crunchtastic

I meant to mention this a couple of weeks ago: I test-drove the walmart before Christmas, on my lunch, and got in and out with wrapping paper, cat food, laundry soap, a new pair of garden snips and a snak-size McDs ice-cream treat in minutes. Much less hassle than the Target. Shopping success! And I capped my bougie noon-errand experience with a drive thru coffee at Starbucks.

I work for the evil, nearby AIG empire and demand convenience. Thank you, cousin corporate baddies, for making that happen.

PS to you Heightsie militants, I also bought major gifts at Jubilee so stand down on the shopper judging.

Another case of lowered expectations, but don't care as long as it's at least 4 stories lots of parking. That building is one of the biggest eyesores in town. Bleh.

Especially if it's all retail and restaurant/bar, they could do something really smart to promote lower westheimer business and alleviate strain on residential streets with the right approach to parking. Sell weekly and monthly parking permits. People who work in the area can get a discount. Frequent visitors to the bars and restaurants in the can buy in advance at a discount. And otherwise use a premium scale; highest rates for by-the-hour on Fri/Sat nites, etc.

Splash pads v. golf: this is a false dilemma. You must see that the real problem is that Houston makes no investment in parkland. it's baffling to me that your city officeholders don't even have to pay lip service to the idea. It's a total non-issue to the the small number of people who vote and could make it a priority if they wished.

There is no false dilemma, because there's no good reason the golf course needs to go.

It's unsexy, but at the moment there is much more than just lip service being spent on managing parkspace and the effects of the drought.

Simbha has the right idea here. Replace the golf course with a putt-putt that's really an expansion of the zoo. No animatronic lizards sucking your balls down their gullet--real Komodo dragon action! And how cool is this--we could justify an actual moat as part of planned city development. There would even be enough room for go-karts, if planned correctly. Forget that dinky-ass water feature at Discovery Green.

Until economics dictate that all public green space be programmed and designated for maximum density, I would like to keep enjoying a variety of open space. We're not there yet, not even close.

their choices sounded pretty clear to me. a) gut it and refurbish in the hopes enough events other than the rodeo will lease it, or a 'plaza', which sounds like code for mostly parking lot.

Enough with the endless feedback loop of bad ideas that no one will finance. Demolish it already, but first auction the seats and whatever fixtures are left.

Niche suffers from a number of maladies. Class envy is not one of them.

Back to Stella Sola, tho. Actually...I heard the new tenant will have NO parking spaces and have a wine+walkability pairing menu in which after each course you walk briskly for 5 blocks, then valet 2 cars and before your next course. If you can't meet the time constraint, you have the option of Metro bus stop quik-clean duty, or a 100% upcharge for your next wine flight. I understand it's pretty much the brass ring for chef-driven sustainability.

I'll just put this here.

http://www.isiahfact...wntown-houston/

you gotta love his headline writing skills. almost makes me wish I had stayed with journalism.

there are few more apt lines for Houston than 'raining concrete'.

!!! wow, the same thing happened to me and my girlfriend, except we were 15. You have the ticket!!!

We had successfully gotten into Cardi's a few times and were SO pissed about not being able to slide in for this show.

Infinite JIm is right, solve for the elevated--that's the real impediment.

Red, since when did you become a baseball fan???

I am always supportive of my Astros. But the Nationals, ugh. Now Cap'n Crunch, who spent some formative years in the DC area and misses the olden days of the Senators, is giving me endless shit about the Nats. I guess that means we're going to tomorrow night's game.

But hey, the Aeros squeaked into playoffs. Good thing there may be some action in Toyota Center this spring after all.

No matter how bad the Astros sucked it today, at least our uniforms aren't as bad as those new Florida outfits.

You have to look really hard to see it's not a rainbow sombrero masquerading as an "M." Even worse than the chiclet-era San Antonio Spurs, which set a standard for bad ideas in major league branding.

Movie studio.. yawn. So we can be like Shreveport? Small minds.

Should have done the vertical farming thing like I suggested, and we would have been actually innovating. New frontiers and all that.

Now I think the best idea is from one of the swamplot posters-- raffle off the demo plunger.

Red, c'mon. Apple creates hand-assembled artisanal communication devices.

With the tiny, palsied hands of 14 year old Chinese hillbillies.

Lol, 'I am not yet a politician'. I just knew if I hung with this thread long enough, I'd learn something relevant!

I went to the event yesterday and was blown away by the plans. I hope they upload the renderings soon, but, essentially, they are treating this as Houston's "Central Park." The amenities the newly-redone park will have combined with the expanded and dedicated wilderness areas will create a truly beautiful, usable park.

This is great that people are excited, now hopefully those who who are enthused by this will help promote and raise funds for the stretch from UHD to the Lockwood bridge. It only took San Antonio a few dozen years to realize their viable waterway/waterfront actually stretched past the tourist zone of downtown, south to the missions. We can do better.

You mean a glorified drainage ditch surrounded by crappy T. Fertita restaurants?

Don't forget the grackles overhead, drizzling grackleshit into your margs and table-side-made guacamole.

well, as long as we're talking olden days, Joe Starr's Omni on the curve! A short lived punk venue in the early 80s. Bambolino's was across the street even then.

There was a cool vintage shop in that center next to the U Wash It (next to Poscole now). Back when vintage was few and far between and you got a smelly 50s print dress for $7, not $130.

Not sure what it is now, (used to be tats) but there was a barber school across the side street from Mango's. When we had enough money to pay for a haircut, we would go and let a 'student' butcher our hair for $5.

I still believe that Big Franks was the highest and best use of the space that later became Ming's and Little Bigs. The Chicago dog don't hesitate.

It's on Polk street. 4000 Polk Street to be exact.

Ahhh, Kombat Kroger. Was just in there last week picking up cheap wine and totinos pizza rolls. (Don't judge. Nothing says love like giving your partner a break from veggies and quinoa) Yet, I refuse to go into the brand new Dollar General next door. Yikes, I'm becoming a retail snob. Or maybe I just haven't yet had a hankering for off-name vienna sausages.

...going back to Kombat Kroger, they have perfectly serviceable, staple produce there like onions, greens, peppers, etc. It beats driving to Fiesta or Gulfgate if I forgot something on my list.

Why didn't they turn to ob if strings were a problem?

GAHHHHH! you owe Ricco a fifth of good tequila for that.

Pump It Up would be much cooler if it were adults-only, less brightly lit and had a liquor license.

Correct!.....and sometimes I even pay in CASH! It must be really annoying to be standing behind me when a clerk (or human, as VicMan calls them) is trying count my change back to me.

Plus 1 for one cash, brother. Christ, people act like I'm a drug dealer to use a $100 bill in a transaction.

Reading that release almost makes me want to quit doing advertising for Uncle Sugar, and start doing advertising for people who fail in more interesting ways. Almost.

I really like the idea of local meats ....but I priced a leg of lamb there to put on the grill. Let's just say dad's birthday meal is coming from another store. (I love you Dad, but after it marinates for 2 days you won't know the difference.) I will probably splurge on the whole pork shoulder for a holiday meal, but man. Ouch. The market seems to be the 2-chicken breasts, bacon and some cheese crowd, so they should be very successful. It's a nice place.

mmmmmmm. taller parapets. are those mixed-use, or regular?

Despite the fact that my BF has a man-crush on Pence, geez he hacks at the plate. I thought Bagwell swung at some awful stuff, but he's met his match in #9. We were at the Cubs series last week. Ridiculous--maybe 20,000 in the park for a major road team. If Hall and Sanchez stay healthy, we might have two occasionally successful hitters.

Ugh.