VicMan

Man, I couldn't agree more about US Airways. Question though--I flew to Hawaii on US Airways (way cheaper than Continental and I'm a college student so I buy cheap). I've got 8 or 10 thousand airmiles with them. Will those be good on Continental now? If not, what do I do with them? I plan on never flying them again.

Wxman: Yep, they will be good.

Someone should tell the old man with the sign that he is invited to the lemonparty being held in the local retirement home

In all seriousness, I wouldn't worry much about this old man. There are more serious threats out there...

This is in Houston ISD, and it is zoned to:

* Cornelius ES

* Ortiz MS

* Chavez HS

If the Galleria doesn't want photographs, it needs signs that state exactly that on the doors. Otherwise it should be rightfully assumed that photographs are allowed.

No matter what the circumstances, this "vote" was inappropriate. If the teacher felt overwhelmed, she should have had the child simply not come back. She should not talk behind the child's back at all.

Let's see - Who makes the decision that the theater has to go? We should examine the corporate structure - If we had minutes of the meetings it would be great.

Just from looking at the website I found some key people, but I do not know which of them makes the decision "the theater has to go"

So far, the only name I could get is the VP of Investor Relations: Richard Summers.

And what about historic holdings in other parts of the United States? With the internet people know what is going on in Houston. I don't smell any bull butt product. What I said, Niche, was based on what Montrosian said, anyway. The desires of Houstonians indeed affect Weingarten outside of Houston; the struggle for the theater makes headlines in newspapers read by non-Houstonians. See: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/12/us/12pre...70&emc=eta1 -- <--The New York Times

It may be true, Niche, that much of Weingarten focuses on new suburban products, but this could force Weingarten out of the urban, historic markets.

Yeah...of course. Because citizens and politicians know more about real estate investment than they do.

And because their portfolio is so heavily weighted in River Oaks.

People, there are a lot of ways to express dissatisfaction with Weingarten. Bull____ing is not a very good one.

Greg Kite went to Pershing Jr. High so he either would have been zoned to Belaire or Lamar but his parents moved so he could play at Madison for what ever reason.

I know that today that the part of the Shearn Elementary School boundary east of Stella Link is zoned to Pershing for MS and Madison for HS.

And the more Weingarten does that, the more the stocks tumble, the more heckling the board members face, the more bottles of Vicodin consumed by the employees, and the less clients the group faces.

If it wants to remain viable as a company, Weingarten must realize that Houstonians want control.

We need to write our city council members and beg them to strengthen preservation laws. That will itself save Weingarten from itself.

And Midway Companies is?

WR has the legal right to raze the River Oaks Center from one end to the other as they own the property. Seems like the more protests, the more resolved they will be to tear down both the River Oaks and the Alabama.

Overseas: Yup - HISD opened Ray Daily Elementary School to relieve Ashford ES/Shadowbriar ES and Bush ES.

This is zoned to in Houston ISD:

* Park Place ES

* Ortiz MS

* Chavez HS

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metrop...an/5804771.html

A branch of DeBakey High School will open in Doha, Qatar. It will ultimately have grades 8-12. It will start with 8-10 in September 2008.

The principal of the Houston DeBakey is going to Qatar to lead the Qatari school.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=...&id=6169265

And HISD plans to turn it into a charter school. I wonder what its name will become...

If this is built, it would be zoned to in SBISD:

* Hunters Creek Elementary School

* Spring Branch Middle School

* Memorial High School

Part of what I meant by reputation is socially damaging the people in charge of the business; each and every board member could be socially targeted. Businesses are made of people, and a way to damage the business is to socially ostracize the people in charge of the company.

Let's use a board member as an example. If she finds that:

* Nobody invites her to parties anymore

* People who used to be her friends suddenly do not talk

* She finds vicious rumors being spread about her personal life

...then she will find she is being socially ostracized.

It doesn't take a magic spell to drive a board member into depression; it takes a form of media used to spread the word (could be the TV, the internet, or more mediums) and a population that accepts the idea. It may not save the theater, but it would be a good form of retaliation. These are rumors and reputations that they will have no choice but to care about. The idea of "ignoring" the cold shoulders and the personal attacks will not work.

I am well aware that online petitions are meaningless.

However I agree that the City ought to enact much stricter preservation laws and that this would most likely be the only realistic way to save the theater.

But don't you realize that they don't care about their reputation or rumors? They fully know that boycotts and buyouts aren't realistic alternatives, and petitions are just so much wasted bandwidth. You might just as well resort to casting magic spells.

Without a preservation law with some teeth the River Oaks is, as sevfiv said, toast.

This is in Houston ISD and it is zoned to:

* Sutton ES

* Long MS (Pin Oak MS as an option)

* Sharpstown HS

The bus station ought to be relocated to the intermodal terminal, if it is built.

It appears that the garage is FOUR levels. The new strip mall is two. The Barnes and Noble appears to be two with some sort of roof plaza. So, my bet is the garage will be poking out from most views.

In the end, by tearing down a portion and completely altering the scale of the entire project, Weingarten has most likely broken the will to save the rest. I agree with others; this center is toast.

The will held by the people? Or the will held by other tenants?

My father said that he doesn't care about the rest of the center - he just cares about the theater; if this feeling is common then it has likely already been there. I could live with having the theater itself saved with the rest of the center gone, but if it will have a large garage it needs to be painted in an aesthetic manner.

If the River Oaks property owners are negatively affected by the garage they should begin a hostile takeover process of Weingarten (one of the possible punishments I mentioned above); hopefully it could succeed and Weingarten could have new owners.

The thing is though that Weingarten can always wait out people trying to obstruct demolition. Weingartens couldn't care less what the public thinks.

There has to be a way in that the public can irreparably damage Weingarten in retaliation. Social shunning, vicious rumors, and personal attacks against company directors? Refusal of business offers? Mass selling of stock? Forced takeover attempts? Mass boycotts of company properties?

I have to agree. They have never committed to saving the theater, and they have certainly already demonstrated their contempt for Houston, so I think you could lay money on the theater being demolished.

Then the way to save the theater is for protesters that physically obstruct the theater site. That is possible to make people surround the theater and stand in the way of the demolition. If Houstonians truly care about the theater, they will make the company not do it, whether the company likes it or not.

If Weingarten wants to remain viable in Houston, it should not even think about demolishing the River Oaks Theatre without an announcement. Even then, it shouldn't demolish it in the first place.

I know people who specifically avoid driving down Gray/Webster because they don't want to pass by the Greyhound station.

Please tell them that not driving by the Greyhound Station (especially during the day) is ridiculous. As long as the windows are up and the driver does not stare at people, there will be no problem. Now, if the person was on foot and AWAY from the front of the station (or at the front during night), aggressive panhandlers do try to target people.

Anyhow B. C. Elmore Middle made the rat and roach report, with two fails in a row; the guys had time to fix it, and they FAILED.

I mean, I think this district is collapsing. We need to have people from outside NFISD to protest, to ask the district to end. We need to get the people of Gulfton, River Oaks, Pasadena, Sunnyside, Memorial, and other communities within school districts that are Robin Hood donors. We need to ask them to shut down the wasteful NFISD that is taking their tax dollars and bungling a job.

as for Westbury.....was Fondren Middle a feeder?

I lived on arboles street, and spent 7th grade at johnston, then was transfered to fondren the year it opened. I think landsdown was the boundary that year. The students I knew at fondren either went to sharpstown or westbury. This would have been in the late 60s. Everyone I knew from hillcroft east went to westbury and from fondren road west went to sharpstown. In between seemed mixed.

Fondren Middle School feeds into Bellaire, Sharpstown, and Westbury.

Sterling and Madison basically opened the same time and had the same fates..both changed demographics in the 80s as the original residents moved further out...oddly enough, Madison's enrollment has grown due to the influx of hispanics and new homes off of Orem while Sterling's has dropped due to Pearland's growth

I know Sterling HS's zone is getting new homes too, as is Worthing HS's zone.

Obama High School? Are they serious?

It would be too soon to name it after Obama. If he became president and this was after his final term was over, then it would make sense (as long as his presidency is not a total disaster).

The "George W. Bush High School" suggestion HAD to be a joke.