Besides the record-breaking-pipe-bursting heat, the top stories in the last two weeks about the built environment were Mike Snyder's piece on the ugliness of Houston's new urban density and Lisa Gray's piece on the beauty of the new flood abatement projects on the bayous. Read on for the other interesting news including the demise of the Flagship Hotel, the latest on "Tolerance Bridge," and an update on Houston Pavilions.
Thursday July 2
Heights considered ‘hidden jewel' by magazine: Area named a ‘Best Old House Neighborhood' [Houston Chronicle] "Houston Heights is among the nation's 'Best Old House Neighborhoods' in the online version of This Old House magazine's second annual listing. 'It surprises me ... that it's taken them so long to find our hidden jewel,' said local Realtor Bill Baldwin, who is living in his seventh Heights home, one painstakingly restored to its turn-of- the-century appearance after years as a subsidized assisted living facility."
BRAYS OAKS DISTRICT Officials say stimulus plan will aid apartment owners and residents Information on tenants can be shared in data [Houston Chronicle] "The Multi-family Marketing Stimulus Plan provides incentives for the district's 72 apartment complexes to join the Houston Apartment Association and begin using its Resident Credit Reporting program, a tool that allows them to share information - good or bad - about tenants."
BERRY BAYOU WATERSHED Who's going to clean this up? [Houston Chronicle]
Real estate CAUTIOUS about CONDOS: Owners struggle to sell them with tighter mortgage rules [Houston Chronicle] "Houston-area condo sales were down 33 percent in May, compared with May 2008, according to the Houston Association of Realtors, which tracks Multiple Listing Service transactions. The median price dropped 22 percent to $86,000."
Wednesday July 1
Stroke of pen fills tower NRG Texas, Reliant take space left in 11-story Pavilions building tower: NRG likes building's open spaces [Houston Chronicle]
As city grows, it adds its own heat [Houston Chronicle] Eric Berger analyzes how the average monthly temperature is calculated.
Tuesday June 30
Armadillo on wheels is green at heart: Surplus FEMA trailer find new life as a rolling garden [Houston Chronicle]
During two summers in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, Jae Rhim Lee couldn't help noticing the surplus of FEMA trailers.
An artist and permaculture designer, she spent parts of 2007 and 2008 studying soil remediation and food security in Houma, La., and New Orleans. But all the trailers gave her another idea.
So when she returned to Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a visiting lecturer in the Department of Architecture's Visual Arts Program, she created the MIT FEMA Trailer Project. She wanted to "catalyze positive change" and find "feasible, socially conscious and innovative" uses for the more than 94,000 FEMA trailers languishing in rented parking lots around the country.
Lee worked with MIT students and staff to research the history of FEMA trailers (145,000 mobile homes and trailers were purchased for Hurricane Katrina victims). They designed and renovated a donated surplus trailer, dubbed the Armadillo - now a self-sustaining rolling garden.
Blockbuster merger to create pipeline leader: Enterprise Products' $3.3 billion deal for Teppco Partners still needs federal approval and clearance by investors [Houston Chronicle] "Houston billionaire Dan Duncan reshuffled his energy empire Monday with a blockbuster deal that will combine two of his affiliates into the nation's largest publicly traded oil and gas pipeline company."
Intense heat breaking pipes: City handling twice as many ruptures in lines as normal [Houston Chronicle]
Monday June 29
Like many neighborhoods inside Loop 610, Cottage Grove in recent years has experienced a flurry of construction of large townhomes that loom over 80-year-old cottages next door. Two or three dwellings crowd sites where one house stood previously. Streets are cluttered with vehicles parked every which way. Water stands in the streets after heavy rains.
"It was shocking to see this jewel of a neighborhood in this condition," said former Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy, a senior fellow with the nonprofit Urban Land Institute who toured Cottage Grove two years ago. "It was about the ugliest thing I'd ever seen, to be honest with you."
The issues in Cottage Grove and other central Houston neighborhoods are on the minds of city officials, neighborhood leaders and others as the city considers the first major revisions to its development code in a decade. The proposed amendments were prompted in part by indications that pressure for dense new development is spreading to the area between Loop 610 and Beltway 8.
Council close to renewing troubled agency's contract Move expected despite concerns over arts group's spending, mission [Houston Chronicle] "Glus acknowledged that the $1 million Gateway Project - a major piece of civic art meant to welcome those arriving to Houston at George Bush Intercontinental Airport - had not been completed last year as Mayor Bill White wished. But he said an announcement would be coming soon about a "major artist" that would be commissioned to do that project. And the Tolerance Bridge - which city officials recently decided to rename - fell victim to a difficult fundraising climate, he said. The pedestrian bridge still will be built to connect running and biking trails along Allen Parkway with those on Memorial Drive near Montrose Boulevard. But a $2.5 million sculpture - which would have had the effect of making the bridge look impassable from afar - will not be built."
MOVE IT! Maybe flex time really is worthy of passion [Houston Chronicle] "'Flex in the City' is a slightly silly name for a pretty interesting transportation experiment going on in Houston. It's a yearly event that encourages local companies to allow their workers to try flexible commute options-a compressed work week, telecommuting or flexible start and stop times."
Sunday June 28
Bright spot in Sharpstown: Jewelry Building is thriving even with the fate of what surrounds it uncertain [Houston Chronicle] "NEW York City has the famed Diamond District on 47th Street. In Chicago, Jewelers Row spans two blocks on Wabash Avenue. And downtown Los Angeles is home to the Jewelry District on Hill Street. The closest thing Houston has to any of that is a 10-story office building at a languishing shopping mall in the southwest part of town."
More affordable downtown housing sought: Group seeking developers' input to make it happen [Houston Chronicle] "The Downtown Redevelopment Authority wants to provide up to $20 million in funding to help build housing for people who work or go to school in and around the Central Business District."
Saturday June 27
IKE'S AFTERMATH The hurricane damaged or destroyed many of Galveston's landmarks along the Seawall, but the owners say almost all of them will be rebuilt [Houston Chronicle] "The Flagship Hotel, one of the most prominent features along the Seawall since it opened in 1965, will be torn down by owner Landry's Restaurants Inc., said Jeff Cantwell, Landry's senior vice president for development. The pier that the hotel sits on is structurally sound and will be strengthened and used for a project that is in the formative stages, Cantwell said. He declined to reveal the uses under consideration. He estimated that demolition would probably begin before the end of summer."
Climate bill gets help of Obama Measure OK'd by House would overhaul U.S. energy, industry [Houston Chronicle] "Every Texas Republican voted against the measure, along with Democrats Chet Edwards, of Waco; Ciro Rodriguez, of San Antonio; and Solomon Ortiz of Corpus Christi. The remaining Texas Democrats, including all three from Houston, voted with their party's leadership."
Thursday June 25
Water authority works to meet state conversion standards: Group raises user fees, stresses conservation [Houston Chronicle] "Water customers in the North Fort Bend Water Authority can look for new pipes in the ground starting this fall and higher pumpage fees each year as the region makes the expensive transition from groundwater to surface water sources."
Stone Mountain Properties breathes new life into southwest Houston apartment communities [Houston Chronicle]
Balloon owners' wallets get a lift [Houston Chronicle] "A federal judge on Wednesday declared a city of Houston sign ordinance unconstitutional and awarded nearly $1 million to a purveyor of giant inflatable gorillas and eagles."
Insult to injury Governor's vetoes cap off a pathetic regular legislative session. Governor's vetoes cap off a pathetic regular legislative session. [Houston Chronicle] "Although Perry is an avid biker who recently broke his collarbone in a cycling accident, he showed little love for the 'safe passing' bill, which would have mandated that motorists maintain a minimum three-foot separation between vehicles and cyclists, road-maintenance workers, horseback riders and others. Robin Stallings, executive director of BikeTexas, told the Houston Chronicle he was stunned by the veto, 'because he's our guy, and we feel betrayed by our guy.'"
A break for first-time home buyers Much of $8,000 federal tax credit becomes available to Texans [Houston Chronicle] "The much-touted $8,000 federal tax credit - or at least a good chunk of it - for first-time home buyers is now available to Texas home buyers who want to use the money for a down payment or closing costs. The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs this week started a short-term loan program that allows people to get a slice of the $8,000 upfront, then pay it back to the state when their federal tax credit money rolls in."
Consortium fighting nuclear plant project seeks costs analysis [Houston Chronicle] "The groups fighting the expansion of the nuclear South Texas Project want detailed comparisons of costs to produce the same power with renewable resources."
Sunday June 21
Letting bayous be bayous: Landscape architect Kevin Shanley found a way to make a necessity beautiful [Houston Chronicle]
In 1990 - which is to say the end of the dark ages for Houston bayous - neighborhoods lived in fear of flood-control projects. Everyone agreed they were necessary. But dang, they were ugly.
The Harris County Flood Control District's proposal for Sims Bayou was both hideous and state-of-the-art. The bayou had been "channelized" in the late '60s - which is to say its sides were dug deeper and straightened, made to look more precise and man-made.
But the areas around the bayou kept flooding anyway.
This time, the district proposed to carry its original strategy even further: widening the bayou to 300 feet across, then paving it. Sims would become even less a river, and even more a drainage ditch.
Kevin Shanley hated that plan....
Shanley crammed. He learned about "fluvial geomorphology," the way rivers shape themselves. (Bayous are slow rivers, ones that meander over flat land toward the sea.) And he thought about "time of concentration," the way engineers measure water flow. In flood control, faster was considered better. The goal was to rush rainwater into the bayous, then hustle it out to sea...
Then he had a radical thought.
What if you let Sims Bayou meander? What if, instead of rushing the floodwater out toward the Gulf, you gave it a place to collect safely? What if you made the bayou wider and curvier - able to hold more water but also slower? What if, instead of paving it with solid concrete, you bolstered the banks with concrete that grasses could grow through?
IKE: THE AFTERMATH WHEN THE HURRICANE stripped down property values, it robbed town of the tax base IT NEEDS to support its budget [Houston Chronicle]
Friday June 19
$13 million property room is chief's ‘dream come true' [Houston Chronicle] "'That's a nightmare,' Police Chief Harold Hurtt said, gesturing to the century-old former awning factory that has been the city's police property room for more than 30 years. "And this,' he said, nodding at the new structure, 'is a dream come true.'"
