RedScare

The developer did pay for the work out of its own pocket.

I wonder why no one filed a lawsuit to stop this tragedy?

Anti-ordinance rhetoric always keeping it classy.

I've always considered taking photos of neighbors' homes in order to snitch them out to be the utmost in classy. 

And yes there is a tremendous bias in school funding when urban schools are compared to suburban.

Hmm, you are backwards on that. Inner city HISD gets the benefit of all of the downtown tax base, as well as much of the industrial base by the Ship Channel. Most suburban districts only have low value residential tax bases. This is why my HISD tax rate is so much lower than suburban ones.

The tremendous bias is in favor of HISD, not the burbs.

So, my shooting down of your ridiculous statement is proof that I advocated for it? Brilliant.

They win too. They get millions of dollars to redo their building for the benefit of 300 members.

19th street is one of the few places in Houston where you can find unique gifts, home decor, boutique and resale clothing and other interesting things all in one walkable area. Peolpe come in from the burbs to shop 19th street because it is so unique.

This is the kind of quote that makes those people who never go to 19th Street say, 'Oh, they should keep all of those cute stores', but it makes those of us who live here roll our eyes and gag at the sheer over-exaggeration of it all. 

I've noticed that the opposing viewpoint is evolving in his argument. First, he accused us of wanting big niteclubs and wholesale demolitions when no one ever said that. Now, he is actually using our arguments as his own. He claims 19th will evolve (which is what we are saying), and uses Torchy's as an example (which is what we want). Seems the only point left is that he loves the junk dealers (we don't care). He even admits evolution will occur (we said it first).

This debate is over. We win.

Not sure how some of these retail experts on here decide on what constitutes "normal people shopping" and "normal person places". Isn't it a little conceited to suggest anything they themselves don't frequent to be abnormal? Likely these experts couldn't afford the Rice Village area, settled on the Heights, and are frustrated when they can't figure out why they still don't have a Starbucks or a GAP down the street?!  

 

Here is a prediction! In 5 years on 19th there will be a few more restaurants, a few more "junk stores", and maybe somehow a Pier 1 slips in for the retail experts. Everybody wins!

Heh heh. Yeah, that's it. We're the poors. That's why we are badmouthing a bunch of secondhand stores, because us poors don't like secondhand stuff. Two thumbs up for your logic skills!

19th Street is a relic of another time. This is why some residents like it. They can take friends or relatives to look at it from time to time. It is a museum, not a retail area. As such, it has no real use in its current state. Progress will eventually steamroll the old 19th Street in favor of something useful. Its supporters will be left to lament its decline and fall, likely blaming other Heights residents and "big box" stores for its demise.

 The polar opposite of drying up and dying out.  If 19th was drying up and dying out, it would have been emptied out, sold and demoed.

Norton Ditto folks had no interest in investing in the store to update it and make it competitive and closed it.  Harold's simply had run its course.

 As the Heights turns younger...if in fact it is turning younger...those junk stores will fade away. If the Heights fills up with retiring Baby Boomers, those old farts will keep the junk stores open. Pretty simple, really.

On another tangent, as if to prove that restauranteurs don't like dry areas, Ruds is opening up nearby. Not quite 19th Street, but they can get a liquor license here.

 http://blog.chron.com/29-95/2013/05/rudyards-british-pub-owner-opening-up-bar-music-venue-in-the-heights/?cmpid=hpfsln

JJ, the fact that he had absolutely no support for such a wild statement should clue you in to its validity. Not to mention all of us Heights residents posting that we seldom, if ever, even visit 19th Street in its current state. If so many of us never visit it, could it really have any effect on buying preference? Of course not. Hence, the moving of the goalposts by the poster to suggest that we all want huge niteclubs to go in there.

This claim  that the junk dealers on 19th are some huge draw is just more of that wish by a few Heights residents that everyone and everything in the Heights should look and act like 1920 for the imagination of those few residents. 

I probably used to serve you drinks in the Village, mk.    

So basically grub, cash-money, miscellaneous accoutrements, trinkets, baubles & beads, bric-a-brac, and flotsam & jetsam?

...that makes people rush to buy here!

We've been through this. Most of the improvements were to infrastructure that is the city's responsibility. Why do you keep attempting to mislead? It only further ruins your already low credibility. Sure, Ainbinder sought some benefits for the loan he was giving, but it was pennies compared to the city infrastructure.

Yeah, you are right.  Everyone I meet who moved to the Heights thinks that 19th street is a dump and can't wait for it to be demoed and replaced with bars and clubs.  Only when that happens will the neighborhood ever take off. 

Given your penchant for exaggeration, I'd posit that this number is no more than one or two. Besides, per usual, you are now moving the goalposts. Your initial statement was that everyone moved to the Heights BECAUSE of 19th Street. Now, after the ridiculousness of that statement was exposed, you changed it to people moving here thinking 19th Street is a dump.

The number of people who bought in the Heights because of junk dealers on 19th Street is plus or minus zero. While I am sure that the above poster will claim that this is why he moved here, no one else did. But, hey, it sounded good to him.

By the way, the number of people who bought in the Heights because of what they read in "national publications" is likewise...zero.

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. 

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

They spent it all. 

I cannot claim to be comfortable that this is in fact true.

It benefits me as well.

For the last time, the City did not give six million dollars to WalMart. That is a total misrepresentation. WalMart and Ainbinder agreed to spend the money and be reimbursed over time. The City is the beneficiary not the developers.

Ross, it won't be the last time. They will continue to misrepresent this issue.

You would be shopping at a resale shop for children if you went to where Buffalo Exchange was on 19th st.  Depsite popular opinion on message boards and the comment section on the Chronicle, there are not that many hipsters in the Heights.  Buffalo Exchange did not last in the alleged hipster haven of the Heights.

So, the only store worth visiting has already closed? Another reason we need some bars and restaurants on 19th. 

You've said this over and over. I have repeated that I like the development, as well as the expenditure by the City improving the infrastructure. Saying it again will not change my mind, nor any of the others who have expressed approval of the development. Only the few dozen residents who griped at the beginning still care. The rest of us approve.

No, really, we approve of the Walmart, the development, and the rebuilt infrastructure paid by the 360. Really. I'm not kidding!

I am glad they did it. That couple of blocks looks a lot better, and is now tax income producing property. And, I shop at the Walmart from time to time. I think it is a winner, regardless what Peter Brown thinks.

*insert s3mh - Leonard high fiving each other*

 

smh.

 

Walmart and Ainbinder are not synonymous... but nobody seems to care about that.

Because the real enemy is Walmart, not Ainbinder. In order to attack Walmart, they must ignore what really happened. Not that it matters. The battle is over, Walmart is built and open, and most Heights residents shop there...whether they admit it or not. Same goes for Kroger. In fact, most of us like the improvements.

Next faux outrage, please.

It's a hexagon. 5th stop is the crackhouse. 6th stop is the morgue.