Please Allow Me To Offer The Fullest Extension Of The Back Of My Hand To Opponents Of Houston’s Ashby High Rise
Please allow me to offer the fullest extension of the back of my hand to opponents of the Ashby High Rise here in Houston. The specific location of the Ashby High Rise is 1717 Bissonnet.
This absurdly tall building has been given a permit to go ahead by the City of Houston. It is a 23 story building in a residential neighborhood.
That’s Houston for you.
Normally I’d oppose this because developers are hyper-sleazy and I assume our Houston city government is rigged to favor developers over citizens.
In this case however, I find the opposition to the building by the affluent citizens of the impacted neighborhoods to be obnoxious. These people have yard signs and bumper stickers and a web site.
The neighborhood groups opposing the building are the so-called Boulevard Oaks Civic Club and the so-called Southampton Civic Club.
Where have these groups been in the past in promoting a citywide agenda to help make Houston a more decent place to live? In the time since this issue has been on the table—at least 18 months—where have these groups been in helping a cross-section of Houston fight developers and fight the overall blight that is a well-deserved trademark of Houston as a whole.
Many folks in Houston don’t have the resources for an organized opposition to runaway construction where they live.
Above is a picture of the Valero Refinery at 9701 Manchester in Houston. The picture is one I took a few nights ago as I took an evening ride in Houston. People live in close vicinity to this refinery. The air stinks. I’m not saying that this specific refinery is especially dirty. I have no way of knowing that.
I’m just saying that plenty of people in Houston live near these Blade Runner type scenes and live near the bad air and noisy trucks and trains that serve these industrial facilities. Nobody cares so much about folks living near refineries and chemical plants. Here is the latest Houston Chronicle story about a bad air alert in the Ship Channel area.
In the past I’ve suggested that the world’s tallest building or a biosphere be built at the Ashby High Rise location.
With the permit a go, I simply hope that the building is built. If for some reason the building is not constructed, maybe a refinery and extension of the Ship Channel to the Ashby High Rise area would be a good idea. Such a project would create jobs that are no doubt needed by people who live near refineries and the Ship Channel.
2 Comments »
Leave a Reply
Welcome To Texas Liberal
Texas Liberal is a blog of politics and political history.
My name is Neil Aquino. Here is my profile.
I can be reached at naa618@att.net.
Additional focuses of the blog are books, art, poetry, personal relationships and, also, sea life and marine mammals.
( The picture above is of the Houston Ship Channel. A narrow channel can lead to a wide sea.)
The signature post of this blog is the Martin Luther King Reading & Reference List. This list is the best of it’s kind on the web.
Another good post is my reciting the words to the Shaker hymn Simple Gifts on Galveston Island, Texas as a ship passes behind.
I live in Houston, Texas and I do sometimes write about political issues in Houston and in Texas.
I also often write about my former hometown of Cincinnati, and about the great beach city of Galveston, Texas.
I define liberalism as a role for government in the economy to help make life more fair, and a broad acceptance of people regardless of who they are.
This is why it says “All People Matter” at the top of the blog.
A blog grows one reader at a time. If you like what you read here, please consider forwarding the link.
Texas Liberal began regular posting on July 25, 2006.
I also blog at the Houston Chronicle as one of eight featured political bloggers, and on Where’s The Outrage? which posts out of North Carolina.
Thanks for reading Texas Liberal.
Recent Comments
Tim Murphy on Mel Gibson & Siouxsie… Sof on Mel Gibson & Siouxsie… Bill Shirley (@bshir… on “Houston” Sculptur… JD on Black Man Drives Car With Conf… Blessthismess on Mel Gibson & Siouxsie…
Global Voices- Transgender girl from Russia commits suicide in a refugee camp
- The new normal after Turkey's earthquake: A TV host and comedian gives his take
- Is OpenAI biased? We checked so you won't have to
- Women in Turkey march to mark International Women's Day, despite state pressure
- Former imam recites children's folk song in Kahramanmaras, Turkey
- In Turkey telecommunications watchdog blocks access to popular website Ekşi Sözlük
- After Turkey's earthquake, a fireman adopts the cat he rescued from the rubble
- Those who are in these coffins will no longer hear Putin's chatter about ‘everything is going according to plan’
Texas Liberal 
Mr. Aquino’s feelings about the “affluent citizens” impacted by Ashby highrise are interesting. They don’t seem to square with his definition of liberalism which includes the phrase “a broad acceptance of people regardless of who they are”. Perhaps he needs to modify the words “All People Matter” in the mast of his blog. In any event, hopefully the actions of those affluent folks in standing up to a developer will set a precedent for all to follow.
Mr. Williams—I can accept you and still disagree with you. It’s your actions that are obnoxious. The fact that you have to resources to put up such a fuss while others are out of luck is relevant to the issue.
Thanks for the comment.