bachanon

County growth brings new billboards Advertisers say signs offer service, but some officials worry about clutter By LAURA ISENSEE Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle For some, they're clutter. For others, they're a good business tool. For drivers, they're those big things that poke from trees and strip centers along the interstate and rural roads and advertise everything from housing developments to radio stations, from churches to lingerie boutiques. The long-standing debate over billboards, which pits proponents for scenic beauty and outdoor advertisers against each other, could heat up during the next year. While many local communities in Montgomery County have set up comprehensive ordinances to prevent new billboards coming to town, a possible change to state law has been discussed that would make it more expensive to enforce those rules. full story

gehry's work is definitely eye candy. i would hate to be responsible for the maintenance though. philip johnson said that he cried when he first entered the bilbao guggenheim. for awhile, people were discussing the "bilbao effect". many cities (la, nyc, dallas) have tried to get a gehry to try to recreate the international sensation that occurred in bilbao. la's disney theater is quite impressive from what i've seen. although, i think that maybe the bilbao effect has waned with each new building. some critics have called gehry's attempts to recreate bilbao as redundant. others have said that his buildings lack functionality, or that they are style over substance. whatever they are, i enjoy them. i'm glad i don't have to be responsible for them.

i do not know. let us know if you find out. there is some relief coming for town center traffic. traffic lights will soon go up on grogan's mill at timberloch, lake robbins and lake woodlands. eventually, all of the traffic lights in town center will be timed like downtown houston. the cameras and sensors that have been and will be installed will allow for traffic sensitive alterations in the light change patterns for individual intersections. i think that pureauteur's idea for public transportation from the villages is a good idea. it would be great to have circulator vans going between town center and all the villages. every village has a retail center, each one could have a stop. each village's retail center is usually close to the apartment complexes and retirement facilities for that village. these stops would be in walking distance for many residents. it would most likely be a pricey perk though.

update on creekside Oct. 3, 2006, 11:49AM Woodlands continues planning for new neighborhood Designs include aquatic center, YMCA facility and 50-acre lake By BETH KUHLES Chronicle Correspondent The gateway to the new Creekside Park Village will include a $10 million park featuring an aquatic center with a pool, a boathouse on a 50-acre lake, a country club tennis center, a satellite YMCA facility, a large outdoor amphitheater and a promenade with retail kiosks. "It's an enhancement of anything we've ever done," said Joel Deretchin, who serves as president of The Woodlands Association homeowners group and vice president of public affairs at The Woodlands Development Co. "We're really excited about it. We are back to our roots with this project. It's got The Woodlands feel." Click to learn more... Upon entering Creekside Park Village, visitors will be greeted by sweeping landscapes that lead down to a 50-acre lake. The long, narrow waterway will be a central feature in the village. The park and surrounding public spaces, such as a school and church, will echo the theme of the new village, which is a rustic, national park-like setting. full story

dirty old men have been around forever. i named a couple (jefferson and franklin) in my earlier post. these guys weren't sending dirty letters, they were actually having sex. jefferson had children with slave women (or were they girls?). of course, jefferson and franklin would have been hung or shot for messing around with men. it's insane to see liberal democrats, of all people, waxing puritanical on this issue. this story should be a blip on the radar screen (as should the monica lewinsky mess). i'm embarrassed for our country. not so much because of a dirty old man, but the over-the-top, national reaction to his behavior. don't get me wrong, foley doesn't deserve a pass. he was abusing his authority. however, i don't think it garners the amount of press and hand wringing it's receiving.

i wasn't defending the republicans. i was stating that it's not productive to place blame on a group of people because of one person (or a minority within the group) behaving badly. this story makes both parties look bad. would ben franklin or thomas jefferson have survived the current media hysteria over dirty old men? i think not.

the title of this thread is whack. if republicans are scum because of foley then: gay people are scum because of jeffrey dahmer, democrats are scum because of bill clinton, white people are scum because of the unabomber, arabic people are scum because of osama bin ladin (sp?), and so on. ever heard of a republican environmentalist? or how about a democratic evangelical, pro lifer? as someone said earlier........."what's wrong with a gay republican?"). it is inflammatory (and i'm guilty of it too) to generalize about a group of people based on a bad apple (or two, or ten ). this foley guy is simply a dirty old man. if this were female pages it wouldn't have half the attention it's getting. the media and the democrats homophobia is showing.

on one hand, i don't think required reading should ever validate vulgarity, unhealthy or unsocial behaviors; however, these things exist in the real world and how we deal with conflict (even if it is a moral or internal conflict) is a part of the growing/maturing process. perhaps some parents wish they didn't have to explain why people say or do the things they do? this is an issue i've personally been faced with frequently. simply because an element of one's required reading (in this case) or mean people are offensive doesn't mean you outlaw or ignore it. it means that you must be strong, tough and tolerant. i wonder about parents who are overly concerned about such things. yes, it would be nice if everything was NICE and sweet. that "ain't" the world we live in. better that kids "grow up" while at home with mom and pop rather than be thrown into the world and feel like a complete alien or worse, embrace everything contrary to what they've been taught. "everything is lawful, but not all things are profitable" - the apostle paul.

maybe because spring runs into the woodlands at undetermined points. there are zip codes that are technically spring, but in the woodlands proper. since the woodlands is unincorporated, it's all about the address.

this will be specifically for town center circulation.

update Oct. 4, 2006, 1:52PM The Woodlands hopes to roll out trolleys Town Center awaits word on funding from federal grant By BETH KUHLES Chronicle Correspondent The Town Center Improvement District is applying for $1.6 million in federal funding to get new trolleys rolling in the downtown area of The Woodlands. "We are waiting to get the trolleys on the ground and running," said Frank Robinson, president of the Town Center Improvement District. "We just need operating dollars." link

i don't know how many homeowners are in timber grove. $1,000,000.00 is quite a chunk for 200-300 homes. it might be completely unfeasable to expect timber grove residents to foot the bill. the timber grove homeowner's association may be hoping for new development. it's easy to fantasize about the best use for property; however, the reality of a thing is a whole other story. if i were a timber grove resident and was concerned about the acreage, i would find out what the neighborhood association is thinking first. find out where you are as a community and learn as much about the property and its owners' (HISD's) intentions.

bachanon sings.......'sum-mer lo-ver's' indeed she does. even though this area is close to the hike & bike trails, there are age specific playgrounds that can be a great asset to any neighborhood. for instance, many parks have three or more play areas, each for different age children. a large park can have several play areas connected by walk ways to picnic, pavilion and/or sports areas. a twenty acre park could have extensive natural preserves along with a pond to aid in neighborhood runoff during downbursts. timber grove should attempt to acquire at least a portion of this property for recreational use. i do like the idea of more greenspace. however, if timber grove residents are unconcerned, then, let it go to the highest bidder.

maybe we could call daryl hannah.

you are correct. spring is an unincorporated community.

Timber Grove Manor should buy the property and improve it with park facilities. Doesn't Timber Grove have an active homeowner's association? If so, they should get a consensus of its members, figure out financing and buy it.

play nice people.

my hope is that the mall will morph into and connect with market street and the waterway, creating and increasing the walkable outdoor areas. as for the mall being imploded, maybe in a few decades. i don't know that you'll get a "local feel" to the woodlands town center. you may get a more international feel, however. the grid like street design/activity you are looking for is going to be happening around waterway square. six pines on the west/lake robbins on the north/marriott way (or drive) and the waterway in the middle, parallel to lake robbins and timberloch/timberloch on the south/woodloch forest on the east; this area is specifically high-density. check out the site plan on the woodlands development listings pages for 24 waterway avenue. link i think the posers will increase their area of activity once the pedestrian areas increase and the waterway becomes more central to overall activity.

town center is simply a moniker used to detail a specified area of the woodlands, as is "the research forest", "college park", "grogan's mill", and so on. the mall is simply in the main commercial area of the woodlands. simply because the retail area of grogan's mill is called "grogan's mill village center" (or something like that) does not mean it's going to have a little "village" in it. i think that your expectation for what "town center" is is misguided. town center is bordered by woodlands parkway on the south and lake front circle to the north; i-45 on the east and grogan's mill drive on the west. if you go to the woodlands development commercial website, you can find demographics on how many kids live in the woodlands. you can also find a breakdown of the enormous amount of people with spending power (regardless of how they look or behave) within ten miles of the woodlands town center. also realize, that the woodlands has many low income, rent controlled areas, all with a large amount of kiddos. nearly 75% of the woodlands homes have children. more than 30% of the population of the woodlands are children (approx. 24,000 kids). 20%-25% of that is teenagers. many of the teenagers hang out at the mall. the mall circle will evolve as town center grows. by the way, if anyone is paying attention, the board members of TCID are beginning to use the words "downtown" in the woodlands or "the woodlands downtown". i think town center should be kept. however, if others have the misconception about what town center means for the woodlands, a change might be in our future.

ept. 28, 2006, 2:05PM Plans take shape for arts center in Woodlands Consultant offers top ideas to build facility for area in Town Center By BETH KUHLES Chronicle Correspondent Creating a community arts center, ballet center or a satellite facility for the Houston Museum of Natural Science are the top three recommendations from a consultant studying options for building a cultural arts venue in The Woodlands Town Center. Duncan M. Webb of Webb Management Services, a New York-based consultant for the development and operation of performing arts centers, recently completed a feasibility study on a cultural arts center for The Woodlands. In addition to the top three choices, Webb also suggested a large, indoor performing arts center, a college theater with a Shakespearean festival, a culinary school, a reinvented children's museum and a production house for the Houston Grand Opera. "It's street-level activity," Webb said. "It's lights on in the building. It's people coming indoors and outdoors. There is a huge impact in the downtown area. People want to eat, shop and be there. For corporate recruitment, it offers a lot to employees and the corporations." full story

Sept. 27, 2006, 10:54AM Woodlands governance group holding more forums Meetings will offer leadership chance to settle on choice for new government By BETH KUHLES Chronicle Correspondent Major community groups in The Woodlands will get one last chance to offer ideas on the governance process before an action plan is drafted on how to implement a new choice of government in the community. The Stakeholders Group, which includes the 11 community groups represented in the Governance Steering Committee, will have a forum Oct. 14 to debate the future of The Woodlands, including the options of incorporation as a city or the creation of a special service district to handle municipal-type services. Full Story

i'm glad to see i'm not the only one who doesn't like NYC. it's a great place to visit. i couldn't stand living there. it's claustrophobic, dirty, loud. i'm glad houston will not, cannot, be like NYC.

the powers that be in the woodlands seem to think that they can provide better city services to residents than houston. i hope they are right.