Quinlan

The vast majority of homeless people are not people that could otherwise work and just choose not to, or as some people on this thread have called them, the "I ain't never worked a day in my life" folks. The fact is, a very large number of homeless people suffer from debilitating psychiatric/mental problems and Houston does not have the facilities to help these people. Many of these people do not have the support structures of family and friends in their life that can help them weather hardships when they occur and it is a downward spiral from there. Here is a link to an article in the Chronicle that touches on this:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metrop...ay/5076635.html

I really don't think the area being discussed ever had a singular, discrete name like many areas of Houston. Like many have said, it cuts through several different areas. I think a small part of the area, north of Washington around Yale, is technically The Heights. You know, I-10 wasn't always there. It is kinda strange to think about what that area must have been like without I-10 plopped down in the middle of it. For some context, check out some of these old maps of Houston:

http://houstorian.wordpress.com/old-houston-maps/

As for Montrose, according to some of these maps, it has been dubbed "Montrose" for quite some time.

Rates do not vary based on the time of year or any other cyclical pattern. The same goes for gasoline. If that were the case, it would be a guaranteed way to make millions and millions of dollars with very little risk. Rather, rates change because of underlying structural changes in the market that are not expected.....hotter/cooler than expected summer, colder/warmer than expected winter, unexpected decreases/increases in production and supply, etc.....

No guarantees. All I saw was a Barnaby's sign, on it's side, leaning up against the house on the porch. The house also looks like it's going through some renovations (spanish-style tile in piles on the roof ready to be laid). I would love it....it would mean no more driving to West Gray for Barnaby's take-out for me.

I was driving down Heights Blvd. this weekend and saw a Barnaby's Cafe/Baby Barnaby's sign on the front porch of a house being remodeled. The house is on the Blvd., southbound, two houses south of 11th. Anyone know anything more about this? Barnaby's would be a great addition to the Heights.

Is someone interested in keeping a running list of those businesses opposed to rail on Richmond? I don't frequent these boards enough to be a diligent custodian of such a list, but I would certainly be interested in using it for my own informal boycott. Who knows, maybe the boycott wouldn't stay informal? I think these businesses should be called out on their short-sighted, self-interested agenda that hurts Houston.

I am not sure exactly how to post pictures, but here is my attempt. Not quite the quality of those posted earlier, but they do offer a different angle.

the agents are in jail. evidently homeland security prosecuted these agents and they were sentenced to prison as a result of a call from the mexican consulate to the us govt. and they were prosecuted blindly. when the story came out, it caught the eye of several reps. the person they shot is a drugrunner. when the us reps asked the homeland security for the story, turns out homeland agents lied to reps so they would stop asking questions.

now the drugrunner is suing the us govt for 5 million. the us really is a country of opportunity!

The agents should be in jail. I don't care if they shot at a drugrunner or not. You do not shoot at someone running away from you that is unarmed. And the person shot at should be able to sue, regardless of his citizenship: he was unarmed, running away from the officers, and they shot at him. Those facts do not seem to be disputed.

I attended the town hall meeting tonight at Rice.

It was a pretty full house and there was quite a bit of tension in the air. The crowd was overwhelmingly pro "Rail on Richmond"---I would say upwards of 80%. Culberson made many attempts to steer the conversation away from rail, but the crowd kept bringing the topic back to rail. There were many outbursts from the crowd, showing an obvious frustration with his, as one attendee put it, "pandering", and it seemed like many in the crowd had decided that he no longer deserves enough respect to keep these things civil and orderly. There were many times when Culberson, even with his microphone, could not make himself heard over the raucous crowd.

Culberson kept repeating, ad nauseum, that he was only respecting the intent of the voters in the 2003 election, by insisting on his designated route that only has "slight modifications" from the map allegedly put before voters. It was pointed out to him that the map he had on hand as his prop was not accurate and that the language on the ballot proposal included that the "final scope, length of rail segments or lines and other details, together with implementation schedule, will be based upon demand and completion of the project development process, including community input." All of this went in one ear and out the other (unsurprisingly, with incredible speed).

There were also impassioned questions regarding healthcare reform, pleas to support our troops by ending the bloodbath in Iraq and urgings to help prevent Bush from going to war with Iran.

Culberson even got to talk about how border patrol agents who are currently on trial for shooting at an unarmed border-crosser running away from them should---instead of being prosecuted---be required to take target-practice so they will be sure not to miss next time.

Some of my thought about Rail on Richmond after reflecting on the meeting:

*Even if his so-called map is the map voted on by the voters in 2003, why should he get to decide what "slight modifications" should be permitted to it?

*What really is his agenda here? It's obvious that it isn't to "respect the actions of the voters". He breaks that tenet on a nearly daily basis. It is also fairly clear that the majority of his constituents favor Rail on Richmond. What political purpose is served by his continued opposition to Rail on Richmond?

*With the shift in power in Congress, the Republicans no longer run the Appropriations Committee. Perhaps it would be wise to start letting the Democrats in charge know what we think about this? David Obey from Wisconsin is the chair of the committee, John Olver of Massachusetts is the chair of the Subcommittee on Transportation and Ciro Rodriguez and Chet Edwards of Texas are on the committee, with the former on the Transportation Subcommittee. It might be worth all of our time to put in a call to each of them and ask for some help on this.

*For a man who loves to espouse the perils of an over-reaching federal government, he sure does seem to be meddling in an area where the decisions are likely best made by the local government.

My office has a fairly unobstructed view of the construction site of both The Park Tower and Discovery Green, so I will try to bring my camera phone to work tomorrow and snap a few pictures.

I don't think the issue is really living next to "traffic". Living on Pecore is one thing, but living next to Interstate 10 is another, where over 200,000 vehicles a day drive by. For some reading about the effects of living close to a freeway:

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/airtoxic/casesty6.htm

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/healt...la-news-science

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_44451.html

http://www.familiesagainstcancer.org/?id=251

http://voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2007/0...ealth022007.txt

Bram,

I've been thinking about doing this too, especially after reading this:

http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/uscities/pdf/houston.pdf

According to this report, Houston has high levels of the following in the tap water:

Arsenic

Haleocetic Acids

Radon

Trihalomethanes

There is just very little unbiased information on the web on whole house water filters. Everyone who claims to have any information also has an agenda and unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a consumer reports article or something akin to that on whole house systems, just pitchers and faucet units. The thing is, you absord all of that crap through your skin when you take showers as well.

Do you WANT your home flooded?

I don't think this is such a big issue. Looking at the Preliminary FIRM map, it seems that few houses would benefit by the retention ponds (fewer than will be required to be demolished?). In my estimation, there are very few house that fall into the 100 or 500 year flood plain that are downstream from the area in question (until you get to around Taylor). Here's a link to the map:

http://maps.tsarp.org/website/tsarp_firm/P...48201C0670L.pdf

We've actually got about 7 weeks before we have to move in, so after doing a little more research, I think the plan is to try to restore the windows and finish cleaning before then (six windows). Anyone able to give an estimation about how long one window takes to restore?

I ran across what seems to be a neat tool, though a bit pricey: the Silent Paint Remover. It uses UV light to "loosen" up the paint, claims to not release dust and gases, and obviously doesn't use chemicals. There's a pretty good write up for it on This Old House:

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/knowhow/ex...86353-3,00.html

Anyone have experience with this device?

Thanks for the advice everyone. We do have a small child, which is really our main concern. I've read that adults that have a proper diet can process lead fairly well, but that young children have a more difficult time. That, and the fact that the first time we brought him into the house he went straight to a window and latched onto it with his mouth.

heightslurker, I'm going to check out the book you suggested. The whole thing seems a bit intimidating though. I mean, I don't even have a clue how to take the window down. Danax, how do you take the windows down to strip them without just sending paint flying everywhere? Encapsulation sounds appealing from the amount of effort required versus restoring, but restoring the windows I think may give us a bit more peace of mind, not to mention prettier windows. I found the original weights from the windows in our garage when I did the initial clean-up.

We recently purchased an old house in the Heights (~1923) and my wife and I have some concerns over lead-based paint. We have not tested yet, but given the age of the house, we are fairly certain that there is lead-based paint present somewhere between the top coat and the bare wall. I was wondering if anyone in this forum has experience with testing, abatement, and general handling of the issue? I believe that the biggest areas of concern are windows, door frames, and uncovered soil. While our windows are all painted shut, there is some flaking paint on both the windows and some of the doorframes (as well as an area on one window with some wood rot). Any suggestions on how to paint over/fix these problem areas that will minimize future flaking and peeling? Anybody with experience with replacing old windows (though I would hate to get rid of them)? Any recommendations for good contractors that handle this type of thing and would be conscious of out lead-paint concerns?

Any advice would be appreciated.

I think the heights would be a great location for an independent record store (though that sentiment is partly selfish). It is a very large residential area that has few options nearby for good independent music. As for the Montrose area, there's too much established competition. And as a twenty-something-married-parent, I still buy plenty of music and would love to have something local in the heights that I could walk to or ride my bike to and browse and buy rather than ordering from an online store.