Boognish

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Just made the switch from the Y to Bally's on Shepherd and couldn't be happier. I was sick of the small weight room, outdated and broken equipment, and children running all over the place (especially in the summer). Isn't there supposed to be an age limit in the weight room? I know childhood obesity is on the rise, but I don't want to have to wait on a 12 year old to get off the weight machine.

If you haven't been inside the Bally's, it is MUCH bigger than it looks from the street, I was very supprised. I am on a monthly national membership and it is comparable to what I was paying at the Y (+ $30) and I can use any Bally's in the city/country which is great because I travel a lot with my job.

The Post Oak YMCA on Augusta Drive has a pool. It is not indoors but it is heated.

I am a member at the YMCA on 34th and it's okay. It's about a mile from my house, so it's convenient, but I'm not a big fan. This time of year, summer, is the worst. The place is crawling with kids. I have nothing against kids, I like kids, but seriously, they're everywhere.

Trying to work out there after work is a waste of time. The staff does a poor job of keeping children out of the weight room. I shouldn't have to wait my turn while an 11 year old finishes his reps. I know that the YMCA is a family place, but that doesn't mean drop your child off on the way to work and pick them up on the way home. If they are going to allow people to do that they need to have the staff available to supervise.

The place is small and I have shown up and left immediately because there was not a single treadmill or machine open. They replaced the cardio equipment about a year ago, but there are still usually 2 or 3 machines that are out of order. Their weight room equipment is in need of repair.

I have considered joining the Balley's at Shepherd and Garden Oaks but it looks small and crappy too, not much of an upgrade. I have also considered joining the new LA Fitness at I-10 and Silber but it's not the easiest place to get to with I-10 as screwed up as it is.

Any word on foodland...I would love love love an HEB!!!!! That would be AWESOME!!!

There is not enough land to build a decent sized HEB, no bigger than the one at Ella & W 18th. The Food Land site is only 3.3 acres. Your medium sized HEB stores are around 80,000 square feet and due to their parking needs generally require an 8 to 10 acre site (new HEB Plus! stores are around 100,000 sf). I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for any new HEB stores inside the loop due to the lack of available sites and high land prices.

The government must be up to something!!!

the other story goes that they sold the land for 6 MEEEELION dollars. I find the losing money story more plausible....6 MEEELION sounds high.

I doubt it, $6,000,000 would be extremely high for the area. The site is 2.98 acres and a $6,000,000 price tag for the land would be $46.16 per square foot before any adjustments for demolition. The only land sale remotely comparable within a 3 mile radius is a 3.3 acre site on W34th that sold in February of 2007 for about $10.00 per square foot. If you were REALLY generous and applied a $15 per square foot price tag on the dirt you are looking at around $1,950,000 for the land.

I doubt someone bought it for the improvements, you're talking about a dilapidated supermarket built in 1960 at the end of its economic life. In Houston there are vacant supermarkets built in the 1990s like Albertson's that aren't selling for more than $50 per square foot. $6,000,000 for the 32,596SF supermarket would be equal to $184 per square foot. There's no way.

I'm with jm1fd, I believe the losing money story. Not buying the $6,000,000 story.

Washington Mutual

Hmmm...I know they are putting a free standing WAMU branch in the shopping center at 43rd & Ella. Seems silly that they would be building another WAMU branch at 34th & Shepherd (I guess if they are in fact building 2 new branches less than 2 miles from each other, they have done their research and the think they will make money, in which case it would not be silly for them). I hope this is not the case, though it would not suprise me.

If it has to be a bank branch, I wish it was going to be a Bank of America. I hate having to go to the other side of the freeway to the drive-thru branch on Hackett Dr.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that it is going to be a Chic-fil-a, though I know it won't be. I just like to think that it will be.

Anybody know what is going in at the southwest corner of 34th and Shepherd? A foundation has been poured, but there are no signs. There was an old gas station before, but it doesn't look like it is going to be. I am sure it will be a bank branch of some sort.

Well the Starbucks finally opened and it appears the center is making some progress. I checked Page Partners website last week and it looks like there are a few other tenants that have signed leases in the center. Of course, they will be building a free standing Washington Mutual between Kroger and Starbucks. Other confirmed leases are Massage Envy and a nail salon.

According to the center's marketing flyer, they are in negotiations with a restaurant for the end-cap space closest to Ella. Let's hope it's something good. They claim to be in negotiations with a wine bar for the oposite end-cap space near Kroger. I am pretty excited about that, lets hope it works out.

I just hope they don't put any more dollar stores in the center, there are already two across the street. I am hoping this will be a little more high-end.

Around $40 per square foot for property with frontage along Washington Avenue. $30-$35 off Washington Avenue.

There is an indoor skate park on Wakefield just east of Golf.

I think its great...the signs have gotten all of Garden Oaks Snobs into a tizzy (it isn't really that hard), and they'll end up getting something done about it.

You're right, they certainly are serving their purpose. I mean, if there is a sign saying "No Defecating in the Bushes", I am less likely to defecate in those bushes.

I was driving home the other day, turning left on W 43rd from Shepherd, and the house on the southwest corner had several signs in their front yard near the bus stop:

"No Defecating in the Bushes"

"No Trespassing"

"No Drugs or Alcohol"

"No Prostitution"

This must be a real problem if they had to put signs like that in their front yard. Not a good selling point for the 20 houses on the market along W 43rd between Ella and Shepherd. I live on W 43rd, and aside from cigarette butts and some trash dropped in my front yard by pedestrians, I haven't had much of a problem. Now, granted, I do not have a Metro bus stop in my front yard (Thank God!).

When I first saw this, I laughed, because come on, "defecation" is funny. But this is not a good sign for the neighborhood, no pun intended.

You're saying that somebody gets shot, stabbed, or jumped downtown every Friday / Saturday night?

No, not EVERY night. All I'm saying is my wife is a fire fighter downtown and she sees this stuff first hand, and it happens a lot. There are a lot of really great bars and restaurants downtown, but like any major city, you just need to be careful. Downtown Houston has always been rough, that hasn't changed.

I don't think we have to worry about Downtown ending up like the Richmond Strip. With Minute Maid Park, Toyota Center, Hilton Americas, Metro Rail, George R. Brown, Bayou Place, Aquarium, Jones Hall, etc., I think Downtown Houston will continue to attrack alot of people.

Back to the original subject...Richmond is pretty much dead, unless you are a sex shop, strip club, or "Massage" parlor. I know a few people who still go to Sam's Boat, but that's about it. I am suprised Ruth's Chris hasn't moved. The new Metro Rail will probably give it a little shot in the arm. I am suprised at the number of new townhouse sites under construction in the area west of Sage, east of Fountainview, between Richmond and Westheimer.

How many fights / stabbings are there in downtown Houston compared to other cities or even other parts of town? I go downtown pretty much every weekend although I usually hang out at more laid back places, I guess. I also frequent the movie theater at Bayou Place. I've never seen anything worse than the odd homeless person asking for change, but then again I don't typically go into dance clubs. The last few weeks I noticed quite a few people walking around compared to other parts of town. That's why I say that downtown might have gone down hill but it's certainly not dead.

Compared to other cities...I don't know...not my point. Everytime someone gets shot, stabbed, or jumped the Station 8 bell rings, and it happens every Friday and Saturday night.

Downtown is not dead. My point is that the bad element that moved in and brought the Richmond Strip down has moved into downtown. Most of the calls they get ARE to the clubs, and you are right, your better off in the pubs and more laid back places. But when it's last call and time to go home, you gotta walk the same sidewalks and go to the same parking lots as the club-goers. I used to go downtown all the time and I have seen plenty of brawls in parking lots and on the sidewalks.

Downtown is not dead, but I'm going somewhere else.

Downtown is definitly going or has gone downhill. I personally know several firefighters at Station 8 downtown and they stay really busy Friday and Saturday night with all the fights, shootings and stabbings in the clubs on Main Street and it is working its way to Midtown. They made a stabbing at Sammy's not too long ago, 4 guys broke a beer bottle and stabbed a guy in the neck because he was gay. Back in 2004 I was in a club downtown standing at the bar, the ground felt wet and it felt like I was stepping on glass. I looked down and I am standing in a pool of blood. Apperantly some guy had a bottle smashed over his head just before I got there. These days I may go downtown for a ball game, but that's about it.

Comcast is garbage.

I called last week to have cable installed in my garage. The said they would be there last Friday between 5:00 and 8:00. I get a call at 1:00, "Uh, I finished my jobs early and was wondering if I could come by now." I say, "Sorry, I'm at work, the earliest I can be there is 3:00." He said okay. So I get home at 3:00, and wait, and wait, and wait. 7:30 rolls around and I decide to call the tech that called me to find out where he is. He said he wasn't at work anymore and hung up on me. I could tell from the background noise that he was out at the bar. He wanted to come earlier than scheduled so he could cut out early and go drinking with his boys.

I call Comcast the next morning to explain what happened, after explaining, they apologize and say that someone will be there by noon. I'm at my house until 3:00, no one shows up, no one calls. I have a party to go to, so I leave. Now I'm irritated.

I call Comcast Sunday afternoon and explain what's happening. Come to find out, someone from Comcast did show up on Saturday, at 7:00!!! After sitting on hold for an hour while the customer service guy tries to get a supervisor on the other line, he asks if he can call me back, I say okay. I get a call about 30 minutes later from the area dispatcher, he says someone will be at my house between 5:00 and 8:00 Tuesday evening. The customer service rep I was on the phone with calls me an hour after that and tells me that they have me scheduled for Thursday between 12:00 and 5:00. I say no, I spoke to the dispatcher and I am scheduled for Tuesday from 5:00 to 8:00. We supposedly get that cleared up.

It's Tuesday, I'm home at 4:00. I wait. It's 8:00. No one comes, no one calls. I call Comcast and at this point I am fuming, I let the customer service rep have it (I don't curse or say anything rude). I sit on hold for an hour and a half waiting for the rep to be connected with a supervisor. Finally, the supervisor, Zaraya comes on and is very polite, apologizes profusely, saying "We are so sorry, we dropped the ball, this is not how we like to do business, etc." She tells me someone will call my wife first thing in the morning and schedule a time that day when they can come by the same day.

The next morning, no one calls, no one comes by. It's 12:00, no longer morning, so much for first thing in the morning. My wife calls Comcast, they say, "Oh, we have you scheduled for Friday between 8:00 and 12:00. "No, we told you last night, Friday would not work, someone was supposed to call us this morning, you are supposed to come out today." Well, appearantly the 2 hours I spend on the phone the night before was a waste of time, because they hadn't done any of the things they said they would do, just scheduled a random time. We complain some more and they say we will not be charged for any of the work, and schedule us for Saturday morning, between 8:00 and 12:00.

To be continued..........

Please note, we tried to get DirectTV when we moved into our house. There are too many trees blocking our signal. DirectTV is not an option.

Time Warner showed up when they said they would.

Comcast is garbage. Zaraya is a liar.

My wife and I recently bought a house in Garden Oaks on West 43rd St. We mainly bought on West 43rd because it was in our price range, and we love the house.

Once you move off W 43rd to Sue Barnett, 42nd, 41st, etc., the prices jump up. Since we moved in, we have noticed tons of houses on W 43rd going on the market, but that's just a sign of the times. The real estate market is completely different from when we bought in February (Everybody with fixed rate say "YEAH!").

We really like the area. It is a busy street, but unless your sitting in the front yard, the road noise isn't bad, you hardly notice it in the back yard.

Cahills sort of does that, but doesn't have a high enough profile nor enough of a feel... I think a BW3 could work well as much as it pains me...

Not enough of a feel? What feel are you going for? I'll take Bubba's or Cahill's anyday over a BW3. It doesn't get much more neighborhood pub / sports bar than that. I live two blocks from Cahill's (stumbling distance) and go quite often because I can walk their in 2-3 minutes. I know the owner, bartenders, waitresses, and even the cooks by name.

If you are going for the "cliche" Cheers feel, it's like Cheers in the sense that I know their names and they know my name, because I go there a lot. Sam and Carla didn't know Norm's name the first time he walked in to Cheers.

If you want that "feel", you need to be a regular customer, interact with the staff, remember their names, be polite, tip well, and bring your friends.

I do believe a BW3 would do very well in the area, but I'll be watching the game at Cahill's. You should give it another chance, it's a great place.

houston has attempted to get the olympics twice. why doesnt it get very far in the race? i think the oylmpics would do great here. any idea why the commitee thinks it wouldnt?

Probably because we don't have any mountains nearby and it hardly ever snows.

the lodge at bayou bend is closed and landry's is taking over as brenners steak house

Yeah, I called The Lodge at Bayou Bend today to make reservations. I hadn't been since they changed it and wanted to check it out. The hostess that answered said it was now Brenner's.

Interesting that The Rainbow Lodge made it there for 30 years, and The Lodge at Bayou Bend couldn't make it for one. Talk about customer loyalty! Looks like they took their business with them.

Now Landry's owns it. GREAT!!! What a bunch of crap. How long do you think it will be before they put up the ferris wheel? The Boardwalk on the Bayou [spit].

I think there was something on HAIF at one time about a known restauranteer (for lack of a better word) owning this and planning to open a restaurant here... but I can't find it (and HCAD says the station is owned by the City of Houston). Did I imagine this?

Hmmm....guess you'd have to get it away from the City of Houston to do anything with it. That could be tough. They already have to HFD Museum in Midtown, so I doubt they would make another fire museum.

I wonder what they (Houston) will do with the old Fire Station, with this new development?

I have always thought that it would make a cool icehouse.

We are trying to buy a house in the Middlebrook section of Clear Lake - downsizing. Found the perfect house for us, unfortunately, the only things wrong are drainage in the yard, and a huge oak tree that may be dying.

Anyone know a top-notch tree service that gives free estimates and comes to Clear Lake?

Thanks,

Papillion

Good Luck!!! I posted the same question not too long ago. All I got were responses from readers with suggestions on what might be wrong with my trees. All I wanted was a name and phone number. Maybe it's against the rules, I don't know.

I ended up calling Ability Trees (sorry, don't have the number). I have heard their ads on Sports Radio 610 forever. I have asked around and I think the quote I got was reasonable, about $1,500 to trim all of our trees. I thought this was expensive, but I guess it is expensive to have your trees trimmed. Still saving up to have the job done.

I think they service the entire Houston area. One problem, I had to schedule an appointment a month in advance because they were so busy. That should give you time to save up to have the work done though.

Good luck, freakin' yards are expensive.