16 December 2005
Cabo, Schlotzky's plan to expand in Houston
The Houston Business Journal's Allison Wollam reports that Cabo and Schlotzky's are both planning to expand in Houston after several years of contraction forced by bankruptcy:
A pair of restaurant chains have rebounded from bankruptcy and have opened or plan to open their first eateries in the Houston area since regaining their financial footing earlier this year.
Houston-based Cabo Restaurants LP, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2004, will open a new location in the Royal Oaks area this spring and also has plans on the drawing board for additional restaurants in Pearland and Katy.
And Austin-based Schlotzsky's Ltd., which filed for Chapter 11 in August 2004 and closed several area units in the process, anticipates opening a total of seven to eight new restaurants here in 2006. The first Schlotzsky's to open following a post-bankruptcy store shuttering effort began serving up the company's signature sandwiches in northwest Houston on Nov. 28.
For Cabo, the Richmond strip store was apparently quite a financial drag:
Roberson opened the Richmond unit at 6025 Richmond Ave. in 2001 in space formerly occupied by Billy Blues Bar & Grill. That Cabo closed in early 2004 because Roberson says it became a nightclub, not the restaurant it was designed to be, and was hurting the Cabo brand.
The Shepherd Plaza location, once a hot spot among the city's night crowd, had outlasted some of the center's trendiest restaurants, nightclubs and bars when it closed in 2001.
"We're going to take our time and be careful this time," Roberson says of the new expansion effort. "We have a good opportunity to rebrand ourselves as more of a traditional restaurant concept, which will help us as we move into the suburbs."
Ditching the popular Shepherd Plaza location in favor of a location on the changing Richmond strip was a bad blunder.
Schlotzky's seems to have improved its financial footing and rededicated itself to its core sandwich business:
Fort Worth-based Bobby Cox Cos. Inc. paid $28.5 million for Schlotzsky's in early December 2004, taking the company private.
Bobby Cox owns five Texas Burger restaurants in West Texas, 15 Taco Villas in North and West Texas as well as New Mexico, and 19 Rosa's Cafe restaurants in North and West Texas and California.
With strong backing and stable footing, [spokesman Debbie] Gardner says, the company is back on track.
"We are definitely in the midst of a re-growth period," she says. "We are anticipating steady growth in the Houston area. Houston has always been a good market for us."
[snip]
Chris Tripoli, owner of A La Carte Foodservice Consulting, says Schlotzsky's is making a smart first step by re-establishing itself in a "safe haven" market where it already has a strong customer base.
He believes Schlotzsky's should spend more time and energy on its core product rather than expanding the menu and the square footage of restaurants and confusing diners.
"They expanded their menu and their buildings before, but they weren't able to capture a larger customer base to support that growth," he says. "I think they now have a better understanding of their concept and what works for them."
The huge store on Kirby always confused me. It's almost as if the sandwich shop wanted to be more of a Whole Foods or Central Market cafe, but everyone still thought of it as a slightly nicer Subway.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/16/05 09:50 PM |
15 December 2005
Earthquakes are coming -- and they expect their own stadium
via John Wagner and Laurence Simon, I see that the San Jose Earthquakes have decided to come to Hurricane country:
The San Jose Earthquakes will relocate immediately to Houston, Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber said Thursday.
Garber said the team's owners, Anschutz Entertainment Group, were attracted by the chance to play in their own stadium and for an ethnically diverse population willing to support a professional soccer team.
"We've always believed that the city has great potential to be a soccer market," Garber said. "We're excited about what our opportunities are there."
Uh oh. Their own stadium. How much did Mayor White and Oliver Luck promise? How long will it take our local media to find out?
For now, the team will play at UH's Robertson Stadium.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/15/05 08:31 PM |
14 December 2005
Metro sponsors anti-crime rally
Here's a Metro press release on an anti-crime rally it held yesterday (although the release wasn't posted yesterday morning when I checked Metro's site):
This summer, with crime encroaching on the Southeast Transit Center, METRO police instituted a campaign to reduce illegal activity around the facility by increasing patrols and removing graffiti. The campaign worked, with the number of arrests for some offenses nearly tripling from September to October.
This afternoon, METRO is inviting the local community to join local government and law enforcement officials, to celebrate this success and encourage ongoing neighborhood participation in the program.
The rally will be held at 4 p.m. at the Southeast Transit Center, 6000 Scottcrest, near Scott and Old Spanish Trail.
Minister Robert Muhammad of The Nation of Islam, Precinct 7 Constable Mae Walker, HPD Captain Mark Fougerousse and Crime Stoppers Executive Director Kim Ogg will also discuss the importance of citizen involvement in crime prevention. Brochures on local crime prevention programs will be available.
Increasing police patrols and removing graffiti works? Someone tell MayorWhiteChiefHurtt!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/14/05 10:16 AM |
12 December 2005
Nothing says world-class like parking garages and eau de urine
Here's Rad Sallee's take on last Friday's downtown party to mark the end of street construction. He included comments from some unimpressed local business owners:
A block away at Main and Walker, Mahmoud Harmouche says his Metro Restaurant, opened in 1997, is barely hanging on. Harmouche said he has cut employees and hours since the street work and light rail project began.
"We're a blue-collar restaurant, not a high-dollar restaurant," he said. "People changing buses would stop and get dinner or breakfast. They don't do that anymore."
Now, Harmouche said, homeless people and drug dealers loiter outside and the bus riders who used to wait there to transfer are mostly gone.
On the upscale end, chef Arturo Boada blames the construction for the closing of his restaurants Solero, on Prairie near Main, and Century Diner, at Main and Texas.
On the other hand, Central Houston President Bob Eury sees parking garages as beacons of hope:
"I have to be pretty excited with what I see out there," he said, speaking of a new restaurant, two new parking garages and the Foley's department store, soon to be Macy's, all in sight of the Main Street Square fountain.
"I like the direction we're going. I like the push."
All with the pleasing aroma of urine.
UPDATE: The Chronicle has a related One Question One Answer on its Opinion page:
John Galvan
Wheeler Watch Clinic, family-owned business on Main StreetQ: Two years after the start of the light rail line, do you think it has helped revitalize Main Street?
A: There have only been two new businesses that have opened after the rail launched two years ago. It’s too hard for customers to navigate the streets now. ... They should have elevated it, but I know that would have cost more money.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/12/05 05:55 AM |
07 December 2005
Downtown streets are passable -- time for a party!
If you aren't doing anything else this Friday, you can celebrate the end of downtown's torn up streets:
The City of Houston, Metro and the Downtown District wish to thank the community for its support as we celebrate the completion of the Downtown Midtown Transit Streets Project.
Friday, December 9, 2005
11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Main Street SquareEnjoy fun, festivities, live music, a visit from Santa Claus and special surprise guests! Plus, register to win a holiday prize package to be drawn during the Mayor's Holiday Celebration, Saturday, Dec. 10 from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.
I am not making this up. It's from an ad in today's Chronicle on page A18. The sponsors of this event (listed at the bottom of the ad) are Metro, Foley's, Houston Chronicle, Downtown District, Houston Downtown Alliance and the City of Houston.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/07/05 04:12 PM |
06 December 2005
Lake Houston State Park to become Houston city park?
The city of Houston and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department are working on a plan for the state to hand over control of Lake Houston State Park to the city:
Lake Houston State Park is 30 miles north of Houston between New Caney and Splendora. About three fourths of its five thousand acres is unspoiled wilderness, and the rest is used for camping, hiking, biking, horseback riding, and nature study. State Parks regional director Jerry Hopkins says they want to give the park to Houston because the state doesn't have the money to develop it any further.
The proposal now under consideration would transfer ownership of the park at no cost to the City of Houston, which would become responsible for the park's maintenance and security. Hopkins says Houston has to agree to some guidelines in developing the park, or it would revert to the state.
Hopkins says the state wants assurances that Houston will keep the park as close to its natural condition as possible.
RELATED: Conroe Courier coverage
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/06/05 10:07 PM |
01 December 2005
Council considers broader panhandling measure
City Council is mulling Councilman Michael Berry's proposal to broaden panhandling restrictions on Houston roadways:
What began as a limited plan to ban younger children from soliciting charity money on Houston streets is now a broader discussion on City Council about reducing the numbers of window-washing, homeless panhandlers.
The council delayed a vote Wednesday on a narrowly tailored proposal that would have introduced new regulations for charitable solicitations, most notably banning minors younger than 16 and requiring adult supervision for older youths.
The panel delayed the vote a week after Councilman Michael Berry proposed changes that would prevent all minors from performing such solicitations — and would ban anyone from entering roadways or obstructing traffic to get money from motorists.
City employees — firefighters conducting "fill-the-boot" drives, for example — wouldn't be affected by the proposed regulations.
It's better than the original proposal, but would appear not to affect Chron vendors. Perhaps councilmembers are paying attention to what's happening in League City.
UPDATE: KPRC-2 has this story of creative panhandling.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/01/05 09:50 AM |
30 November 2005
Mayor comments on HPD's manpower problems
Nothing causes the White Administration to swing into action like negative reporting, and so several media reports on HPD's worsening manpower woes and four hours of criticism from Chris Baker yesterday in response to Chief Hurtt's "solution" to the problem was sure to provoke a rapid response. The mayor's communications team certainly had to be pleased with KPRC-2's coverage:
The Houston mayor's office fought back Wednesday against charges that a staffing shortage at the Houston Police Department has resulted in crime victims waiting hours for help.
The Houston Police Officer's Union said Tuesday that for lower-priority calls in October, some crime victims waited up to 12 hours and 39 minutes for an officer to arrive.
The mayor's office and the union agree that response times are good for Priority 1 calls, which are the highest-level calls for violent crimes in progress.
But they disagree over the response times for the lower-priority calls.
City leaders said they are also concerned over reports of slow police response times.
But Mayor Bill White referred to a report compiled by the FBI that ranked HPD as No. 1 with a response time of less than five minutes for Priority 1 calls.
"I think there's no crisis citywide, although there's some real problems in certain neighborhoods that we're having in crime," White said.
What was that we were saying about gaseous emissions from downtown pols just a few days ago?
Mayor White's proposal doesn't sound bad, at least for something that seemingly was crafted overnight:
The mayor proposed several changes that could put more Houston police on the street, including moving up cadet classes, and reassigning officers who work in low-crime areas to high-crime neighborhoods.
The mayor also proposed recruiting retired officers to help fill in the gaps. But that idea was shot down by the union.
"If it's merely a support position, then that doesn't give me too much heartburn. But I'm going to have to see details," said Hans Marticiuc, with the police union.
Marticiuc said the city should focus on hiring new officers instead of recruiting retirees.
"At some point, the city is going to have to face the fact that in order to provide the necessary public safety that I think everyone wants and needs, it's going to cost a little bit of money," he said.
All solutions need to be on the table, and city leaders should have been thinking about this problem years ago. Still, it's good that the local media and Mayor White are beginning to think about it more seriously now.
RELATED: HPD considers rehiring retirees to ease staff shortage (KHOU-11).
ARCHIVES: HPD's manpower shortage.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/30/05 09:55 PM |
29 November 2005
Houston ranks 53rd in "literacy" study
The Houston Business Journal reports that Houston didn't rank very highly in a study designed to measure overall literacy:
A national study has placed Houston 53rd out of a total of 69 cities in a ranking of "America's Most Literate Cities."
The study released by Central Connecticut State University develops a statistical profile of 69 cities with populations of 250,000 or more. This is the third year of the study, and introduces a new factor -- Internet literacy -- to measure the expansion of literacy to online media.
[snip]
Other Texas cities on the list include Austin (16), Dallas-Fort Worth (44), Arlington (57), San Antonio (64) and Corpus Christi (67).
[snip]
The 2005 edition of the study ranks cities based on six key indicators of literacy: Newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment and Internet resources.
Dallas-Fort Worth isn't really a "city" but I guess we can let that slide. Much like the variables in the "Fattest City" rankings measured something other than fat, the variables in this study may not be the best surrogate measures of "literacy."
Still, we post, you decide.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/29/05 09:53 PM |
Continuing the discussion of HPD's woes
Chris Baker (KTRH-740) is asking listeners, "How safe do you feel?," as he discusses the state of HPD and Houston crime. (Here's the link to Kevin's excellent post from last night.)
He also wonders why the city won't do anything about graffiti, another topic that bH has covered, since graffiti is symptomatic of gang activity, and gang activity breeds crime.
Also, Hans Marticiuc, president of the Houston Police Officers' Union, is publicly criticizing HPD Chief Hurtt:
Hans Marticiuc, President of the Houston Police Officers' Union, analyzed data from a sampling of police districts and charged that some citizens telephoning in emergency calls for, even the most violent of crimes, had to wait hours before an officer was even dispatched to help.
“And these calls ranged from burglaries, burglaries of motor vehicles, shootings, robberies, robberies with weapons, sexual assaults, assaults, disturbances,” Marticiuc said.
The police union president had harsh words for Chief Harold Hurtt, whom he implies is incapable of leading the city's police force.“If this is the best police chief in the country, then I think the country may be in trouble,” Marticiuc said.
According to Marticiuc, during a heated discussion with the police chief, there was some mention that Chief Hurtt might lose his job over the data.
Marticiuc forwarded his data to Houston City Council members who are expected to raise questions at Tuesday afternoon's City Council meeting.
Marticiuc said the city should immediately increase police presence by instituting and overtime program similar to the plan introduced in the 1990s by former Mayor Bob Lanier.
To date, the most lip service MayorWhiteChiefHurtt have given to HPD's manpower shortage is to say that the city's new red light cameras will free HPD officers from traffic duty.
So, as Chris Baker asks, are Mayor White and Chief Hurtt fufilling the oaths they took?
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: I heard an ad on KTRH that KTRK-13 will be running a story on HPD's manpower woes on the 6 pm broadcast.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS MORE: KHOU's Janice Williamson has a story tonight on MayorWhiteChiefHurtt's ridiculous "response" to the murder wave:
In the past three months, half the homicides in Houston took place in apartment complexes.
That has Chief Hurtt calling for change. "You know, you get in and you talk to the residents, you talk to management and you encourage people to get to know their neighbors to get to know who belongs in the area," he said.
Chief Hurtt also wants to force apartments that have too many calls, to hire their own security.
[snip]
Chief Hurtt is to meet with Mayor Bill White Wednesday
An ordinance requiring apartments to have extra security could be on the City Council agenda within the next couple of weeks.
That is absurd. It's bad enough that MayorWhiteChiefHurtt are not doing their jobs. Council must stop rolling over for them, and insist they deal with HPD's manpower problem.
KPRC-2 also decided to report on the manpower shortage tonight:
"How many of those murders, before they ended up being a murder, was called in as a disturbance that we didn't show up at?" said Hans Marticiuc, with the Houston Police Officer's Union.
Marticiuc said the department is incapable of providing basic police services.
To back up the claim, the union analyzed police calls for the month of October in three high-crime districts. The analysis found that in over 500 calls for service, victims waited up to 12 hours and 39 minutes before dispatchers sent a patrol car. It took 8 hours and 29 minutes for an officer to be dispatched to a robbery, and a sex assault victim waited 5 hours and 23 minutes for an investigator to arrive.
The union puts the blame on HPD Chief Harold Hurtt.
"That is simply unacceptable," Marticiuc said.
Hurtt has not yet responded.
But the union took its complaints to Houston City Hall and to Mayor Bill White.
"This issue of people holding calls from intake and dispatch -- that's an issue that I think is a serious issue that I haven't quite got the right answer yet about what is going on there," White said.
Hasn't "quite got the right answer?!" MayorWhiteChiefHurtt have done their very best to ignore HPD's manpower shortage, and unfortunately the City Council and the city's media have mostly let them get away with it.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/29/05 03:42 PM |
28 November 2005
Murders skyrocket; HPD Chief says good luck protecting yourselves!
The Chronicle's Mike Glenn reports that the city's homicide rate has exceeded last year's after a deadly Thanksgiving weekend:
Houston had 274 homicides in 2004 and the killings during the four-day holiday weekend brought the figure for this year to 285.
[snip]
Detectives acknowledged that the number of cases they investigated during the four-day period seemed high, but police officials on Sunday could not say whether the figures amount to a dramatic increase from the same period last year.
Why not?
KHOU-11's Amy Tortolani fares a little better:
Houston police said they had 14 homicides to work over the holiday weekend. But is this a true indicator of the city's crime situation?
According to investigators, it was a record number of murders for the city.So far there have been 285 murder victims in Houston this year. That number is 11 greater than the 274 victims in 2004, and there is still one month left in 2005.
Houston police have no explanation for the increase in murders.
Psst... HPD's manpower shortage perhaps? (Mayor White and his Council would prefer the city's journalists not bring up their inadequate response to that ongoing problem).
Chief Hurtt has this useful advice:
"Not only are we going to be doing it from a police department standpoint, I've also been talking to community groups about them becoming more active in crime prevention, protecting their own property as well as looking out for their neighbors," said Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt.
Translation: HPD is so short on manpower that it can't provide for the public safety as it has in the past. Good luck everyone!
UPDATE (11-29-2005): In the 10 pm broadcast, KHOU's Jeff McShan addressed HPD's manpower shortage:
Houston just set a record for holiday weekend murders and many want to know why.
Both the police chief and the mayor said they did not think hurricane evacuees factored into the crime numbers
When you call HPD, your calls go to Houston's Emergency Center (HEC).
But before they're dispatched to an actual officer who's working the streets there has to be one available. More often than you may realize, locating someone may take several hours.
This is true especially if you live on the city's west or southwest side.
"Anybody who either lives, shops or works west of the Galleria should really be concerned about this because this side of town is significantly undermanned," said Mike Cummings, Public Safety Director for the Westchase Business District. He is also a former HPD officer.
Now he hires off-duty HPD officers to patrol the 80 businesses in his business district, just to keep them safe.
Cummings spent hours going through public records and putting together a detailed report that shows the lack of police presence citywide.
"I looked at everything throughout the city and basically was able to determine, using several models, that the west side of town is significantly undermanned," Cummings said.
Cummings says to properly patrol the Westside District the department would need 506 officers. Right now they have just 403.
He also looked at numbers when it comes to violent crime.
"Based on the different studies that I did, just using the Westside Patrol area, it is anywhere from 70 to 113 officers down))
His report also shows that the Fondren and Southeast substations are severely short staffed.
A few months ago HPD Union president Hans Marticiuc told 11 News the staffing issue hinders officers' ability to fight crime.
"We're getting calls all the time. We've got officers working in districts by themselves. Sometimes roll calls are just two or three people for the entire roll call," he said.
Mayor White engages in spin at the end of the story, but the fact is that his administration's response to the manpower shortage has been inadequate, and that he's simply had other priorities.
UPDATE 2 (11-29-2005): The Chronicle now says the murder spree wasn't a record:
The weekend slayings, while by far outnumbering those of the past five years, are not the most ever in the city's history. On a single weekend in June 1981, from Friday evening to Sunday night, 21 people were slain in Houston.
Here's Chief Hurtt's proposed solution:
Hurtt said he has talked with Mayor Bill White about adopting an ordinance requiring apartment complexes with high rates of crime to hire security officers.
"We are very much concerned about apartment complexes," Hurtt said. "Anytime you have a large cluster of people living in an area like an apartment complex, there is always the opportunity for conflict, robberies and property crimes."
Frank Michel, the mayor's communication director, confirmed that Hurtt had met with White and discussed the idea of requiring security officers at high-crime complexes.
"The mayor is receptive to that idea," Michel said.
Translation: Good luck protecting yourselves, Houstonians!
MayorWhiteChiefHurtt simply are not serious about HPD's manpower shortage. The problem is not mentioned by the Chronicle. It probably wasn't mentioned in Chief Hurtt's press release or in the conversation with the administration's PR man Frank Michel.
UPDATE 3 (11-29-2005): KTRH-740 posts the following:
Some in the business community say the problem is a police staffing issue. The head of the police union is due at City Hall today to discuss his concern that police academy classes aren't keeping pace with retirements.
Business community? The head of the police union is part of the business community? KHOU (and the bloggers here) are part of the business community? Interesting label.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/28/05 10:19 PM |
Why should City Council legitimize ANY street begging?
Last week, Councilmember Michael Berry solicited input on Houston's street solicitation problem.
Today, KHOU-11's Doug Miller reports further on possible Council action:
At busy intersections, Houston drivers see it all the time -- youngsters raising money for charity.
"Thank you. Have a nice day."
It's a sight so common, sometimes it's scary.
"He's reaching down underneath the car where the money had fallen," said Houston City Councilmember Carol Mims Galloway, who took a photo of a child ducking under a car to grab change.
And then there are incidents like the one in 2004 when a child ended up between the tires of a truck.
"That's when the little boy came up under the truck and he was laying to the ground," said an officer at the scene in southwest Houston.
That child wasn't hurt, but he narrowly escaped death.
Now, Houston is about to change the rules on all of this. If city council approves a proposed ordinance change, nobody under the age of 16 will be allowed to solicit funds on city streets. And anybody between the age of 16 and 18 collecting money on the street would need adequate adult supervision.
Street solicitation ought to be banned outright. Streets are for cars and for driving, not for beggars.
Of course, Council will have to stick with children, since the Houston Chronicle would never stand for a ban on street "vending" -- even though the practice has proven more dangerous to vendors of their product than to children.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/28/05 09:49 PM |
27 November 2005
Thankfully, it's not called a Holiday Tree
Now that we have survived Thanksgiving, it's time to move on:
The Annual Christmas Tree Lighting Celebration
Join Mayor Bill White welcoming the equally honorable Santa Claus to downtown (Where will he park the sleigh?) and the lighting of the official Christmas tree at City Hall.
Traditionally, the plaza is festively decorated and ringed with booths offering refreshments and holiday arts and crafts. Watch our famous skyline come alive with music, lights and fireworks!
City Hall Downtown, December 10th, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
What about Pancho Claus?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/27/05 08:06 PM |
25 November 2005
Usually, it's just the downtown pols emitting gas
The Chronicle's Monica Guzman reports on a mishap at yesterday's Thanksgiving Day parade:
A woman watching the 56th annual Washington Mutual Thanksgiving Day Parade passed out after inhaling gas that was leaking out of a manhole at the intersection of Texas and Caroline.
She was transported from the scene with no serious medical problems, police said.
About 500 people were gathered at the spot when the gas began seeping into the air around 10:30 a.m.
That does not seem world-class.
Washington Mutual must be pleased to see its name so prominently featured in the news story.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/25/05 10:26 AM |
24 November 2005
Councilmember solicits blogger input on panhandling
Councilmember Michael Berry, who reads this blog among others locally, has circulated an email to various bloggers asking for input on panhandling/soliciting on Houston roadways. He'll be sitting in for Chris Baker on KTRH-740 on Friday from 2-6 (that's not a misprint -- even though Baker's usual time is 3-7, Berry's show will be 2-6 on Friday), and plans on discussing how Council should deal with the issue.
In his email, Berry specifically asked for feedback on:
- ANY panhandling, soliciting at intersections ON THE MEDIAN
- same, in the roadway
- same, by minors
- commercial activity either on medians or in the roadway, whether it be by newspapers or flower salesmen
Unlike many traditional MSM reporters, good bloggers never pretend they're the final authority on some topic, and good bloggers also recognize that among their readership, there are always people who are more knowledgeable and/or insightful on any given topic. So, we're going to turn Councilmember Berry's request over to readers.
Please feel free to share your thoughts in the forum, and we'll be sure to share the link to it with the Councilmember. If they're good, they might wind up on the blowtorch that is KTRH. And if not, Councilmember Berry might make fun of this little blog.... so be as smart as always, kind readers! :)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/24/05 09:21 AM |
15 November 2005
Chron's Roper fleshes out mayor's downtown wifi plans
The Chronicle's John Roper reports on Mayor White's determination to create a wireless downtown network.
People who think this means downtown will be blanketed in free wifi courtesy of the city are going to be disappointed:
The company using Houston's many easements and right of ways for WiFi antennas and other equipment would then be able to sell its airtime to residents and businesses.
It's not at all clear why this is a priority for Mayor White, given the city's many problems, but we've covered that ground previously.
The Chronicle's Dwight Silverman is soliciting feedback on the mayor's proposal over at his blog, so feel free to leave your thoughts there if you haven't already.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/15/05 10:12 PM |
13 November 2005
Missing Places
Missing Places is an oddly compelling exercise in citizen journalism (or should that be citizen archaeology?) that tracks vanishing history, vacant lots, and "forgotten" places in Houston.
The site describes the project as follows:
The Museum for Missing Places (MMP) is a public information project that addresses contemporary issues of urban place identity through the eyes and actions of city residents. Using interactive exhibits, the Museum proposes alternative ways of mapping a city in the context of rapid and uncontrolled urban change and the uncertainty of enduring architectural landmarks.
Situated in Houston, Texas, the Museum is--before all else-- a response to a city whose urban development has long been distinguished paradoxically by the impermanence of its architecture rather than its fixity. Houston is literally defined by geographic disruption-- the buildings of the city are quickly altered, roadwork and redirected streets are the norm and volatile weather continuously pummels the city, to cite just a few examples. These disruptions create a city of revolving contradictions and perpetual discontinuity, and the job of making sense of this city is left to a scattered population.
Yet an urban life does persist behind the fragmented edifice of the city and the Museum for Missing Places believes that an appropriate way of understanding Houston is through the accumulated perceptions of the city's residents and a catalog of the places they inhabit. Through exhibits which rely on public participation, the Museum hopes to suggest ways of mapping the city that leverage the diverse observations, descriptions and insights of city residents. The exhibits of the Museum for Missing Places are designed to support this mission by surveying Houston residents about the ways they relate to their local surroundings. In a city that changes as continuously as Houston, where what's new today may be gone tomorrow, the MMP seeks to chart the shifting terrain of the city by privileging the countless perspectives of lived experience.
I found out about the project via a sign posted last week on a vacant lot near HCC in midtown. Laurence Simon writes that signs have also been popping up along the less-than-world-class urban blight along stretches of the light rail.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/13/05 09:52 PM |
09 November 2005
End of the line for Gilley's
The Chronicle's Thayer Evans reports that the last vestiges of a Houston-area landmark of sorts are being destroyed this week:
Long before Gilley's Rodeo Arena was glamorized by the 1980 movie Urban Cowboy, Terry Rinehart worked at the legendary Pasadena club planning the road shows of country-music star Mickey Gilley, for whom the club was named.
On Tuesday morning, Rinehart, sitting in a white 2001 Chevrolet Suburban, watched as dueling yellow hydraulic excavators tore into the white metal exterior of the once famous honky-tonk.
The one-time Saturday night rodeo hotspot is being torn down this week by Kingwood-based Inland Environment Inc. at the behest of the Pasadena school district, which acquired the property through a tax default.
A fire claimed the club portion of Gilley's in 1990. The 60,000-square-foot arena was spared but has since been deserted.
The 13 1/2 -acre site is being cleared to make way for a middle school, school district spokesman Mark Kramer said.
Rinehart said "personal curiosity," not memories of Gilley's, fueled his visit.
"This is an era that the city would rather forget, I think," said Rinehart, 65, who worked at the club for nearly 20 years. "They don't like to be known as the honky-tonk, redneck capital."
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/09/05 08:40 AM |
06 November 2005
A Pappas profile to make a PR firm happy
Most Houstonians are fairly well acquainted with the Pappas family and their popular chains of restaurants.
However, for those who are not, David Kaplan's glowing Chronicle profile of the Pappas brothers and their efforts to resurrect Luby's Cafeterias covers that ground fairly well:
Chris Pappas, 58, is himself a throwback, with his soft-spoken, no-frills, workaday demeanor. The Pappas brothers also oversee their family-owned restaurants: Pappasito's, Pappadeaux, Pappas Barbecue and Pappas Brothers Steakhouse.
They follow in the footsteps of their grandfather, Greek immigrant H.D. Pappas, who opened restaurants in Texas and two other states.
A throwback!
So, how long before Tilman Fertitta demands and gets equal time for his popular chains of restaurants?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/06/05 07:58 PM |
31 October 2005
Downtown park public meeting Wednesday
The Houston Downtown Park Conservancy will present design ideas for the new downtown park at a meeting this Wednesday:
The Houston Downtown Park Conservancy will share initial design concepts for Houston’s new downtown park at a public meetings on November 2nd.
Wednesday, November 2, 2005, 6 - 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Hilton Americas Houston Hotel, 1600 Lamar, Room 340 (third floor)
Open to the public. Admission is free.
Valet service and parking in the Hilton garage is available, and curb parking is free after 6:00 PM.
PREVIOUSLY: Progress on Houston's world-class downtown park (bH), The Bill White Vermin And Solid Waste Memorial Park (bH)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/31/05 07:24 PM |
[Previous 20 Entries] [Next 20 Entries]