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Last Chance to Register for Delange Conference on Sustainable Cities

• Architecture

Mathematician and former Bogotá mayor Antanas Mockus [Photo by Julián Ortega Martínez / equinoXio]

Time is running out for on-line registration for the March 2-4 Delange Conference at Rice University. The theme is "Transforming the Metropolis: Creating Sustainable and Humane Cities." The speaker line up mixes local people with international stars. Houston Mayor Bill White will speak on a panel with Mustafa Syed Kamal, mayor of Karachi, Pakistan; Antanas Mockus, former mayor of Bogotá; and Shuki Forer, mayor of Rehovot, Israel. Saski Sassen, a Columbia professor and author of The Global City, is scheduled to give a 30-minute talk Monday afternoon after Rice President David Leebron.

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Open House at SKYDIVE

• Architecture

David Krueger and Greg Donner building a straw bale house in West Texas [Courtesy SKYDIVE]

Located in the same Montrose building as Skybar, SKYDIVE is currently showing "OPEN HOUSE," a collaborative exhibition by Jon Brumit and Sarah Wagner, through March 11. The space, a new artist studio/exhibition space/anarchist-inspired school, is open to the public Saturdays 1-5 pm. This Saturday, February 28, at 2 pm and the next week, March 7, they are holding a "Free School for the Arts." Sasha Dela, the curator and a former Core fellow, explained what inspired the free school. "I teach at universities and have found what I want to teach is not included in the programming at the universities," she said. "I wanted a place where new things can happen, something interdisciplinary, where people can volunteer to teach a class or students can propose a class. There is a long tradition of free schools, an anarchist tradition that started in Spain. There are no charges. We may go off-site or stay at Skydive." Here are the details about the classes and the exhibition: Building a Green Home in Houston Saturday February 28, 2009 2-4pm Take a tour with designer John Smith through his new house currently under construction. He will highlight the sustainable aspects of the design and will discuss residential development from an architect’s perspective. Build your own house! Saturday, March 7, 2009 4-6pm On March 7th come and see a slideshow of a visionary project begun by two local artists Greg Donner and David Krueger. The project, initiated in 2006 in far West Texas, involves the construction of a straw bale building and ultimately several studios that will be available for artists and others to work or use as a retreat for spiritual reflection. OPEN HOUSE February 12-March 11 The exhibition itself sound fascinating, whether or not you can participate in the schools. Through their many experiments with notions of home, Chicago based artist couple Jon Brumit and Sarah Wagner will create a survey through drawing, photos and sculpture in the SKYDIVE space. Here's what they have to say: “Home, for us, has been re-discovered and re-invented in our hearts and minds as the multiform and frequently fugitive structural relationship between ourselves and something larger than ourselves. It is our families, each other, our cats, our friends, former houses, dorm rooms, stories, a houseboat, dreams, foods, moving trucks, our studios, vans, tents, bike bags, friends' couches, an in-progress container home, our newest $100 home in Detroit and most importantly and perhaps most constantly each other - a morphing, evolving and strengthening bond through time and space, going on 17 years as a couple. Over this time we have worked together as artists, sculptors, builders, remodelers, repair-people and most recently as designers, growing through spirited and fierce dialog, sharing dreams, visions and hope.”

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Houston Belongs to the Cars

• Infrastructure

Buffalo Bayou Montage [Shannon Stoney]

Shortly after I moved to Houston, I had the weird thought that it was actually a city where cars were in charge and ran the city. Humans were just sort of their servants. We provide them places to park; we maintain them and gas them up. The actual environment of Houston looks more like an environment a car would think of than one a human would want: all those miles of concrete ramps, some of them way up in the air! Some parts of Houston look like an amusement park for cars, especially where several freeways come together. The other day I saw an article about a conference where a man named Timothy Papandreou elaborated on that idea. Papandreou discusses the fact that cities like Houston and LA (where he worked as a transportation manager) force people to drive even when they would rather bicycle or walk. I live within easy bicycling distance of my job--about four miles--but the ride would be so uncomfortable and dangerous that I don't bicycle there: I drive. Walking would be equally unpleasant, because I-45 separates me from my workplace, and I would have to somehow pass under it, along with a lot of fast-moving cars. So, the environment is convenient and fun for cars; not so much for the human in her own little soft, vulnerable body. Papandreou imagines alternative uses for all that concrete space that we devote to cars--the freeways and parking lots. What if all the cars disappeared? Wouldn't it be great fun to ride your bike down I-45, with several hundred of your closest friends? In Walker Percy's novel, Love in the Ruins, Percy imagines a future world where interstate highways have turned into crumbling picturesque ruins, covered with kudzu vines. I look forward to it.

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Headlines February 16 to 20

• Architecture

Joe Icet at the Emile Community Farm [Photo from lastorganicoutpost.com] Friday February 20 Metro's piece of stimulus is $92 million / Funds may go to light rail, but decision not final [Houston Chronicle] "The money could be used to begin construction of Metro's North and Southeast rail lines or to buy additional rail cars." Thursday February 19 DIRT RICH / Field of greens / Joe Icet's ‘big old life' is an inner-city farm [Lisa Gray, Houston Chronicle] "About 10 years ago, on land in the Fifth Ward, Icet built a little house with help from his son, and they started an organic garden in the backyard. That garden grew and kept growing, swallowing the junk-strewn lots next door. Old tires were replaced with onions, cabbages, tomatoes and okra." Wilshire Village Apartments: Fire Hazard, Everybody Out! [Swamplot] Wilshire Village is condemned by the fire department. Also see the West University Examiner report. Continental Club Owners to Renovate Second Main Street Block [Swamplot] Six groups: Add city to bad air list / Their petition says the public is breathing unhealthy levels of soot [Houston Chronicle] "Houston's concentrations of soot - a piercing mix of airborne matter from diesel exhaust, industrial flares and road grit, among other sources - exceeded the EPA's yearly standards from 2005 to 2007, according to the most recent federal data available. JERSEY VILLAGE / Creating an urban canopy / Residents unite to beautify city with trees [Houston Chronicle] FIFTH WARD / Good times to roll again in Frenchtown / Community will mark its past with historical markers Saturday [Houston Chronicle] "The Prejeans came to Houston after the Mississippi levees broke in 1927. After working in Beaumont and a cotton farm in Brazoria County, Victorien Prejean got a job at Houston's meat-packing plant. He built a house out of boxcar lumber in the 1940s at 3311 Lelia St." FACES IN THE CROWD / He made his own electric car / Manvel man converts Beetle, which gets 50 miles a charge [Houston Chronicle] CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN: DISTRICT D / Repairs to streets, sewer lines top list / City's cost affected by age of infrastructure [Houston Chronicle] Eastwood officials breathe new life into community [Houston Chronicle] Homes rescue vast in scope / Obama's plan calls for up to $275 billion to aid homeowners [Houston Chronicle] "Will the plan aid Houston- area homeowners? Experts said it's geared more toward markets where foreclosures are more severe. "This is just not a Houston issue," David Zugheri of Envoy Mortgage said. Foreclosures in Harris County were essentially flat last year, totaling 11,837. And those "under water" on mortgages in Texas is "miniscule," said Mark Dotzour, chief economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University." Katy residents to pay higher water rates / Hike reflects conversion costs, which will rise in next 10 years[Houston Chronicle] "Starting this month, city of Katy residents will pay higher water rates to support a local water authority's project to convert users from ground to surface water. The West Harris County Regional Water Authority increased the groundwater pumpage rate it charges to Katy by 10 cents to 95 cents per 1,000 gallons pumped." Airport in line for funding under federal economic stimulus plan [Houston Chronicle] "'We would have additional runway length, which offers more options and flexibility to our visitors,' said Scott E. Smith, airport director...Commissioners Court also directed Smith to study the potential for a longer runway, capable of handling large passenger planes from Immigration and Customs Enforcement." Green space may show patriotic colors / Sugar Land considers task force proposal [Houston Chronicle] MANVEL / City Hall may get a second story / Latest plan for expansion would cost at least $1 million [Houston Chronicle] Wednesday February 18 Foreclosures cast a shadow / They made up one-third of area home sales last month, driving down the median price [Houston Chronicle] Tuesday February 17 Despite extension, plan to move Katrina, Rita evacuees still on / HUD has given few details about the reprieve for hurricane victims [Houston Chronicle] Lawmakers hope Texans plug in to greener cars / A hefty rebate may be incentive for newer hybrids [Houston Chronicle] "The objective of this rebate program is to clean the air," said state Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, who has filed an omnibus clean-air and energy bill that would give a $4,000 state subsidy to plug-in hybrid buyers. New Kendall will be library, community center [Memorial Examiner] "Besides housing a library and a community center, the building will be the first three-story building in the Houston system, and the first to have a drive-up window. The site at 609 N. Eldridge will also serve as a city park and a trailhead to Terry Hershey Park." Monday February 16 MOVE IT! / Bill protects ‘vulnerable' road users / Pedestrians, cyclists among those addressed [Houston Chronicle] "'You might be expecting me to say that drivers in Houston are awful and bicycling is unsafe,' said Peter Wang, a Bike Houston board member. 'What I found is, if you're trained properly, you make your own safety to a large extent.' ... Under Ellis' bill, co-authored by state Sen. John Carona, D-Dallas, drivers would have to get out of a traffic lane used by a vulnerable road user if another is available. Motorists should pass them at a "safe distance" of more than 3 feet if the motorist is in a car or light truck. Six feet would be considered safe for heavy trucks or commercial vehicles. Seven states, including Arizona, Florida and Oklahoma, have similar laws on their books, according to Ellis' office."

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The Philip Johnson Tapes: Interviews by Robert A.M. Stern, Edited by Kazys Varnelis

• Architecture, Reviews

Philip Johnson at age 95 [Photo by B. Pietro Filardo, Wikimedia Commons]

The Philip Johnson Tapes is a juicy romp through the greater part of twentieth-century American architectural culture narrated by Johnson (1906-2005) to his good friend and acolyte, Robert A.M. Stern, during the course of several months in 1985. Philip Johnson is dead, long live Philip Johnson! The recording of his gossipy utterances has become something of a cottage industry. Some examples focus more on the man and less on the architecture: Philip Johnson: The Architect in His Own Words (1994); Philip Johnson: Life & Work (1996); Philip Johnson & Texas (2000). For me, when Johnson died in 2005, it was almost as if some part of modern architecture died with him. Too young and far away from New York to have known him as a power player on the contemporary scene, I will always recall Johnson as a strange, wrinkled, seemingly immortal chimera, or maybe vampire, hovering at the edges of American architecture culture. This book, written as a dialog between Johnson and Stern with Johnson doing most of the talking, shows how deeply entwined he was in the formation this culture. Chapters include those on his upbringing and education at the Harvard GSD under Gropius, activities at MoMA, his fascist interlude, armed service in World War II, his architectural practice, and several discussions about such seminal projects as the Seagram Building and Lincoln Center. Of particular interest to Houstonians will be the passages describing people who worked with him in Houston: Hugo V. Neuhaus Jr. (“There was one boy who was much richer than I was [at the Harvard GSD in 1940],” 78.); Dominique de Menil (“She had violent artistic taste,” 119); Jane Blaffer Owen (“Her interest in me was physical,” 168); and Gerald Hines (“…if we couldn’t persuade him, we did what he said,” 181). Johnson is credited with bringing Modernism to Texas and pretty much everywhere else in this country. The book sheds light on how he became so influential through what Varnelis describes as Johnson’s “endless discussion of who he knew, when he knew them and what connections he was able to make,” a “dangerous history…that could not be revealed during his lifetime” (194). But really, and as the designers among us can all attest, isn’t all architecture made of this? Who knew who? What was your lucky break? A client, e.g. your mother or college roommate made good, a publication, a friendly critic? What interested me in reading these interviews was to see Johnson outlining this activity with such precision and obvious pleasure, when, as Varnelis implies, it should rather be concealed so critics and the public can revel in the unanalyzed eruption of "genius" (Zeitgeist, perhaps?) that underlie conventional architecture history narratives. The only other book I have read that dared explore this “dangerous” theme was Roxanne Williamson’s mostly forgotten American Architects and the Mechanics of Fame (1991). Had Williamson written twenty years later, it would have been satisfying to see her meticulously chart Johnson’s personal and business connections as she did those of Sullivan, Wright, Richardson, McKim, Mead & White, Latrobe, Bulfinch, Kahn, and those she labeled “The European Immigrant Masters in the Twentieth Century.” The chapter on the Seagram Building (1958) best illuminates the manner in which Johnson the critic and Johnson the architect acted both as handmaiden and midwife to the creation of important works of architecture, or, in this case, an uncontested masterpiece of modern design. It started when Phyllis Bronfman Lambert, daughter of Samuel Bronfman, president of the Joseph E. Seagram Company, the largest distiller of alcoholic beverages in the world, “felt something was wrong” (137) with the way her father’s company was planning to build a new headquarters building in Manhattan. She was directed to Johnson, then director of the Department of Architecture, after inquiring at MoMA to seek advice. Johnson accompanied her on a series of interviews with prominent architects (Pei, Saarinen, Wright). He specifically said he “kept completely still” (137) when she spoke of Mies. But what does that mean? By the 1950s, Johnson had known Mies for over twenty years; he had hired Mies to design the interior fit out for his apartment in 1930 and had written the first monograph in any language on the architect as part of a MoMA exhibition in 1947. We may never know how "still" he completely was when asked to enumerate Mies’s merits. Was this obvious silence, in contrast to his volubility in discussing the others, perhaps a signal to Lambert of Johnson's respect for Mies? During the course of design and construction Johnson “filled in the little holes where Mies either didn’t want to or didn’t complete things.” (141). When challenged by Paul Rudolph on this subservient relationship, Johnson countered that “I got my foot in the door by working with Mies” (147). Johnson surely took pleasure in seeing Mies's rise from a semi-obscure apartment outfitter to become one of the most respected architects in the world due in no small part to his acolyte's tireless stumping. Shortly after, Johnson made the transition from a house architect to a designer of large buildings. The cover of Peter Blake’s monograph, Philip Johnson (1996) shows his mature masterpiece, Pennzoil Place (1976), a twinned, sharply angular office tower in Houston built for Hines and clad in a dark-tinted glass skin that bears more than a passing resemblance to Seagrams of some twenty years earlier. The crisp graphic design, especially the helpful footnotes giving additional information on the many dropped names, along with interesting illustrations (it was fun to see a photo of Hugo Neuhaus’s house in Houston), make this book a pleasant read. Hopefully we can look forward to seeing more like it. The Philip Johnson Tapes: Interviews by Robert A.M. Stern Edited by Kazys Varnelis Monacelli Press 2008, 207 pages, Hardcover, $40 Designed by Michael Beirut of Pentagram

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$olar $avings: Are Affordable Solar Powered Houses Possible?

• Architecture, Environment

Erin Morrison and Professor Brent Houchens assemble the frame and header for an Apricus evacuated tube collector for a solar water heater. [Photo from Ze-Row Blog]

The Fall issue of Cite included a short piece (pdf) on the Rice University Solar Decathlon Team. David Dewane, the lead architecture student, provides an update and analysis. Rice students from the departments of architecture and engineering are engaged in a joint venture that seeks to answer one simple question: Can a 100 percent solar-powered house be affordable? The answer, so far, is yes. There are a few catches, though. First of all, the question is highly subjective. Two points have to be clarified: 1) the size of the house and 2) what exactly one means by affordable. In terms of size, the solution proposed by our team of designers for the Rice Zero Energy Row house (ZERow) was to scale back the size of the house to a very modest 650 square feet of conditioned space. While this might at first seem shockingly small, several devices (such as an open plan, high ceilings, and providing shaded outdoor spaces for exterior living) are employed to increase comfort and livability. There is also a reciprocal relationship between how much volume a modestly-sized solar array can condition. In order to maximize the potential of every watt harvested from the sun, efficiency must reign. As for affordability, the ZERow is a 99k base house outfitted with a 30k array for a grand total of $130,000. The economic model is built for distance, not for speed. For 130k, you get a house suitable for one or two people that will be energy independent (and under warranty) for twenty years. A thirty-year mortgage with an interest rate of 6% would yield a monthly payment of $872. That would be about 25% of a household with $40,000 annual income. While this is still out of the range of low-income families, it is well within the range of those of average income. Once you are responsible for producing your own energy, you quickly come to terms with the finite nature of the resource. Most of us are already all too familiar with the finite nature of our financial resources. There is a possibility that through innovative design we can move in a direction that is both more environmentally sensible and economically viable. While the ZERow is far from innovative on some fronts, it is an important piece of research that will hopefully be foundational in the push for affordable sustainable design in the future. *The ZERow house is the Rice University’s 2009 entry to the Department of Energy-sponsored Solar Decathlon. Upon completion, it will be donated to Project Row Houses where it will provide housing to a low-income household. The Rice Building Workshop, who manages the design and construction of the ZERow, aspires to continue refining this model in order to make solar energy viable for people of more modest incomes. For more information please visit ricesolardecathlon.org. You can make a donation to our team. Typically, these projects are funded by architecture, engineering, and construction firms, but the recent economic downturn has caused these industries to run for cover. Luckily, we are building a low-income house, so our overall funding goals are more modest. Nevertheless, we are currently short of our fundraising goal and every donation (no matter how small) really helps. Thanks in advance for any generosity - it is all the more meaningful in these economically stern days.

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After the Firestorm: The Future of Civic Art

• Art & Culture

Rendering of "Doughty Do" by Sharon Engelstein. The installation to open in March 29 at the Animal Service Facility includes 38 cast aluminum horses and two dogs.

In November 2008, the Houston Arts Alliance was the target of an ABC13 Wayne Dolcefino report on the civic art program. The segment—titled “Where’s the Art?”—questions the purpose of Nancy Retz’s “Synchronicity of Color” installations at Discovery Green. The structures, which cover stairwells, are repeatedly referred to as a “waste” by an interviewee. The report goes on to question the rate at which projects have been completed. The civic art team at the Houston Arts Alliance has responded with an exhibit and series of discussions at the Space125gallery about upcoming plans for Houston municipal artwork. It includes sketches, design elements, information about the process, and examples of civic artwork. The next event is tomorrow, Thursday, February 19 from 6:00 to 7:30pm. It features artist Sharon Engelstein and Cite editorial committee member José Solis. A bit of history: ten years ago, the city adopted an ordinance that sets aside 1.75 percent of municipal construction costs (not including price of land or road projects for example) to go to the development of civic art. During the past ten years, the city's collection has grown to include upwards of 400 pieces. The vast majority of these pieces are found in local parks and libraries, while a significant portion are paintings held by various city departments. The nine projects currently in the pipeline for Houston include several exciting works by locally prominent and nationally known artists: mosaics produced through community collaboration by Reginald Adams, a huge mural at the Looscan neighborhood library by Bert Long, the row of 38 carrousel horses by Sharon Englestein, and the proposed bridge collaboratively designed by Elmgreen + Dragset and SWA Group set to cross Buffalo Bayou at Montrose. The Space125gallery exhibition at 3201 Allen Parkway will be on view until March 6.

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Headlines February 7 to 15

• Architecture

Mayor's press conference announcing the March 22 2009 Tour de Houston [Photo by Raj Mankad]

Sunday February 15 25 random things about Houston [Houston Chronicle] Lisa Gray infects Chronicle readers with an incessant Facebook meme. Tinsley's legacy - in her words [Houston Chronicle] Eleanor Tinsley, former city council member and great leader in improving Houston's built environment, died of cancer last week. She is quoted from an oral history project: "I started what we called SPARK school parks. The idea is to use school grounds that we, the public, already own..." Mourners recall woman of strength, humanity / Activist leader also lauded for her ‘will of steel' [Houston Chronicle] Words of praise for Eleanor Tinsley, whose memorial service was Saturday. Officer's message: Stay off the tracks [Houston Chronicle] "We have critical schools, predominantly in the East End and Fifth Ward. Working with the Houston-Galveston Area Council and Houston Independent School District, we mapped out schools in proximity of railroad tracks and coupled that with schools that have railroad tracks where kids get hurt or where trains routinely block crossings." On the Streets of Montrose / It comes with the territory / Neighborhood deals with reality of street life [Houston Chronicle] A perplexing article on Montrose sex workers. Saturday February 14 WHEN BIG BOXES PACK UP AND GO / As large stores in strip centers close, neighboring businesses are hurt, too [Houston Chronicle] Friday February 13 The gentle radical / Refined, collegial and visionary, Eleanor Tinsley helped shape modern Houston. [Houston Chronicle] "It's now a commonplace that with every new bit of green space, Houston's quality of life and allure for new residents blooms. But when Tinsley campaigned for these improvements, many thought them too trivial for the city to bother with. Now they are the capital on which Houston is building its future." Thursday February 12 ALIEF/SOUTHWEST HOUSTON / Probable near-flat city budget puts strain on projects / Residents seek road work on S. Gessner and Bissonnet areas and Extended Bicycle Path on Keegan's Bayou [Houston Chronicle] Alamo School among state's endangered sites / Galveston's Strand/Mechanic district also one of 11 sites listed [Houston Chronicle] District C residents seek more from city of Houston [Houston Chronicle] "Dan Menendez of the city's Public Works and Engineering Department, said there was about $45 million in projects under way or scheduled for District C, which encompasses the Inner Loop, Neartown and Sharpstown areas." City can't help repair theater / Restoration will have to come from foundations, mayor says [Houston Chronicle] Barry Moore, from the Gensler firm, said the Capitan is the best of the four remaining movie palaces in the Houston area. Access for local riders still needs some work / Advocate feels Harris County doesn't have plan for people to get around on bikes [Houston Chronicle] "The county's road-improvement projects, observes cycling advocate and safety instructor Peter Wang, invariably trade shoulders for curbs." PASADENA / Park and ride coming [Houston Chronicle] GALVESTON AFTER IKE / Museum derailed by storm / Despite suffering $7 million in damages, officials hope Galveston facility and its trains can be refurbished [Houston Chronicle] A home away from home / Friendswood's Verla Perry helps care for historic house in the city [Houston Chronicle] ALVIN / City seeks stimulus funds / Money would be used for wastewater plant, road project [Houston Chronicle] Ike report urges state to take lead in disasters / Lawmakers criticize feds for slow response [Houston Chronicle] "Recommendations ranged from expansive measures such as restoring a Level 1 trauma center at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, to simple steps such as requiring that every asphalt shingle on Gulf Coast roofs be secured with six nails rather than four." Wednesday February 11 1926 ELEANOR TINSLEY 2009 / A genteel public crusader / Billboards and school segregation among her targets [Houston Chronicle] Love those live oaks / Houston's favorite trees pose no threat to our power lines. Let's plant more of them. [Houston Chronicle] Tuesday February 10 Ike recovery plan is called inequitable / Officials say proposed funding would shortchange areas in need [Houston Chronicle] "Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said the plan short-changes the county's unincorporated areas and small cities such as Shoreacres, where almost 6 out of 10 houses were destroyed or suffered more than 50 percent damage." Monday February 9 Metro is eager to put stimulus funds to work / Brochure lays out $410 million plan for HOV change, expanded rail [Houston Chronicle] Residents blast proposed overpass / East End leaders, owners say Metro's plans for rail line project would harm community [Houston Chronicle] Paying for tracks / With transit money scarce, Metro's light rail expansion needs stimulus dollars. [Houston Chronicle] "According to Frank Wilson, Metro is looking to eventually receive about $800 million from the federal government for construction of the North, Southeast, East End and Uptown/Galleria lines that are slated for completion in 2012. The more controversial University line, including a stretch on Richmond, will require additional funding and will be the last to be completed, possibly in 2013. 'The serious money will come from the transportation reauthorization bill and that's a year, worst case two years away,' says Wilson. 'University will be at the front of the line with all the engineering done and all the contracts negotiated and ready to go when that reauthorization bill is approved.' The line will cost more than a billion dollars, with Metro hoping the federal government covers half that amount. Sunday February 8 After the whirlwind . . . [Houston Chronicle] Lisa Gray on Dan Havel and Dean Ruck's latest work. Developer thinks small [Houston Chronicle] "One of the nation's largest home builders is rolling out a new model: an 881-square-foot house designed to appeal to singles and couples without children. The apartment-size homes are being built by Los Angeles-based KB Home in Willow Springs, a subdivision off Texas 249 west of Interstate 45...They start at $63,995." Saturday February 7 HOUSTON PAVILIONS' UNLUCKY BREAK / Funding problems put opening of bowling alley at entertainment site on hold [Houston Chronicle]

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I fought the infrastructure and the infrastructure won

• Architecture, Infrastructure

Bolt on sidewalk on Old Spanish Trail

When I lived in Houston Heights, I could walk to the grocery store, the post office, the drug store, the public library, the hardware store, the bank, and the garden center. And I did. But recently my partner and I moved to University Oaks, a small neighborhood attached to the south end of the UH campus. It's a nice, pretty, quiet, safe neighborhood, and Tom can walk to work, and my commute to HCC Southeast is much shorter. But...there are very few amenities we can walk to, other than the campus. I didn't want to be defeated though or deflected from my habit of walking to do errands, so shortly after we moved, I tried to find a post office within walking distance. Google maps informed me that there was one on Griggs Rd, about 1.8 miles away. That's do-able. So in early September I set off to find my local neighborhood post office. I walked along Brays Bayou, then over a bridge, then past a park, and then I turned onto Old Spanish Trail. That's when things got ugly. I had noticed that there were very few other pedestrians walking around this neighborhood, and the few that I saw were walking very slowly with their heads down, looking at the ground. I thought that this was because they were elderly. But shortly after I turned onto Old Spanish Trail, my head was on the ground. I had hit the sidewalk so fast and so hard that I didn't even have time to try to stop my fall. The thing that felled me was a two-inch bolt sticking up out of the sidewalk. It was almost invisible. But after I recovered from the initial shock of falling hard onto concrete, I saw that there were in fact eight of these bolts arranged around a bench at a bus stop. No telling how many people had been tripped up by those bolts. I gave up my quest for the post office and went home. On the way home I noticed I couldn't lift my right arm. By the time I got home, that arm was totally frozen and it hurt a lot. Suffice it to say that six months later, it was still hurting and I had to have surgery to removed the damaged bursa. I go to physical therapy now twice a week to recover movement and strength in my right arm. On the day of the accident I called the city and informed them of this problem on their sidewalks. But, they said that in fact the sidewalk was not their responsibility; it belonged to Metro right there by the bus stop. So I called Metro and told them about the bolts. They said they'd see about it. Hurricane Ike came and went, so I cut them some slack for a month or so. But guess what: as of February, the bolts are still there. When we made the photograph here, we saw a man trip over the bolts! Luckily he didn't fall as hard as I did, but he said those bolts had tripped him up several times. In all the years I walked in the Heights, I saw some uneven sidewalks and tree roots and so on, but those are easy to see and avoid. I never saw an invisible hazard such as the one on Old Spanish Trail. It would not be difficult to spray paint the bolts orange, or cut them off, or finish the project, or something. But I bet those bolts will still be there months from now, and people will still be falling over them. Somebody asked me how my walking habits have changed since my accident. I have quit exploring the neighborhood to the south of University Oaks, and now I only walk on the campus. There is a post office in the University Copy Center that I use, so I found a post office, but I drive to all my other errands. Sometimes I walk in the Recreation center around a track, something I thought I would never do, but now I appreciate the fact that it's safe--designed for walking--and padded, so if you fall it probably won't hurt too much. Why couldn't sidewalks be more like that?

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