Category Archives: Elsewhere in Houston

Meet the woman in charge of prepping Houston for Super Bowl LI

Posted on February 9, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

The countdown is on, and the spotlight is already ours. When Sallie Sargent applied to take charge of Houston’s preparations for next year’s Super Bowl, she faced a rather daunting audition: find 11 major sponsors to finish a $25 million … Continue reading →

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Exxon Mobil fighting its tax bill

Posted on February 1, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Of course they are. Exxon Mobil is fighting the Harris County Appraisal District over the $1.04 billion value placed on its sprawling new office complex in Spring, just south of The Woodlands. The oil giant, which has been guarded about … Continue reading →

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Under the Dome

Posted on January 28, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

The latest plan to save the Dome takes a step forward. Harris County Commissioners Court moved forward on Tuesday with one piece of the Astrodome revival that needs to happen whether or not the park plan is achieved, according to … Continue reading →

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“Bad, but not awful”

Posted on January 13, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Your Houston economy, folks. As Houston enters the second year of the worst oil downturn in decades, its once-booming economy has sputtered, and the strain finally is starting to show. Houston could flirt with recession in 2016 as the oil … Continue reading →

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RIP, Yale Street post office

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

It’s gone. Clues could have been the overgrown landscaping, multiple notices taped to the doors and, for the keenest observer, the bare pole without a U.S. flag or clanging metal cables. Headed back to his SUV on Thursday, one man … Continue reading →

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Uptown living

Posted on November 7, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a thing that is happening. Home to the city’s glittering epicenter of retail, with a dramatic skyline dominated by the towering Williams Tower and other office buildings, Uptown Houston is best known for the places where people work and … Continue reading →

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More on MUDs

Posted on November 3, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron covers this topic. A few months ago, a cabinet maker and his wife were recruited to move into a manufactured home parked on a dirt road that was plowed into the woods on the west side of Conroe … Continue reading →

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Landfilling

Posted on October 31, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Really interesting story about a place most of us would not think to visit. The open face of the Atascocita landfill in Humble slopes downward, where trucks unload the cast-off scraps of daily life. Bulldozers spread the debris to a … Continue reading →

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TCEQ rejects application for Hempstead landfill

Posted on October 11, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Back to the drawing board. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality this week returned a company’s application to construct a landfill in Waller County, calling the application “deficient.” It was the latest blow to plans for the highly controversial project … Continue reading →

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We’re (about to be) Number 3!

Posted on September 21, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

In population. By the year 2025. Suck it, Chicago! Hidden in the haze of the petrochemical plants and beyond the seemingly endless traffic jams, a Texas city has grown so large that it is poised to pass Chicago as the … Continue reading →

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The MetroLab Network

Posted on September 19, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox. Rice University and the city of Houston will join forces with 20 other cities and 25 other universities from across the country to create MetroLab Network, a network of universities and city governments charged with collaborating on … Continue reading →

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Bayou trails update

Posted on September 6, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Coming along nicely. Houston’s Bayou Greenways 2020 initiative will build 150 miles of hike and bike trails along the city’s nine waterways, a $220 million effort that Mayor Annise Parker says is “one of the most exciting things I’ve had … Continue reading →

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Who needs wetlands?

Posted on September 5, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Development is all that matters, right? More than 38,000 acres of wetlands vanished in greater Houston over the past two decades despite a federal policy that “no net loss” can be caused by encroaching development. That’s an area about the … Continue reading →

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More good news for Hempstead landfill opponents

Posted on September 4, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

This could be the end of the line for the proposed landfill. Opponents of a proposed landfill in Waller County won another victory in a years-long legal fight to prevent the project. The executive director of the Texas Commission on … Continue reading →

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Hempstead landfill clarification

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

I recently blogged about an update to the Hempstead landfill story, in which Green Group Holdings asked to amend its original filings regarding groundwater levels. I received an email on Monday from a Green Group representative, who sent me the … Continue reading →

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Connecting trails

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Always good to see. The Houston Parks and Recreation Department and Houston Parks Board recently celebrated the completion of the White Oak Bayou Path, the first in a series of projects creating a more connected system of hike-and-bike trails in … Continue reading →

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Is this the plan that will save the Dome?

Posted on July 30, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Maybe. A few months ago Ed Emmett had a breakthrough moment about how to save the Astrodome, a goal he’s been chipping away at for the better part of eight years. The Harris County judge was driving out of the … Continue reading →

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Revisiting the historic preservation ordinance

Posted on July 26, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

This sort of thing is always fun. Houstonians who live in historic districts, including the Old Sixth Ward, the Heights and the High First Ward, weighed in this week on proposed updates to the city’s rules that create areas preserved … Continue reading →

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To the moon with David Adickes

Posted on July 26, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Awesome. Before David Adickes walked out his door to get to a news conference Wednesday, he decided to paint a 12-13 inch model of an Apollo astronaut perched on a roughly 5-inch base that he was holding. The 88-year-old artist … Continue reading →

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Downtown post office has a buyer

Posted on July 11, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Redevelopment, here we come. Lovett Commercial, a Houston-based developer of neighborhood shopping centers and urban redevelopments, is under contract to buy the downtown post office property and potentially turn it into an urban complex of shops, offices, housing and perhaps … Continue reading →

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Take the mosquito threat seriously

Posted on June 13, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

If mosquitoes weren’t one of the Biblical plagues visited on Egypt, they should have been. You’ve probably heard of the potentially deadly West Nile virus, but this summer, people in the Houston area could begin to be at more risk … Continue reading →

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Time to stock up on mosquito repellent

Posted on June 4, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

I feel itchy already. It is on, mosquitoes. This sopping spring guarantees Houstonians will have to be more vigilant against the pests than ever. The mosquito kills about 1 million humans a year, chiefly from malaria, making it by far … Continue reading →

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Montgomery and Fort Bend

Posted on May 19, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The Houston Area Survey covered a bigger area than usual this year. One is mostly white and mostly Republican. It hasn’t backed a Democratic presidential candidate since native Texan Lyndon Johnson a half-century ago. The other is as racially and … Continue reading →

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Downtown post office set to close

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The end of an era approaches. Thousands gathered at 401 Franklin Street in downtown Houston to celebrate the opening of a new facility trumpeted as an “ultra-modern” marvel, the hub for the mail that would flow in and out of … Continue reading →

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The Euro-Dome

Posted on May 9, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

What can the Germans teach us about saving the Astrodome? For years, Ed Emmett has been trying to figure out what to do with the Astrodome, one of the world’s grandest and wackiest-looking civic arenas. This week, he is on … Continue reading →

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Changing pothole procedures

Posted on May 2, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Mayor Parker seeks to reduce the number of campaign issues for this fall by half. City officials are hoping to replace more concrete segments of streets in lieu of simply patching over Houston’s many potholes, part of an emergency response … Continue reading →

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Pierce Skypark

Posted on April 29, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

How’s this for a big idea? “Imagine something big,” says John Cryer, an architect at Page Southerland Page. “Really big.” He’s talking about the Pierce Elevated Freeway, the raised stretch of I-45 that hooks around the west side of downtown … Continue reading →

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Fixing sidewalks

Posted on April 20, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

I like this. Houston’s leaders often decry the condition of city sidewalks, whether missing, overgrown or buckled by tree roots. Then there’s the safety risks when pedestrians are forced to walk on the crumbling concrete or adjacent streets. But the … Continue reading →

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The Dome at 50

Posted on April 6, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

We still don’t know what to do with it. The late Judge Roy Hofheinz was a raconteur with a 57-inch waist and affinity for cigars and Diet Dr Pepper with Jack Daniels, a larger-than-life man who hatched the idea of … Continue reading →

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What kind of Memorial Park do you want?

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Council is set to vote on the Memorial Park Conservancy plan, whether you like it or not. Joe Turner does not want more drawings gathering dust on a shelf. Houston’s parks and recreation director inherited more than a few unrealized … Continue reading →

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Beautifying Broadway

Posted on March 27, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Sounds like a good idea to me. Broadway between Hobby Airport and Interstate 45 may offer a first impression of Houston to first-time visitors, but not the one many civic boosters would like. The 2 miles along the main road … Continue reading →

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ULI releases its Astrodome plan

Posted on March 25, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Feast your eyes on what the Urban Land Institute has in mind for the Astrodome. A final assessment by a group focused on sparing the Astrodome from the wrecking ball sets the price tag of reusing the iconic stadium at … Continue reading →

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De-industrialization update

Posted on March 21, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The transformation of the Montrose/Heights border area will soon be complete. After 100 years on Washington Avenue, the Detering Co. has sold all of its prime near-downtown property and relocated to north Houston. The Houston-based building materials supply company had … Continue reading →

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Reimagining Richmond Avenue

Posted on March 1, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Remember the Richmond Strip? If you were here in the 90s you probably do. You also probably haven’t been out there since the 90s. Now there’s a plan to restore some of the luster to that part of town. It … Continue reading →

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