sidegate

This is my wife's single worst pet peeve about the Houston area. It drives her absolutely crazy because she navigates sequentially (do this, then this, then this, etc.) rather than by landmarks or spatial relationships.

That works in the city by and large but the problem is the suburbs are lacking in landmarks. It's prairie.

And I agree with jgriff, most of the time it's an irritating inconvenience, but in emergencies it takes on a different character. The city is here to govern, and predictability and structure in street naming is fundamental to interactions of its citizens.

For road name changes, Houston is such a patchwork of different places that have been swallowed.

That makes sense. But at some point presumably a new stretch of pavement had to join at an existing one at an intersection, so why on earth would whatever civic authority with jurisdiction not just give the newly intersecting road the same name as the existing road? it's arbitrary and capricious beyond belief.

Are Houston and the surrounding burbs the only places in the nation with what can most charitably be described as an endearingly quirky approach to naming roads? I went to a wedding last weekend in Richmond. Now admittedly I'm only an occasional visitor to the burbs and local knowledge was lacking, but both Google Maps, as well as the one on the invitation, referred to SH99 as Grand Parkway. There was no sign for Grand Parkway anywhere en route, and I was looking. And even the SH99 sign was smaller than most COH street signs, it was seriously tiny (as I saw on my way back). I was several miles through the intersection before I figured out what was wrong.

I'm sure people have discussed Eastex/59 and Katy Freeway/I10, and North/South Freeway/I45 at length elsewhere so I won't start again on those. But come on, is it too much to ask to pick a name and run with it?

So I have to wonder at the thought process behind the idea to stick the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey slap bang in front of the sign for the Ersity Omas at the corner of Montrose and West Alabama. Or is that the University of St Thomas? Anyway, surely there was enough room to put it behind the sign? It looks kind of silly.

yes, zones are still in place. from the hisd website:

What School Should My Child Attend?

Student Transfer: 713-556-6734

School Attendance Zones

Most schools have specifically defined attendance zones that include residential areas that each school serves. On the basis of a student's home address, HISD assigns each student to a "feeder pattern" composed of a specific elementary, middle, and high school.

To determine which schools serve your residence, use the online "School Zone Search Tool" or call the Student Transfer Department at 713-556-6734 or the HISD Information Center at 713-556-6005.

School Boundary Maps

To view individual school boundary maps, go to the School Information tool. Type in part of the name of the school in the "Search by Name" field and click "Submit." All schools have an "Attendance Boundary Map" link. If you need more help searching for schools, click on the "?" in the School Locator.

Transfers

Parents may also apply to a school other than the "zoned" campus for other types of transfers, such as Magnet/Vanguard, special transfers for courses or programs, impassable geographic barriers, majority-to-minority, space-available, out-of-district, violent-crime victim, unsafe school, adequate yearly progress, and public education grant. Out-of-district transfers may be available on a "space available" and tuition basis for students residing outside HISD. All out-of-district transfers, including Vanguard and HISD charter-school and contract programs, require the approval of the principal and superintendent of schools.

Other Options

In the interest of ensuring the widest possible range of choices in education, HISD also offers parents the option of sending their child to a school other than the "home" or "zoned" campus, provided that the school of choice has sufficient space available to accept additional students. When the school of choice accepts a student from outside its attendance zone, HISD requires that the parents agree to keep the student at the chosen school for the entire school year, and parents must assume responsibility for the student's transportation.

For information about available space, the application process, and eligibility for transfers, call the school in which you are interested or the Student Transfer Department at 713-556-6734.

I wonder how much ad revenue they lost when Foley's was subsumed. There used to be one day of the week when Foley's didn't run ads and I swear the main section was about six pages long, and most of that filled with stories pulled from AP or culled from first-tier newspapers. Between CNN/MSNBC and good local news (KHOU comes to mind), there's little to justify the Chronicle's existence apart from its Sunday edition. Competition from another title might help.

Perhaps this is off topic and if so please move, but with the ongoing revitalization of the Inner Loop and reversal of population decline (I'm guessing at that so please correct if I am mistaken), are Inner Loop schools likely to redraw their catchment areas in order to avoid overcrowding and if so by how much? Would it be a case of simply reducing or phasing out magnet programs? Would length of residence in the catchment area become a consideration? Or would new schools be built to accommodate the increased population? Or, are the numbers we're talking about so insignificant as to be unlikely to warrant such measures....?

Thanks to anyone who knows more the inner workings of HISD than me. We bought several years ago to be zoned for Lanier and Lamar.

I live of off Dunlavy and I really don't have a problem with them. In the grand scheme of things, it's not that many more people. But it kind of amuses me that 226 units in that neighborhood at the South end of Dunlavy freaked out the world, but 236 units on Dunlavy at the north end (almost by a hair) of the same neighborhood didn't merit mention.

23 stories has an emotional impact that a midrise spread over a wider area does not. one is appropriate for its immediate surrounding area (situated on a major east west artery), the other is not and in anywhere other than Houston, would get no further than the back of a developer's envelope.

there are several key differences b/w this dev and ashby:

1) It won't be 23 stories

2) It is bounded immediately on four sides by a park and the freeway; a four lane road, which will eventually, if metro is to be believed, be four lanes plus light rail; retail; and a lot of rental accommodation. Renters for the most part tend to care less than owners about developments in their 'hood since they don't have a mortgage invested in it, and in a few years will likely be elsewhere.

Contrast this with Ashby, plonked incongruously in the middle of a bunch of two lane streets (sometimes not even that with on-street parking) and a bunch of single family homes with hefty mortgages sunk into them and I, at least, get a sense of the reason for the difference in attitudes to the projects.

truly one of the greatest comedians ever

i agree. high rise developers here are notorious to resorting to the dreaded L word (Landscaping) when it comes to tying their buildings into the surrounding neighborhood. Pros and cons of 23 stories aside, these renderings look like these guys are at least making an effort in that respect.

"We need to go up in order to take advantage of these spectacular views......". I've heard Houston called a lot of things, but never spectacular!

The scale of it. Seems like (at least from the diagrams I've seen and the pictures I am seeing here) it is a bit ... cramped.

it's a new park. in houston. let's not look this gift horse in the mouth.

Actually there is big news on the River Oaks......in a bid to squeeze the Mandolas out of the Gulf Coast Kitchen space, and give the Nenos/Vincents compound on W. Dallas stronger competition, Tillman Fertitta has acquired all the land and available retail space in the River Oaks shopping center between McDuffie and Shepherd.

Building on the success of his upscale-casual, Mediterranean-inspired La Griglia, he plans to open a new dining concept: a gulf-coast-inspired, outdoor-casual Mediterranean steakhouse concept. Ground level, food-inspired retail and a new coffee-inspired Mediterranean beverage concept bar will provide climate-controlled all- weather seating for guests enjoying drinks before dinner at the new Landry's Las Vegas-Style dining destination: a steakhouse-inspired, Mediterannean-styled raw bar and pizzeria.

OK, that's totally untrue nonsense. But sadly within the realm of possibility..... I was reading Meme's wonderfully snarky post

It spoke volumes and made me think of Kemah and our local restaurant godfather.

x10

chipotle is the only place I would think of walking to, and I work in the Med Center; TMC needs more restaurants period.

People working there would be most likely to rail & walk it. People who shop there will park their midsize Lexus SUVs on Level 3 and walk into [insert name of high end anchor retail here]. I agree it will be a lovely addition to the area. What a treat to see zero ft setbacks in this area and not have to peer at shopfronts across an expanse of cars.

thanks for the pics Jax - looking nice! curious that the entrances are raised from the sidewalk. are they going for a Galveston-ish look?

Do bear in mind that about four other projects got snagged by this 11th hour ordinance; it isn't just one proposed project.

Do we know which four other projects? The City was staying tight-lipped on which ones were affected, as I recall from the report.

The exchange rate is currently 1.4 to 1, but your point is taken. I think it's more Latin Americas than euros, though...by a long shot

for the euro yes. for sterling, it is 2:1

Rusty Hardin represents Mayor White's daughter in a DUI. Wins case. Hardin is retained by the neighborhood to fight the Ashby highrise. Mayor White acts with extraordinary speed to draft legislation that will stop the highrise.

I'm sure these events are entirely unrelated.

Looks like they're elevating the storefronts off the sidewalk by a couple of feet? not to quibble, since this beats a front parking lot strip mall by a mile, but what is the rationale for this? Flood abatement? Doesn't such a configuration to some extent defeat the whole point of a zero foot setback, ie easy access for foot traffic?

good visual. google maps makes everything look a bit funny.

the spec's wholesale store in that strip typifies so much that's wrong with a lot of retail development here. it's in a strip set back from the street to start with but then add in a blank stucco wall, totally shutting it off from pedestrian traffic. Nasty. Is that some sort of city ordinance for liquor stores? I agree, push the buildings up to the curb on Montrose & Westhemer, then parking above or in the back. I guess parking above would require some higher end, browsable stores - people aren't going to drive three levels to park their cars just to return a movie. Would that area support higher end retail?

Pity there'll be no cafe on the first floor. Do you really need that much parking for a cafe? Where is Brasil's? And there's a couple of others on Westheimer that don't appear to have any. oh well, count our blessings as you say. I guess Empire's right across the road. With any luck it'll be some sort of hip retail a la Buff Exchg or American Apparel to encourage pedestrian traffic from lower down on Westheimer. And yes, hopefully this will be mirrored in the old architectural emporium lot and the martha turner building (boy is that windowless brick wall ugly right there)

i've already stopped shopping at any BNs in protest. dunno if borders is any better but it's not BN so that's good enough for me.

Looks like they are just about to demolish the north side of the River Oaks Shopping Center. I walked around it today and saw work crews pulling up pipe and constucting a fence around the complex. For posterty, I took these photos yesterday so that we can remember it the way it was. Why they couldn't just turn the existing structure into a BN I have no idea.

The River Oaks Shopping Center on August 3, 2007

Still no ideas on what it is though - right?

Actually there is - there's a related earlier thread on this topic here