Category Archives: Elsewhere in Houston

It’s little more than a symbolic gesture, but at least we have it. The committee that advises Houston City Council on historic preservation unanimously approved a letter to Weingarten Realty on Thursday, urging the company not to raze the Landmark … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Yet another step forward for the Astrodome Hotel plan. Commissioners Court unanimously gave the go-ahead to a private firm’s plan to spend $450 million reinventing the mostly dormant, county-owned Astrodome into a convention hotel. […] With its vote, the court … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Houston’s new downtown park needs a name. You can help. “We want Houstonians to feel like it is their park,” said Guy Hagstette, director of the Houston Downtown Park Conservancy, which is overseeing development of the $81 million, 12-acre park … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Via Houstonist, this blurb from the Wall Street Journal is nothing but bad news for Houston preservationists. David Deason, vice president for development at Barnes & Noble, said the New York-based company intends to close the Bookstop in favor of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I love stories about demographics. I’m just a numbers geek (as if you couldn’t tell), so anything with data in it fascinates me. This is from the American Community Survey. Texas’ high school graduation rate, 79 percent, was ahead only … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Interesting article about the Rice Village and its existential future as more retail development encroaches on the area. After decades of being an exception to the retail rule in Houston, the casual small-town-like Rice Village is facing major redevelopment. That … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’ve expended a lot of electronic ink lately on the plight of the River Oaks Theater, but as today’s Chron reminds us, it’s not the only historic building that’s currently being threatened by the bulldozer. Whole Earth Provision Co. has … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Houstonist is staying on top of the River Oaks Theater situation, with another update about response to the reports that the historic theater may soon face an ignominious demise. Supporters of the theater took their case to a mostly sympathetic … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Via Houstonist, the effort to keep the River Oaks Theater from being demolished has gotten a lot of traction. In less than a week, an online petition sponsored by the Web site Houstonist.com has attracted more than 13,700 signers. At … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Anybody else catch the style section cover story from yesterday called Twenty Cool Things About Houston? We asked eight trendsetters — all cool themselves — to list special things about Houston that never go out of style no matter the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

To put it bluntly, this would suck. Three Houston landmarks, including the Landmark River Oaks Theatre and the Bookstop in the former Alabama Theater, have been declared endangered by the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance. The alliance has learned, spokesman David … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Dome Hotel gets one step closer to reality. Entrepreneurs seeking to turn the Reliant Astrodome into an upscale convention hotel hope to secure financing in six months and begin work on gutting and remaking the legendary Houston venue next … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Another step in the Astrodome Hotel saga, as the developers are asking for a new exit ramp from Loop 610 to their location, in order to avoid Reliant/rodeo traffic. Astrodome Redevelopment Corp., a consortium proposing the development, favors building a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Congratulations to Jim Henley and his four-time national champion debate squad! Lanier Middle School debate coach Jim Henley isn’t surprised with his team winning its fourth successive national title at the Middle School Forensic League National Championships July 1-2 at … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Via Greg, a fellow named Rob Bell will be in town on Wednesday night for an interesting performance. Mr. Bell, 35, is the pastor and founder of Mars Hill Bible Church, an independent evangelical congregation in Grandville, Mich., outside Grand … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Interesting article on what does and does not attract people to move to Houston. As college graduates young enough to be open to new experiences in new places, they are part of a group that’s being aggressively courted by employers … Continue reading → Continue reading →

First Astroworld, now, well, see for yourself. Theme park owner Six Flags said it could sell or even close six of its 30 properties across North America, although the company’s flagship operation in Arlington was not on the list. […] … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I know y’all don’t come here for weather reports, but I’ve got to say “Enough already!” Houston escaped the heaviest rains overnight, but forecasters warned this morning that the ingredients for violent thunderstorms remained in the area. Shortly before 5 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Following up on the earlier report about the air quality situation in Houston, City Council Member Carol Alvarado, a native of the most-affected area, writes an op-ed in the Chron that gives a call to action. The state Legislature meets … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Hey, we may have found a use for the Astrodome: The world’s largest indoor amusement park is coming to the Astrodome next week. With Astroworld gone the Astrodome is picking up the slack for summer fun. […] Jerry Murphy says … Continue reading → Continue reading →

From yesterday’s Chron, some action on the clean-air front. Concentrations of a dozen air pollutants in the Houston area pose significant risks to public health, and nowhere is the risk greater than in east Harris County, along the Ship Channel, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Jeez, has it really been five years since Tropical Storm Allison flooded the hell out of Houston? Tiffany and I were actually out of town the weekend that it happened – the worst flooding occured overnight on a Friday. We … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I just spotted this story about some new retail development in Montrose. It’s exactly two blocks away from where I lived for nearly four years back in the 90s, so I’m interested in it. To take advantage of the growth … Continue reading → Continue reading →

There is a fundraiser tonight for the family of the 17-year-old high school student from Spring who was viciously assaulted last month (see here, here, and here if you need a reminder of the details of the attack). His family … Continue reading → Continue reading →

From the weekend, we had this story about the real estate investors who bought the land that Astroworld once inhabited. The biographical stuff doesn’t interest me that much, I was looking for clues about what’s next for that property. Alas, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

According to a Mapquest survey, Houston is tough to navigate. Houston’s grid is jumbled and inconsistent. In the Heights, streets are numbered, but without reason numbers turn to letters. In downtown, street names change without clear definition. Gray and Alabama … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Mayor White had his chat about the city’s WiFi plans last night. Mayor White, who is in no danger of setting speed records, nonetheless gamely manned the laptop and personally answered dozens of questions from some of the 650 people … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Tonight’s the night to chat with Mayor White about the citywide WiFi initiative. Go to HighTechTexan.com and create a user ID if you want to be able to ask a question. One point you can discuss, which Tory brings up … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I got to participate last night in a conference call with Mayor White and the city’s Director of Information Technology Richard Lewis to talk about the upcoming WiFi rollout (see Dwight and Michael Garfield for a preview). The call was … Continue reading → Continue reading →

At the risk of making my Austin readers giggle, this article about Houston businesses that remind people of Austin is a good read. Mostly, I like it because it gives some love to our neighborhood hangout the Onion Creek bar … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Here’s a story from earlier this week that I didn’t have a chance to get to: Residents of the Sunset Heights expressed their displeasure to Mayor White over the process to request minimum lot sizes. [I]t wasn’t until three concrete … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Seventy-seven million dollars for the land that the former Astroworld once sat on. Not a bad price for Six Flags, that’s for sure. The story says that Six Flags has not announced who the buyer is, so we don’t have … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Wow. Has it really been almost four years since Houston’s Olympic-hosting hopes were last dashed? Time does fly. Well fear not, it’s time to try and impress the USOC again. USOC chairman Peter Ueberroth will lead a four-member group today … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Interesting article from Sunday about a part of town I don’t get out to all that often. Westchase began developing in the early 1970s on land still grazed by cattle. Today, 25,000 people live in the district, and more than … Continue reading → Continue reading →