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We have Xfinity internet and cell. Internet was out for a week after the May storm and for almost two weeks after Beryl. The cell service limped along for about the same period. At times, we could barely get the internet on our phones when at home in the Heights.

During Ike, I lived in an apartment complex along Allen Parkway. We were without power for two weeks. The lucky ones had power restored in 3-4 days. Most were out of power for a week. After Ike, everyone was talking about building a dike, burying power lines, flood improvements, etc. Nothing was done to harden the power transmission system. Perry or Abbott could have directed the PUC to make CenterPoint harden the transmission lines at any point over the 16 years since that storm hit. So to now be all sanctimonious about CenterPoint is a bit too little too late. After Hurricane Sandy, the east coast utilities got $1.2 billion to storm harden their power substations. They moved or elevated all the substations so that they would not be affected by flooding. In Florida, the utilities have invested heavily in transitioning power lines from wooden poles to cement or steel structures which are rated for high wind speeds. This caused the restoration times to go from an average of 18 days for Hurricane Wilma to six days for Hurricane Irma and 3.8 for Hurricane Ian. The state government has assumed that direct hit storms on the Houston area would be once in a generation events. Hurricane Alicia was in 1983 and the next direct hit was not until Ike in 2008. So, Houstonians could take one for the team with a once in a lifetime storm. But then there was Harvey in 2017, the winter storm in 2021 and now Beryl in 2024 (in addition to the May derecho). Houstonians were actually very patient with power restoration after Ike, but are now at a breaking point because it just keeps happening over and over. Throwing up your hands at the idea of burying all the power lines is a red herring. No one expects CenterPoint to go around and bury every powerline in the city. But where the power lines are critical on main throughfares and commercial areas with hospitals, grocery stores, etc., it is a good investment to bury the power lines. It is expensive, but it works. Downtown Houston has never lost power in any of these storms because all the power lines are buried. Then, invest in transitioning the main powerlines into neighborhoods into steel/concrete polls that are above the trees and do not break in high winds. But the most cost efficient way of storm hardening residential homes is to get as much roof top solar and home battery storage deployed as possible. I have a neighbor with roof top solar. After the storm, he was running cords to neighboring homes to let people plug in refrigerators and small AC window units. For the cost of burying the power lines to a residential street, you could install enough roof top solar to let people ride out the outage without any interruption.

Went to Stomping Grounds for ice cream the other night. Had not been there in a while. The area in the middle by the stage where kids would play is now filled with picnic tables and there are signs everywhere saying that kids cannot play with "flying objects". Worse still, they have big speakers everywhere blasting very loud music. I get the issues with parents letting their little special guy run rampant while mom and dad hit the bar. So, I can see how having kids playing soccer in the middle part might have gotten out of hand. But the music blasting is just awful. It is close to the volume level you would get at a club in Shady Acres or Washington Ave. And the scene was not that of a club. Mostly a few random families and couples just wanting to get something to eat. If the expectation is to make this venue more geared towards a 20/30something club scene, this place is not going to last very long.

This big lot cleared out on the west side of the street is going to be a Terry Black's BBQ

I got my wife Araya chocolates for Valentine's day a couple of times. Expensive, but worth it. I believe they also serve gelato, macaron and espresso drinks. A nice desert shop for an after dinner treat.

The big picture I get from Whitmire's flailing around the Heights and Montrose is that it is an attempt to take back the Harris County and Houston Democrats from the progressive wing that has backed Lina Hidalgo, Sylvester Turner, anyone who is not Kim Ogg, Abbie Kamin and a bunch of progressive judges. That is why Anise Parker is already lining up to either run against Hidalgo or take her seat if Hidalgo decides not to run for reelection. The moves against the TIRZ mostly are hitting Abbie Kamin's district. She is one of the most progressive members of city council. When Whitmire tried to take on big pedestrian and make the streets safe again for Land Rovers, the backlash from the Heights was pretty stout and Kamin did a good job standing up to Whitmire. So, he is back at it in Montrose trying to make up for the swing and a miss on the bike lanes. This is a bit reminiscent of Bill White. He was very autocratic as mayor (and ironically clashed with Whitmire on SafeClear). But White was good at putting on his huckleberry hound routine and got the public behind him thinking he was just a regular guy trying to get things done. Whitmire is getting dragged in public opinion because he just goes around telling everyone that he has been here longer and gets to tell everyone what they want.

Yale doesn't just feel dangerous. It is dangerous. If I was the traffic king of Houston, I would make all the cross streets into right turn only except for the streets with traffic signals. Making a left hand turn or trying to cross Yale on a numbered street is a very good way to end up t-boned. A three lane Yale St. with a center lane for turns might also help. Yale really does not have capacity issues except for at the I-10 and 610 feeders. The I-10 feeder is mostly due to a poorly timed light that is set up to give the feeder traffic too much time. Heights Blvd. is not a good alternative because it stops at 20th and has a lot of pedestrian traffic/kids along one of the few boulevards in Houston that you would actually drive your out of town guests along to show off.

Ah. Yes, please. This would also have the benefit of giving people coming in and out of HEB a fighting chance when traffic is stopped at the new light at Feagan.

What exactly are they going to do? Will there be a traffic light at this intersection? A HAWK signal for pedestrians?

I am sure Whitmire is still going to try to mess with 11th st. It is a bit of a cause celeb for De Mealor and her acolytes in the Heights. Of course, they want to rip out all the improvements between Shep and Michaux, but want to keep the huge speed bumps and on street parking between Michaux and N. Main. Good for the goose, not the gander.

Whitmire's beef with the TIRZ has been that they are run by out of touch residents of River Oaks who know nothing about the area they are responsible for and are not responsive to what the community really wants. But the process for the Shep improvements was very open to the public with detailed designs posted online and lots of chances for community input. Then, when Whitmire decided that it would be a good idea to completely screw up a shovel ready project, changes were made behind closed doors with no chance for the community to see what is going on.

That is much worse as it is a dog whistle for right wingers who think the Montrose library will be a hub for LGBTQ debauchery and corruption of little children with drag queen story time and books that teach kids to understand differences in sexuality and gender. Everything Whitmire does has echoes of some pretty hard right wing stuff. His war on pedestrian improvements has roots in right wing freakouts over 15 minute cities. And I think Whitmire thinks that his sound majority over SJL is a rejection of Mayor Turner's tenure. Like there is a transitive property for black politicians and a vote for Whitmire over SJL was really a vote against Mayor Turner.

Article in Bloomberg on Whitmire's street reversals. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-28/houston-hits-reverse-on-safety-focused-street-changes?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0Ww234OYXjWMTs_G_7afl_CbqyRhAyix8h9Wt-kMDxxi5rwhy1XwfYTSE_aem_AciMKk_euaG8UCXxREgWiQWq9I3eVa1MB-MDOMkonULOXwNRnNdH3l1GV2yG5XL2VY9i-Del_EZGrNxufBFfeSG6

It is worth the wait. The line moves slowly because people ask too many questions when they get to order. But once you order, the service is fast and the food is excellent. Best addition to the Heights food scene in years.

I drive on Allen Parkway everyday. It is proof that there is no such thing as people driving slower due to lane width. And the speed limit on Shepherd is 35 mph. Even if there is such a thing as narrow lane syndrome that causes people to drive slower when a lane is 6 inches more narrow, is it really going to make any measurable difference on a 1.5 mile stretch of road where people are already supposed to be driving slowly? And if it actually did get people to drive slower, wouldn't they just end up go from driving 40-45 mph as everyone does on Shep to closer to the speed limit? And wouldn't that be a good thing on a street where there is a cross street about every 200 m and there are accidents every day?