Protesters outside TxDOT called for an end to plans for expanding the Grand Parkway.
On Wednesday May 25, approximately 50 people rallied outside the Houston district office of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). Organized by the Citizens’ Transportation Coalition (CTC), the protest called for a better use of $350 million of government funds currently slated for expanding SH99, commonly referred to as the Grand Parkway. That funding would complete only Segment E, between I-10 and 290. The total funding for the 180-mile ring road—Houston’s fourth—is estimated to cost $4.8 billion to build.
Signs like “Spend It Where the People Are!” and “What about 290?” called attention to Segment E’s remote proposed location in the Katy Prairie far outside population centers and the fact that highways through densely populated area need funding for improvements.
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First Ward, photographs by Regina Agu
In this Hear Our Houston audio tour and contribution to Unexpected City, artist Regina Agu takes us along for her daily wonder-filled walk in the First Ward. As a resident at Elder Street Lofts, she excavates the spiritual from this old graveyard and mental hospital site, appreciates nature’s conquering of an abandoned building, and wonders at the soundscapes of our city’s massive freeways. As you walk with her you’ll weave through history, the life cycle of silkworms, and growth in Urban Harvest’s First Ward Community Garden. Listen by clicking on the link below:
Layered Histories: A Stroll Through First Ward (mp3, 10.7 MB)
by Regina Agu
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George Greanias and Lillian Warren
We all are familiar with Houston’s no-zoning tradition and have been cautioned not to romanticize or over-estimate its beneficent influence on our chockablock city. Perhaps, though, we can successfully practice no-zoning for conversations and confrontations that otherwise languish in isolated “discourse communities.” That model seemed to be the impetus behind a series of three conversations hosted at Rudolph Blume Fine Art/ArtScan Gallery which had as their background an exhibit of paintings by Lillian Warren called “Urban Landscapes” (April 30 through June 4, 2011; 1836 Richmond Avenue).
Last Thursday, May 12, about a dozen people gathered to participate in the second of these discussions, called “At the Intersection of Art & Traffic.” Houston METRO President and CEO George Greanias and Warren led the dialogue.
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Horses gallop through Montana-sized utility corridors that crisscross Houston.
Two bills before the Texas legislature would create the opportunity for bike trails to crisscross Houston at no cost to taxpayers, but to get them through at this stage will take extraordinary mobilization. Lisa Gray wrote about this effort in the Houston Chronicle and David Nova Lomax covered it for Houston Press. OffCite brings to you on-the-ground photographs showing just how unexpectedly beautiful these trails could be.
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The entrance to Poison Girl would be easy to miss except that it is fuchsia.
The Cite 85 launch party was held last night at Poison Girl, a bar on Westheimer that is often home to literary readings. Kelly Moore read from her contribution to the issue, “Sidewalks, Steps, and Labyrinths: Navigating Houston in a Wheelchair.” The audience sat in rapt attention under a clear sky and the gaze of the giant Cool Aid man sculpture. Hank Hancock read a piece by legendary columnist Sig Byrd from the collection Literary Houston. He brought Byrd’s beat-style 1950s Houston vernacular back to life.
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Yasufumi Nakamori gave a talk at the Architecture Center Houston. Photo by Hank Hancock.
Indre Rapalaviciute on Indiana Street. All photographs by Rose Kuo
OffCite presents a new submission to Unexpected City, made by Indre Rapalaviciute and curated by Carrie Schneider with photographs by Rose Kuo. This piece is an audio recording of a stroll along Peden, Waugh, Nevada, Commonwealth, Indiana, and Dunlavy streets ending at the Pralaya Yoga Studio. Listen by clicking on the link below. For more information on Schneider’s project visit Hear Our Houston.
We Are All Weird Birds: A Stroll Through Montrose (mp3, 13.1 MB) by Indre Rapalaviciute
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Philip Brown of Smith Opticians shows off some of his eclectic collection.
OffCite presents the twelfth submission to the Unexpected City challenge, made by Sarah Gish. Click here to learn about making your own submission.
It all started with a pair of blue-framed, yellow-lensed sunglasses that I bought in Los Angeles for ten bucks off the street. Buying those glasses was an epiphany moment for me: it was like turning on a little switch making me desire funky eyewear. From then on, I desperately wanted to wear the blue glasses every day. As luck would have it, shortly after that special moment, I happened to be at a party with the Alley Theatre costume designer and she offered that perhaps Philip Brown at Smith Opticians could come to my rescue. He did. Instead of using the too-fragile cheapie frames, I found some other more interesting and sturdier blue frames. They weren’t expensive and I was hooked, line and sinker! Ever since then, I have gone back to get frames in every color imaginable (seven pairs and counting) and Philip and his employee Carlos have become dealers who fuel my addiction to their unique frames.
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