kat_zor

Does anyone have an update as to how the petitions are going? Specifically, has 10% already been reached for Houston Heights West? I looked on the Responsible Historic Preservation website but I don't see anything there.

Good bread and pork products??? Sign me up!

Where can I get a good muffaletta around here (for less than $9.50 so not Big Mamou - self proclaimed cheap bastard)??? I've got a wicked hankerin for one and we're not going back to Baton Rouge for at least a month.

Nundini on Shepherd sells awesome muffaletta bread and their muffaletta sandwich (about $7) is pretty good. I liked Carter and Cooleys muffaletta but you have to ignore the employee who tells you to put jalapenos on it. He's an LSU grad who has been in Texas too long!

(I'm also from BR)

You did mention that some folks want a Walmart built on that site, but those people have yet to organize a group, perhaps out of embarrassment or more likely out of apathy. The perceived impact of a Walmart not being built is far less to the Walmart supporters than having the store built would be to the folks opposing Walmart. There are plenty of Walmarts and similar retailers within reasonable driving distance to satisfy big-box shopping urges. But I think it'd be really funny if someone organized a facebook campaign to show support for the largest corporation in the world in their fight against the tyrannical local residents who are trying to have an impact on their community.

Someone has started a Facebook group welcoming Walmart to the Rice Military area. They have a grand total of 16 members.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=133781763321552&v=wall&ref=mf

Toodles.

I don't think Trader Joe's counts as upscale. When I lived in Chicago, there were two in the neighborhood. They have good stuff (like peanut butter-stuffed pretzel nuggets, and candy-coated sunflower seeds), but it's not a full grocery store.

Our TJ's in Oakland & Berkeley were pretty complete grocery stores, with produce, meat, canned goods and alcohol (the infamous two-buck Chuck). They even had nice cheese and floral departments. My only complaint was that EVERYTHING in produce was pre-packaged so that you had to buy four avocados, two apples or three bell peppers. And eveything was wrapped in styrofoam and plastic packaging.

Just got this email (not sure if this is new to y'all or not):

From: Thorp, Laura - CNL [mailto:Laura.Thorp@houstontx.gov]

Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2010 10:15 AM

Subject: Ordinance Changes, Summary of Changes, Public Meeting Notice

The information has now been posted.

Draft of Ordinance

http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/HistoricPres/hist_pres.html

Summary of Changes

http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/HistoricPres/docs_pdfs/HPO_SummaryAmend.pdf

Public Meeting Notice

http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/HistoricPres/docs_pdfs/HPO_publicnotice_20100719.pdf

This might sound silly, but I emailed Trader's Joe and asked them to come to Houston, TX. I think they would do well near the Heights as opposed to Wal-Mart. You never know, it might work

BTW, there's also a "Houston Wants a Trader Joe's" Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=45801548627&ref=ts

Every time we go back to Oakland we pick up Thai cashews, olive tapenade and "magic cheese" (some kind of cheese with shallots in it.