pineda

story from Tomball Tribune story from Houston Chronicle Note: In the Houston Chronicle, the term eminent domain is spelled incorrectly as "imminent" domain by reporter Kimberly Stauffer.

He's worth listening to, since he spent the last eight years as a member of the TxDOT Transportation Commission. Read more about current bills being considered in the State Legislature to put a two-year moratorium on Comprehensive Development Agreements (or CDA's) like the Trans-Texas Corridor.

Great news! Thanks for posting that, Mr. Football. We really liked the shops at Round Rock and look forward to those in Cypress.

and yet another blog has picked up this discussion...

H-Town- I hear what you're saying. Some of my children's friends are getting ready to be either seniors in high school or freshmen in college next year, and they're talking about signing up for Freshman Composition online at community colleges in order to get this course out of the way so they don't have to take it in college. Have you noticed this trend where you are?

Gen Yes website a blog discussing this issue I appreciate all the comments that the comments that have been made regarding this topic. I can't wait to bring up some of these with the school board to see how they're going to be addressed. Personally, I like this initiative from Klein ISD. My kids already pass me by when it comes to the computer. They use podcasts and power points for book reports and presentations. They communicate with students in other countries via video conferencing to learn more about those countries. They've even done video conferences with the astronauts while they're in space. They use Excel to create complex spread sheets for projects. They and their friends are definitely part of the Ipod, Aim, Facebook, MySpace, PSP, XBox Live, T-Mobile generation, that's for sure. Their teachers, for the most part, all have websites and they're loaded with pages devoted to homework and review work, with links to other sites for more in-depth studies. Teachers use e-mail to reach students and parents now. Living in the Klein district, I've seen slides, swings, monkey bars all disappear from our schools (due to liability issues), field trips have become all but non-existent (due to liability issues), no live animals, not even fish in the classrooms (due to liability issues), and textbooks with mistakes, ones too old to be relevant (especially current history and science) where students get "inserts" to replace them with, and textbooks so written in by others to almost be unusable, so I'm really looking forward to seeing how this program will be implemented, especially when it comes to the dreaded "liability issues".

This house is almost a dead-ringer for 5102 Sanford, also in Westbury. I remember it having a tar/pebble roof.

story about how Ikea become a global brand

Tilman must be SOOO happy to hear this news! Then he can finally realize his dream to put Golden Nugget casinos in Houston and Galveston.

Boklok story in Business Week Houses of the Future Live Smart at Home When will it be coming to the United States???

good report on the protest against the Trans-Texas Corridor

updated map of TTC/I-69

State Senator (and former TxDOT Transportation Commissioner) Robert Nichols files bill to stop Comprehensive Development Agreements like the TTC project for two years

Make it ten, then. Plus list the reason why you picked it.

report on "culinary tourism" If you were asked to put together a list of five "destination" restaurants in the Greater Houston area that you would recommend taking out-of-towners to visit to get that uniquely "Houston" experience, which ones would you recommend and why?

Yeah, I heard some teachers talking about this last night before the choir concert at The Centrum. I knew they did that already at Vistas. Any idea what kind of computers they're giving out? I remember the old Crapples the district went through years ago.

Very surprised that Ogden openly admits this, especially considering he was the Chair at the time.

CDeb- Do you know if Cintra is involved in the CDA in Austin?

please explain.

toll road rates unpredictable in the future Cintra gets the contract, no big surprise there Brilliant work they do in Austin! Is this the best they can do, honestly?

(from the chron.com story:) Dear Lindsey- I know you're trying to do a good job, and I'm sure your parents are proud of you for having one. But, we live in a era where sensationalism drives the media machines, which is why so much of our nightly news and daily print news is more entertainment than information these days. Tabloid trash is what sells in the media. No one wants to hear about how smart or successful someone is; people want to hear about astronauts wearing adult diapers and driving 900 miles to kill their rival. People don't want to hear who got a medal for saving lives, people want to know what's going to happen to Anna Nicole's little 5 month old daughter. Think of yourself as a press agent for a megawatt superstar. It's just that your client is the entire City of Houston, instead of a single person. Somedays your client will be in the news for great reasons like hosting the flood of evacuees from New Orleans when no other city wanted to step and help these poor people out. BUT, somedays your client will be in the news for being named the Fattest City, the Most Crime-Ridden City, the Dirtiest Air City, and on and on. Yes, you will probably see a lot more of the bad news stories than the good, but just remember, trash sells big! And rememember the old axiom, "Bad press is better than no press at all!" And remember what my old friend, Midtown Coog always says, "Houston - BE YOURSELF!"

The Niche's comment above, like it or not, does have merit.(from the wikipedia article:)

My guess is that the final report from the M.E. will list "death due to complications from liposuction surgery", which would definitely be a sad way for anyone to go. A.N.S. always appeared outrageous and comical to me; she seemed like a total embodiment of the "id" from Freud. She wanted what she wanted, when she wanted it, and she didn't care what anyone thought about it. Another over-the-top Texas personality to bite the dust. R.I.P.

story found in Chronicle today

This gets more interesting the more I look into it. Apparently Bridgestone MUD believes that by entering into this SPA with the COH, they will ensure that their community does not get annexed anytime in the near future by the COH. And, as an extra added bonus, they get this new money from the split sales tax, for which they will offer no additional services to the affected parties. The COH gets the additional money and again, offers no additional services, but agrees not to annex Bridgestone for a period of 10 years or so. Sounds like blackmail. Bridgestone sees this a win-win situation with no one affected negatively. But what about the commercial business owners? This isn't just a sneaky little sales tax increase that none of them get to vote on. This will affect the operating expenses of these businesses, and they have no idea it's even happening to them. When they get annexed under the COH umbrella, the COH comes out with a whole bunch of extra permits on top of what Harris County already needs. This will impact them negatively and they will have to pass these costs on to their customers.