Off the Kuff: Elsewhere in Houston Archives

Glass recycling

Interesting story about recycling glass bottles from restaurants.

[Mark] Austin, 54, is the founder of We CAN Recycle, a Houston nonprofit that picks up empty bottles from local businesses and drops them at a glass recycling plant on the South Loop, where they're sold to Longhorn Glass Corp. and melted to make bottles for Anheuser-Busch. A self-proclaimed old hippie, Austin loves the idea that pricey bottles of wine from Italy and France are transformed into frosty longnecks sweating on Houston bars.

"There's just a huge need for recycled glass in this town," he says.

[...]

t's a smelly, dirty job, but he knows there's a need for his service.

The city of Houston's curbside recycling program doesn't pick up glass, though residents can bring glass empties to neighborhood dropoff sites and depositories.

Waste Management will pick up glass from restaurants in roll-off containers, but customers typically have to pay a processing fee and a hauling charge.

Austin's rates are reasonable. The most he charges to cart away bottles is $150 a month, and clients get tax credits for donating the glass.

I blogged about restaurants and recycling last year. I'm glad to see that Austin has as much business as he does, because the Houston Press cover story on which that post was based sure gave the impression that most eateries were unlikely to bother. I still think that it would make a lot of sense for the city to provide some kind of financial incentive for restaurants and other businesses to recycle, and I hope that as we continue to take steps to increase Houston's participation in recycling programs that something like that gets a closer look.

06/01/09 | permalink | comments [0]

Gallery fire ruled arson

Wow.

The massive fire last week that destroyed the warehouse at Gallery Furniture's main location on the North Freeway was intentionally set, an official said today.

Rob Elder, assistant special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms office in Houston, said the agency determined the fire was arson because all possible accidental causes had been ruled out, including a faulty generator that was initially suspected.

"Someone out there knows what happened that night, and we're going to find them," Elder said in a news conference today. No one has been ruled out as a suspect, said Elder, who declined to reveal details as to how investigators think the blaze began.

I did not see that coming. I hope they figure it all out.

05/28/09 | permalink | comments [0]

Terra Cotta Warriors

I got a chance to get a sneak peek of the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit at HMNS last week, and it was awesome. I confess, I knew nothing about this beforehand; Tiffany, who has a vivid childhood memory of a National Geographic edition from around the time of their discovery, was much more familiar with them and was greatly excited about getting to see them. I came away very impressed, both with the exhibit itself, which was really well done, and with the idea of this imperial afterlife army, and the sheer amount of manpower it took to create. Amazing how much of what we can still experience from ancient history is a testament to ego and megalomania, isn't it - pyramids, coliseums, etc - isn't it? Anyway, if you're like me and are wondering what the fuss is about, go here and get an idea, then buy some tickets and see for yourself. If you already know about them, well, just go buy the tickets. It's totally worth it.

05/27/09 | permalink | comments [0]

Gallery Furniture fire

Like most people in Houston, I was shocked and saddened to hear about this.

As flames ripped through one of Houston's most notable retail icons Thursday night, Gallery Furniture founder Jim McIngvale vowed to rebuild.

But McIngvale, who earned fame with his colorful commercials and self-imposed moniker of Mattress Mack, acknowledged "millions and millions" in dollars of merchandise had been damaged in his flagship store's warehouse.

To his employees he promised, "We won't quit."

This morning he was at his other location at 2411 Post Oak Blvd., which opened earlier this year, preparing to start selling furniture again. True to form, shortly after dawn he was filming a commercial to remind customers of the new Galleria-area location.

McIngvale said it wasn't clear when he could get back into the original location, much less reopen it. In the meantime, he said the store is scouting locations for warehouse space to house several truckloads of furniture on its way.

Mack and Gallery Furniture are Houston icons, and if anyone can come back from this, they can. My best wishes to them as they rebuild.

05/22/09 | permalink | comments [1]

Travis Elementary closes for a week

Travis Elementary is our neighborhood school, where Olivia will be in the fall for kindergarten. They've had a lot of kids absent this week, enough to close the school through Memorial Day.

The number of Travis Elementary School students diagnosed with swine flu has jumped to 12, likely the largest cluster of the new influenza virus in Texas, health officials said today. The school will be closed until May 26, HISD officials said.

Nearly 400 of the Heights-area school's 712 students stayed home sick today, and a steady stream of parents were removing their children from school throughout the day.

[...]

It's not known how many children are sick and how many are being kept at home as a precaution. Some youngsters have had symptoms including fevers, headaches and stomachaches.

That's a change from earlier today when they thought they'd keep the school open while encouraging parents to keep sick kids home till they're fever-free for 24 hours, and washing everything in sight. I have a feeling some of my neighbors are going to be scrambling for child care arrangements next week.

05/15/09 | permalink | comments [1]

Post-mortem on UH-Downtown name change

It's safe to say that UH-Downtown will remain UH-Downtown for at least two more years, since there's no time to get a name change bill through the Lege at this point. The Chron takes a look at how the attempt to change it this year went down the tubes.

One possibility, Houston Metropolitan University, was rejected by faculty as too cheesy. Another, University of South Texas, prompted a letter warning of possible trademark infringement from South Texas College of Law President James Alfini.

Now, it's back to the drawing board. The school is soliciting proposals from companies to suggest new names.

Maybe that will have a better outcome. It seems clear to me that a lack of trust about the process, as well as a belief that UH-D doesn't get the respect it deserves from the rest of the UH system were the main factors. If this is going to be pursued further, a process that involves students, faculty, and alumni will be essential to getting any kind of buy-in. I don't know if they need to do this or not, but they do need to get everyone on the same page.

05/09/09 | permalink | comments [0]

"Houston Have Your Say" on the economy

Tune in to KUHT (Houston PBS channel 8) tonight at 7 PM for another edition of Houston Have Your Say. Tonight's topic is the economy, about which I think we can all agree there is much to be said. Ree-C and I will be behind the scenes as usual, posting our observations about the proceedings as well as the occasional 80s TV reference to the Houston Have Your Say blog. Tune in, call in, leave comments - you know the drill. See you tonight!

05/07/09 | permalink | comments [0]

Build it here, flood it there

We can argue and debate all we want about where development should occur, and what responsibilities developers and governments have to protect flood plains and abate flooding and whatnot, but at the end of the day there's a simple truth that needs to be reckoned with.

Flooding of streets and homes probably is unavoidable when rains are as intense as they were last week, said John Jacob, director of Texas A&M University's coastal watershed program.

On the other hand, Jacob said, "The more you pave over stuff, the more flooding we're going to get."

One hopes that, at least, is uncontroversial. What we plan to do about it, that's where the action is.

05/03/09 | permalink | comments [3]

The Freeland Historic district

I drive down White Oak every day to take the girls to preschool, so I've been going past a bunch of houses that have signs with "save our bungalow" messages on them, but I wasn't sure what all the fuss was about. Now I know.

Jack Preston Wood isn't sure now if his dream home is compatible with the property he made an offer on last year near the Houston Heights.

What Wood didn't know when he entered a contract to buy the 1929 bungalow at 536 Granberry was that it is located in the recently designated Freeland Historic District.

The small neighborhood off White Oak Drive was platted by some of the developers of what is now the Heights Historic District. But what makes it unique in the city of Houston is that Freeland's original bungalow-style homes are virtually intact; only two of the original 37 have been lost.

Residents in the neighborhood are fighting to keep it that way. When word got out that Wood, a residential designer, wanted to tear down the bungalow, subdivide the lot and build two, four-story homes, neighbors organized a campaign to stop it.

The group spoke against the plans when they reached the Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission in March, put out "save our district" signs and have since staged weekly protests at the corner of Granberry and White Oak Drive.

Even though city laws won't stop the redevelopment, Wood said there's no way he'll go through with those plans after speaking with some of the neighbors. But if they aren't amenable to something different, something he would consider compatible with the existing homes, then he may pull out of the deal altogether.

"If we can't find a way to get our dream to fit in there, then we won't close," Wood said.

Which, judging by the comments at Hair Balls and Swamplot, would clearly suit the remaining residents just fine. I just want to add a couple of points to the discussion.

One, in all of these homeowners-versus-developers stories, there are always a few people who advocate the position that folks like Jack Preston Wood should be free to do whatever they want with their property. The point I would make is that even in no-zoning Houston, we do have limits. It would be illegal for him to build, say, a strip club or a chemical plant there. Plenty of commercial projects get blocked or need to be drastically altered because of numerous regulations covering such mundane things as the number of available parking spaces. It's residential development that's far looser, and that's where these battles often erupt. I don't think it's unreasonable for people to believe there ought to be more restrictions on residential development, in a similar fashion to commercial development.

Second, the character of a neighborhood like the Freeland District has value to its residents. By tearing down a house that fits in with the neighborhood and replacing it with something completely different, some of that value is lost to the other residents. Again, those who would defend the developers in these scenarios often talk about their right to maximize the value of their properties. But how do you compensate those who believe their own values get diminished by that?

Finally, the Freeland Historic District (PDF) abuts the site of the long-controversial Viewpoint development - Granberry, and Frasier one block to its west, both terminate at the north end of the land where Viewpoint would be built, if it ever is. As such, I can't really blame the folks who live there if they feel like they're under siege.

04/21/09 | permalink | comments [2]

The new Hermann Park train

All aboard!

Hermann Park Conservancy on Saturday will formally unveil $14 million in park improvements, including a new miniature train station, dramatically landscaped grounds and a lakeside plaza featuring a restaurant, gift shop and restrooms.

Among other project highlights for the 6-acre tract adjoining the northeastern edge of McGovern Lake, said conservancy executive director Doreen Stoller, were the planting of 300 trees and improvement of a waterway that will drain to Brays Bayou.

Stoller likened the transformation of the area, which abuts parking for the Houston Zoo, to that at downtown's Discovery Green.

"This is even prettier than I imagined," she said.

The station will serve as the focal point of the expanded miniature railroad, whose route was lengthened to nearly two miles and now includes stops at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Texas Medical Center and a transfer point to Metro's light rail system.

We go to the zoo a lot, so we've been watching this progress. I can't wait to take the girls on the new train - they'll love it. I just hope yesterday's inclement weather didn't put a damper on the festivities.