skyphen

A couple of things...

First, this is starting to smell like spam. Eastdowner joins HAIF, posts a link to a web site, then never contributes again. Seems like he's just trying to generate links to his web site and gain a favorable ranking in the search engines based on the goodwill that HAIF has with Google, etc...

Who runs the web site he's promoting? Can't really tell. The whois information for it is hiding behind an anonymous proxy. The web site claims that it's run by the East Downtown Management District. Anyone ever heard of this organization? Sounds awfully quasi-government, doesn't it? I don't think it is.

Going to the web site's "Contact" page reveals two addresses. Looking them up in Google shows one is a direct mail services company. The other address is either a shotgun shack converted into a shop, or an anonymous warehouse looking building, I can't tell which side of the street it's supposed to be.

Finally, has anyone seen the "EaDo" logos that are supposedly on the street signs in that area? The web site shows them, but it could just be a Photoshop job for all we know to once again make this look like a legitimate community group. Especially since the shadow of the sign on top stops right at the EaDo logo on the bottom sign.

All this web site is is a directory of businesses, which have presumably paid to be included in this directory. If that's all it is, then this is just a piece of spam.

I'm going to remove the web site name and link from this thread. If I'm proven wrong, I'll restore them. But for right now this all looks fishy.

Even more importantly, is it EaDOH or EaDOO?

I went there today for the first time. Looks like a mall without a roof. Not impressed.

Wow, they even have their own special names for colors! Would "Flesh of Christ" translate to "peach" in non-Fundie Land, aka the secular world?

Spring break + good weather (for Houston) = lots of kids, families, and other people out and about at Hermann Park and the museums!

The newest addition to the Children's Museum is AWESOME, by the way. Can't wait to see what's in store for the HMNS.

Why does that stretch of Westheimer need to cater to automobiles at all? I think keeping it narrow helps prevent it from turning into this:

Exactly. Widening roads is all Houston has ever done to address increasing traffic, which has resulted in roads like the above too wide to cross on foot safely (I know from experience). Houston needs to focus on public transportation in the core, not wider roads. It would completely change the character of these neighborhoods and make them even less pedestrian-friendly and more auto-oriented than they already are. There are enough areas in Houston with wide roads and mammoth freeways... we don't need them in the core.

I heard that the wine bar slot is now going to be a Starbucks. Also, the Landmark River Oaks Theater is going to be ousted and replaced with, you guessed it, a Starbucks.

Is this true? Where did you hear it?

What about the Bookstop on Alabama? Anyone know its fate?

Chronicle links are SO lame.

sigh.

OH, they are! What is the deal with the Chronicle??? NONE of the other Texas papers have this problem. Why can't they name a link instead of number it? I'm guessing they re-use the numbers for some weird reason? I really don't get it. Don't they realize it hurts readership not being able to read a link after it expires? And it expires pretty quickly, so they direct you to find it ih the archives, but their search NEVER works, so you have to go to the cached page. It's crazy!!! I think I'm going to write a strongly worded letter!

That's interesting. I actually thought Houston had a lot of playgrounds, parks, and greenspace. Not always the most utilized, maybe, due to summer heat, but available nonetheless.

77007 has the Kroger on west gray. It would not make sense to drive all the way Downtown for groceries.

I live in 77007 and I'm much closer to downtown than River Oaks. I usually shop in the Heights or Montrose, sometimes all the way to the HEB in Timbergrove/Lazybrook. It would be VERY nice to have a grocer nearby.

I think Targ

The people doing the Indian also have a booth at t'afia. You gotta try the pumpkin naan with spicy yougurt dip. It's amazing. My b/f loves the pimento cheese, also, but I just don't get it. Is it a Texas thing? I'm not a native.

I never thought about it, I thought everyone ate pimento cheese, but I guess it's a Southern thing.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6877304

I am so confused. Can someone explain how the UH system operates again? Pretty please? How is UHD NOT a part of the system but bears the name while UH-Pearland is part of the UH system? I thought UH-Clear Lake was part of the system, too, but no?

took the words right out of my mouth. i don't know what's worse, honestly: being right next to the railroad tracks or having your bedroom window face the center street recycling deal...

If those are the same townhouses I'm thinking of, roughly right across the boulevard from Hickory Hollow, they are closer to two feet than ten feet from the tracks. And around $300K if I recall correctly. Insanity!

Mack Tripper wins the thread.

Agreed!! OMG I almost fell out of my chair laughing!

Are talk radio listeners predominantly male? My only experience with talk radio is baseball broadcasts (if that counts) and after Ike I listened to KTRH a lot for news. I quickly came to dislike Michael Berry, but I have no idea who all these other local people are. I don't know a single adult female who listens to talk radio. Is that usual? Maybe it is a female thing, because why would I want to listen to someone I couldn't interrupt and talk back to?

I think you might be onto something. I don't know any women who listen to talk radio, conservative or liberal.

Carl's Jr.'s menu looks better than Hardee's... that guacamole bacon burger looks yummy. Otherwise, Whataburger for me!

well, totheskies, posts 2 and 3 of this thread show how well bringing up Dallas works here. But since the other forum is not dedicated to talking about Houston, I don't see why they'd want to start.

Dallasmetropolis was more considerate (thoughtfulness both in terms of intelligent, lengthy discussion, and in terms of being self-effacing or at least just not flaming people) for many years, but lately it and HAIF are pretty indistinguishable when it comes to curtness between posters. Maybe it's a stressed-out incivility to do with the national circling of the drain. The attitude toward Houston in particular has to do with the fact that Dallas' social class defines itself apart from Texas where the other cities are happier being Texan. And some of Houston's hostility toward Dallas is because people pick up on that desire to reject even being like the rest of Texas.

Insightful post. It definitely rings true on some level, although I'm not sure if Dallas disassociates itself so much with Texas as the idea of how Texas is perceived, if that makes sense. As in, I've always gotten the sense that Dallas wanted to redefine Texas, and that's why they seem to cringe at the thought of being perceived as uneducated, uncouth, backwards hicks, while Houston doesn't turn its back on its working man roots and hasn't worried much about how it's been perceived until recently. I guess we are essentially saying the same thing. I'm curious, though, where do you think Austin fits into this? I've long found it incredulous that outsiders believe it to be so unlike the rest of Texas, when I see glaring markers of TEXAN everywhere there.

I consider that "downtown".

But it's not downtown. It's the Museum District.

Arts events would be perfect! Join Facebook or Myspace groups or sign up for alerts from Spacetaker, Fresh Arts Coalition, and Artshound to get notified of visual and performing arts events. They're a good start to keeping up with all the stuff going on at DiverseWorks, Mildred's Umbrella, Discovery Green, and other spaces. This is happening tomorrow night, for example. http://www.spacetaker.org/event/?event_id=...2-17%2022:00:00 Houston has a very vibrant arts scene. Come out and support it!

Thanks! They have a blog about the construction of the cross on their website. They call it the Living Proof Project. http://sagemontblog.startlogic.com/living-proof/

different cross, different church

Ah. So Grace Community is the church with two campuses, north and south, and the 150 ft cross with globe combo. Does anyone know the name of the ginormous plain white cross church?

A bit confused, as usual. Is the cross posted in the picture (plain white cross near the Beltway) the same as the one talked about in the original post? What happened to the globe and arches under it?

I really would have liked Houston Metropolitan University or City College of Houston. There's a City College of San Francisco. I always thought that had a cute ring to it. It's short, sweet, and to the point, if nothing else. Suggests the open admissions policy, mission, and location of the college in few words, and there would have been absolutely no mistaking it for any other college.

These are all pretty terrible choices. Are these the finalists? I guess one with Southeast in the name if we have to go directional. Definitely not South Texas. There's a South Texas College of Law downtown... they'll be right back here in a few years if they change it to that. UST... TSU... both of which we already got. Terrible choices.

It will be interesting to see if this name change affects their enrollment numbers any. Some alumni I've known liked the association/confusion with UH main campus.

Not to mention we are in Southeast Texas, not South Texas. Culturally and geographically different worlds. Ugh. Again, terrible choices.

So what's the name of the website?

I have to agree about some Houstonians not having a sense of place and people getting the two campuses confused. I met someone the other day who thought (UH) Third Ward was located (UHD) downtown... they didn't get that there was a difference between TW and DT at all. I've also known a person who referred to Midtown as downtown. They were both transplants who figure anything near downtown IS downtown. I think the lack of a sense of place and not knowing the city is a downside to the growth Houston has seen. These people may work downtown or may not, but spend most of the time bypassing these neighborhoods on the freeways. On the contrary, the natives I know here have a great sense of place and history and know the city neighborhoods very well.

Whatever they choose, I hope it keeps Houston or some reference to it rather than Texas in the title. How many colleges are there with Texas in the title already? Among recent unnecessary borderline stupid name changes was Southwest Texas State U to Texas State U. I hope they don't go with anything remotely similar to that.