kylejack

Pavilions is a far more hostile pedestrian experience than that corner. There are no exterior businesses at all. If you choose to walk down the center area, there is no way to cross the street without jaywalking unless you walk back to the corner. You have to zig zag your way through the complex like this if you wish to walk past the open businesses.

I don't condone street harassment of a "hey baby" manner, but asking for money is just free speech at work. I believe there is still a sign next to the tree on that corner saying not to feed the pigeons. Anyway, a little bit of perhaps not ideal walking retail is better than none!

I know what gouging feels like from shopping at the Midtown Randall's and even the Montrose Kroger. Of course people have to pay more for groceries in Montrose or Midtown compared to Conroe. Land costs more. But HEB has good prices in comparison to the other grocery stores in the area, so apparently the improvements they made did not cost them so much that they had to jack up the prices above the market rate.

HEB could have built the store however they wanted because property owners are king in Texas. They chose to leave some good trees, to have an excellent bike rack with a full set of tools, and to choose a design that the community liked. These things earn them customers, and therefore profits. There is more than one way to skin a cat.

HEB is a business, so those things must be paid for in addition to profit.

As any other business, they are constrained by supply and demand. I find the prices quite reasonable. The store is popular and stays very busy, so perhaps they are making it up on volume.

I sure hope you're right, JJxvi, because any new development should have a functional sidewalk along all public streets.

word is that the savoy will be a holiday inn express

Odd as there is one just nine blocks away by Toyota Center.

We all pay for the highways because we all use them. Even if you stay inside the hieghts or midtown for your entire life you still get huge benefits from the highway system. ALl those 18 wheelers are carrying the products that you buy to make your life in the city possible. I'm not against mass transit, I ride Metro buses all the time, but just remember our highways are not just about getting people from the suburbs into the city.

I don't own a car and rarely take a bus that uses the highways. Sure, I rely on goods brought in by highway, but so too do citizens depend on employees to be brought by mass transit to work at restaurants, grocery stores, and etc. that we all shop at. Highways and mass transit are both an integral part of a well-functioning city.

Every road the government builds is already a toll road. The difference is instead of an EZ tag you use a 1040EZ. (Or at the gas pump, or through property taxes, or, or, or...) Now there those that don't pay any of the above, and yet somehow they feel entitled to demand that those that do pony up even more dollars.

I pay taxes and so do you. So when you tell me to "pay up" for infrastructure, you and I already do.

No. Pay your own way.

I wasn't asking you for permission. It's already happening and will continue to happen.

Let me guess, mass-transit projects largely funded and subsidized by taxpayers.

Yes. Time to have an alternative to the highways wholly funded and subsidized by taxpayers.

I believe the city is already working on that, aren't they? Question is, will much more walkable retail actually result or will reduction in parking options tend to decrease business?

Yes, they are working on it in response to increased density. The new option to reduce parking requirements by 10% by installing bike parking are very cool, and I'd like to see more of it.

I'm talking about reducing parking requirements, not reducing parking options. Parking options can crop up as the market demand is there for them. It reduces barrier to entry to the market and makes more current properties able to open different kinds of businesses.

Or it might just put more cars on the road in your neighborhood. Isn't that what the Stop Ashby folks were arguing?

I don't subscribe to their NIMBYism.

Increased density will necessarily result in city permitting that doesn't require that we pave all our buildings to put up parking lots. More walkable retail, etc.

Why? What is so bloody magical about people having less space and living on top of one another?

Do you enjoy waiting in line? Do you reach the counter at the Breakfast Klub, and say "oh, that was not long enough, I'm getting back in line."?

Because it will push Houston more towards the types of transit I like.

If you have big city dreams why not explore NYC, Chicago, Boston, or Philadelphia? Houston will always let you down if this is your true desire.

Au contraire, Houston doesn't let me down now.

Agree that it's worth noting, but let's say that over the next ten years all numbers stay consistent and Houston draws another 600k or so people.  Even if the optimistic number of 40k moving inside the loop triples to 120k, that still means that only 20% of the population is going there with the balance 80% moving outside. 

..so? If another 40K move inside the Loop and make it more dense, I am glad. I want the urban core to get denser.

The other factor to consider is economics.  The more people that do move inside the loop, the higher it will drive housing prices because of the finite amount of land (which we're seeing already).  That will cause the suburbs to look more attractive to a number of people because of the relative value in those properties and will start to shift things back.

If you allege a lot more people will move to the suburbs, then that will drive prices in the suburbs up.

No need to do all that. I am happy with what they did.

I'm quite sure he was responding to samagon's question about where to go for more information.

Email the Mayor.  Put Public Information Request in the subject and a short description and ask for what you want.  You may have to go and pick up documents and pay for the copies.  If it's just a few pages they might just email it to you. 

How do you know if you haven't done this? Did you ask the Mayor and what did you get back?

Ehh, semi-vacant. It had a few tenants before the construction began.

Other than the expensive Midtown Randall's and the niche Phoenicia, Studemont Kroger is my closest grocery store. I'll go if I'm nearby, but otherwise I like the HEB Montrose.

That Kroger is awful and I think the product lineup was selected by some number cruncher in Cincinnati. Seems like they only considered demographics for immediate area rather than things like, for example, that the Kroger on 20th Street is dry. The Studemont Kroger should have good beer selection, but doesn't.

That's the old press release from February. New article, but not new information.

The rent is not high downtown, and it is not dumpy. We're not replacing restaurants with bars, we're replacing nothing with bars and restaurants. Not seeing the comparison?

We have a name for the tequila bar now, and the Trigger Happy bar is a brand new announcement, so yet another bar in the area. Wow.

I'd love to hear someone explain this data in the context of the common perception that people are moving out of the suburbs and into the urban core.

I don't think anything is implied in that data about which direction people are moving. All the data says is that a lot of people are moving to Houston from other places.

It helps to remember the purpose of shows like this one. It's not intended to be a food "critic" show that dishes the bad with the good. The show's mission is to find the good places and show why they have that reputation. He only has half an hour -- including commercials -- and he can't waste HIS precious few minutes with places that are less than great places to eat.

So he wastes his precious half hour at places like Cavender's Boot City, because we all must be cowboys, or something. Also, Tookie's is less than great, so apparently he can waste precious minutes.

As to Guy Fieri, he went to Red Lion. Lame.

The party goers have a right to the sidewalk and conversation. Is it ethical to be loud and obnoxious at 2am?

No, nor is it ethical to punish all pedestrians for the actions of certain pedestrians.

Am I reclaiming the street when my run-off water hits the curb?

If he were to block off the section of sidewalk that runs in front of his house with say a orange warning come, then you might be able to argue that. Ditto for yellow caution tape. If I recall correctly property owners are responsible for maintaining sidewalks and curbs. (That was what the city always told us) He could perform maintenance on his section, insuring that it remains off-limits until the construction is complete.

You want to talk about laws and I want to talk about ethics, so I don't see how we're going to make any progress.