20thStDad

The new street connecting Koehler and 2nd will have lights at yale and heights and the new feeder road will add some lights to Yale and I-10 which would bring the total lights up to four I guess instead of six.

I bicycle to work and this is the bike trail, I am not aware of a safe alternative route to cross I-10. This stretch of Heights is already the most dangerous part of my commute and I feel that putting a wal mart on top of it without adequately considering the bike trail would adversely affect me.

On the other hand if they did not build the connector road and made Heights Blvd south of I-10 look like Heigths Blvd north of I-10 I would be all for it. I simply do not believe the bike trail will be adequately considered.

Crossing under I-10 on the hike & bike trail is way easier, unless you aren't heading toward downtown.

As noted in the link above, the developer hasn't even done a traffic study, and you think I have to have one in order to make plainly obvious points to anyone who lives in the neighborhood and drives the streets? No one has posted links to a traffic study showing the additional lights, turn lanes and traffic will have no adverse impact on the Washington/Heights/Yale area. As it currently is, the intersections at Yale/Heights and Washington can barely move rush hour traffic through.

And it doesn't take a traffic engineer to see how bad the current traffic plan is. There will be two lights at I-10 and Yale for feeder traffic. Then, just .13 miles south of that, there will be new lights for an extended Koehler St. The additional Koehler St. lights will be just a 1/4 mi from the lights for Center St. That means from Yale, just north of I-10, to Washington there will 5 sets of traffic lights within 1/2 mi. Also, the proposed extension of Koehler will have three lights within under .1 mi. High traffic from Wal-Mart could grid-lock across Yale and Heights, which would then build back to feeder road traffic. And that doesn't even take into consideration how people will make left turns from Koehler. When the time is right, those of us who oppose the development will commission our own traffic studies. But, for now, it doesn't take a traffic engineer to be able to look at what is proposed and see that it is completely unreasonble.

As for the location, just look at a map. The proposed Yale location is roughly 4 miles from I-10 and Silber and 4 miles from I-45 and Crosstimbers. Take a compass and draw circles around each location, and you will see the overlap is generally around 2-3 miles out. That means that most people living near the proposed Yale location will still have a Wal-Mart within a few miles.

Unfortunately, if you are going to require definitive proof before you decide whether to support or oppose the Wal-Mart, you will end up finding out first hand what the burden will be when the Wal-Mart is completed. By then, it will be too late. There are numerous success stories of people opposing a new Wal-Mart, but not so much luck trying to get a finished Wal-Mart to get out of town.

So it's clear, they should build dedicated flyover exits that go straight from I-10 to the loading docks for trucks, and to the parking lots for those of us who will shop there. This way everyone else in the neighborhood doesn't slow us down while they shake their fists and mumble something about their lawn.

This link provides feedback straight from the developer.

http://theyarebuildi...councilman.html

Well they're saying all the right things so far, but that's pretty easy at this point. I'm curious to see renderings. They at least realize they can't drop the suburban model in here.

I'm not familiar with how this kind of dance typically goes, with the developer answering some questions and pointing at the tenant as responsible for other things. I'm guessing both will be at the public sessions.

Isn't there a foot/bike path that goes under the beltway/I-10 interchange? I thought I saw it on the north side at least, I'm not sure if you can get to all 4 corners on it. Obviously that might involve crossing feeder roads which isn't ideal. The bayou trails go under the beltway already.

Wal-Mart is also putting a location in at Silber and I-10: http://www.license.s...=EABPRJA9815960

If Wal-Mart is also going ahead with the Crosstimbers and I-45 location, then there will be 3 Wal-Marts within a 8 mile radius. Thus, the Yale location is not needed and is of no real benefit to anyone, except Wal-Mart's business strategy to compete with Target. Our neighborhoods are not playgrounds for megacorporations to play games to make their 10-Qs look good to investors.

If Walmart determines that it's a good business move to have 3 stores in that area, then it is. You can't say it isn't needed just because you don't want it there. Especially in this great city that brought us 2 Starbucks across the street from each other.

No one can argue that there are tons of people who don't want a Walmart there, but no one on this board has the knowledge or data to back up the statement that it wouldn't do well there.

Should we expect most of the big truck traffic come off of I-10 to Bass/Koehler/Bonner to the back for unloading, as opposed to off of I-10 to Yale through some other street/driveway? I haven't driven around there lately to know if that is going to royally suck for anyone, but honestly I think it isn't that bad of a situation overall. It would be pretty direct access on/off of I-10, and keep the truck traffic off of Yale and other neighborhood streets.

The bottom line is this: it's 2am, and you need cheetos, a fishing license, an inflatable kiddie pool, ammunition, lawn furniture, 3 TVs, and Christmas decorations. And the kicker - you want to be able to return all of it (except the cheetos (long gone), ammo (spent!), and fishing license (non-transferable)) Monday after your bender weekend. What choice do we really have here? Exactly.

Best (worst) thread ever!

They poured the brown concrete for the art walk recently and they're already tearing it up. This is a curved walk to the east of the doggie run. Apparently, some of the poured sections did not match up in color.

Brown concrete, is that to camouflage the dog poop so more people step in it?

The brown color is silt from the Beaumont Formation through which the Buffalo Bayou runs. Soils from this geologic formation are fine and easily eroded and suspended in water. Digging deeper wouldn't fix it, but lining the bottom of the bayou with articulated concrete may help some. That was done along much of Sims Bayou, and although it does create kind of a stark and artificial look, it at least isn't offensive to the eyes.

I don't think it will ever run clear, I should have used more hyperbole in my suggestions. But yeah, if we altered our geology to include a rock bed and traded the surface runoff water for spring fed water we'd be set.

Being from LA I'm used to dirty water, I'll settle for getting rid of the trash and working on making the banks more attractive (which is pretty hard when heavy rains and rising water dump all that pretty silt everywhere).

I'm glad that plans are still being talked about west of downtown, but I'm more interested in seeing more aggressive plans about developments and cleaning the Bayou downtown. Like Scarface said, the Bayou is filthy and is more of an eyesore than an assett in the areas of downtown. They need to get a plan to clean up all the trash and actually clean the water of its muddy appearance. There's so much potential with this Bayou and its not being realized.

The trash we can fix. The muddiness I think we are stuck with due to the land that it runs through. There isn't a clear (natural) waterway anywhere near here that I know of. Until we find a way to make it 20 ft deeper and 20 degrees cooler it's just gonna be brown funkiness.

I've never understood the obsession with HEB, it has ok prices (none of the stores beat the sales at any other with their regular prices, and that's how I shop) but that is generally outweighed by the annoying layout of every store. Anyway, if you want an HEB let's get it actually IN the Heights. Walgreens on 20th/Yale is building a new stand-alone across the street, and that Kroger sucks. So tear that whole thing down and put the HEB there.

If Walmart were smart they would just stick a Starbucks in-store, hire some homeless looking hippie to play guitar and sing every evening, and offer 5 varieties of organic non-offensive soy milk. That'll probably quiet most of the dissenters in the area, at least until they find out the hippie works only for tips and Sam's Choice brand snack foods filled with partially hydrogenated soybean oil and artificial colors and sweeteners.

I don't have stats to back it up, but I believe the bayou is probably as clean as it's been in decades. Buffalo's not clean enough to swim in by EPA standards, but it's much better today than in years past when it was no more than an open sewer for Houston. I don't know if there are any streams in SE Texas that meet EPA standards for swimming...maybe someone with more background than myself can chime in.

I doubt any of us know more than you about the natural drainage pathways of Houston. I know a little about NPDES and water discharge monitoring, what are the contaminants specified in the swim/no-swim rule? I would think at the least it's coliform, total hydrocarbons, and probably a few toxics.

EDIT: I have no intention of swimming in Buffalo Bayou, but if I ever had to jump in to save someone (or retrieve a frisbee while drunkily discing it up) I want to know what I'm getting into.

Actually, one half of the Heights is not old people. However, over half of the Greater Heights Super Neighborhood is Hispanic. Additionally, 56% of Greater Heights families make less than $50,000 per year, and would benefit greatly from the availability of low priced goods. There is definitely a disconnect between the actual demographic composition of those who live within the Greater Heights area and those with an idealized view of what the Heights is or should be. While some believe that the Heights is an enclave of enlightened upper middle class white citizens with an appreciation of historic homes, range fed meat and poultry, and products lovingly crafted by well paid workers and sold by local merchants who also wish to save the planet, the reality is far different. For every family with a $100,000 income affording them the opportunity to eschew big box stores not named Target, Whole Foods, or HEB and the luxury of installing Pella Architect Series windows on their historic bungalows with the 2 story addition in the back, there are 5 other families whose sub $50,000 incomes make them lucky to even replace the broken glass with a new pane. I do not know if the over $100,000 crowd is blissfully ignorant that over half their neighbors struggle mightily to pay the bills, or if they secretly wish to price them out of the neighborhood. I simply know that a new Walmart built on the other side of a hideously grotesque freeway overpass will not only not harm my property value, but also make the day to day lives of half of my neighbors marginally easier. For that reason, I am not opposed to a Walmart on the site of a former steel factory.

(Source: City of Houston Super Neighborhood Demographics)

Ok, wrong demographic but the same point. People around us could use a Walmart ,and the ones who could aren't likely hanging around internet forums.

But I am curious if the Walmart supporters think that Walmart is the only option? Are you just being so adamant because you don't like it when people have contrary opinions? For example, if this thread wasn't about Walmart, but rather was titled "What would you like to see if you could choose anything for development on this parcel?" What if Walmart were never mentioned and you were starting with a clean slate? Would Walmart be the 1st thing that would come to mind for you? Or would you have had a different vision? Maybe mixed income housing like they have on the east side of Austin? Maybe a small hotel that would employ 300 ppl, plus a restaurant employing 100 more and a few shops, employing 100+ more, all totaling more jobs and generally higher income, even in the lowest positions (hosuekeepers, busboys) for low earners, than Walmart would thus affording these people a better standard of living. If they already live in the area and shop at Walmart, they can continue to go to the (assuming 290) location and still have more pocket money at the end of the day. You might not find it more convenient, but it's about jobs, right? So, rather than 600 parking spaces for one big box, they have a garage with 600+ spaces and multiple businesses, creating more jobs than a Walmart would. Would you want that? Because that is what most of the anti-Walmart people want. We think there are better options out there.

Oooh, I love this game. My unrealistic list (ranked in order of preference) is:

1. Move my office from Pearland to this site

2. Schlitterbahn Heights (it's freakin hot, and white oak bayou is basically ready for the lazy river ride)

3, The biggest indoor (air conditioned) rock climbing gym in the world

4. New Belgium Brewing Company opens a new brewery, posts brewmaster position at the same salary I make now

5. Academy or some golf super store, I could just look at stuff and try things out all day

Lots of hot emotions here. I haven't done any studies, but I would guess that at least half of Heights residents are older people who have been here a while who don't use internet forums, as opposed to younger upstarts with lots of opinions. I bet they would appreciate a nearby Walmart. It might be a heck of a fight for that greeter interview.

I still say anything that aims to tear down the apartments just south of I-10 is a good thing. Bonus that I can buy really cheap Christmas lights there.

I do not understand how this makes business sense to WalMart. People who live in the Heights, Rice Military, Garden Oaks, River Oaks and Upper Kirby are not going to be regular WalMart shoppers. WalMart is not going to beat out Kroger and Whole Foods for grocery store customers. And when given a choice between WalMart and Target, innerloopers will chose Target 9 out of 10 times. I thought WalMart's attempts at upscaling were seen as a failure. So, why put a superstore down the street from a historic neighborhood, parallel to a street where people are paying $12 for cocktails, a mile away from a nice Kroger and a future Whole Foods, and miles away from WalMart's bread and butter? Just think of what people would post if Max's Wine Dive announced that they were opening a new location in Pasadena.

The hell we aren't! Well, at least for some things. Probably not meat and produce. Some of us are coupon clippers getting by on one income while moms take care of babies.

As for that apartment complex on Yale/Heights that is gonna bite the dust, finally. That's where all the criminals live I hear.

All of this conversation is nice and all....I'm still wondering if anyone has any concrete evidence that it is indeed a WalMart going into this spot? Usually, this HAIF crew comes through with some pretty good inside information.

Why worry about facts when we can carry on bitching about walmart in TWO threads!!

Sam's choice root beer from the machine for a quarter? Find me some change!!

Was Wal-Mart approached by the owner of the property on Yale between I-10 and Washington to buy the land? This is the same property H-E-B was looking at to build a new store along the lines of the one on Bunker Hill. Is the deal done with Wal-Mart? I've heard yes. What does this mean to the likes of our Heights Mom and Pops? What will that do to the traffic patterns on Yale and Washington? Google "Wal Mart parking lot crime" and let us know our thoughts!

Oh no, an empty area near some railroad tracks might turn into a Wal-Mart! Why is this bad? The same people who live around here will shop around here. If you don't like the people you live around, you might be in danger of seeing them at Wal-Mart. As for parking lot crime, that is much more about location than anything else so it would happen whether you put an HEB there or Wal-Mart.

But some banks have free cookies in the lobby. FREE COOKIES!!! I've never seen a parking lot do that.

Is that because LSU is a bad school, has bad recruiting or because Deshields Jr is not a good player to begin with?

Seems to have a good chance at being a good ball player.

No it's because I went to LSU, and because we had a bad year by our standards and need more talent.

Also what y'all think about the Astros draft picks? I like them considering the top 3 expect to sign.

A closer look at the Astros' picks

Top picks hope to sign with 'Stros

First-round picks inclined to sign

The Astros pick 32 players through day two

I'm not a fan of the first round pick because he's an LSU recruit. I'm hoping he decides the ladies in college are better than on the minor league bus tour for a few years.

Niche, someone...do yall think the success of this place in Houston will encourage lenders to go forward with other projects similar to this like Regent Square, Oaks District and BLVD? I would think so, at least to a certain extent.

Sure, if their location is as optimal as this one. But it's not. See: waterlights district.

As long as they don't put another Eatzi's in there. That place was idiotic. Cold food at ridiculous prices? Woohoo! Just dumb. No wonder it went away.

They had a trolley type service when I moved here in 2001. I guess they don't have it any more. All my friends who worked downtown rode a free trolley/shuttle, and we always took the free shortstop shuttle to Astros games. Now that even more people live in midtown I would think this is more necessary.