And you thought the crazy street-geiser was it! This morning, the Chevron Houston Marathon and the Aramco Half Marathon came through the Norhside. There were people out on the sidewalk cheering the runners and drinking Mimosas, using hand clappers and noisemakers. Looking East on Quitman at South Street, you could see the huge crowd of runners coming all the way from Elysian.
looks like a water main busted near our house. It looks like the street just exploded, sending an arc of water like 30 feet into the air images and more info as it develops!
k, my Word Press is not letting me add images for some reason, so here are some on flickr,
it’s very dark outside (it’s like 11:50pm) so that’s why the pics are dark and the water is motion blurred.
Here’s another one of the COH people working on it
The meeting at Ketelsen Elementary seemed to go well. These “meetings†are usually just a presetnation of illustration boards demonstrating plans for whatever project is being proposed. The purpose of the meeting is to get input from the community. There seems to be some interest by the community, but it seems to be mostly people who are worried that these new projects would mean that they would be in the path of eminent domain. A reasonable fear for a community that already feels somewhat powerless.
Many of the residents who own homes in this neighborhood probably bought their home when prices were relatively low – something they could afford. Even though fair price on thier property might be more than they paid, it still wouldn’t be enough to try and purchase another property in the same neighborhod if they chose to stay. If anyone has any anecdotal info on how this might affect them or maybe even some hard numbers, I’d like to know.
It’s all going to happen, weather the neighborhood wants it to or not. The neighborhood just happens to be in this prime place near downtown (kinda like midtown and the Sixth Ward) with lots of old, potentially historic victorian homes and commercial buildings. The infrastructure is already fairly urban and could probably support much more townhome-style residencies. I think the larger issue will be how the northside decides to react to the change. I think we have the opportunity to take advantage of regentrification before it takes advantage of us.
Intermodal Terminal Public Meeting
Date: Thursday, June 8, 2006 Time: 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Location: Ketelsen Elementary School
Address: 600 Quitman St.
METRO is proposing to build a new Intermodal Terminal, which would be located near the intersection of Main and Burnett streets, just north of Downtown Houston. The meeting is being held tonight! This facility is planned for that area that’s now an abandoned rail yard just south of the Poppa Burger and Casa de Amigos. It’s intended for buses, rail, commuter trains, and taxis. That’s a lot of traffic going to that one hub, considereing on of the only pedestrian passageways from the Northside to Downtown is what everyone calls the “poop tunnel” – that pedestrian underpass below the old railroad tracks; the one that people seem to use as more of a toilet than a pedestrian tunnel.
As one Northsider goes out to make his way in Miami, another Northsider comes home from Portland Oregon for a short vacation and to visit his new nephew. It’s always great to see this guy. We all went to Niko Niko’s for lunch on the day he arrived. He’s been away for about a year now and has al kinds of good things to say about Portland. Still, I’m sure he misses everyone and everyone misses him back. It’s got to be tough for him.
 
 
 
