Pianos and deed restrictions
My finger got smushed in a garage door last night. Makes typing difficult. Closing that garage door was the very, very last thing we did in our work session on the car. We met in one of the guys' studio, which is the garage of another friend of ours. He has every wood working tool known to man, which makes making a piano out of 3/4 inch plywood a lot easier than it sounds. The pieces of the piano are totally cut out now--top, bottom, legs and some internal supports, and we can start assembling it the next time we meet. I stood inside the "bar" and I think it's going to be very cool indeed. It's also going to be very heavy. I suspect we're going to have to put casters on the thing just to get it out of his garage.
Anyhow, the finger smushing incident was due to my inability to figure out how to close a garage door. I was using one of the panels as leverage, forgetting that as it went down, it would become flush with the panel below. The tip of my right middle finger is purple now.
In other news, there's a protest in my neighborhood this afternoon. Thanks to deed restrictions, I live in a part of Montrose that still has more bungalows than townhomes, but the developers are looming. There's a hunk of property caddy corner to Al's Quick/Qwik* Stop on Waugh and Welch that was recently purchased and looks like it's about to be more townhomes. Anyhow, there are still deed restrictions on these pieces of property, and my neighborhood association is launching a protest to the city that they're not following deed restrictions and city ordinances when they grant permits to these developers to make our neighborhood even more dense than it already is. From the press release: Hyde Park residents plan a peaceful protest and gathering at the corner of Waugh & Welch on Thursday afternoon at 5:00 p.m. to call attention to the City's repeated failure to enforce Hyde Park's Deed Restrictions, follow City Ordinance provisions providing notice to residents of applications to sub-divide lots, and other requirements that are designed to protect the neighborhood and its residents.
Hyde Park, a historic neighborhood in Houston, is a diverse community with deed restrictions and other protections in place. The residents of the area have been battling the Planning Department's "Rubber Stamp" for several years in an effort to stop developers from disregarding restrictions. While several bungalows and large trees have been destroyed, the citizens have become more organized as a result. Many residents feel that the City's repeated failure to hear their concerns are due to the fact that subdivision of lots brings in a higher tax base without raising taxes. While the individual lot values increase, the ability to improve the homes become more and more difficult if developers set a market for lot value only and the return on home improvement becomes marginal. Simply put: Hyde Park residents are not asking for any special treatment -- just the enforcement of what few protections are available.
A few years ago, my neighborhood won "Best Hidden Neighborhood" in the Houston Press. Best Hidden Neighborhood
Van Buren Street
While driving through the maddening traffic of West Gray from Waugh to Montrose, take a turn down Van Buren. What you will find is an enchanting little neighborhood, filled with duplexes, fourplexes, gingerbread houses and pink stucco homes that would fit in well in Bermuda. The residents are mostly young working people on their way up and eccentric folk who make their abodes look magical. One creative resident built a house out of cinder blocks and glass, with a profusion of bonsai trees. Other houses feature Buddhas and tiny ponds in their front yards. Whether you're looking for a place to live or just an interesting locale to meander through one Sunday, take a turn down one of the side streets and enjoy the good vibes.
The townhomes that keep going up and up and up around the neighborhood don't do anything at all to foster neighborhood life. They're garages on small plots of land with 2500square feet on top of them. The people who live there don't make an effort to get to know the rest of us (I'm on a first name basis with all of the bungalow dwellers on my block. With none of the townhouse dwellers.)
I don't object to townhouses on principle, but I do object to crappy, dense, poorly designed townhouses whose sole purpose are to be sold for $500,000 each on a $200,000 piece of property. They're ugly, they take away street parking, they have no relationship to the rest of the neighborhood, and they add congestion to already crowded streets. I made a point, as did almost everyone else in my neighborhood, to sign the deed restrictions a few years ago.
Anyhow, I'm not sure that I can make it by 5:00, but I'll try to swing by and honk as soon as I can.
*There are two signs. Depends on which one you're reading.
Anyhow, the finger smushing incident was due to my inability to figure out how to close a garage door. I was using one of the panels as leverage, forgetting that as it went down, it would become flush with the panel below. The tip of my right middle finger is purple now.
In other news, there's a protest in my neighborhood this afternoon. Thanks to deed restrictions, I live in a part of Montrose that still has more bungalows than townhomes, but the developers are looming. There's a hunk of property caddy corner to Al's Quick/Qwik* Stop on Waugh and Welch that was recently purchased and looks like it's about to be more townhomes. Anyhow, there are still deed restrictions on these pieces of property, and my neighborhood association is launching a protest to the city that they're not following deed restrictions and city ordinances when they grant permits to these developers to make our neighborhood even more dense than it already is. From the press release: Hyde Park residents plan a peaceful protest and gathering at the corner of Waugh & Welch on Thursday afternoon at 5:00 p.m. to call attention to the City's repeated failure to enforce Hyde Park's Deed Restrictions, follow City Ordinance provisions providing notice to residents of applications to sub-divide lots, and other requirements that are designed to protect the neighborhood and its residents.
Hyde Park, a historic neighborhood in Houston, is a diverse community with deed restrictions and other protections in place. The residents of the area have been battling the Planning Department's "Rubber Stamp" for several years in an effort to stop developers from disregarding restrictions. While several bungalows and large trees have been destroyed, the citizens have become more organized as a result. Many residents feel that the City's repeated failure to hear their concerns are due to the fact that subdivision of lots brings in a higher tax base without raising taxes. While the individual lot values increase, the ability to improve the homes become more and more difficult if developers set a market for lot value only and the return on home improvement becomes marginal. Simply put: Hyde Park residents are not asking for any special treatment -- just the enforcement of what few protections are available.
A few years ago, my neighborhood won "Best Hidden Neighborhood" in the Houston Press. Best Hidden Neighborhood
Van Buren Street
While driving through the maddening traffic of West Gray from Waugh to Montrose, take a turn down Van Buren. What you will find is an enchanting little neighborhood, filled with duplexes, fourplexes, gingerbread houses and pink stucco homes that would fit in well in Bermuda. The residents are mostly young working people on their way up and eccentric folk who make their abodes look magical. One creative resident built a house out of cinder blocks and glass, with a profusion of bonsai trees. Other houses feature Buddhas and tiny ponds in their front yards. Whether you're looking for a place to live or just an interesting locale to meander through one Sunday, take a turn down one of the side streets and enjoy the good vibes.
The townhomes that keep going up and up and up around the neighborhood don't do anything at all to foster neighborhood life. They're garages on small plots of land with 2500square feet on top of them. The people who live there don't make an effort to get to know the rest of us (I'm on a first name basis with all of the bungalow dwellers on my block. With none of the townhouse dwellers.)
I don't object to townhouses on principle, but I do object to crappy, dense, poorly designed townhouses whose sole purpose are to be sold for $500,000 each on a $200,000 piece of property. They're ugly, they take away street parking, they have no relationship to the rest of the neighborhood, and they add congestion to already crowded streets. I made a point, as did almost everyone else in my neighborhood, to sign the deed restrictions a few years ago.
Anyhow, I'm not sure that I can make it by 5:00, but I'll try to swing by and honk as soon as I can.
*There are two signs. Depends on which one you're reading.