samagon

aside from the possibility of getting cancer from some chemicals that invariably were leeched into the soil, I agree. you could set up a really sweet go cart track, have an awesome party deck, a really awesome big screen tv area. I imagine the heating cooling bill would suck, plus keeping the windows clean would be a huge hassle. you could set up a sweet garden too. I think there was a rail spur so you could conceivably buy a rail car as a water feature or something, or maybe an old caboose and set it up as your living quarters and use the steel mill as storage for your lawnmower and weedeater...

the same can be asked of you? Please note there is a difference between the term 'in a neighborhood' and 'surrounded by neighborhoods' you said: there is no possible way you could have meant that word to be used in any way other than the direct meaning. the word "in" means (as pertaining to your usage): as this development is not "IN" a residential neighborhood all you are trying to do is what you normally do, scare people into believing that this walmart is dangerous and bad by providing information that is incorrect, or a flat out lie. I think less people would be staunchly against you if you were in any way showing that you were reasonable. I'm still waiting for you to comment on my post in this thread from back on Nov. 8. I'll ask again, cause you probably just missed my question, what are you doing to work with the developer to show that some changes are necessary? What changes are you proposing? How will these changes not only benefit the community, but benefit the developer? I'm sure people on here (myself included) would be happy to agree with you, and provide a unified front if there were some reasonable expectations set on the developer.

how many signatures were collected?

I know it may look like a baby in all that swaddling, but it really is too bad the baby in this case is really a demon possum that will scratch your eyeballs out and do some nasty things to the sockets. I wish luck to all of those people who are currently in a historic district, I feel for you.

fixed.

I agree in part, part of being a domesticated animal is that they do something for us (provide companionship, protect our houses, etc) but the other part of the domestication process is that they have become reliant on us to take care of them in whole or in part. This is how cats know to poop in your bed when they are angry with you. Cats though are a very strange breed of domestic animal. one of their domesticated uses through the centuries has been to control pest populations, and they are very independent animals on their own, and I believe that companionship was a secondary feature. stray dogs hunt for scraps and discarded food, cats can be much more sufficient in caring for themselves. stray fish are another subject altogether.

haha, ok, I defer then!

in my opinion, using the word demographic as they are, it's marketing fluff. as I understand it, demographics are nothing more than social statistics of the human population. the 'demographic center of houston' can not be a location. I think the key is that there are at least 20 definitions of the word center, all having different meanings. it can specify a location; it can be a position on a football team, basketball team, or hockey team; it can be a place in a baseball field; in math, it can be the mean; there's a lot of different definitions. I'd probably venture to guess that 'center' as they are using it is defined as a principal point, or gathering location. I like gathering location, as in this is the place in Houston where people of all different demographics gather... It's true, and it also describes about a million other places because it is so vague, which is why it is marketing fluff.

it was a slow seller at first, but that was because the menu was a misprint, they had used the wrong vowel in the spelling of the word "duck". ... ... not many people were enticed by the idea of "dock sausage". what, you thought I was going to say something else?

Ha, that's just the movie Idiocracy playing out in real-time

I'm of two minds on this. On the one hand, I love all the little cats that I see running around, but I hate that most will live short lives fraught with pain, on the other hand, any 'pet' class animal (cat, dog, bird, fish, etc) that you let outside is subject to disease and other stuff. Most cats and dogs that are stray that die do not die of starvation, they will die of diseases passed on from other critters in their food chain. Typically this is birds. Birds are some of the most disgustingly foul (har) disease carriers, especially when there are large quantities of them confined to small areas. Having any pets that are unsupervised outside dwellers not only makes them potential targets for cars and kids with a penchant for smashing their brains in, but any time they hunt and bring you a present of a bird, they are at risk of catching some nasty disease. That being said, cats offer natural control for pest populations, while I'm no fan of seeing stray cats multiply by the 10s and 20s, I agree with Niche, that they are a necessary part of the food chain. Sure I feel bad when an animal hurts, but where does it end? We can see the emotion that a cat, or a dog shows because we are around them, or see them quite often, so sensing their emotion is easy, but other animals, even those insects that crawl around and eat the leaves on my jalapeno plants, they feel and show emotion as well, but sure as hell, I'm gonna kill every one I see. If I were a cat I'd certainly take a life of chance and possible death in exchange for having my twig and berries stripped. I feel more sorry for the cats who are forced into a life of impotency than those that are killed through disease or starvation.

An interesting point here is that he is on a polar opposite from you. He is resigned to it being built and isn't going to do anything to change the way it's built, and you are fighting tooth and nail with wild accusations and false rumors, distorted facts and just plain lies to try and garner support to try and push the developer away from doing this. maybe a happy medium is where you should strike. And not one that doesn't include Walmart, that is pretty inevitable, but if you approached the developer with pleas, real factual data to back up some of what you want. work with him to find the designer restaurants. the developer has a vision, but that vision is not subject to change based on what people who are trying to save money, or otherwise decide. it's like a car, the engineer says this is what the car should be, and someone else looks over the cost, and says, well, this is what we can afford, if you change this material to something else, lets review the cost benefit analysis. they don't come back to the engineers and say, sorry this is outside of the budget, denied. they have a thoughtful process of making changes and updates based on recommendations. a development is much the same. if the only input they have from concerned citizens such as you is to go to hell and die, that isn't working at all at a common goal. so I ask, what has you and your group done to work with these people and their vision, understanding that walmart is the main tenant? and there isn't a silver bullet, assuming a silver bullet is something that makes this development go away or change from a walmart to something else. but there is a way that you could have reasonable input. walmart, and this developer doesn't want this to fail, cause they have a stake in making money, and if they spend their money wisely on things that would entice more people to shop there, then it is a win, but you have to show them why the changes you want will draw more customers. but all you do is complain about walmart. so what you're doing isn't any better than what the poster that has resigned to the fate of his neighborhood. in fact, you may be doing more harm by making so much noise, the people who would have positive input can't be heard. edit: that's why that rudh website is so silly, they aren't advocating that the developer do anything responsible, they are just saying to get the hell out of here. where's the suggestions from that website to create easier walkable access? Where's the proof that this is needed? Where's the request for better drainage than what the city demands, and where's the proof that this will draw more citizens that are concerned with the environment? you are going to say it's a worthless endeavor to do this, but it's less worthless than fighting the way you are, and at the end of the day, if you're the reasonable person and the developer isn't that ends up being better for the people against walmart itself. right now, it looks like you aren't reasonable at all, and so when you tell your story as you picket in front of the walmart people aren't going to listen, but if you were working on a reasonable solution, and the developer was unreasonable, people will listen, and take up your fight. making claims of a store that is as small as this one will be will draw twice as many cars as a larger store does is not reasonable btw.

either my parents only had old yellow pages, or these things were still around in the 80s, cause I remember looking as well. Here's one I found in a GIS. wish it were bigger to the person looking, you can always try the library of congress, don't they make it a point to have a copy of everything?

most places these days have electronic fences that lock the wheels if they get out of a certain range.

soft opening? When is the 'official' opening? I'm eager to go!

good point, but I'd still personally feel better about that than riding in a sea of cars that are unpredictable, uncaring, and generally have no idea of what could happen if they hit me, even on accident. that isn't a good recipe. besides, I'd assume that one of the restrictions they'd have to put in place would be some form of barrier to help remind people that hey, there's a freakin' train track here, and these suckers aren't to be messed with. that barrier could be just some jersey barriers that lined the side of the track and would do the job very effectively of protecting the riders from debris that is kicked up from the wheels of the trains going down the tracks. or at least, that's what my mind sees.

well yeah, target doesn't have supercenters, they have superTARGET. while this target is not a superTARGET, the Walmart they are going to erect is not a 200k sq ft store that you elude to either. correct, that means that the 20k people that drive to get to this target location are all concentrated within the hours of 9am and 10pm (I can't back those numbers up, I can't even back up the store hours, but I'm still going to write them, just as surely as you write whatever you please). sure it is. that big fishbowl of an apartment complex is considered a neighborhood. or do you not consider apartments a residence? after that diatribe about the poor people of the run down apartments on heights blvd, I find that hard to believe. Not to mention that if you drive down Crockett towards downtown you'll run into houses and neighborhoods that are as close to target as any houses will be to walmart. ok, ok, stop. taylor has been very well used prior to there being a target there. do yourself a favor and go look for the traffic studies they did before they built target, I'd bet a dozen of the best donuts in the world that taylor had TWICE the number of cars traveling it daily compared to Yale. You wanna take that bet? I'd even deliver them to your domicile with a quart of chocolate milk. you know what's funny, is when I have been going down i-10 to get to my house in the east end (or friends in midtown before I lived in the east end, and yeah, this predates Target), during the trafficy times (either day, or when they are doing construction) I take taylor to get to Houston street, which puts me on pierce, which gets me back on 45 south to get to the telephone road exit. mucho quicker than staying on the freeways, quicker than exiting sooner on a different 'artery' you know it takes more than 5 years for trees to mature, right? anyone who promises that traffic will not be affected is blowing smoke, but you can also rest assured that traffic will not be affected to the level with which you currently claim. freebirds isn't a 'nice restaurant' but it sure is some tasty food. pet smart isn't a boutique, but it's nice to have around. sure there's a check cashing store, but that is a sign of the neighborhood, once the apartments on heights are taken down, there will be less need for that place.

wow, that story really shows the stark contrast of how people reacted to one development vs another, specifically based on the anchor store. I mean, with that development, target was displacing people that OWNED homes, residents that live in the same neighborhood as those who are complaining now could only say "I can't wait for the development to open!" Now here, a development has bought some apartment complexes and told people their LEASES will not be renewed, residents that live in the same neighborhood as those who were so welcoming to Target are lamenting the people who will have to go rent somewhere else. what's the word I'm looking for here? puh-leeeez. yeah, I think that was it.

Most of those stands will be available at walmart. This is a win for anyone wanting to make a stand.

Thanks for the info House! I'll have to get a copy, I really want to become more active in promoting cycling in Houston, and I don't think that critical mass is the only way I can (or should) do it.

Not Within a Two Mile Radius of My BackYard Even if it is an Improvement Over the Current State of the Property and None of My Arguments Against it are Valid. NWTMRMBYEIOCSPNMAAV just doesn't have the same ring to it as NIMBY though.

no way! I'll find some way to finish it all!

the NIMBY attitude is a scourge that affects both Liberal and Conservatives, it is an affliction that can't tell the difference between red or blue. people forget their morals, beliefs and things they stand for when something threatens their back yard. which is why I hate NIMBYs and I do everything I can to keep myself from being one, they are so hypocritical, and I dislike hypocrites.

Interesting question, I did a whois on rudh.org (responsible urban development Houston) and here's some interesting information: Domain Name:RUDH.ORG Created On:02-Aug-2010 02:11:20 UTC Last Updated On:01-Oct-2010 03:50:29 UTC It looks like the website and ideals behind the website were developed specifically to try and stop the Walmart, and there is absolutely nothing else they have done, or from the looks of the website, plan to do to promote any responsible urban projects in Houston. So yeah, maybe "responsible urban development" means "do whatever the f--- you want and don't expect our support or anything else, but don't build a Walmart asshole" Just my opinion, but that area isn't even what I'd consider urban, even taking the growth spurt that Washington has seen into account. If Washington is urban because there are some high density apartments and townhomes, then Westheimer at Gesner is urban as well. All that website is, is someone trying to make their whining about a Walmart that close to their house seem more legitimate. Here's a great example of a website that promotes real responsible urban development in Houston: http://www.houstontomorrow.org/ They make some very valid points about the 380, but there isn't anything I found on there that is just bashing the development itself, or Walmart, or even saying that this specific development shouldn't be built. Anyway, they make some extremely legitimate arguments for why the 380 shouldn't be used here, but no where do they say that the site shouldn't house a Walmart, just that the 380 for the type of development that is going in there is a bad investment. Which, when their goal is more urbanized places like the post midtown stuff, I can see why (and that certainly doesn't make their arguments and claims less legitimate, just that they are only presenting what coincides with their agenda). Anyway, rudh.org is a bad joke when considering urbanizing Houston, and http://www.houstontomorrow.org/ is a great example for a urban focused Houston organization. In fact, I plan on reading some of the articles tonight (not regarding walmart and the 380, cause I already did that).

I would assume the address will be 2711 Harrisburg, going to Google maps the building at that location kind of fits the dimensions of the renderings. Google maps doesn't indicate a Centerpoint office, but Google maps has been wrong before. edit: in fact, going to the street view, I'm positive this will be the building... http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=2711+Harrisburg+Boulevard,+Houston,+TX&sll=29.729543,-95.327272&sspn=0.013546,0.01929&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=2711+Harrisburg+Blvd,+Houston,+Harris,+Texas+77003&ll=29.752566,-95.346447&spn=0.000846,0.001206&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=29.752637,-95.34658&panoid=cNRWWbhVf-SjJw133aohQA&cbp=12,65.24,,1,-4.82