N Judah

It is widely believed that if UH can draw more traditional students who also choose to live on campus, they can raise both the giving rates and the graduation rates. It doesn't take too much of a leap of faith to see how students who live on campus might find a stronger connection to the school.

Also I would not be surprised if some of it had to do with the Honors College. If I were a potential honors student I would be really turned off by the dorms.

Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher...always the victims, even when they're the ones thrashing/lashing out.

It's been close the other times the Rockets have played the Lakers. But first things first -- beat Portland!

I think it would be cool if they maintained some of the inner structural elements too -- the more random-looking the better.

I dunno...if whatever replaces Cougar Place is more expensive, then I think it's a bad idea.

Edit: also, because it's already such a crowded campus, I think the school should look into building dorms (particularly upperclassman and grad student dorms, since those are the most likely to be tired of campus living) off-campus along the proposed LRT route and save space on-campus for academic buildings and stuff like that.

I really would have liked Houston Metropolitan University or City College of Houston. There's a City College of San Francisco. I always thought that had a cute ring to it. It's short, sweet, and to the point, if nothing else. Suggests the open admissions policy, mission, and location of the college in few words, and there would have been absolutely no mistaking it for any other college.

I liked the "City College" idea too but it was ruled out of contention. I think this was due to the fact that the "city colleges" (in california, and probably elsewhere) are community colleges, which UHD certainly is not.

Yeah, the world's biggest Co-Op/Farmers Market. Organic, of course.

That could be part of my park idea. I have never been to an indoor Farmer's market, which makes me think the people who sell stuff at those prefer the outdoors. Part of it could also be used as a venue for outdoor concerts.

Do you know why Astroturf was invented? The grass died!

If we kill the Astrodome, the grass can live again.

They should shell it except for the basic structure and make it into a park (with lots of overgrown greenery) built upon the ruins of where the astrodome once was. It will be like our Roman Coliseum except bigger and with landscaping.

I wonder how their office space is doing.

Opening next month:

Cork Wine Bar

The Board Room (bar)

Opening in next 2 months:

Andalucias Tapas

Mia Bella

Yao Restaurant

July:

III Forks (steakhouse)

Any news on Polk St Grill?

They are not moving away from the "working man's U" identity.

http://www.thedailycougar.com/uh_to_seek_c...nsors-1.1331939

But I love the Smoothie King!

I much prefer Jamba Juice to Smoothie King. They're not even on the same level, imho. Comparing Smoothie King to a Burger King shake is about right.

I think there just aren't any good smoothie places downtown. Maybe it can replace "Lidz."

I think a Jamba Juice would be nice.

Houston Area Residents' Vocational And Research -- Downtown

Hah...being confused with TSU is a "serious" concern but being confused with UST is not? I think they should go back to being confused with U of H main campus.

I peeked inside the windows of "Guadalajara del Centro" last night and it looks really nice. Can't wait to try the food when it opens.

I'm also looking forward to "Polk Street Grill" opening up (though I did not peek in the windows so I do not know how far along it is).

Instead of Lidz how about a cowboy hat store for the tourists?

I simply think it does not look nice. I would like it more if it had a more natural feel; for example, if it looked like it was made of wood and was less ostentatious that would be a huge improvement imho.

One way streets are really bad for pedestrian/urban retail.

TMC is increasing in size, and the population of Houston will be increasing too. Here comes urbanity/density/traffic/displacement -- fair warning --

I like Seguin State University.

I believe they would be naming it after the man, not the town.

By the way, the residents didn't do anything illegal either, did they?

No but I think they acted in really bad faith (ironically, especially in comparison to the developers). When you move to a neighborhood with no deed restrictions you've got to prepare yourself mentally for the eventuality of neighborhood change. Resorting to tantrum-throwing and backslapping good-ole-boys-ism when things don't go your way is simply inappropriate.

At the end of the day I think they just wanted to preserve the SCALE and character of the neighborhood and not have a high-rise sticking up in the middle.

Alright, so it wasn't about resale values or quality of the development, it was about scale. So they decided they were the last people to have anything to say about the neighborhood's character and decided to pull up the drawbridge behind them? That's sick. If we're going to play that game, then maybe there shouldn't have been anything built in that area to begin with. Trees and shrubs and wildlife, now that's some SCALE we could all appreciate...well, except for the people who paved over it, decided to build their own monstrosities, and then nominated themselves to be the new arbiters of taste.

Prove it.

I don't mean that snippily, but this is thrown out there every time a homeowner is against something, and not only is it rarely true, but often times the exact opposite is true. But, it never seems to stop the argument, and predictably, it was used in this case as well. The fact is, a condo tower full of extremely expensive units, occupied by extremely wealthy neighbors, probably HELPS resale value, not hurts it. This tower would logically have no effect on any homes more than a couple hundred yards away, yet they talk like homes six or eight blocks away will be plunged into darkness. And no one calls them out on it. Why?

Actually I have no idea what was going through their minds as they opposed the project. I relied on Subdude to give me the scoop:

No, but the point is that whether or not density could "fit in", the local residents did fear that the proposal would damage the quality of the neighborhood and hurt resale values.

It is possible that the tower could be like that horrible thing on Richmond near the Galleria, which no one in their right mind would want to live near. But I am sure the developers want to make money, not destroy everything that attracted them to the site in the first place.

The thought also crossed my mind that the homeowners envision themselves living in that neighborhood for the long term and simply don't want to pay increased property taxes.