Comment of the Day: What’s the Plan?
“. . . It would be nice if someone would come up with a ‘master plan’ for these areas of unrestricted land and at least ask the developers to work within that plan. I suspect if some had been a little...
View ArticleComment of the Day: Lost in the Nozone
“It always strikes me as odd that most major developers who operate in Houston also operate in cities with strict zoning, determined planning, and even architectural review boards with much success,...
View ArticleHouston Zoning Paperwork Request
An out-of-towner with “an (admittedly) strange fascination with Houston land development” is trying to locate a copy of the zoning ordinance that Houston voters rejected 17 years ago. “A classmate and...
View ArticleThe 3 People You Meet in Parking Meetings, Plus a Little Nighttime...
How’d that first public meeting about changing the city’s off-street parking requirements go? Andrew Burleson reports: “The crowd at the meeting was overwhelmingly comprised of three types of people....
View ArticleOh Yeah? Well, Just Wait Until We Bring in Randal O’Toole For a Book Tour or...
A couple of readers have written in to note one result from this year’s Houston Area Survey. In response to a question worded “Which of these statements comes closer to your own view? — We need better...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Parks By You’s Feel-Good Campaign To Build More Bayou Parks by You
Yep, that’s a bike-gear-sporting State Sen. Rodney Ellis, 2 city council members, and both bearded and cleanshaven versions of model Lauren Bush’s brother — Pierce Bush — talking up the idea of...
View ArticleComment of the Day: Plans for Houston
“Houston didn’t develop organically. The original street grid was planned, the Heights was planned, Montrose and River Oaks and the Villages and Cinco Ranch, etc., all planned. At least 90% of the...
View ArticleComment of the Day: First We Crowd
“. . . those folks thinking Houston would ever actually be capable of creating infrastructure to adequately manage increased density developments are living in a fool’s paradise. you live in a state...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Planning for the Future of Washington Ave
Local planning firm Asakura Robinson has released a 250-page study on the past, present, and future — as they would like to see it — of the Washington Corridor. The study seems to stem from Better...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Comment of the Day: With a Bulldozer and a Public Works Budget, You Too Can...
“Maybe we’re the only folks that would consider watching such a show, but it would be interesting if one of the networks would create an Extreme Makeover: Cityscape Edition. Imagine if Peter Park were...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Comment of the Day: Houston’s Master Planners
“. . . I’ve talked a lot about the bad way some developers approach growth in Houston. But neighborhoods are addressing it wrong, too. They’re too reactionary. They sit around doing nothing until a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Comment of the Day: The Missing Links
“A great comment and right on the money. Houston also needs to take the reins of community building instead of letting developers drive that bus. Subdivisions/neighborhoods are currently created by...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What Happens When You Decide To Redo That Downtown Freeway Plan in Your Spare...
Tory Gattis reports in an update to his weekly column that TxDOT is looking over the alternative Downtown freeway plan put forth by Houston-based blog Purple City last week — to see if it can pull any...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How To Polish Up the Dent in Silver St.
In the small but growing city tradition of redoing street plans in your spare time, urban planner and general Houston improvement brainstormer Jesse Thornsen has recently launched a website to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Finding the Right Words To Talk Through Houston’s Relationship with Sidewalks
Taking together a recent rash of of essays complaining about Houston’s walkability, public transit, and sidewalk situation, Joe Cortwright over at City Observatory offers some thoughts on why it might...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Comment of the Day: How Houston’s Park(ing) Proponents Should Take It to the...
“While I understand, generally, the sentiment behind this initiative, I think in Houston it may be a little misguided. If we want a more walkable environment, with fewer buildings set back behind...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sedated Allen Pkwy. Double-Crossed by Crosswalk to New Buffalo Bayou Park...
Courtesy of a stripe-skeptical reader, here’s a partial walkthrough tour of the new parking scheme along Allen Pkwy. west of Downtown — these days looking a lot more like the flyover videos released...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Comment of the Day: How Houston Got Its Sprawl, and Other Tales of Pseudozoning
“Blame our city’s efforts at ‘planning’ in lieu of zoning. In the early 70’s, due to insufficient wastewater infrastructure, the city enacted a ban on apartment buildings of more than 4 units inside...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Buffalo Bayou Partnership Now Looking East of Downtown, Making Plans
The landscape architecture firm that rejiggered the grounds of the Menil Collection and has put forward a new plan for Hermann Park will now be turning its attention to Buffalo Bayou east of Downtown,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Comment of the Day: Houston Is Usually Better Where It Isn’t Planned To Be
“I’m going to go ahead and disagree on the value of planning. The best parts of the city (19th St, parts of Washington, parts of Midtown) were developed before the city passed Chapter 42, and would be...
View Article
