relocating

We'll have to wait until next year to try the beers

http://swamplot.com/east-downtowns-8th-wonder-of-the-craft-brewing-world/2011-07-28/

I was just looking for some data for school, and I bumped into this website

http://www.commonground.org/?page_id=18

This organization remodels old buildings in NYC and develops them into housing for homeless, seniors, and vets.

Perhaps something like this could help to revamp some of the abandoned buildings in downtown Houston.

What would you think?

Thanks your all for your help.

I wrote a very nice letter to my realtor and sent it by certified mail (because he wasn't answering my e-mails)

He has agreed to drop the renewal fee

Look up your property tax record on the HCAD site. If they got your paperwork, there will now be a clickable link near the top of your record which says "Fiduciary Information." Click on it and they should be listed as your Fiduciary Agent.

Thanks a lot!!!!!!

I found the record and the link. They did appeal my property taxes and apparently there's an informal hearing on June 22nd

Big sigh of relief!

We now use AppealPropertyTax.com and have been very pleased with them. We used O'Connor for a couple of years, but got only minor reductions, while noticing that a neighbor who used AppealPropertyTax.com was getting much deeper reductions.

Moreover, O'Connor was charging us 50% of whatever they saved us, while AppealPropertyTax.com charges just 33%. Save me more on my taxes and charge me less to do it? I'm there!

We used appealpropertytax.com this year but we haven't heard a thing from them. We know is too early to have already finished the appeal, but we wanted to know if they received our paperwork. We have e-mailed and called repeatedly and no answer. How do you contact them?

I am worried they never received our paperwork and now it's too late to hire another appeal company.

Just be sure you don't already have a contractual obligation with your current agent which prevents you from doing so.

Gee. I guess I may be stuck then. We have an agreement with this realtor to sell the house. If we fight the lease renewal fee, he may refuse to list the house for rent, and we may not be able to list it with another realtor because of the agreement.

But I am fighting this renewal fee anyway.

Thanks y'all for the advice!

I biked there last night as well. My food strategy there is to simply put the decision to the cook and I am continually impressed with the topping/sauce/sausage combo they put out.

The first ten times I ate there I ate the same thing thinking it was the greatest damn hotdog known to man, but you simply cannot go wrong here, whatever they give you you will like.

I was the one with the screaming baby :-)

I also did the chef's topping and I thought they were great. I tried three (!) different hot dogs: elk, apple and sage, and duck. Elk was the best!

Our house is listed for sale, but we have not received an offer yet and would like to put it up for lease.

Our realtor has given as a draft residential lease agreement that has a 100% of one full month's rental as fee payable when the property is leased (fair enough)

but

it also has a renewal fee of 100% of one full month's rental if the lease is renewed after one year.

Is this standard?

Can I fight this? I don't think is fair to get that renewal fee since he won't have to list the house, or do a background check, or credit check, or anything.

Plus, he won't be the property manager. After the house is leased, he won't have to move a finger. Does he earn a renewal fee in perpetuity?

Many thanks for your help!

I tried this place today for the first time. Good sausages and great buns. They seem to have a movie night going on on Tuesdays - a huge screen on the patio.

They also have a different sandwich each day.

Has anyone been there yet?

I wish we had a "normal" grocer, but I guess this is better than the current situation. No more trips to the combat Kroger.

http://swamplot.com/...06-03/#comments

so, after trying not too give any business to the combat Kroger on Polk @ Cullen, I had to give up yesterday (no milk for toddler).

I saw renovations going on at the old CVS, but didn't get around to asking what business are they planning to open there.

Does anyone know?

The thing that gets me about these folks who live over there is that, in their initial mission statement/neighborhood description, they never mention the East End http://www.eadohouston.com/index.html. They are clearly attempting to SEPARATE themselves from the East End (what they really mean is, "we're part of Downtown, really. That icky barrio is that-a-way ), and are actually the East Downtown Management District, as opposed to the East End Management District. If they were proud of being part of the East End, they could've offered as a name Eastgate, the Gateway to the East End. But nah.

They separate themselves because the two areas are in two separate superneighborhoods. East Downtown is part of superneighborhood 61, which also includes downtown. I think what people know as the East End combines superneighborhoods 63 and 64.

http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/SN/docs_pdfs/COH_SN_map_2008.pdf

The East Downtown Management district area of influence does not cover any of the neighborhoods traditionally associated with the East End. The Greater East End Management District covers them.

Nothing sez 'cozy wine bar' quite like $2 beer, Half Price Humpdays and Soak-It Sundays.

Well, there goes my dream of a Rice Epicurean in the area. The Epicurean Express name is very deceiving though.

What do y'all think about the Phoenicia market opening in One Park Place?

I went last weekend to check out the new wine bar (Cork Soakers) on St. Emanuel, across the street from Lucky's and saw that they are remodeling the space right next to the wine bar. The notice says that the site is going to be a "Epicurean Express Market". Has anyone heard about this market? Do you reckon is a new type of store from the Rice Epicurean people (one can only dream)?

The area that Relocating is talking about is here, which is to say, between Velasco, Denver, Clay, and not sure how far it goes from Velasco, as I only ride my bike on the path down Velasco.

Here's the location from the other thread.

The homes referenced needed to be carted away, there are some across Velasco that need the same treatment.

Some of the houses were demolished yesterday. The houses on the other side of Velasco, behind the DaVita dyalisis center, are also boarded up.

I just drove past a group of houses on Velasco, between Polk and Denver (77003) and they are all empty and boarded up (see pictures). What do you think they'll do with that big lot. It's a big lot that goes all the way down to Sampson. Any thoughts?

I don't know. Maybe someone capable of tolerating the Eastwood Civic Assn. meetings would care to comment. I'm sure that this would be on their radar.

I'll do anything for a quiet zone! when's the next meeting?

Not a market??? You have got to be kidding me!!!! Out here in West Houston (Energy Corridor), it is like Little Britain!!! We would love to have a Marks and Spencer open up here, it would do a roaring trade!

When I came to Houston 11 years ago I was told that there were over 30,000 ex-pats in Houston, I am sure that number has increased now.

M&S??? That'd be just the thing. Right before I moved to Houston, they opened Marks and Spencer simply food in the train station in both Cambridge and King's Cross (my daily commute). I picked up breakfast and dinner there almost every single day. Coronation chicken, aromatic duck, and eggs & cress sandwiches.

Between what hours?

10 am to 2 pm.

There's also a 24/7 drop-off site at Harvard and Center (3602 center), just behind the Starz Pizza in Washington Avenue (

It's possible. The powers that be are hoping this segment of rail to be the next quiet zone.

That's interesting. Which area do you think will become a quite zone? I reckon they don't have enough money to make all the East End a quite zone, though some of the crossings may already be up to the quiet zone standards.

You can drop all your recyclables on Saturdays at Discovery Green (downtown Houston, between Minute Maid, Hilton, and convention center)

I love the "Columbia tap rail to trail". It's a traffic-free ride to Hermann Park. I wish they'd mow the sides more often though

http://www.eastdowntownhouston.com/railstotrails.pdf

Took a tour of One Park Place last weekend (Side thought: what an expensive place! and you would not believe the low quality of the finishes! The washers are top loaders. I asked if I could bring my own much better washer and was told I could as long as I paid for the storage of the one they supply with the apartment)

Anyway, during the tour the woman mentioned that they are in talks with Whole Foods and Central Market to open a grocery store on the first floor. I can get organic food from the farmers markets so - if these are the choices - I would much prefer they get Central Market.

However, I think the best way to drive people towards downtown on weekends and after work hours would be a Trader Joe's, since it'd be the only one in the city (or the state for that matter)

Try Hyunh's a new (5-month-old) Vietnamese restaurant in the corner of St. Emmanuel and Walker. It's a family-owned place, with good food and great prices (I think the most expensive thing on the menu is the Duck salad for $9.00! ) They also have some special stuff for breakfast on Saturdays. They have very good Vietnamese coffee (tastes chocolatish) Unimpressed by the desserts though.

There's a mall across the street On St. Emmanuel that has an Asian supermarket. Has anyone tried the Vietnamese restaurant inside that mall?

Found this to be interesting. I guess the write-up is referring to the strip center catty-corner to Mandola's Deli. it's sort of a strange place for it. I would think that closer to UH or more "inside" Eastwood.

A correspondent sends in this bit of over-the-counter intelligence about Midtown geek-gathering favorite Tropioca:

Tropioca on Milam at Drew is in the process of

looking for a new home.

They are looking around the

midtown area

but also at a location

near U of H

at Cullen and Leeland.

I overheard someone behind the counter saying that their

rent has gone up almost 80%

and not gradually over a few years, but

all at once.

I will be sad to see them go if they leave midtown because they make the

BEST frozen cappucino coffee drink

inside the loop.

That'd be wonderful! Meatball sandwich for lunch at Mandola's and frozen cappuccino for dessert, all within walking distance! (and with the smell of bread while you walk from one to the other). The beginning of restaurant hopping in Cullen :-)