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The hot chicken sandwich district is diversifying. May now just be known as the chicken district.

Announcement from the Leader. Brian Calle and Street Media are the buyer. https://www.theleadernews.com/community/leader-under-new-ownership/article_8f05b756-fcae-11ec-b969-3392d6059d65.html

Careful. If your TAMU buddies find out that you recycle, they will call you a cuck and won't share their pepe memes with you.

Word is that McElvy Partners sold to a group that owns Village Voice and LA Weekly. I miss the old Leader before McElvy bought it. They used to get out into parts of the Heights and GOOF that got little attention. McElvy almost ruined the Leader when he tried to turn it into a neighborhood version of FoxNews, railing against the historic districts and printing some utter nonsense on the subject (law professor claimed that HDs were unconstitutional despite US Supreme Court holding that historic preservation passes constitutional muster). Clearly at some point, McElvy figured out that no one wanted a caustic right leaning neighborhood news paper and toned it down (McElvy then stepped down as publisher). Since then, the Leader has done a decent job of being a community news paper more like the Leader of old. I am concerned that the new owners may see the all the money coming into the neighborhood as an indication that the Leader needs to be more like something someone would read in Bushwick or Park Slope instead of focusing on community affairs, like schools, City of Houston issues, etc. But we shall see.

I have been going to one of the original Crust Pizzas in the Woodlands for a few years. Then, I went to one of the new locations in Spring. Big difference in the quality. They are quickly going from about a dozen locations to about 25.

Tap wall almost runs the length of the building.

From the article: "Customers will also be able to order pizza from Coltivare." And we have a winner.

That is not what was happening with this project. This project had been in the planning stages for a few years with multiple community meetings where planners heard community concerns and made changes to the project in response. Then, at the eleventh hour (pun intended), a very astroturf looking group popped up and started throwing everything at the wall to see if anything stuck. This group was looking to burn it down, not discuss balancing trade offs. People who stood by while the dry area was lost and all sorts of development went in suddenly were rocked to their core at the idea of a few extra cars going up their street. I know a right wing freak out when I see one. This was definitely one.

If you didn't live under a rock, you would know that opposing road diets and bike lanes has been a favorite cause for conservatives. Talk radio hosts in LA went nuts over its "Vision Zero" plans for bike lanes and road diets and lead an opposition "movement" (the opposition to these things is usually very astroturfed with mostly businesses leading the way over lost parking spaces). Conservative think tanks went nuts over Federal proposals to use highway funds for local road diet and bike lane projects. And your own biases are pretty clear as you give these people a free pass for throwing up what are clearly pretextual arguments about traffic while throwing a fit over any argument that WalMart and other crappy development might have negative impacts. https://www.wsj.com/articles/vision-zero-a-road-diet-fad-is-proving-to-be-deadly-11547853472 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-08/when-a-bike-lane-battle-goes-nuclear https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/2021-03/PA-913.pdf

And the opponents go home devastated. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/transportation/article/11th-Street-will-be-slimmed-after-mayor-says-17241365.php

See these arguments regurgitated here just shows how the opposition to this is really just throwing anything at the wall because they are against left leaning urban projects like this just as a matter of political identity. No left turns would just mean that people would have to take 14th and go an extra block or two or go south of 11th and cut over on 8, 9 or 10th (which people already do). And to the extent people would use the streets that allowed left turns, would that mean an extra 20,000 vehicles a day? Of course not. It might mean maybe a dozen or two dozen more vehicles a day. The whole point of a bike lane along 11th is to make it easier to access shops and restaurants on bike. 11th st has over a dozen restaurants and lots of shops between Shep and Studewood (with more on the way). There is nothing on 14th st. And anyone who actually cycles in the Heights knows that the last place you want to be riding is by Heights High due to student drivers, buses and traffic during school events. And 11th st would not duplicate the MKT hike and bike path. 11th st would offer cyclist only paths and pedestrians would be able to use the side walk. MKT is shared and gets very busy with walkers.

For what it is worth, I have always felt that Dallas leaned more towards the East Coast with a more traditional old money approach to wealth with everyone trying to chase status symbols (country clubs, preppy clothes, etc.). Houston is much more of a "come as you are" city with a lot of new wealth that isn't as concerned with East Coast status symbols. This is also a function of the dominant employers. In Houston, O&G engineers, geologists, etc. wear a blue dress shirt and khaki dress pants. In Dallas, people in finance and insurance will suit up more often as that is the uniform in financial centers like NYC. As far as development goes, Houston is a boom and bust town that has traditionally struggled to attract long bets, but has shown a lot of improvement over the past 20 years. Dallas has been more insulated from oil and gas volatility and other than the S&L crisis has managed to have a more sustained and dependable growth than Houston. So, people in Dallas place a priority on the big high end projects and the money is there to get it done. But Houston is definitely catching up in its own way. I think Houston aspires to be more like LA and Dallas looks to the East Coast more. And Dallas definitely has tourism. Fort Worth rebuilt its downtown with conventions and stockyard visitors. Dallas has the JFK stuff, although it is still amazing how downtown Dallas is still scarred by the trophy towers from the S&L days. But to be clear, Dallas sucks.

I just thought it was noteworthy that the minimum lot size push ultimately got rolled by this development. Every time a developer wants to take a big crap on a neighborhood, everyone jumps in with the chorus of "we don't have zoning" and then wags their fingers at residents for not getting minimum lot size. This time, they got minimum lot size and still got rolled.

Disrespectful? You should have seen this place 10 years ago. And what is really disrespectful is trying to stop a much needed community improvement that can possibly save lives just because it may have a slightly negative impact on your particular property. Everyone in the Heights has had to take one for the team when it comes to development. When I moved in, I had a back yard that was all trees in every direction. With the exception of my yard, all the trees have been taken down and replaced with humper house additions that now use my backyard as a detention pond. The dry area is gone. Development is just going to keep roaring through the neighborhood. This is the one thing that will actually benefit the community instead of the guy with the biggest bag of money. We all give a little to gain a little in the Heights.

Just want to know whether the people who are losing their sh#t over the possibility of a few extra cars coming down their street are the same people who shout down anyone complaining about the impact of restaurants and bars on residential streets.

Gatlin's is opening a seafood and fried chicken restaurant in Independence Heights. https://houston.eater.com/2022/5/31/23148514/pitmaster-greg-gatlin-new-restaurant-gatlins-fins-and-feathers-independent-heights-houston-openings

Very happy that this is finally finished and cannot wait for the other connector to Stude Park to get done. It looks like they are making good progress on that connector. But gotta say that this took way too long. This was basically a three month job that took almost two years. If this bridge was for vehicular traffic for a busy street, emergency repairs would have probably taken a few weeks if not faster.

Apparently, bike lanes, road diets, etc. are on the list of things that right wingers like to lose their s--- about. The opponents of the 11th st changes got the mayor to go out and look at the street first hand. The central argument now seems to be that it will cause massive traffic jams which will send people cutting through the neighborhoods. But restricting traffic is a feature not a bug. People who are racing down 11th st. are generally people who are using the street as a cut through to avoid traffic on I-10 or 610. If you make it more difficult to drive fast on 11st st, people will stop using it as a cut through street. That will reduce traffic for everybody. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/transportation/article/Sylvester-Turner-went-to-look-at-11th-Street-17199053.php#photo-22522841

Leasing brochure, which should always be taken with several grains of salt, shows Kin by Evelyn. She currently has stands at farmers markets and is no Top Chef Houston right now. https://shopcompanies.com/sites/default/files/420 E 20th St Flyer_0.pdf?v=1646057654

Central City Coop bought the old Heights Lights and Things property on 25th and will re-open their brick and mortar store there soon. They only had a short term lease on the storefront on E. 20th and got the boot in April. https://www.theleadernews.com/business/central-city-co-op-purchases-new-heights-property/article_1682fa44-d69f-11ec-a16f-5f6a8c67d09c.html

Sonoma could not come to terms with its landlord and lost its lease on Studewood. But the Height's loss is the GOOF's gain. Sonoma is moving to the Stomping Grounds development (which is finally seeing some momentum in building out restaurant tenants).

Rebuttal article in the Leader. A bit too academic for my tastes, but our neighborhood is full of advanced degrees. One point they missed is that Studewood has new pedestrian islands that have effectively taken away the middle land as a passing lane and everything is fine on that side of the Heights. https://www.theleadernews.com/opinion/heights-residents-support-citys-plan-for-11th-street/article_19b17abc-d15c-11ec-a130-a79a93089238.html

And you need room for the hot chicken food truck.

Apologies if there is already a thread somewhere, but I could not find it. File this under "we can never have nice things" in the Heights. Just as the 11th street renovations were set to move forward, a very astroturf-ish looking group pops up at the last minute to throw sand in the gears. This is reminiscent of those who opposed the hike and bike trail because they feared criminals on bicycles ravaging the Heights. https://www.theleadernews.com/city_government/houston-mayor-to-take-closer-look-at-bikeway-plan-for-11th-street/article_04dbaf28-cba7-11ec-bd01-bf96d09c318f.html

La Vibra is really good. Torchy's went from being pretty good to absolute garbage as the franchise expanded from a few stores to being in every new strip mall in any suburb with a median income approaching six figures. The only real common denominator for a real "street" taco is that the base is almost always a small corn tortilla. But people will go on for days about what is a real corn tortilla. There is a big difference between commercial tortillas and hand ground corn masa made into tortillas by hand. Some of the commercial corn tortillas in the US are so bad that they are like eating drywall. Beyond that, you could go on for days talking about what is a real "street" taco in terms of fillings because there is so much diversity in Mexican cuisine depending on where you are in Mexico. You have trompo and al pastor, which are spit cooking styles that Middle Eastern oil workers brought with them to Mexico in the 1950s and were adopted by Mexican cuisine. You have various stewed meats like guisada and birria. And then there are the grilled meats like asadas and barbacoa. The one that is rarely done right in the US is carnitas. Carnitas in the US are often dry and inedible because they are made more like a pulled pork. Carnitas are slow cooked in pork fat. The most basic street taco will be meat and tortilla with a salsa. But many street vendors will have different vegetables, beans, potatoes, etc. and a selection of salsas and a sprinkle of queso fresca on top. A lot of arguments over what is an authentic street taco is really just about different places having different styles of Mexican foods. Most of the really authentic Mexican taco stands in Houston are run by people from NE Mexico (Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, etc.) and most of their customers are from the same area. But if you are in CA, you will run across more people from Baja, Sonora or Chihuahua. Nestled amongst those groups will also be people from Central Mexico, which is a bit of a melting pot of styles and not to forget the very diverse cooking style of Oaxaca, which has deep roots in indigenous cooking styles. So, most everything you will find at a taco stand in Houston is arguably a street taco. But these vendors are in it for the money and how authentic they are can vary wildly as mass produced Mexican food can be pretty bad and taco trucks can get everything the use from a large commercial kitchen. So, if you find one that is grilling their own meat or has a spit going, that is a pretty good sign you will get something decent.