Flashman

Because I am an anti-social Socialist.

I can't speak for anyone but myself, but I am very pleased that Audubon Place is not on the recall list. Our house is a Protected Landmark in the City of Houston (we put it on a couple of years ago) and I am very happy that the two abandoned houses behind me now won't be turned into a five story condo complex. Based on the chatter on our Yahoo Groups list serv, it seems that most of my neighbors are happy, too.

No, it is showing that 8 of the 16 have reached the threshold. Wishing don't make it so: http://swamplot.com/8-out-of-16-houston-historic-districts-are-now-up-for-reconsideration/2010-11-18/

I have a big request for everyone coming to the Greek Festival, since the organizers don't seem to care: Please don't throw you garbage in the street or on people's lawns. Someone, usually the homeowner (since AOS seems to believe we exist only to clean up after their fund raisers) has to pick that up. Also, don't park in front of someone's driveway. Thanks! A Local Resident, who does not enjoy the Greek Festival at all. (and just to make it clear, Griff's St Pat's day party does not have the same problem, so they are welcome in the 'hood. Same with the Pride Parade. No garbage there)

I remember many years ago (I would guess 1983 or 1984) a woman killed herself by jumping off the West Loop onto I-10 outbound lanes at about 4:00 PM. I was trying to get home, and was not at all happy. I figured she impacted more people's lives that one day than she ever had in her entire life. Not in a good way.

We are renovating our GA in The Montrose into more of a Mother-in-Law abode, but I am curious what people are getting for garage apartments these days. Back when I was living in one (it has been a while) it was about $1/ft/mo. Is that still the going rate?

My wife just sent me a note that a garage apartment is on fire on Hawthorne between Roseland and Stanford. Anyone have any information? The house is being used as a law office, but the two houses next to it (I think 801 and 803) have been abandoned for a couple of years.

Google Sky Map is great if you are interested at all in astronomy. Wikimoble FlightTrack if you travel much Depending on your mail server you may need Touchdown (great Exchange client) I also like Documents to Go, which gives you access to Word, Excel, PDF, and Powerpoint

So, do you think they will make it? I think back to when Hugo's opened, and you couldn't get a table for love or money. I guess time will tell.

We tried it Saturday. Not a dissimilar experience, except there were no buxom blonds in attendance: Eating at Ocean There is a new restaurant just down the street from us called Ocean's. It just opened this past week. We generally try to avoid restaurants in the first couple of weeks of operation, but it was close (walking distance) promised some interesting food (Mexican Ceviche) and had margaritas. So we wandered over about 5:30 on Saturday afternoon. Sure, that is very early for dinner, but we had our lunch/brunch of Trouta's waffles early (about 11:00) so we were both getting a little peckish. As we walked in, they were just setting up the patio. We were greeted by Randy, the Maitre'd, and said we could sit anywhere. He told us that they just had their ceviches and some tacos and tostadas, and the the whole menu would be coming out in a couple of weeks. We settle back, got some cold water, ordered a couple of house margaritas, and looked at the menu. There were about six different ceviches on the menu, a couple of salads, maybe four tostadas and about six tacos. (I did not have my camera, so I have no photos. I am sure that their website will soon have the menu and food pics online soon.) The margaritas came, and I was surprised by the neon yellow color. We tasted them, and I thought they were very good. Doreen thought them a bit tart, but that is not bad. They are colored by the real lime juice, real orange just, and agave nectar used. The house pour was Jose Cuervo silver, which was fine by us. We must have liked them, as we had five between us. We settle on two ceviches (Ocean's Cechive, and the second one on the menu. I can't remember its name. Must be the margaritas). They were using flounder as the fish, and both ceviches were great. The eponymous ceviche was nice, crisp and simple. Good quality fish, lime, peppers, and onions. The second one used a chipotle reduction as well as the citrus juice. I liked that one better. We ordered the Maximiliano Taco (Lobster) and the Ocean's Special (grilled shrimp) tostada. Both were served "open face" with the difference being that the taco was on a crispy tortilla, and the tostada on a soft one. Both the lobster and the shrimp were excellent. Neither were overcooked, and the remoulade like sauce. These came with french fries (somewhat incongruously.) (The fries were OK.) Finally, we had a Tres Leches cake for dessert. Too much icing for me, but it was a nice finish. I hope they make it, as it is nice to have another place around the corner for an interesting meal. They are also planning on hitting the Montrose Sunday Brunch market. With La Strata gone, and such a nice, big patio, I think they have a chance. Oh, and the menu is much more limited than Yelapa. But they said that they will be moving to their full menu "soon"

I think it has already been shown that they don't really care what the merchants and residents want.

I have a wood floor guy that I think does an excellent job at a reasonable price (I am just a client, not a friend or co-owner or anything). I am not sure of the protocol on the board, but send me a personal message here and I will reply with phone number and e-mail address. He did my wood floors (Montrose, oak,circa 1915) and they turned out great.

We are fixing up our garage apartment and thought that Saltillo Tile would look nice in the kitchen. We can't find any place in town that offers a selection of such tile. The few on-line tile stores charge (not surprisingly) quite a bit for shipping. Does anyone have a local source? Thanks,

Probably.

Ai yai yai. Watersports in the bushes? Now this topic is going down fast.

I think you will get plenty of community for support with those types of controls in place. Will there be public hearings? I am sure you will let us all know so we can come by and learn more about the plans. I remember the old Street Festival fondly.

Says the person who lives on South Main. Hey! Let's bring the hookers back to South Main! They have been gone for too long! We have plenty of festivals here in the Montrose that bring the OuterLooper gapers and gawkers into The Montrose. Some of them are well run (The Pride Parade, and Griff's St Patrick's Day Party) Others are simply a pain in the ass for locals (I am talking about the Greek Festival. I never have more garbage in my lawn, and more broken branches in my shrubbery than after Greek Fest. Talk to AOS? They don't give a rat's ass.) So the question is: Which will the Westheimer Art's Festival be? Copulation and urination in the bushes? Or garbage picked up the next day by volunteers? That will be the question. There will be plenty of local (and I have lived in the Montose for over 10 years, and I lived in the Heights before that since 1988, so don't tell me about urban living) opposition depending on the plan presented by the party purveyors.

I agree it would be great to see more cops there. But I am not holding my breath. It is sort of sad that one can't walk from one side of the spur to the other without getting hassled by the homeless. I would walk to places like t'afia and the continental club, but it is just too much of a pain in the butt. I have to say, though, that all those Skylane Apartments (did they change the name?) are part of the problem. It is like watching The Wire when you see cops drive down the street. (Rollers! Rollers!)

I live in Audubon Place (North of this location) and have seen prostitutes in the actual neighborhood very infrequently. North of Westheimer is another story. The Apartments on Alabama and the Spur also frequently have prostitutes and what I assume are drug dealers hanging about. If the city can start cracking down on the sleazy apartments I think that would go a long way to reducing the street crime in the whole of The Montrose.

Find a driver you like, get his (her) card and call them when you need them - preferably in advance. I have used Dennis at Yellow Cab for a couple of years now to get me to the airport: (PM for his number). He always shows up, and the cab is always in great shape. I have had less luck with some of the Limo Services in town, I am sad to say.

Here are the codes. Here is the punchline: "Sec. 26-311. Designation. (a) The city council may designate residential areas within the city with chronic commuter parking problems as residential parking permit areas pursuant to the procedures of this division. For purposes of this division, a 'chronic commuter parking problem' means the occupancy of curbside parking spaces by commuter vehicles at the same hours and on the same days, but shall not mean parking for events which by their nature are expected to occur on a frequency of less than once every two weeks. ( In carrying out the functions assigned by this division, the parking official shall consult with and obtain the concurrence of the traffic engineer. (Ord. No. 07-464, § 7(Exh. , 4-11-07)" The procedure is spelled out how a neighborhood can request the designation. Not sure how the emoticons got inserted into the code. It is sort of funny, though.

I am in Audubon Place (roughly Montrose to Audubon, Hawthorne to Alabama) and we got our rolling recylcing bins a couple of weeks ago, too. They only pick up every other week (Monday was the second time they picked up) and now the city is starting a "recycling rewards" program where they tage your bin with an RFID chip, weigh your recyclables, and give you "points" that you can turn in for mechandise, or donate to something or another. Here is the website for the program. I am very happy about this. We also recently started composting all of our oraginc waste, so now our "garbage" for three people barely covers the bottom of our garbage bin.

They are so cute! We have a brindle pit who looks just like your brindle. She is about the best dog in the world.

I love the food there as well. Not really "summer" food, but as the weather gets cooler, I will be back for more Chicken Pot Pie. And the folks who own it are just top notch.

The rumor was not such a good rumor, I will admit. Plus, it was not clearly enunciated above. Kroger wanted to rent the space, and the new owners wanted HEB to let go of the lease for that reason. They didn't. Of course, maybe it isn't renting because nobody wants it.