brerrabbit

My grandparents lived north of College Station off Highway 6 and OSR. When I was little my Father's preferred route was 45 N to 105 across to Highway 6 in Navasota. We drove 105 a bunch. I remember a house which at the time was out in the middle of nowhere on 105. It had a small lake/ tank that they dug out and left a small island in the middle. When they built Lake Conroe and filled it, the small lake/ tank had one side of it cut out and it effectively at that point was lake front property. I always marveled at how the house and that tank was perfectly positioned for that to happen. I also remember stopping for bar-b-que at a place on 105 all the time. Several years ago I was in the area and the place is still there. It's an A frame like building and long ago the family that ran the place lived upstairs. It was a store that sold all sorts of things including bar-b-que and fishing worms. Today it is pretty much just an eating place. As the growth started my Father changed his preffered route over to 290 and we did not take 105 very often.

Surprise me? No not at all. According to the Journal article Scott McCellend the President of HEB Houston showed up for the meeting and committed to a GB "plus" development which meant it will be better than GB but not all the way up to PD. If you look at all things HEB does in Pearland and the Greater Houston area you have to figure that between the last meeting and this one residents pointed out the amount of money HEB has donated as well as the money and support they provided last years Pearland HS State Champion Football team and the Pearland LL team that made it to the US Championship game. The idea that a company with essentially one store in Pearland has done that much for the city and the council wanted to block or impeed a second store was ridiculous and I think that message was sent to City Council loud and clear. I truely believe their minds were made up to vote in favor of the change before the meeting ever started.

I have lived in Pearland since 1994. Population was around 26,000 when we got here. What I have marveled at for a long time is the fact that at some point Pearland City Hall decided that we are a "Planned Community". That makes my wife and I laugh every time we see the sign. There was nothing planned about Pearland for the longest time, it just sort of happened. Now as we grew I guess they tought they should try to plan some things, but while they were thinking about it all those wonderful little retail strip centers popped up along 518 riding the "SilverLake" wave. Heck there are businesses as far east as 35 and 518 advertising themselves as SilverLake. Now HEB wants to build and this whole mess pops up. Well I live on the far east side and for one would love the idea of going to a HEB and not having to drive to 288 or 528 in Friendswood to get to one. I also would like to leave my tax dollars in Pearland. However the City Council wants what they want in terms of what is built and how it is built. They want a say in the quality of the offering. Well remember this the mayor lives on the East Side as well as a couple other council members. Maybe they don't want to see their side of town trashed out. Who knows.

The problem I have is when the mayor as he did several weeks ago said that the landowners were asking to much and that if they were willing to take less money then the deal could get done. What a crock! The City decides to put or in this case keep certain zoning requirements in place that will cost HEB or whoever buys the land more money. In order to get the deal done, he essentially tells the landowners to reduce their price to pay for the requirements he wants. Meddle in private business you think? HE is essentially asking the landowners to subsidize beautification that the city wants. I say find out what it takes and recall the old dude. He does not need to tell private landowners what their land is or is not worth. The market does that and he is now officially on record because he and the other council members are playing with zoning to affect the value. I don't know but in my world they are treading on thin ice with this one.

And finally the last election offered no relief. Had Cole defeated Ried we would still be right where we are because Cole is just another of the old guard. When I complained about the cheap strip centers being built along 518 years ago he responded to a post here or on another forum by saying that the City could do nothing to stop them being built because it was private land zoned for retail use. Well whats the difference here Kevin and all you city council folks?

Born and raised here. Went to U of H for undergraduate degree, U of H Clear Lake for MBA. I lived in Canada for 1 1/2 years when a job sent me there. I have traveled extensively and seen a lot of other places and agree there are some really great places to live out there. But I always come home to Houston, and Texas. It seems my fate was sealed in 1834 when my ancestors chose to leave Ireland and head to Texas. I am a sixth generation Texan and despite all the reasons people give to not live here, I look past them all because this is my home and I will probably never leave it.

On August 3rd, the Pearland City council has an agenda item to discuss the possible annexation of land south of Southern Trails (west side), and 1000' south of Bailey Rd. I will try to follow up on this in the weeks ahead. Here is the link where I found out about this (look on page 8, comment 9).

http://www.groupbuilder.net/uploads/City_of_Pearland/July_13_2009_Council_Agenda.pdf

This does not surprise me at all. I was just wondering when they would take the next step. If you drive Highway 6 west from 288 you will see that there are Pearland City limits signs down that direction. Cities seem to do that and annex roads in every direction and then come back later and start filling in the areas in between. I just hope that they don't over extend themselves because with each annexation they take on more costs and responsibilities. Some areas they annexed over five years ago are just now getting City services like water and sewer.

It's fummy but Foley's really devolved from a store with every thing to a more clothing and home related store. We bought our first house in 1983 and needed a mower and guess what? We bought it at Almeda Foley's. They were getting out of the hardware business so it was on sale and we were at the right place at the right time. That thing lasted till 1996 when I sold it at a garage sale. Also when I was going through some of my parents old stuff after moving them I found newspapers that had been used to wrap stuff and there was a full page add from the late 60's advertising tires and automotive service at the downtown Foley's. I think that stuff was sold from the parking garage that is still right across the street from the downtown Macy's store.

Thats the wierd thing about this place. They were not tearing it down but rather rebuilding the exsisiting structures. Two of the buildings have already been sheeted with new wood and there are pre made roofing truces on site. They were refurbishing these things as low income housing. I drive by every day on my way to work and my buddy and I have both commented that they needed to just tear them down and start from scratch, but instead they are rebuilding them.

Just an FYI, 70 acres is not a big enough space for a high school. If I recall Dawson on Cullen was only able to acquire 90 acres and they are building a three story school as a result. I think the current thinking is they like to have 100 acres. Dawson is a 4A school with a projected enrollment of 2,000 in four grades.

You honestly think that they would have any leg to stand on based on the fact that I replaced my roof with the same color, and same manufacturer that are listed in the deed restrictions? I follow the restrictions to a tee and always have. This is actually a funny situation because they are the ones telling people to do things that are not in the Deed Restrictions like the fences. As far as getting permission to do the work, I have absolutely no concern that they will pursue that. I have two documented cases where I filed the correct documents and they have not to this day given me approval. I built a pool in 1999 and submitted the form in May of 1999. The pool was completed in August of 1999 and I still have not received approval. I had a shed built in my back yard prior to moving in in 1994 and submitted that in advance as well. Fifteen years later and still no approval. When I brought this up to the two HOA members they both said, we have 30 days to respond and if we don't then you can do it. Besides I could run them out of court pretty quick by virtue of the fact that we as an HOA don't have that much money and could outlast them there. They tried to take a guy to court once before and he basically almost bankrupted the HOA with very little effort.

I have no love for the HOA and yes I did sign the contract and no you cannot find a single violation for my property. I have always been at odds with them and two years ago was the kicker. I sent my HOA dues in in November (not due till end of January) and they called in June and said I had not paid and they were having their attorney write a demand letter for which he charged $75 for. I pulled the cancelled check told them the account they deposited it to and faxed them a copy of the check, front and back. Two days later they call and say I still owe the $75 because the attorney wrote the letter and charged them. You can imagine my response to that. They send the bill wanting payment and it was not until I visited the President of our HOA at his house with my documents and basically told him that if this had to go to court I would go and the HOA would be paying for some pretty stupid fees based on the evidence and that I was pissed off because they would be wasting money I paid every year in dues. He put an end to that pretty quickly. Since that time we have a new management company and thus far they seem to be as bad or worse than the first one. We have some real problems in our neighborhood that need to be addressed, and my house is not one of them and never has been and never will be as long as I live there. My point to this whole situation is that HOA's do not serve their purpose because they spend so much time pursuing non issues with people like me. At the same time we have violations that have continued for over five years and they have done nothing about them. HOA's of this type are worthless and serve little if any purpose.

Definatley not tearing any fences down! I just found it amazing that the President of the HOA, a guy I have known for years and thought was fairly intelligent could stand in front of me and say that the ACC committee of the HOA could modify the Deed Restrictions as they saw fit based on what they thought looked better. Then the loosing a court case argument came up and they honestly thought they would win it. I will not change anything at my house and right now they have not sent me any notices. My fence actually is close to being "in code" as I have rot boards at the bottom but it is not 6'6". Besides I did not even ask their permission because I have a pool and was rebuilding my fence the Monday after Ike because to me securing the pool was more important than asking them for permission to do it. I also put a new roof on my house without asking them and actually used the only brand and color specified in the deed restrictions and they are giving me grief about that because I did not fill out the form to get approval. Again I did this fast and did not really want to wait on them giving me permission to fix my own house. I guess my Libertarian streak was showing because last time I checked, my name was on the mortgage and my name was on the tax roles for the property, not my HOA's. If they don't like the way I am doing things then to bad.

Thought I would call on my HAIF community to get opinions on this one as well as any facts concerning the law.

The story:

I live in a neighborhood that has an HOA and one of the board members lives two houses down and another a block away. I know both of them pretty well. I don't like HOA's in principle because they turn into power weilding goofs that don't really do much in the end. I understand what they are trying to do which is maintain property values but sometimes on the way they get crazy. Anyway Ike blows down a lot of fences and now over six months later the management company that administers our HOA sends out a letter that says all repairs should be done and reminding us that fences must be 6'6" with 6" pickets and a rot board on the bottom. Wait a minute I read my deed restrictions and it specifically states that fences must be wood and at least six feet tall but no more than 8 feet tall. Last night I wind up standing two house down talking to my neighbor who is on the board and the president of the board. I ask them about the letter and say it's wrong based on the deed restrictions. They proceed to tell me that deed restrictions are merely guidelines and things like fence requirements can be changed based on the opinion of the Archietectural Control Commitee which is a part of the HOA and that they are both on that committee and they decided 6'6" with rot boards look better so thats the new requirement. WTH? Five people on the ACC can change the rules anytime they please? I told them they were wrong and they could not do that and they assured me they could. I said well you would lose that one inn court, and they insisted they would not.

So the question. Is not the current deed restrictions the rules? Can a committee arbitrarily change them as they wish? Has anyone ever heard of this type on thing? Our deed restrictions take a 75% vote to ammend and therefore have not been amended since the beginning and probably never will but the current leadership thinks they control them however the want.

Not positive but I think this mall started life as a Deauxville Mall. There is a thread here about it.

There were several of these Deauxville Malls around Houston. One on 45 North had a Gardenridge move in after it closed. So did the one on I 10 West. The one at Baybrook just closed the mall portion and extended the buildings back through the mall area to enlarge them. This is a perfect example of why you don't base your entire business plan on a State Law that can change. The whole theroy of these places were they were going to be open on Sundays at a time when the "real" malls were not. It was a major challenge to the Blue Laws in the state of Texas. After they opened they were crowded on Sundays but dead the rest of the week. When the "real" malls saw that there was no major outcry with them being open and the State publically stated that they would take no action against them then the "real" malls started opening with limited hours on Sundays (12 till 6). As soon as that happened Deauxville lost what customers it had on Sundays and they were closing up or converting soon afterwards.

Never played there because I grew up on the wrong side of town but I remember it because at one point they used to televise the games and I remember seeing them on TV.

At least one good thing will come out of this... never having to hear that hick scream... "we clobber big city prices!". OMG he is so annoying... i would rather pay big city prices than put up with a hick like him.

When asked what the closure would mean to the community, Hempstead Chamber of Commerce President John Stanley said,

Twin W was on the east side of 45 right before Almeda. I also remember the Baldwin Beauty School which was on the West side of 45 at McHenry. It was in a building with the Big Bonus Stamp redemption center. I spent many an afternoon waiting around that place while my Mother got her hair done. The other thing I remember was that at the corner of Woodridge and 45 on the east side was the original Luthern High School. At some point it sold that land and moved down the street to it's current location at the corner of 610 and 45. I lived right off of Broad and Telephone from the time I was 5 till I graduated from U of H so I remember the Frito Bandito sign at the Lays place well too.

Another long time fixture in that area would have to be Bonnie's Beef and Barrel. Although the name may have changed at some point its been there since the early seventies. Also the Pappa's Little Seafood House which in a prior life was a Steak and Ale. It changed to a Mexican resturant for a while that kind of mirrored a Taco Cabana as it had a drive through and the same type offerings. I think it was Pappa's version of a Taco Cabana that did not catch on. It then became what it is today.

I am pretty sure that the current Macy's (the old Dillards/Joskees) and the current Penney's (the old Wards) are in fact the same buildings. When we at the mall a couple of weeks ago I remember driving by the Penney's and thinking that the area that was automotive repair was still there and they had just covered the doors over. While we certainly don't go there often we go enough and have gone enough over the years to remember if there was ever a raise and rebuild.

I do remember the two Dillards after Macy's moved out and really thought that was wierd. I think the Food Court has been through about four changes and the center of the mall where Santa always is has gone through at least three changes. We bought our first house off the Gulf Freeway at Dixie Farm Road in 1983 an were frequent shoppers at the mall. Now living in East Pearland Baybrook is as easy (if not easier) as Pearland Town Center to get to so we still shop there a lot. The real growth has been the surrounding shopping centers and the changes they have gone through over the years.

Was at Town Center Sunday and Cork Wine is gone. I went past the pavillion to the restroom and it was empty. No tables, chairs or anything. Looks like that was pretty short lived.

I graduated from Milby High School in 1977 and up till my senior year we played our district games at Jeppesene (football games) Our Basketball team starting in January of 1976 played games at Barnett Fieldhouse which was part of the Barnett complex on Fairway a block off of 610 South at Broad. Our senior year we played football at Barnett as well. Jeppesene Fieldhouse from it's appearance at the time looked to have been constructed at the same time as the stadium. It was built from the same materials and had the same look as the stadium. So if the stadium was built by the WPA then I imagine the fieldhouse was as well. There was also a stadium behind the fieldhouse away from the main stadium. It was used by HISD Junior HS's for foorball and in the Spring the configuration of the field and grandstands allowed it to be changed into the baseball stadium used by HISD. I played baseball there as well. When I got into college we played some Lacrosse games in the smaller stadium and after I graduated from U of H in 1981 they tore it down to build student apartments there.

I was young, but I remember the names Sage and Globe.

If Sage was at Monroe, then Globe must have been the one at Airport and the Gulf Fwy. I recall eating at the Sambo's in the parking lot on a few occasions (now a Denny's I think). My only memories of Globe are being entranced by a bunch of pachinko machines on the shelves.

I think that Globe became a Sam's for a while before turning into the Flea Market that it's been for the last decade or so.

Actually the store at Airport was never a Globe. I think it was a Wilsons, or something like that. The only Globe I knew of along the Gulf Freeway was on Woodridge right across from Gulgate Mall. The Fed Mart I went to as a kid was at Mykawa and Griggs and the building it was in is where the Fiesta is. Fed Mart moved into the Globe at Gulfgate when Globe closed. After that Fed Mart closed and the building was torn down and a Mervyns was built there. The Airport store did become the original Sam's for the Southeat side on town and was in business there until they built the Sam's at Fuqua and 45 then it closed and moved to the new location.

I remember the Sage on the Gulf Freeway really well. I worked for almost four years during college at the Plank Company which was right across the street. It's now United Rentals. I bought my gas at the Sage, cashed my paychecks at Sage, and bought my beer at the Sage Liquor store. During the gas shortages of that period the guy who ran the Sage Gas Station would be closed all the time but since we bought all our gas for the company vehicles from him, he would let us sneek our cars over and fill up or if he was trying to be real sly we would walk over with gas cans and fill our cars five gallons at a time.

I have worked in Downtown Houston since 1982 and I love the tunnels. I also love the fact that there are opportunities to go above the street in several places as well. You can cross from Reliant to the Hyatt above the street and there are two bridges from where I currently work in Two Houston Center to the Park Shops. The reason no one is open past business hours in Downtown is because quite frankly there is no money in it. The spenders are the business people and they all go home at night and on weekends. Complain all you want about today's downtown is head and shoulders above where it was in 1982. Back then the locked all the doors, rolled up the sidewalks and essentially abandoned downtown at night and on weekends.

I don't keep up with the soccer stadium all that much but I will throw an interesting note out there about something I heard concerning the soccer franchise in Houston. A current project is moving forward to build their training complex on the southwest corner of SH288 and Airport. Money will come from the City of Houston, the Houston Parks Board (who is coordinating the project) and the Dynamo. Monies are tight these days from the City and from the Houston Parks Board who solicites donations from foundations and Corporate sponsors. In a meeting several weeks ago to discuss the project everyone showed up with some money towards it except the Dynamo. Mayor White was alittle PO'ed that Oliver and the boys want so much but bring so little to the table. Parks Board is involved because the final project will have something like 18 fields for playing soccer and lacrosse. My question is if they can't kick anything in for the practice facility, what the heck are they going to do when it's time to put up the real money? (for stadium construction)

While that Target is in serious need of a facelift, I will miss not having a Target close by if it moves to Pearland. At least I can get in and out of that store quickly. I wish they would open a SuperTarget around Gulfgate or Almeda.

The one they are building at Pearland Parkway and Belt Way 8 is still relatively close. I have also noticed that it looks like it won't be a Super Target. Only one entrance and smaller than the super version. It probably has to do with the HEB at Blackhawk and the proposed new Kroger just the other side of the Belt Way.

I drive by it every day on the way home. From the looks of it the Macy's has closed. If that's the case then Almeda Mall doesn't have long before its closed.

If the station is a larger brand they will have a 1-800 number listed at the site as well. Definitely call them and report the incident. Make sure to keep your receipt. I work in the retail fueling business for a large international oil company and can tell you this happens more than you would think. If you report it they will self test and if they find a bad product they will pay for your repairs. We pay pretty quickly and without much hassel. By reporting it you may also be saving other drivers from having the same problem.