Digital's great, usually, but let me ask you this: ever hear of a typewriter with a virus?

If the analogue meter malfunctioned, it would simply slow or come to a dead stop. I hope that when digital meters malfunction (and they will; everything does) they will likewise err in the consumer's favor. Time will tell.

I'm getting into this discussion a bit late, especially since I had one of the first 'smart' meters that Centerpoint installed (approximately 1 year ago.)

There may be money-saving benefits to the new meter, but they are realized entirely by the electrical provider, and the consumer can only hope that the savings will be passed through (hold your breath.)

How is a 'smart' meter going to help me regulate my usage if I cannot read it? According to customer service representatives at Reliant and Centerpoint, they can send me no info about how to read my meter. The old, reliable analogue meter was a snap to read, and i would take readings regularly throughout the month to gauge my upcoming bill. That option has been taken away from me. Apparently, some sort of guess-timite is available online, but they sure as hell don't promote access to it. In addition, if I need internet access to read my meter, shouldn't that be included with their service?

I am being charged a monthly fee for a piece of equipment which I do not want, and cannot take with me when I leave. Where was the Public Utilities Commission when this sweetheart deal went through?

As a former employee of a local electrical utility, I appreciate how complex the power grid can be, and the numerous stresses placed upon it. These meters can perform a valuable function in increasing reliability of service and in holding down costs. However, there seems to be no assurance that the consumer will ultimately benefit; whatever the outcome I'm betting that the CEO's bonus will not decrease.

It takes years to develop a new vehicle. I'm sure dozens of people must have to sign off on the design. Don't you think at some point along the way someone would have raised their hand and said "Uh, guys, it's really ugly!"

Perhaps it's a tribute to the Pontiac Aztec?

demanding that Walmart spend a bit of their considerable construction budget on a more attractive building, with better landscaping, and efficient traffic patterns for its formidable parking lot.

Can you cite any examples of WalMart complying with local interests in such a way? Or will the Heights be the first instance?

If so, lucky us!

I remember when there was an HEB store IN THE HEIGHTS. And what happened? People didn't shop there so HEB tore it down and someone built (another) bank with a reserved parking space for each and every one of its customers.

"I'm sorry, sir, we're not accepting new customers, because we've already reserved all of our parking spaces. Bank elsewhere."

j/k

Seriously, that bank must have darn few customers or one enormous parking lot.

This past weekend COPS broadcast two incidents filmed in Houston. The first was a traffic stop (W Dallas - Taft area) in which a motorist had been observed buying drugs nearby. The second was also a drug bust, Spur 527 at W Alabama (Skylane Apartments) - just two blocks from da Mayor's house. There's a couple of nice, if typical, ariel shots of downtown.

"Cops" Season 22 Ep:32 can be viewed at Hulu.com

I come from somewhere that history is revered and preserved and I think it would be a wonderful thing to have that same feeling here. I just do.

You're preaching to a largely deaf choir. I've tried to explain to the locals, with little success.

They're incapable of learning.

Allen Parkway and Taft.

To me even more annoying than pointless red lights are streets with stop signs on every block. American traffic is like American sports - designed around stop and go movement, not continuous action.

Stop signs on every block?

Then. Maybe. You. Shouldn't. Regard. This. As. A. Through. Street.

At last, I've accomplished something. This motto shall be my epitaph:

"He coined the term Big Head On Main Street"

Are there any old photos of the M&M Bldg....er UH-D floating around here somewhere?

I used to work downtown and could see this building from our office but the perspective was from the side and not the view as seen in this picture. It was completely different in the 60's and 70's.

Love this shot though.

Absolutely. It was a dreary, mustard yellow eyesore.

Amazing, how a paint job can reveal the architecture lurking beneath. Another example would be the former Houston Sign Company (1200 Westheimer - now Slick Willie's) which used to be camouflaged under an icky coating of black paint.

Please bear in mind that a traffic light can influence traffic at more than one intersection. Interrupting the flow of traffic on a major artery creates gaps which allow passage at other intersections, sometimes blocks away.

Hey Dbigtex, you're not basing your opinion on a grainy pic from Google Maps are ya? Go by and take a look at the place.

No, I've seen it in real life, and I'll pass on the offer of looking at it again.

It would make a wonderful board game piece, if shrunken sufficiently.

So...we shouldn't believe them based on who they are? That's a circumstantial ad hominem attack. They cited sources. You have neither supplied us with your own cited sources or with a criticism of the reliability or validity of theirs.

Not they. Him. His name is Richard Lawrence, and noblesoul.com is his exclusive property. Also, he has a financial interest in preserving Ms Rand's alleged good name.

You really need to not trust everything you read on the internet.

I've wasted enough time on Ms Rand for one lifetime. Goodbye.

In her late twenties or early thirties while working on The Fountainhead, Rand was prescribed Dexamyl as an appetite suppressant. The medication contained Dextroamphetamine and Amobarbital as active ingredients. Neither of the active ingredients approached the effects of street drugs marketed as "speed". According to this biographical website, which cites its sources extensively, Rand took two pills per day for about thirty years and stopped taking them on a doctor's advice in the early 70's.

Based on the content of her literature, I think that it'd be plausible and even likely that her mood or energy level was elevated by Dexamyl. We the Living (her first novel, which immediately preceded The Fountainhead) is darker than any of the works that followed. Then again, I'd probably cheer up on HAIF a lot, too, if I were once more able to achieve career success. :shrug: Whatever the case, I'm having difficulty finding evidence that Rand was addicted or otherwise engaged in substance abuse. It'd be helpful (and a tad bit more intellectually honest) if you would cite sources, as I have.

Your intellectually honest source is the Objectivism Resource Center i.e. the Ayn Rand Fan Club?

LOL!