jfre81

My only real complaint is why oh why couldn't this be built on any of the numerous lots on a rail line (or on a future rail line)? That will only be fixed by better regulatory policies for developers.

Maybe they ought to run the University Line down Bissonnet. Might as well now if this thing is going up. It can link up with Westpark and they can save the trees on Richmond and Afton Oaks will be happy...by the way, where is John Culberson on this since he was the one throwing his weight around against the light rail line? Or does he only get involved in neighborhood affairs when federal transit money is at stake?

Sorry I missed it. I was out driving on Bissonnet thinking about how great a highrise would be there.

It'd be better, say, where the CVS on Richmond @ Montrose is. But I guess it was cheaper for the developer to buy the Maryland Manor than the CVS.

It doesn't really look like they can do a whole lot to increase capacity on that stretch of Bissonnet, but I may be wrong. Absent of that I will probably avo...er, hell, I avoid Bissonnet as it is.

Jayson Stark was wrong on one thing - Biggio did change ZIP code, as did the entire team in 2000...

Can renters not have views on property rights?

Everyone knows your name must be on a property deed to voice an opinion on property rights. This was covered explicitly in the First Amendment of the Constitution, no?

Put this on Montrose just north of Bissonnet/Binz with the other high-rises and nobody will complain.

OK, so about 6pm this evening I rode down Bissonnet in front of what is now the Maryland Manor Apartments...

...and it's really gonna suck traffic-wise if this thing goes up.

It already does.

Well I think a lot of people don't want zoning in general, except when it comes to their own neighborhood. Views change when your own property value or neighborhood quality seem threatened.

There are some deed restricted communities in Houston - I am guessing the restrictions are based on covenants that existed before the city annexed these neighborhoods.

One thing to consider is that it's a big city and sometimes things have to change in certain areas for the better of a larger group of people in the city. This extends to Afton Oaks and other NIMBY criers concerning Metro. That said, this area will have light rail running near it soon, and possibly commuter rail nearby if they ever get around to making use of the Westpark corridor. So the possibility is there for this part of town to become more dense without having to necessarily add to road traffic capacity.

At risk of going into something that might be another thread instead - so what if they introduce zoning? Developers with enough cash and leverage can simply get it zoned for whatever they want it to be if they want to. Developers have always owned this city and it's not going to change if there's zoning. Zoning is more likely to tighten their grip on this city and price everyone out of the city except the people coming from California and the northeast to come live here for "cheap."

The lack of zoning doesn't bother anybody, until somebody wants to build a huge tower or a self storage warehouse in the middle of an affluent residential neighborhood. Then it seems to bother a lot of people.

Especially these days it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to put a self-storage warehouse on that land anymore. Now that the concept of *being close-in* is becoming cool they will command a lot more $$$ for places for *close-in* people to live and work. I can understand the traffic concerns, but then again if they would expand transit then you can build densely without necessarily having to expand road capacity. You know it's become a problem when people don't want major development just because a bunch of people are going to have to drive through there and park.

This reeks of Afton Oaks and the rail...if not for then they would already be putting it down by now...

But here's a hint for all the people who would like to live in 1950 forever: cities change, neighborhoods change, you don't have a deed on the character of a neighborhood.

I can agree to this to a point, but tearing down old houses for McMansions when there's plenty of room in the burbs for that crap...oh anyway, I was gonna go into a big rant but...

Are the people who are complaining about the proposed tower also against zoning? Or do these people think it's time for zoning in Houston? Just curious...

They probably think so, but they probably came from somewhere else so they think so just because what they see *isn't like home.* The lack of zoning bothers me none at all.

My wife works not far from where this is going up(?)...

I could see this area becoming higher-density in the future but right now the transit infrastructure is not there. The University Line will run not far from there....when it comes to be - if it comes to be, it seems anymore.

I agree this is better suited for Main Street. They could plop this on the Greyhound station site and nobody in Midtown would complain about it being 28 stories. Or it could be around the other high-rise buildings between Montrose and the Museum district.

Right now, exiting South Main/90A @ Bellfort offers only a U-turn, but I'm wondering if they will link Main with Bellfort going toward 288 now. They tore down this fleabag motel that was at the Bellfort U-turn, and there's a lot of new townhome construction along Main, Omeara etc. With more residential development here, it might be feasible to make it where you'll be able to go straight down Bellfort from Main to the South Fannin METRORail Park & Ride. I live in this area and if they did that it would be a lot easier than taking the South Loop/feeder to Fannin.

This would probably be done for sure if they ever did anything useful with the AW site...

Letting random internet yahoos comment on newspaper web sites was recently named one of the biggest mistakes newspaper web sites make. There was an article about it in Editor & Publisher with some pretty good examples of why it's a good idea that never works out as intended.

They should at least prescreen the comments and post up the 10% of the balance of text that goes onto that so-called forum currently. Otherwise, yes, they should do away with it. The good submissions are basically digital letters-to-the-editor.

Having been a part of it off and on for nearly a decade now, I don't think I have anything positive to say about the state of the mainstream newspaper industry anymore, and especially the state of it here in Texas.

Any place where you can post random "comments" in a basically unmoderated format (having to report a litany of racism before the mods act, if at all, is not a moderated environment) breeds ignorance not limited to racism, xenophobia, whacked out theories, and Metro/government bashing (a favorite pass time for Chronicle readers). Someone actually thought Metro was in charge of the Westpark tollway and profited from the tolls. It's good for laughs, but it's no longer funny when you understand that these people are probably well respected in some parts of society.

The Chronicle revels in its *liberal mouthpiece* reputation for this very reason. The bubbas won't read the paper, but now that they have Internet access in their double-wides they can drive up the traffic on their website by letting them get on there, spout things that are far more uninformed than anything the paper puts in print (physically or digitally) and they make money through ads when people spend a bunch of time on the site. They can dismiss the gross bigotry and ignorance as being outside their control. Papers hardly want to pay people to actually produce content for them, let alone moderate comments on the website.

Could always try the Dallas Morning News

They're not any more competitors than the Washington Post and the New York Daily News. Different markets.

Every once in awhile the Houston Press gets enough cajones to take the Chronicle to task...

Have a rival newspaper make a story about the Chronicle forums attracting loony cuckoo nuts?

What? There's a rival newspaper?

R.I.P Houston Post...

I don't see any comments at the end of the story, Do you have to subscribe to the paper to see them?

No, half of those morons have probably never touched the paper, or any paper.

There should be a link near the bottom of the page that says "Read All Comments."

As it is, the chron forums are a good indicator of just how weak a grasp we have on reason and civility here in Houston...

HAIFers would surely never troll on chron.com...

As it is, I'd say pick it up if you get the chance. I don't see this area going downhill anytime soon. With the Medical Center ever expanding, this is a great close-in location. Westbury is going up and that is starting to carry over to Westwood and Willowbend (which is not a bad area either).

I am a professional freeload...I mean freelance sportswriter.

This sounds cool. Any idea on what the rent will be like?

I like the Heights, so once this goes up I might be looking here...

Why would someone want to buy a $300,000+ condo a couple blocks from this nonsense that is full of thugs?

They already do this in places like Uptown and Meyerland (both a stone's throw away from Gulfton) so why not?

Smoking a joint on the cable cars did not make you cool. There aren't as many cool people in the world as there have been who got high on a cable car going over an amusement park.

However.....Smoking a joint, then dropping the roach (not the kind in the waffle cone bin) >100ft to the ground and then picking it up after you get off the cable car made you cool.

Other things that were cool (or felt cool at the time) at AW:

-Riding Greezed Lightnin' repeatedly on slow days. To hell with staying on the ride. We got out, ran through the line every time and got right back on. 44 times in a row the last day I went in 1999.

-The back seat of the Texas Cyclone before it became an old, slow shell of itself.

-Watching my idiot friends pretend to sing at the karaoke-music video thing that was by the Wagon Wheel

-Flipping the bird at the camera that captured you going down the loop on Batman: The Escape

-Going alone, most everywhere and every time I went. I traveled with people but I was the cat who raised his hand every time they called out *is anyone up here riding alone?*

-Staying in line for two hours for the hot new ride that turns out to be lame *coughcough*MayanMindbender*coughcough*

-Getting stuck on the Excalibur/Dexter Freebish E.R.R. because some moron up front decided to climb out of his seat

-Almost coming out of the seat myself on the drop when riding the rear seat for the first time (I was like 8 or something)

Plenty more....those are the memories that stick out.

The apartments on O'Meara are Pine Terrace. There are some shady characters over there.

I am in the Oaks of Charleston, been here since February. I've had no problems crime-wise.

Nowadays the section of the actual Westwood subdivision north of West Bellfort is zoned to Bellaire High School; the section south of West Bellfort is zoned to Westbury High School. The apartments east of Stella Link are zoned to Madison High School.

Westwood seems to be better now than it was in the 1990s.

I live in one of the apartments across Stella Link from Westwood. I'm pretty sure Pin Oak MS and Bellaire HS are options here. I think that was on the handout I got (can't think of what I did with it) but since I have no kids it has no bearing on me personally...

Westwood is nice. Other than the occasional burglary not much at all happens over there. Same goes for the Willowbend/Willow Meadows subdivisions. They don't have much of a suburban feel anymore but it's a good place to live. This whole area is a lot better than it was 10 years ago.

That does look nice. I live near Westbury/Post Oak. Riding down Braeswood might be a real treat after this is done. I don't like that concrete.