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  #121  
Old Posted May 6, 2021, 11:47 PM
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Originally Posted by TexasPlaya View Post
I've done the walkability in Montrose so I'll just have to disagree with you. It has a decent street grid that is very walkable or bikable. I had bars/restaurants and a CVS within 2 blocks and an HEB grocery store ~1/4 mile or a short bike trip.

I just did the walkability thing in northern montrose with some buddies where we had a Whole Foods, several restaurants, and several bars within walking distance of his townhome. It really isn't very pleasant walking in jeans and a nice shirt for more than a several blocks.
I lived on the edge of Montrose for over a decade, just south of Richmond, and I walked nearly every single day. Of course weather can be an issue on some days, but there were still few people walking the other 8 months of the year, so its not just the weather. The infrastructure is very poor (bad or missing sidewalks), and there are incredibly few pedestrian oriented destinations (no setback, sidewalk access). Lots of driveways and parking lots.

I assume this is the Whole Foods you were referencing:
https://goo.gl/maps/7QcZgWUi3Yv1tXJv9

Here's another on Kirby:
https://goo.gl/maps/mmhW8xvBBFCRcN5f9
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  #122  
Old Posted May 7, 2021, 12:25 AM
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Originally Posted by benp View Post
I lived on the edge of Montrose for over a decade, just south of Richmond, and I walked nearly every single day. Of course weather can be an issue on some days, but there were still few people walking the other 8 months of the year, so its not just the weather. The infrastructure is very poor (bad or missing sidewalks), and there are incredibly few pedestrian oriented destinations (no setback, sidewalk access). Lots of driveways and parking lots.
And I lived at Graustark and Richmond until the garden style apartments got replaced with a large wrap around then I lived near Richmond and Alabama until moving to Austin.

I don't know what to tell you, a broken sidewalk or having to walk around a small parking lot to the entrance of an establishment were inconsequential inconveniences to me. I won't sit here and say Richmond and Westheimer don't need serious repairs, sidewalks and streets, but I never had any issues getting around by foot or bike. I would also always own a vehicle, regardless of living in central austin or central houston. Most people don't spend their lives within a quarter a mile of where they live.

Quote:
I assume this is the Whole Foods you were referencing:
https://goo.gl/maps/7QcZgWUi3Yv1tXJv9

Here's another on Kirby:
https://goo.gl/maps/mmhW8xvBBFCRcN5f9
It was the first one. And walking around in business casual clothing was pretty sweltering on a late April evening. However, going out and walking his dog along Buffalo Bayou with Yetis full of Tito and soda was very doable.

Since you also mentioned the Kirby location, we've taken an uber to Upper Kirby and bar hopped between the new mixed use developments. The Kirby district has done a great job of upgrading and maintaining sidewalks.
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  #123  
Old Posted May 7, 2021, 2:08 AM
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Originally Posted by TexasPlaya View Post
And I lived at Graustark and Richmond until the garden style apartments got replaced with a large wrap around then I lived near Richmond and Alabama until moving to Austin.

I don't know what to tell you, a broken sidewalk or having to walk around a small parking lot to the entrance of an establishment were inconsequential inconveniences to me. I won't sit here and say Richmond and Westheimer don't need serious repairs, sidewalks and streets, but I never had any issues getting around by foot or bike. I would also always own a vehicle, regardless of living in central austin or central houston. Most people don't spend their lives within a quarter a mile of where they live.



It was the first one. And walking around in business casual clothing was pretty sweltering on a late April evening. However, going out and walking his dog along Buffalo Bayou with Yetis full of Tito and soda was very doable.

Since you also mentioned the Kirby location, we've taken an uber to Upper Kirby and bar hopped between the new mixed use developments. The Kirby district has done a great job of upgrading and maintaining sidewalks.
Had a small house off Mandel before things got super crazy expensive. I couldn't afford to live there anymore. The small bungalows (highly taxed for their land value) are being replaced with $2M+ homes that look like big gray boxes. Townhomes are deed restricted on my old street.

I specifically moved to that area of Houston because it was the most "walkable" neighborhood, and because Richmond Rail was supposed to be constructed near my home. Of course the rail got cancelled. I also attended city infrastructure planning meetings around 2007 to discuss the bad conditions of the roads and sidewalks, and as of the time I moved away (2019) basically none of the recommendations or promised fixes had materialized. Many of the same sidewalks that were broken 14 years ago are still broken.

I now live in Buffalo. The large Houston complexes built on parking garages may add to the city's population density, but add nothing to an area's walkability. The difference in walkable density between the 2 cities is astounding, even though Houston has many times the number of people.

Lucky Burger was our go-to joint, and I thought it was a real loss when it closed.
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  #124  
Old Posted May 7, 2021, 2:14 AM
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Absolutely. IF there is a strong enough market demand for them. I just don't see it here apart from a select few areas inside the loop and even then it's pretty limited. A large-ish townhouse anywhere in Houston is going to warrant at least a two car garage if it's going to be a attractive to a broader range of buyers.
So you agree there's a market. Now we're just arguing about how much.

You'd be surprised what developers will do when there's an opening like this could become. Even if 10% of the townhouse market wants one space rather than two (trading it for less cost or more of other stuff), they'll chase it.

And, to repeat a point ad nauseum, with one space, the math can work more easily for smaller townhouses, like ones that appeal to singles and smaller or less-monied residents.
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  #125  
Old Posted May 7, 2021, 11:09 PM
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Originally Posted by craigs View Post
Okay nothing. Again you step outside the topic of this thread entirely in order to compare apples to oranges, and only to serve your weird anti-California agenda. As if your cherrypicked 65-year old apartment building in Los Angeles is an apt analogy to the new construction of detached townhomes in Houston's Inner Loop. It's not. Just stop.
They're the same. They both dedicate their entire street frontage to cars. It's not cherry-picked, this kind of development is common in LA. This shouldn't be controversial, Houston and LA are similar cities.

Get over this insanely thin skin you have already. Different/similar cities are always brought up in threads not specifically named in the OP and their urbanism compared, it's not off topic. You're not new, you know this. An agenda? lmfao Nah, just a city/urbanism nerd.
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  #126  
Old Posted May 7, 2021, 11:27 PM
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Originally Posted by The North One View Post
They're the same. They both dedicate their entire street frontage to cars. It's not cherry-picked, this kind of development is common in LA. This shouldn't be controversial, Houston and LA are similar cities.

Get over this insanely thin skin you have already. Different/similar cities are always brought up in threads not specifically named in the OP and their urbanism compared, it's not off topic. You're not new, you know this. An agenda? lmfao Nah, just a city/urbanism nerd.
This thread is about newly-constructed single family townhomes in Houston's Inner Loop, but you just want to post about crappy 65 year-old multi-family apartment buildings in Los Angeles. Obvious troll is obvious.
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  #127  
Old Posted May 8, 2021, 1:16 AM
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Originally Posted by craigs View Post
This thread is about newly-constructed single family townhomes in Houston's Inner Loop, but you just want to post about crappy 65 year-old multi-family apartment buildings in Los Angeles. Obvious troll is obvious.
He never stops. It's incredibly annoying.
Thing is he gets incredibly defensive at any slights against Detroit. He has the thinnest skin on this forum

He knows as much about LA as I do about Detroit. Nothing
Hes never been here, I've never been there.
He just uses Google maps

Saying LA and Houston are similar because of freeways, cars etc is the most generic and unimaginative comparison you could make.

Last edited by LA21st; May 8, 2021 at 1:37 AM.
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  #128  
Old Posted May 8, 2021, 4:11 AM
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Detroit's finest and LA forumers appear to be to most sensitive on this forum.

Of course, it makes sense when you think about it. Detroit has a horrible reputation and LA is an incredibly complex place that can't be explained well without experiencing it. Both are getting better every year, so there's that. But yeah.
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  #129  
Old Posted May 8, 2021, 4:41 AM
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I get annoyed when someone 2000 miles away who's never been here tries to discuss like he has, and he does it often.
It's bizarre. And then he gets mad for being called out as a troll.
I don't bring up Detroit because it's 2000 miles away and I've never been.
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  #130  
Old Posted May 8, 2021, 6:03 AM
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The Dodgers and the Tigers both suck. Come at me bro!
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  #131  
Old Posted May 8, 2021, 12:28 PM
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Is the Woodlands, TX walkable? What about Galveston?
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  #132  
Old Posted May 8, 2021, 1:03 PM
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Is the Woodlands, TX walkable? What about Galveston?
Absolutely not in terms of the Woodlands. Galveston was a sizable city in the late 19th century however. Arguably it would have become Texas's big city without the devastating Hurricane of 1900.

There's some traditional urbanity left in Galveston, even given what happened. There's an extensive downtown area - though it's not particularly "gentrified" and marred by parking craters in some areas. Has some beautiful architecture though. There's some nice semi-urban vernacular preserved immediately east of Downtown as well.

It's actually kind of a surprise it hasn't taken off more. It could be Texas's answer to Charleston or Savannah. But I guess the nearby presence of the oil industry is a big hindrance.
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  #133  
Old Posted May 8, 2021, 2:20 PM
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Galveston has the misfortune of having ugly silty beaches coupled with propensity for hurricanes which dampens prospects. Unlike Savannah or Charleston, most commercial activity move up to Houston while those two cities never ceded their economies to a nearby rival so abruptly. It still has a lot of untapped potential though, lots of great Victorian bones and close to Houston which is prosperous. The historic Strand area is more of an asset than the beaches.

Yeah, the Woodlands is a bedroom community surrounding a small shopping/ commercial area with a nice waterway.
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  #134  
Old Posted May 10, 2021, 2:49 PM
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Originally Posted by craigs View Post
This thread is about newly-constructed single family townhomes in Houston's Inner Loop, but you just want to post about crappy 65 year-old multi-family apartment buildings in Los Angeles. Obvious troll is obvious.
Okay forum police! I've been discussing urbanism and urban form on this forum for over a decade and so have most people here, and nobody is going to stop. You're in the CITY discussion sub-forum in case you didn't notice. I'm not going to tip toe around your stupid paper-thin fragile feelings just because you cant handle the urbanism that exists in your state being casually talked about. How old are you? Label me what whatever the fuck you want. I don't care.

This is the last time I'm responding to your nonsense. Your meltdowns will be lonely from now on.
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  #135  
Old Posted May 10, 2021, 3:02 PM
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Originally Posted by LA21st View Post

I don't bring up Detroit
That's funny because that's exactly what you've done, in actual troll fashion.

And I've ignored you and didn't care when you did that. Like the adult I am.


This is like thread #982378 where the psychotic California clan has attacked people and crushed discussion now.
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  #136  
Old Posted May 10, 2021, 4:13 PM
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Originally Posted by The North One View Post
That's funny because that's exactly what you've done, in actual troll fashion.

And I've ignored you and didn't care when you did that. Like the adult I am.
Y

This is like thread #982378 where the psychotic California clan has attacked people and crushed discussion now.

That's funny, everyone thinks you're the troll. Because you are.
And this thread had gotten back on topic again, until you came in again.

I've never seen someone care so much about a place they've never set foot in. You base everything off Google maps and pretend you're as knowledgeable as people who actually live here.
Maybe one day you'll realize how crazy that is.

Last edited by LA21st; May 10, 2021 at 4:23 PM.
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  #137  
Old Posted May 10, 2021, 5:59 PM
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Originally Posted by The North One View Post
They're the same. They both dedicate their entire street frontage to cars. It's not cherry-picked, this kind of development is common in LA. This shouldn't be controversial, Houston and LA are similar cities.
I'm thinking that if you want to compare L.A. to Houston, especially in the specific context of this thread, there are better examples than mid-century apartment buildings. I'm not at all sure how many examples like this exist, however.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/59...4d-118.3195125


And yes, I realize these are not detached townhomes, but there are tons of attached townhomes like this in Houston as well.
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  #138  
Old Posted May 11, 2021, 4:09 AM
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Originally Posted by bilbao58 View Post
I'm thinking that if you want to compare L.A. to Houston, especially in the specific context of this thread, there are better examples than mid-century apartment buildings. I'm not at all sure how many examples like this exist, however.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/59...4d-118.3195125


And yes, I realize these are not detached townhomes, but there are tons of attached townhomes like this in Houston as well.
They're called small lot houses, as Edale pointed out earlier. They're pretty common in rich/gentrified and middle class areas now.
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  #139  
Old Posted May 11, 2021, 5:34 AM
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Originally Posted by JManc View Post
Galveston has the misfortune of having ugly silty beaches coupled with propensity for hurricanes which dampens prospects. Unlike Savannah or Charleston, most commercial activity move up to Houston while those two cities never ceded their economies to a nearby rival so abruptly. It still has a lot of untapped potential though, lots of great Victorian bones and close to Houston which is prosperous. The historic Strand area is more of an asset than the beaches.

Yeah, the Woodlands is a bedroom community surrounding a small shopping/ commercial area with a nice waterway.
Has there been any thought of commuter rail between Houston and Galveston? It looks like Galveston has a very nice historic Train Station right on the Strand: https://www.google.com/maps/@29.3065...7i16384!8i8192 with trolley tracks to the beach and UTMB in front of it...

I guess the problem is where it would go on the Houston end...
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  #140  
Old Posted May 11, 2021, 7:14 AM
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Originally Posted by LA21st View Post
They're called small lot houses, as Edale pointed out earlier. They're pretty common in rich/gentrified and middle class areas now.
Doesn’t really matter what they’re called. They’re the same thing…just smaller garages.

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7490...7i16384!8i8192
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