fwki

Wow, I just thought my guy was a cheap bastard.

How about "Uptight in the Heights Chapter 6: The Yale Street Bridge Saga"

My floors are drafty because we have no subfloor, just pine flooring right on the floor joists. And whenever they invented fibeglass insulation (I must have a beta version) the owner stapled some of that nasty stuff under there, but without subfloor even the mosquitoes fly right in. So check for subflooring. According to my favorite floor guy, the pine used for flooring in these old houses is pine heartwood from the center of the tree, very expensive nowadays, hard to find and match. I know several flooring subcontractors and company owners. Clouse is the biggest name and gets a lot of the top-dollar work, but the job will depend on the quality of the subcontractor that the flooring company hires, most are free agents that work by the job with their own tools. I have used Clouse and Floors Etcetera, both did great jobs and handled issues fairly. I have also used free agents for minor work, waxing, etc. My original pine has seen better days and can no longer be sanded, so it is soon to become the subfloor. I will enjoy laying new wood on top and good riddance to the mosquitoes and drafts. Looking back, I should have made this move years ago instead of refinishing. Some things are not worth keeping, bad floors being one.

Yeah it is kinda funny that we have four brand new bridges on the feeders, the new Heights bridge and two renovated bike path bridges over White Oak Bayou all surrounding the Bridge of Death. I think we will survive any amount of time waiting on Yale, and to the rest of the community making this bridge an "issue" is making the Heights look like the bunch of self-important whiners we have become over the last decade. This place used to be laid back, and it is not the infrastructure improvements that changed it. This thread readily exposes what changed our neighborhood for the worse.

I am saying engineers use judgement and safety factors, and when undue attention is focused on them the pucker factor kicks-in. I have been there myself, we are only human, better safe than sorry. Call it what you want.

RUDH began screaming about the bridge loads when they realized no one gave a crap about their Walmart position. IMO, the engineers are totally in CYA mode due to all the attention, been there myself. Then they snapped a photo of an errant Walmart truck and you could hear their squeals of delight from the fifth ward. City downrgaes bridge again (CYA?) and directs HPD to screw us all.

Yes, he could scale back and fit a cul-de-sac on his land and perhaps profit enough to move ahead, but the devloper has represented that it is not about economics, it is go or no-go with this minimum scale. And that one dude from Woodland Heights at the meeting blew it when he gave the "history" saying that no other developer could make it work economically which supports what the current developer is saying: 84 units or nothing.

Yes, we are talking cross-purposes. I agree they can't extend 5th street to the east and he owns that land. But your front yards are almost entirely on City land. I am estimating that from porch to porch across 5th street may be about 80 feet of which the city owns 70. Check it out, maybe my eyes are fooling me.

Yes we all have about 10 feet of city RoW, but I just drove on 5th and the amount of City-owned land between these houses and after the 18' street is much more. You cannot tell where his house sits on the plat map, but my guess is no more than ten feet from his front property line....almost porch to porch across the street for the full 70' so this could get real ugly. EXACTLY

Almost nothing, as evidenced by all the fun posts on the topic poking at those who take it seriously. My favorite is the school bus plunging into a raging bayou.

Not at all. 5th Street is 18' wide we are told, but the city owns 70'. That leaves 52' of city land that the city can uses to expand the street, sidewalks and utlities. Until it is used by the city, squatters use the land at their own risk. This development will require the city (or a contractor on its behalf) to use much of that right of way as it was intended by expanding the street and adding sidewalks. Bye bye squatters and your free land. Mosely no doubt wants to keep his free land owned by the city in front of his house....stopping the development from using 5th street will accomplish that.

Yes it does end at his actual 615-0015 line but he is squatting onto the 70' RoR shown on HCAD. So in practice his lawn goes well into the RoR. He bought the parcel to the east of his front lawn blocking the City RoR from being naturally extended and protecting his squatters rights in front of the actual 615-0015 and blocking another's real property rights.

It is the front yards of property owners squatting in the City's backyard.

Lost_in_T, look at the aerial in the agenda and look at HCAD map of the RoR. If they took the entire 70 feet, Mosely would have a fire hydrant on his porch.

Just read the Agenda and it explains everything....5th street is 18' wide sitting on a 70' City right-of-way extending to the north. The north side property owners are squatting on City RoR. No wonder Mosely took the risk of going public and looking likie a hypocrite. The developer is going to widen the street to standard, add side walks and a few caliper inches and there goes 30 feet of free land. Fifteen hundred square feet at 40$ each is a $60,000 subsidy from the rest of us. I hope the city condems his 35' project-blocking tract for the cul-de-sac and then everyone can rest easy that the city didn't give a variance. That really is the logical solution since he likely bought the land soley to restrict his neighbors property rights. Talk about outsmarting yourself.....and that explains all the fancy laminated trash blowing around...I bet the Creek even has a petition sign up sheet.

Realistically the plan has to be to cut a deal with Innerloop since there is very little chance of stopping them from developing their property. But you cannot have the attitude that the other side is scum and work with them at the same time. Keep the hypocrites out of it and cut a deal. If the cul-de sac and ADA sidewalk is doable, go for it, but things like 60' of frontage is not doable, so drop it. So from Kelly's Heroes: Crapgame: Then make a DEAL! Big Joe: What kind of deal? Crapgame: A DEAL, deal! Maybe the guy's a Republican. "Business is business," right?

And he fought the Onion Creek adjoining neighbors tooth and nail to get his permits. They did not want a loud, late-night clap trap a few feet away from their homes. It was a big deal. Now I am firmly in the Innerloop camp.

I friend of mine has the lift contract for the feeder road brides over Whilte Oak Bayou. He removed the old spans, replaced with new spans on each feeder road bridge. Did you notice that the feeders were each closed for a weekend to complete the work? If you blinked you missed it. From where does this "12-16 months" notion come? I will ask him specifically to give me a bid-quality quote on the Yale Street shutdown time for replacement.

Do you have a date on the 3-week closure of Yale to replace the span five years from now? I'm going plan a vacation during this paralyzing grid lock, or at least stock up on non-perishables. Or are you with me in trying to get the bridge closed immediately to make our idyllic enclave more walkable and fishable? I could use someone talented on the magic 8-ball for my quest.

The haters cannot appreciate anything positive about the company and they are completely blind to the majority opinion. This phenomenom I find to be the most interesting thing in this thread. What would cause reasonable, well-meaning folks to completely miss the boat on this Wal-Mart? And why does the misdirected hatred continue through phony proxies like the bridge? Is it elitism as I put forth earlier? Is it a defense against one's own shortcomings such as "I would like to shop there but doing so would endanger my carefully constructed image."?

I agree and it was my mistake to emphasize the poorest citizens rather than those just trying to make ends meet in this economy. The former middle class is the key demographic and why investors flock to WalMart during recession, shares hit an all time high July 27 this year.

I must refer you to post #2430 . "Excellent!"

That's the point. Those peolple aren't paying cash! Once the WIC/SNAP runs dry, it's wait until first of the month.

Almost everybody I know in the neighborhood will be shopping there and has no overt opinion about Wal-Mart as a company except that it is a Buyer Beware retailer. Luckily they take returns on most items, and the cost benefit plus convenience is what will drive sales to the majority of shoppers in our neighborhood. Every now and again a Nouveau riche will show up at a social gathering with overt negativity, but I find it rare. The real-world number of those with real-life reasons to shop there and who appreciate a convenient location overwhelm the number of elitists who overtly hate the company. However the real objects of the elitists' hatred are the 46 million Americans (14.8%) on food stamps and others suffering from the ongoing recession/depression. Walmart didn't make this mess, they are just satisfying a real-life need of modern America. Looking for dogs to kick? Start out with the political establishment (both sides) and their financiers. But lay your boots on a hard working American trying to raise a family, and you will have to face the wrath of the common majority who have worked hard enough and are lucky enough to live in this neighborhood. We laugh in your faces because your sham arguments are duplicitous and transparent, but thanks for the entertainment. William Simon, Wal-Mart CEO, said in September 2010 "on the last day of the month, it’s real interesting to watch. About 11 p.m., customers start to come in and shop, fill their grocery basket with basic items … and mill about the store until midnight. Our sales for those first few hours on the first of the month are substantially and significantly higher. If you really think about it, the only reason somebody gets out in the middle of the night and buys baby formula is that they need it, and they’ve been waiting for it.”

They almost killed our Discount Tire with their treacherous alchemy. And that Alberstsons, wtf was that all about.....corporate malfeasance or witchcraft, who knows....I liked the weed choked ditch.