Off the Kuff: Elsewhere in Houston Archives

Putting Houston on the right track

I was very interested to see this op-ed in the Chron by Tory, Christof, and former Houston City Council Member Caroll Robinson, in which they describe six infrastructure projects we should undertake in the near future. Some of these ideas will be familiar to you, others are new. It's mirrored here for posterity, and it's worth your time to read. Heck, if we wind up just doing one or two of them, I'd be happy. Check it out.

11/16/08 | permalink | comments [0]

A hippie bohemian setback

Oh, noes!

The dream isn't dead, but it is on hold for the time being.

After months of delays related to the credit crunch, the upscale Sonoma condo and retail project planned in Rice Village has officially hit the skids.

The developer said the project is being put on hold due to economic uncertainties and tumultuous credit markets, which has kept it from securing the loan it needs to move forward with the development.

"It's an extraordinarily unusual time," said Julie Tysor, of owner Lamesa Corp. "We just think it's an intelligent thing to just take a breath, which is what many, many developers are doing across the nation."

Last month, residential developers Florida-based Turnberry Associates and Hanover Co. of Houston said they were canceling their respective projects planned for sites in the Galleria area.

Those who put down deposits for units in Sonoma are being notified today that the project is not moving forward. They will have their money returned with interest.

Tysor said the project at Bolsover and Morningside is being put on hold "for the short-term."

"It doesn't mean this development won't occur," she said. "It's an unbelievable site for a development of this nature and we wholeheartedly believe in what we designed. The buyers love the site and lenders love the site."

They just don't love it enough to actually loan the developers the money to build it right now. For sure, that block of real estate won't stay fallow for long. But who knows when those hippie bohemian attorneys will finally be able to call it home.

A portion of Bolsover, a street the developer acquired from the city to build the project, will remain closed.

As part of its contract with the city, the developers agreed to build public parking and a plaza by the middle of 2012.

"Just because we're not coming out of the ground today we have plenty of time to do what's right with this tract of land," Tysor said.

Swamplot, which had noted last month that Sonoma was still expecting financing to come through at that time, says that the Bolsover closure is a done deal.

In another development, the city of Houston said Tuesday that developer Randall Davis had successfully completed all work that was required by the extended deadline of Oct. 27.

A letter of credit through Amegy Bank for the required changes in the amount of $48,692 had been extended from July 27, 2007 and was granted July 24, 2008, Public Works Department spokesman Alvin Wright said.

[...]

Additionally, the required plugging and abandonment of the 8-inch water line within Bolsover Street, and the relocation of the existing storm sewer inlets to Bolsover and Morningside Drive have already passed inspection, Wright said.

The condition that the developer "eliminate the appearance of the public street" at the intersections of Bolsover and both Kelvin and Morningside has also been fulfilled, according to the city inspection records.

[...]

Wright said even if the work covered under the letters of credit was not completed by the deadlines, the city would not get the property back.

An updated version of the Chron story clarifies this:

Frank Michel, a spokesman for Mayor Bill White, said the city's abandonment of a street for the project has two requirements: one, that developers get utilities in place under the street by Sept. 1, a deadline they met; and two, that they must deliver a pedestrian walkway on the road by 2012.

If they fail to meet the latter deadline, the road will revert back to the city, but not until then, he said.

I never did get an answer to my question from Council Member Clutterbuck's office about this, but I suppose it's moot now.

11/13/08 | permalink | comments [0]

Bye-bye, bubbles

Well, so much for that.

It began with the best of intentions: A grand plan to blanket the city with a wireless ''cloud" would provide cheap Internet access to the masses.

When that project failed last year, as it did in many other places, the city turned to a new idea: Wireless ''bubbles" could bridge the digital divide in many of Houston's poorest neighborhoods.

But for those who had high hopes that Houston's flirtations with WiFi would give them free home connectivity, that bubble appears to have officially burst.

Instead, the city is using $3.5 million from a settlement with Earthlink to provide computers and free high-speed connectivity to community centers, nonprofit groups and schools.

And because the network will be password-protected, the wireless connection it provides will be cut off from all but those who participate in classes and programs at the locations.

[...]

City Councilwoman Wanda Adams, who sits on a committee that oversees the initiative and represents some neighborhoods that could be selected for the program, said she does not understand why, if a network exists, people will not have access to it. "My take is, if I'm a student and I live in an area where there is wireless, I should be able to access it if I live within so many feet."

Adams said she supported the project but planned to meet with its leaders and stakeholders to get more clarity.

Nicole Robinson, project director for the initiative, said that after Earthlink failed to deliver on its promise to set up a wireless network throughout all of Houston, providing access to residents was never a part of the city's revised plan.

"We are making sure individuals who don't have computers in the home, who don't have the skill set or training they need, will have an opportunity to make sure they can receive those services. We want to this to impact quality of life. It's about access with a purpose."

Even if the city wanted to make the wireless connection available to residents, such an expansion could be difficult. If too many people access it, the network could bog down. Some could cancel their Internet contracts with Comcast or AT&T, leading them to depend on the city as a service provider, a development that would significantly drive up costs and expectations.

Under the new initiative, a "Wireless Empowered Community Access Network," or WECAN, will be built in 25 super-neighborhoods, 10 of which should be completed in the next two years. The wireless connections will be available on computers inside 15 community centers, schools and other buildings in each network.

That's not quite what we were expecting when last we heard of this. And it turns out that this isn't the last word on the subject.

In multiple interviews over about a week, Sandra Fernandez, a spokeswoman for the Houston Public Library and Nicole Robinson, the initiative's project director, told me several times that residential access was not part of the plan.

Robinson said the network would likely "pop up" in the neighborhood on a laptop or home computer, as wireless networks do in coffee shops and bookstores, but a user in that scenario would not be able to connect because it would have "secure access," or would be password-protected.

Those who concluded that the network would be available to nearby residents on their laptops or in their homes may have done so because of a "misconception initially," she said, later adding:

"The city definitely doesn't want to become an Internet service provider."

That was one of the main reasons we decided to write an update, since our original story in March indicated that residents in the neighborhoods would be able to connect. It was also an impression shared by City Councilwoman Wanda Adams. Interestingly, a senior staffer for another City Council member who had been briefed by Robinson was under the same impression: that the service would not be available to residents.

This afternoon, about 3:30 p.m., Michael Moore, Mayor Bill White's chief of staff, told me that other city employees in the information technology department have been working separately to ensure that residents can use the WiFi.

So does that mean it won't be password protected, or that the password will be given out to residents who ask for it, or something else? Maybe we need another update. More here.

11/13/08 | permalink | comments [0]

Bye-bye, AGDs

City Council has followed through on its plan to ban so-called Attention Getting Devices, or AGDs.

The ban will not go into effect until January 2010. But scenic advocates cheered the decision, saying the prohibition is a necessary step to clean up Houston's blighted highways and cluttered streetscapes.

[...]

Council voted 9-2 to ban the devices. Councilwomen Anne Clutterbuck and Pam Holm voted against.

Holm said she did not want to tell small businesses what type of advertising media they could use: "As an elected person it's not up to me to establish the business plans."

Clutterbuck expressed concern about the ban's exception for non-commercial and holiday displays."

Deciding whether an inflatable Santa Claus is a celebratory holiday use or a commercial use to promote sales is going to confuse the sign inspectors, Clutterbuck said.

"I worry about the enforceability and constitutionality of incorporating this into our law," she said.

I think CM Clutterbuck raises a good point, though I presume the City Attorney has given an opinion on the constitutionality matter. As I said before, I'm ambivalent about this. I guess I just don't think it's that big a deal one way or the other. We'll see if someone kicks up a fuss about it.

UPDATE: I suppose this would be the end of Al Harrington's wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube men emporium.

11/12/08 | permalink | comments [3]

RIP, Mac the elephant

Very sad.

Mac, a mischievous, young Asian elephant who had become one of the Houston Zoo's most popular animals, became ill and died Sunday. He was 2.

He entertained visitors with his ability to dance, produce music on wind pipes and stand on his head.

Many zoo staff members, won over by his intelligence, playfulness and occasional headstrong ways, were devastated by the death of the 2,200-pounds-and-still growing animal.

"Everyone shares in the grief. Mac was embraced by the community in the past two years. It was sudden. It was quick, and we just couldn't save him," said zoo director Rick Barongi, who choked up with tears and stepped away from the microphone during a press conference Monday.

Ah, man, that sucks. So, um, any advice on how to discuss this with a 4-year-old when she asks where Mac is the next time we're at the zoo? Thanks.

After composing himself, Barongi returned to the microphone and said a cure or vaccine will be found only if veterinarians devote themselves to finding one.

Among the zoo's remaining elephants is 3-year-old Tucker, who was Mac's playmate. But the herd may be growing.

"Shanti's in the early stage of pregnancy," Barongi said.

Let's hope for the best on all counts.

11/12/08 | permalink | comments [2]

Houston versus the AGDs

Last month, I mentioned that City Council was looking at extending the billboard ban to include so-called Attention-Getting Devices, or AGDs. These are your giant inflatable gorillas and whatnot that businesses display to lure in customers. City Council may take action on this proposal this week.

If approved, the ban also would prohibit flashy and motion-driven devices, such as dancing wind puppets, spinning pinwheels, pennants, streamers and strobe and spotlights.

"I call them attention-distracting devices," said Jeff Ross of the city's planning commission. Ross said getting rid of them will make Houston more competitive with other cities that have banned them, such as Dallas, Austin and St. Louis.

"They distract the eye, create potential safety obstacles, obscure permanent signage and create visual blight," said Tommy Friedlander, who chaired Mayor Bill White's On-Premise Sign Task Force.

Used-car dealers and the balloon advertisers are fighting the ban.

"Maybe some people think they're ugly, but that's a subjective opinion," said Lori Foster of Cypress-based Texas Boys Balloons. Foster called the inflatables an affordable form of advertising, especially for small businesses.

"We provide a real service," said Jim Purtee of Houston Balloons & Promotions. "They add character to the city. People like them, they like the seasonal part of it: Santas at Christmas, Uncle Sam during tax time, pumpkins for Halloween."

Purtee said his clients report sales increase 30 to 100 percent in the weeks after installing a giant balloon. "You can't ban balloons without banning car wraps, those planes flying over Houston with trailing banners or people standing on the corner in a clown costume," Purtee added.

[...]

The Houston Automobile Dealers Association, a group of new-car dealers, supports the ban. But the Houston Independent Automobile Dealers Association, which represents used-car dealers, opposes it. [...]

Also supporting the ban are numerous management districts, super neighborhood councils, real estate groups and Scenic Houston, which led the charge against billboards in Houston.

Officials said holiday displays and residential lawn decorations would be exempted from the ban. The prohibition would apply only to attention-getting devices used for commercial purposes.

That troubles Councilwoman Anne Clutterbuck. She asked how the city would distinguish between attention-getting devices and the holiday lights, bows and sparkly stars installed in Rice Village and the Galleria area.

"Both (are) used for commercial purposes," Clutterbuck said. "We deem those as tasteful and the others as tacky."

I sense a tag coming. As I said before, I'm ambivalent about this. I don't doubt that there's a benefit to advertising in this fashion for the businesses that do it, but that doesn't give them a right. I can certainly see where the neighborhood groups are coming from on this. I'd like to hear more debate on the subject. What do you think?

11/10/08 | permalink | comments [2]

The urban Costco

Matt Yglesias points to this story about putting a Costco store in an urban location, in this case downtown Vancouver, and the benefits of such a thing.

The new store is a feat of engineering and an unusual mix of uses. It is built in a hole bordered by GM Place, the Georgia viaduct and the escarpment on the eastern end of Vancouver's downtown. The 127,000-square-foot store, built by Concord Pacific, has two floors of parking below it, two floors of parking above it, and then, above that, another four towers of residential condos with 900 units. [...] To appeal to what is expected to be a slightly higher proportion of downtown shoppers, the store stocks a bigger variety of home-ready meals -- chicken parmigiana, prawns and pasta, souvlaki, lasagna, and the like -- electronics and leather goods, said Ross.

We now have a Costco in a basically urban area as well, the one that just opened in Greenway Plaza. It has some similarities to the Vancouver location, with an apartment complex adjacent to it, though it's clearly more suburban than urban in design, and where it it more urban there are some obstacles to a fuller use of that concept. But the Vancouver store's willingness to cater to a walk-in crowd gives me hope that ours will learn to take advantage of the Metro rail stop that will eventually be near it. At least we know that they're aware of the possibilities at a corporate level.

11/03/08 | permalink | comments [0]

Curbside recycling to start again

Yes!

Curbside recycling in Houston -- suspended since Hurricane Ike made landfall more than one month ago -- will resume next week, Houston's Solid Waste Department announced Monday.

Meanwhile, about 200 debris contractor teams will begin removing hazardous trees or limbs hanging over public right-of-ways.

As most solid waste employees had been diverted to the debris removal effort, the department was unable to begin collection of recyclables until next Monday, when households in the "B" week can put out their recyclables on regularly scheduled days. Households in the "A" week can do so starting Nov. 3.

To find out your collection day, go to www.houstonsolidwaste.org and click "Schedules For Trash Pickup."

That would mean Monday for us, as that would have been our regular date had Ike not struck. That's about when I'd have hoped this would resume. Kudos to the city for clearing all that debris as quickly as they did.

10/22/08 | permalink | comments [0]

Still no love for the Ashby highrise

Missed this earlier, but Swamplot's eagle eye was on the case.

The developers of the Ashby high-rise sent their plans back to the city of Houston just days before Hurricane Ike hit, and not long after the Public Works Department resumed operations, Buckhead Investment Partners were rejected for a seventh time.

Records show the plans were filed again Sept. 11, seven days after being returned. They were denied a remaining permit again Sept. 29.

In his comments, city engineer Mark Loethen said plans for a driveway permit contained no revisions and there was "no current justification" for restriping plans on Bissonnet Boulevard at Ashby Drive.

The controversial development at 1717 Bissonnet St. has cleared six of seven departmental reviews, but still lacks clearance from Public Works and Engineering's traffic section.

Here's the previous update. Given that the Ashby developers are unlikely to give up and go away, it seems there are two possible outcomes for this. One is that those developers eventually get mad and sue the city for stringing them along, and the other is that the city eventually approves their permit request. Which may lead to another lawsuit getting filed, but would still likely be the simpler option.

10/20/08 | permalink | comments [1]

Deadline looming for the hippie bohemian attorneys

Is the dream doomed?

The developers of the Sonoma project are up against it - specifically, up against a one-year deadline to accomplish a few specific tasks related to the Bolsover abandonment.

A condition, passed by the Houston City Council at the time of the sale, specified that some changes to the site of the high-end condo over retail project must be completed within one year.

"The work that has to be finished within 12 months of the effective date of the ordinance pertains to utility work and changing the appearance of the street," Public Works spokesman Alvin Wright said.

The sale of the 2400 block of Bolsover was approved Aug. 8, 2007, but was contingent on the receipt of two letter of credit, one -- for $55,315 -- to cover the work required within a year.

Because an extension to the line of credit was granted by the city, the deadline to complete the work was pushed back until the end of October, Wright said.

[...]

The alterations to the property that must be made by the end of the month, pending extensions, are:

The plugging and abandonment of the 8-inch water line within the street, and the relocation of the existing storm sewer inlets to Bolsover and Morningside.

The developer is "required to eliminate the appearance of the public street" at the intersections of Bolsover and both Kelvin and Morningside.

As if the project didn't have enough problems. So the obvious question is what happens if this deadline isn't met? Will City Council and Mayor White aggressively pursue getting their street back? Or will they grant an extension, perhaps contingent on some condition like modifications to the construction schedule and/or a financial penalty?

I posed that question to Council Member Anne Clutterbuck's office, since Sonoma is in her district. They told me that they were researching this and would get back to me. I will post an update when that happens.