Flashman

I also feel like I should mention #'s.

A youngster working for my wife asked if she had been to that cool club on Westheimer called "Hashtag 2"

Waldo mansion owners withdrew the variance request after neighbors complained. 

they are geckos. small non-native lizards

Just an FYI - you can call any towing company to came and tow a car blocking your driveway. You don't have to call the cops.

The tow truck drivers fight for that commission, because they always get paid.

From my contacts in City Hall, this was true. The head of Public Works has decided to change the (already approved) plan by fiat just because it was what he wanted to do. (Yes, a tautology, but you would understand if you know the guy)

All the hubbub brought this to the attention of the Mayor, who made him back down.

In other words, Innerlooped was absolutely right, and everyone who sent an e-mail, fax, or letter made a difference.

This would not have happened four years ago.

Keep fighting the good fight.

Here is the City's response to my e-mail about this project:

=================

Good morning,

Thank you for your email regarding the Bagby Street reconstruction project. We appreciate the passion and interest you have for better roads, sidewalks and infrastructure for the Midtown neighborhood. As there have been many false rumors regarding this project, we would like to provide you with information concerning the Bagby Street reconstruction venture.

In the beginning of this year, the Midtown Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) (http://www.houstonmidtown.com) began the Bagby Street Reconstruction project. The cost and oversight belongs to the Midtown TIRZ and not the City of Houston. The reconstruction will run from St. Joseph Street to Tuam, and will also include two blocks of Pierce between Baldwin to Brazos. Currently, the first two phases of the project, from St. Joseph to McGowen, are under construction.

The finished product will include brand new streets, upgrades to public utility services, including: water main upgrades, a new 60 inch storm sewer to mitigate neighborhood flooding, sanitary sewer upgrades; as well as new landscaping, sidewalk adjacent benches, larger, wider sidewalks, wheelchair ramps and other improvements. The primary objective of the project is to replace a crumbling, almost unusable thoroughfare through western Midtown with a rebuilt car and pedestrian friendly street.

For whatever reason, there are rumors that Public Works has stopped construction on this project. This is not the case. Some key highlights to remember include:

· There are no planned stoppages in construction work.

· There are no plans to change the design or capacity of the street.

· Bagby will remain a two-lane street.

· Improvements to Bagby focus on pedestrian enhancement and will bolster rather than discourage pedestrian activity in Midtown.

Thank you again for your email in this regard. The Bagby Street reconstruction should be completed by May, 2013. Our office remains committed to improving neighborhood infrastructure and quality of life. Please do not hesitate to contact us in the future regarding this, or any other concern.

Regards,

I don't waste time with the City. I find my time much more valuably spent explaining to HCAD that the historic district designation depresses overall land and structure value, which saves money across the board, not just city taxes.

I was successful in doing this last year, and intend to do it again this year. HCAD is very receptive to the argument.

This was easier before there were actual sales in the actual historic districts. I had a little slideshow for the panel describing the limitations on my house.

I put my house on the Protected Landmark list (My choice, my hit on valuation. You may recall that if your house is a "Protected" landmark, you need city council approval for modification or demolition. If it is just a "landmark" you just need to wait 90 days) several years ago.

Now our neighborhood is a Historic District, and there are several sales that (sadly) justify close to the HCAD value. I took the iSettle offer (about 2% below what they offered in the first place)

IT will be interesting to see the lasting effects of the Historic District designation

(edit: corrected designation name.)

Saw Steve Forbert there in what must have been 1980. I thought it was a great venue.

<snip>

This is critical to getting your stuff back, or finding it in pawn shops, and it being useful as evidence. There are literally hundreds of red 22" lawnmowers out there, but only one with "TDL 00000000" etched on it. Alternatively, if you have recorded the serial number on an item, that works just as well. It used to be that thieves would not take items with identifiers on them, but just as alarm systems are no longer a deterent, neither are identifiers. Now, you do it to help catch the thieves and recover property.

<snip>

I know times have changed, but back in the '80s I had my bike stolen from my garage on 23rd street in the Heights. I had the serial number and reported it to the police.

About three years later (!) the cops called me and said they had the bike. IT had been pawned, and they (or someone) had checked the S/N against the "stolen" list.

After I got the bike back (a rather expensive Trek) the cop who found it called me, and asked me to sell it to the guy who pawned it! He said he wasn't the one who stole it, and that he had been using it as a bank account. When he needed money he would pawn it, and then go pick it up when he was flush. The cop suggested I sell it to the guy for $50.

I didn't.

I was driving to work today, and the mural is back!

I didn't stop to see, but it looks pretty much the same.

Obviously, you are the subject matter expert here so I believe what you're saying. My point was more that there are people out there who will not only do not care that you have dogs, they'll actually hurt them, so be careful what you wish for.

We were recently burglarized here in The Montrose. Our dog - a pit cross of about 55 pounds, was not hurt (thank goodness) but she didn't seem to be much of a deterrent. She has a very aggressive bark, so I can only imagine that these baddies are fearless.

Another friend in Old Braeswood was burglarized as well (during a weekday, the same as we were)and she has two bouvier of flanders. Big dogs.

Good god, still using checks? Glad I wasn't behind you. I don't see what is so annoying about checking oneself out. It's often a good bit faster. Why is Kroger looking at removing them?

I think the plumber was reveling in the fact that he is a ****.

So his point is that Dead Zones are good for the economy?

Yes, I am sure that was his point.

Joel Kotkin writes frequently about cities.

Here is his take on our Third Coast from today's Wall Street Journal.

Punch line:

"In Forbes' rankings of the fastest-growing job markets in the country, six Gulf cities made the top 50: Houston, Corpus Christi and Brownsville, in Texas; New Orleans; and Gulfport-Biloxi and Pascagoula, in Mississippi. In contrast, just one Pacific port, Anchorage, Alaska, and one small Atlantic port, Portsmouth, N.H., made the cut."

Cam someone remind me when we elected InBev to the state legislature?

Was that a special election?

Sons o'*******.

My child is moving into 4th grade next year and we need to provide proof of residence. HISD requires original (mailed) utility bills but, this being the 21st century, we don't receive mailed utility bills at our address, but rather receive them via e-mail or on online accounts. Has anyone had problems with this anachronism? These are all I have to submit and I can envisage them being rejected by the great bureaucratic machine that is HISD....

I think you need your "long form" birth certificate.

(sorry. This was, of course, no help. It would probably not be valid, anyway)

The pattern is consistent. Dangerous Montrose Liberals is a category not protected by the Voter's Right Act.

Drat!

Foiled again!

I am glad that Montrose is being taken out of D, but being put in with the whiniest group in the city give me pause.

Enjoy.

http://gregsopinion.com/maps/HoustonCOH2011Districts.html

Nice.

Thanks.

It's hard to tell if the line's at Studewood or Heights Boulevard on the southern end of the Heights.

I see what you mean.

I think it is Studemont/Studewood south to Washington, Washington to Heights/Waugh, Heights/Waugh to Memorial, Memorial to I45.

I wish they had a better map.

Has anyone found the proposed districts by ZIP code? I can't tell which district I'm in under the new proposal!

Pretty sure Studewood/Main is the dividing line in the Heights. I wish they had a better map as well.

Interesting that Montrose and The Heights (not Norhill, etc) are back together again. I remember back when they were split.

Being a former Heightsonian and a current Montrosian, I can see the common interests, and how that may help both neighborhoods at City Council.

Try Makeshift Metropolisby Witold Rybczynski.

The Next Hundred Million by Joel Kotkin (Kotkin is a Houston fan)

Even dogs. I don't see the appeal nor do I understand why some people insist on bringing their filthy, disgusting, vile pets with them everywhere they go. Dogs belong outside. And I dont mean on the patio of an eatery.

Dear Ken Hoffman:

Are you so lacking in empathy that you honestly cannot understand why people want to have their dogs with them while they eat?

You are either being disingenuous or are amazingly unobservant.

This city will never have a dog-friendly patio ordinance as long as that Idiot Ken Hoffman writes a column for the Chronicle. (Is LTAWACS really Ken's screen name?) He is irrationally opposed to such a thing.

Me? I don't believe that the guvmunt should tell us whom we can eat with.

You can drop them off at Harold's.