Events

by

Richwood Place Civic Association General Meeting

The next scheduled general meeting for the Richwood Place Civic Association will be held on Tuesday, May 11th, at 7PM.  The location for the meeting is Zoe’s Kitchen, at the west end of Norfolk and Portsmouth streets at Shepherd.

We’ve got updates on deed restriction proceedings, neighborhood security issues, a financial update, and other pertinent matters related to Richwood Place.

Hope to see all of you there on Tuesday!

by

Board Meeting

There will be a RPCA board meeting on Monday, May 10th at 7PM at 1922 Lexington. Everyone is welcome to attend, and I would like to encourage all committee members and block captains to attend. If you are a block captain and cannot attend, please send me a short update on your block since the last general meeting, so that we can include it in our agenda.

by

April Updates

I have consolidated a few updates into a single post below:

  • I will attend the Neartown Montly Meeting tomorrow, April 27, at 7pm at the Cherryhurst Park Community Center, 1700 Missouri St, Houston, TX 77006.  The meeting agenda will include an update on the University Rail Line and the latest on the HEB Development.  Please feel free to attend as well.
  • A gentle reminder that the next Richwood Place Civic Association general meeting will be held Tuesday, May 11, at 7pm at Zoe’s restaurant on Shephard and Portsmouth.  Please plan to attend.
  • The next Neartown Development Forum will be held Saturday May 15th, 9 a.m – 1 p.m. at St. Stephen’s church Pecore Hall.  I will post the agenda when it becomes available.
  • Swamplot recently posted a HEB development update, including information about the variance application submitted by the new owners.
  • richmondrail.org recently published the METRO operations review findings from Mayor Parker’s transition team task force, which includes some commentary about the University Line as well as a link to a HoustonTomorrow article that provides a summary of the reports.
  • The examiner reports Buffalo Bayou could soon be named a National Heritage Area.  If approved, Buffalo Bayou will be the first National Heritage Area in the State of Texas and the Buffalo Bayou National Heritage Area can receive up to $1 million annually for 10 years.
  • KTRK posted an article about the recent city council vote to raise water and sewer rates.
by

Tuesday Night out for Richmond Rail – Marie Selma

The many wonderful restaurants along Richmond Avenue play a big part in making Neartown, Upper Kirby, and Greenway Plaza vital places to live and work. Studies show that restaurants are often the first businesses to benefit when rail service begins — rail transit brings hungry customers! But many Richmond restaurant owners are fearful of the disruption created during rail construction.

It’s in our interest to ensure Richmond businesses survive and thrive. Tuesday Nights Out are our way of showing Richmond business owners that RichmondRail supporters are their customers today and will continue to support them throughout construction. When we show up as a group of customers sporting green and white RichmondRail buttons and t-shirts, it sends a powerful message that we support rail and we support their businesses.

This month’s Night Out will be held at Marie Selma – 1617 Richmond Avenue.

by

$10 Trees Today Only

I just caught this on the morning news. Today from 8:00 AM to noon, Trees for Houston has trees for all Houstonians, just in time for Arbor Day! For a suggested donation of $10, you can choose four-foot-tall or larger tree. Then, with a little work and care, you will soon have something beautiful that can be enjoyed for generations.

4000 Greenbriar @ US 59

Available tree species inclues : Sycamore | Loblolly | Pine Live Oak | Shumard Red Oak Cedar Elm | Bald Cypress

by

City of Houston Off-Street Parking Community Meetings next 3 weeks

Off-Street Parking Community Meetings
The Houston Planning Commission is examining off-street parking issues and whether changes to Chapter 26 of the Code of Ordinances are needed. Some of the topics that will be discussed include, but are not limited to shared parking, parking management areas, types of occupancy and intensity of use (i.e. bars, types of restaurants, etc.), parking incentives for development along transit corridors or for restoration of historic buildings, lifts and valet parking, just to name a few.
 
The community meetings are as follows:
 
Wednesday, April 7 from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Havens Center1827 W. Alabama, Houston, TX 77098
 
Wednesday, April 14 from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Judson Robinson Jr. Community Center2020 Hermann Dr, Houston, TX  77004
Wednesday, April 21 from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
United Way of Greater Houston
50 Waugh Drive, Houston, TX 77007
 
You may access the existing parking ordinance at
http://library.municode.com/index.aspx?clientId=10123&stateId=43&stateName=Texas; choose Chapter 26 in the left window.
 
If unable to attend one of the meetings, comments and ideas may be submitted by email to parkingcomments@cityofhouston.net or by mail to Dipti Mathur, City of Houston Planning Department, P.O. Box 1562, Houston, TX 77251. The process may be followed on the Planning and Development Department’s website at www.houstonplanning.com.

by

Neartown Meeting — March 2010

I attended the March 2010 Neartown meeting this evening, hosted by David Robinson, the Neartown president, at the Cherryhurst Park Community Center. Richwood Place is now a member in good standing of the Neartown association. The meeting was attended by members and officers of Neartown Civic Associations as well as representatives from the offices of Council Member Wanda Adams, Council Member Stephen Costello, and Senator Rodney Ellis.

You can expect that minutes will be posted on the Neartown web site, but I have a few notes from the discussion topics:

Capital Improvement Planning

    The Neartown Association is working on a number of CIP requests on behalf of the superneighborhood and the 21 civic associations that Neartown represents. David Robinson, Neartown President, has complained to the city and our council members about the lack of transparency in this process and the difficulty of the request process.Richwood Place has submitted a request to Council Member Adams and I will forward that request to Neartown’s leadership. There are many other neighborhoods in our superneighborhood that are having severe sewage problems and other matters that need to be addressed by CIP as soon as possible.

Carnegie Vanguard High School

    Carnegie Vanguard High School (web site) is a HISD magnet school for gifted and talented students. It is currently located in South Houston and will be relocating to Taft and West Gray in 2012. They will have 600 students in 2012.

    They are currently seeking a parking variance to prevent having to create an excess number of parking spots on a green lot. The city requires they have in excess of 300 parking spots, but they only have 104 in their current location and are requesting a variance to allow 225 parking spots.

HEB

    There has been a lot of talk in the neighborhood, in the news, and on this web site about a proposed HEB on the corner of Dunlavy and West Alabama, which by some is considered the most valuable piece of open property in the city. HEB has purchased the property. They have applied for a re-plat without variances. This does not require a vote before the planning commission.

    The City has encouraged HEB to work with Neartown and the association President has met with HEB’s Director of Real Estate at HEB’s corporate headquarters. He reports that HEB has hired an arborist to assist with the tree-filled property and that HEB is pointing out that a supermarket would create new jobs, be an increase in the tax base, and that they could offer a green plan that is conservation oriented.

    Representatives at the meeting discussed a number of potential layouts, traffic issues, and land use concerns. The property is on the agenda for the City of Houston Planning Committee on April 1st.

There will be a Neartown Development Forum at the end of May for residents to work together and with the city to discuss the development and planning of the Montrose area. I will post an update when there are more concrete details.

by

Neartown Leaders Meet Tonight! (March 3)

Sorry for the late notice — I just got this email:

The Neartown Presidents Council will meet this evening at 7:00 PM at the Black Lab on Montrose to coordinate this year’s Super Neighborhood application for City of Houston – CIP Funding. Civic Association Presidents and other Officers are encouraged to attend this event, bringing ideas that will be presented at this coming weekend’s CIP Work Session, sponsored by District D Council Member Wanda Adams.

Please comment on this post or email if you can attend. Additionally, I will be emailing the RPCA CIP committee to see who can represent Richwood place.