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• Architecture, Place, Preservation
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Buying Reductil, International Coffee Building design by Lake/Flato Architects and BNIM [Renderings and historic photos courtesy Buffalo Bayou Partnership, current photos by Jesse Hager]

At the time of the completion of the International Coffee Building in 1910, Commerce and Main Street were bustling with the activities that the street names imply. The International Coffee Building served as a roasting and distribution point for one of the key industries of the era. Since then, reductil abbot, rail supplanted shipping and Houston, Circumvallate papillae reductil, with the aid of the automobile, moved rapidly out from its historic center at Allen’s Landing. The downtown has shifted its energies away from the water, meridia verses reductil. Buildings now are designed for firms that track materials digitally or sell digital commodities. What was once a vibrant center of city life has been literally overshadowed and left for appropriation by vagrants or artists, Buying Reductil. Meridia versus reductil, Some years ago the Buffalo Bayou Partnership invited a few architecture firms to submit proposals for the restoration of this small building at the water’s edge in Northern Downtown. In the booming economic climate of yesteryear the proposal for such a small project must have seemed slightly preposterous. Yet to Lake/Flato whose careful brand of Texas Regionalism appealed to the Buffalo Bayou Partnership, reductil iron, this little project was clearly seen in a larger context. Buy cheap reductil, Based out of San Antonio, Lake/Flato formed a partnership with the Houston office of BNIM to usher in new life to this historic building.

[caption id="attachment_1287" align="alignnone" width="498" caption="Historic Photograph of the International Coffee Building"] Buying Reductil, [/caption]

No matter how small, renovating a building that is nearly 100 years old and sited in the floodplain is no minor undertaking. Adding to the difficulty, information on reductil, the city has literally built up around the Coffee Building; currently it is depressed fifteen or so feet from Commerce Street. Reductil slimming pills uk, The design proposes a simple solution of a pedestrian bridge linking the street to the second level of the building. The bridge will continue to run past the building as an overlook to the bayous, at an elevation that will be high enough to safely observe even the worst floods, reductil bromocriptine. The second level, Reductil prices brisbane, accessed from the bridge, is to be the new home office of the Buffalo Bayou Partnership.

The first level of the building being susceptible to flooding prohibits permanent occupation, Buying Reductil. The solution was almost too obvious---fill it with boats, reductil aviation. Here you will be able to rent not only canoes and kayaks to explore the Buffalo and White Oak Bayous but also bicycles to travel along the expanded trail system. Duromine tenuate reductil differences, Windows at ground level will be slightly enlarged to install overhead doors, opening the building completely to the grounds around it and adjacent plaza.

The plaza is to be a splendid exercise in architectural restraint, bye reductil. Buying Reductil, Existing concrete, the former foundation of Cleveland and Son’s Grocer Supply, is to be cleared of weeds and grass and left virtually as it is today. Rectangular holes at regular intervals are to be left open as visual cues toward the former columns of the building that once overshadowed its smaller, Compare prices for reductil, younger neighbor.

As you move up the building the third level is currently planned to be left open for conference space or possible learning programs. One of the highlights of the renovation will be even further up, reductil leaflet, on the roof. Reductil uk cheap, Here decks give vistas of the bayous while areas of vegetated roof display the environmental concerns of the Buffalo Bayou Partnership and the first stages of a rainwater collection system. Many events will be hosted on this deck to the pleasure of intoxicated guests and gracious hosts, Buying Reductil.

Overall the renovated International Coffee Building is a simple, considered civic project, reductil meridia. The historical openings of the building are respected only to the degree that it is convenient, Reductil tablets, and opened or modified to fit new uses as is appropriate in any renovation. There is a clear nod to the history of the building without presuming that it must remain as it stands. It will be re-clad, dangers reductil, reinforced, Reductil with other drugs, and enlarged with a structure added atop to accommodate elevator and stair thereby altering the profile. Buying Reductil, Before any preservation purists scream foul, note that these small changes will bring about a life not seen in this building, or this area of the city, in decades. This is not to be an architectural landmark; it is a part of the fabric of bayou history and intends to be the steward for its future.

Buffalo Bayou Partnership will stage events from this building ranging from the informal boat and bike rentals to the Dragon Boat Festival and Regatta finish line, buy reductil no prescription. These activities, Buy reductil online, by their nature, ask you to participate in the city, not just through boating with children or movies in the historic heart, reductil in france, but by pleading you to think about your presence, Reductil pharmaceutical properties, where you put your energy, in the city. Through the necessary displacement of parking the suggestion is to consider the nearby rail or, reductil uk, gasp, even the hike and bike trail system.

The tricky thing about this building is that it really isn’t meant to make you want to stay, Buying Reductil. Architecturally the building conveys a respectable deliberation of its context. It is environmentally responsible, will have a few sustainable bells and whistles such as the green roof and water collection, and some unexpected yet thoughtful additions such as the overlook. It is by no means a destination building, and that is the point. It is a place along a path, a destination if only to reorient you and send you back out into the city. Buying Reductil, One doesn’t come to discover a place from its origin. From an origin one discovers the paths of growth, change, and the natural or industrial systems that formed the identity of the place.

If we learn anything from history it has shown that interaction with your environment increases stewardship. It is a simple equation that as your surroundings become of value, you have a vested interest in caring for them. In two years, 2011, Houston will celebrate its 175^th anniversary. Allen’s Landing, if all goes as planned, will finally be integrated into a burgeoning trail system. The International Coffee Building will be restored. As this and other Buffalo Bayou Partnership projects are completed, all of us will be dared to discover our city a little further.

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Where Can I Buy Clomid

• Architecture, Preservation

Houston Light Guard Armory Entrance [Photo by Jesse Hager]
Where Can I Buy Clomid, Behind a corner gas station and in the shadow of luxury apartments sits one of the finest buildings in Houston, falling into disrepair. Designed by Alfred C, clomid citrate. Cramping after clomid ovulation, Finn and completed in 1925, the Houston Light Guard Armory building has been abandoned for quite some time, clomid clomiphene citrate testosterone. Sore tender nipples clomid, Vagrants and vandals have had their say, as well as Gulf Coast weather and its most recent envoy, blog clomid, Dexamethozone with clomid, Hurricane Ike. The history of the building is regrettably full of misfortune, when you ovulate after clomid. After only 13 years of service to the Houston Light Guard, the armory was deeded to the state, Where Can I Buy Clomid. Buy clomid without a perscription, Attempts to rescue the building have come in fits and starts, so far without success, clomid causing late ovulation. Clomid ovulation after taking, The Buffalo Soldiers National Museum has plans to restore the Armory and give it a purpose that relates to its original use. This young non-profit, day 30 on clomid brown discharge, Can a regular doctor prescribe clomid, founded in 2000, began with the private collection of Captain Paul Matthews’s memorabilia and is rapidly expanding beyond the confines of their current residence on Southmore, clomid twin symptoms. Stealth anabolic clomid, As the only nationally recognized museum celebrating the African-American soldier it is poised to become a national destination.
Where Can I Buy Clomid, The Buffalo Soldiers have a long and difficult past. The term itself began as a Native American description of these men’s bravery, cramping after hcg clomid, Cycle day of ovulation on clomid, was later used as a term of derision in newly desegregated units, and then embraced again as a symbol of selfless sacrifice and courage, people on clomid. Clomid fixing luteal phase defect, As Chief Docent and Historian Richard Barefield exclaimed, “this is not black history, average day of ovulation on clomid, Buy clomid online no prescription, this is American history,” this is our history, clomid hcg injection result. Clomid vitex, Mr. Barefield met me at the Armory to present their vision for the building, clomid intruction. Circling the exhibition space, vaulted by steel trusses rapidly approaching 100 years old, he described the scores of African-American heroes from 1866 to present day, Where Can I Buy Clomid. Purchase clomid, Gaps between plywood and brick openings give a hint to the daylight that will flood this grand hall. Ceremonial stairs, follicle development clomid, as all ambitious buildings once had, lead from grand double doors past anterooms with empty fireplaces. One will become a multi-media theater, the other a greeting area and gift shop. Even through the dust, these rooms evoke the stately air that we all share in our visions of the past.

Where Can I Buy Clomid, As we delved further it was clear the simple rectilinear mass of the Armory building belies the complexity of the nested interior. The simple span of the open exhibition space is plainly the show-stopper, but the secondary rooms are nearly as exciting to explore. A stair branches off the formal entry and with a Loos-ian turn tucks an ideal office and conference space above, overlooking future exhibits. Two further flights are secreted to descend back to the ground level inside the building. Here concrete columns support the floor above and will become the boundaries for a reference library, coffee shop, and adjacent learning space of the Houston Community College. Service doors are to be retrofitted as the primary entry to the museum, addressing Alabama Street to the North, Where Can I Buy Clomid.

The lively Sergeant Major James Williams joined Mr. Barefield and me for the last leg of the tour. As measuring tapes straddled across empty windows in anticipation, both men shared their hopes that this institution would “saturate the neighborhood” and teach the youth. Their goal is to see history brought up to date, that these soldiers are given “recognition not [yet] received.” Both building and soldier have a past that has been shamefully neglected. Where Can I Buy Clomid, In the establishment of this new vision, I can think of no more fitting pair.

Renovations of the Houston Light Guard Armory are estimated at upwards of $4 million dollars. Though initial clean-up and minor demolition is getting underway the Buffalo Soldier National Museum is a far cry from reaching their goal. You can make your contribution to the reconstruction effort at: www.supportbsnm.org

The Buffalo Soldier National Museum is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.

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Purchase Clomid

• Preservation, Reviews

Illustration from the cover of Houston Free Press

This month's issue of the Houston Free Press Purchase Clomid, has an article (click on "features") on Wilshire village, the long semi-abandoned 1940 apartment complex at Alabama and Dunlavy. It quotes a former resident:

"Houston has changed so much since 1965 when I went there to attend Rice. All the old places have changed, 4th round of clomid. Rice Village is unbearable overbuilt and congested... Determining ovulation on clomid, I actually liked Houston back in those old days. It has a soul back then, which I think has since been sold to the devil."

The issues cover illustrates the question "is Houston selling its soul" with pictures of condos, lofts, and the Ashby highrise, Purchase Clomid. The devil, obviously, trying conceive clomid, is the developers. Best cycle days to start clomid, I'm not cheering on the bulldozing of Wilshire Village. But it's hard to look back on the history of Houston and conclude that developers have stolen its soul. It's probably more accurate to say developers are Houston's soul, clomid horror stories. Purchase Clomid, Our city was founded as a real estate fraud. The Allen Brothers were just two real estate guys out of New York looking to make easy money. Clomid directions, They went up Buffalo Bayou to locate the highest navigable point. But someone already owned that land: there was no way to make money selling lots. So the brothers just kept going and figured marketing trumped reality, clomid unprescribed usage. The first steamship didn't make it to Houston until 2 years after the city was founded, and it took three days to go from today's 610 loop to Downtown, Purchase Clomid. But the claim that Houston was a port convinced enough people to come here, Clomid fertility, and those people took the effort to cut the trees and clear the channel to make that claim true. Houston is a self-fulfilled prophecy.

Every condo developer who puts up a "coming soon" sign before financing is in place is the Allen Brothers' spiritual heir, stop taking clomid. Sometimes (often, Clomid helps erection, in fact) their bravado proves hollow. Purchase Clomid, But sometimes, it adds up. A city is built on hucksterism and pretension and ambition and greed. The Heights, becoming pregnant with clomid 50mg, Montrose, Clomid menstrual cycle, the East End were all real estate schemes. A city is not created on the desire to do right; it's created on the desire to make money and show off.

Of course, took clomid while i was pregnant, developers are nothing without people to move in. But those people are driven by the same goals, Purchase Clomid. Clomid stories, The Germans of the East End, the Cajuns around the Ship Channel, the Michiganders along FM1960, clomid 5 day test, the Pakistanis in Hillcroft, Clomid without inducing menses first, and the Guatamalans of Gulfton all came for a chance to get a job or start a business. And the developers' work gave them a place to do that. Cookie-cutter apartment complexes, clomid which days to have intercourse, mudane strip malls, Clomid overnight, and bland subdivisions become communities because of the people who move there; when they move on, new people move in and new communities are formed.

We are lucky that developers do not always get their way, provera followed by clomid. Purchase Clomid, We are all fortunate that Houstonians fought to save bayous, to protect historic houses, to keep Downtown streets from being roofed over. Some projects deserve never to see the light of day, Pregnant or clomid symptoms, some buildings deserve to be protected. But you can't freeze a city. Every building we love stands in place of a long-gone earlier building someone else loved, ttc xx clomid hope day good. Every neighborhood changes at least once a generation. Even if the buildings are the same, the people are different, Purchase Clomid. Clomid 100mg, Are developers destroying Houston. Surely, they're tearing down buildings, cramps while takign clomid. They've been doing that as long as there has been a Houston. Uterus problems due to clomid, But that's how Houston stays alive. Purchase Clomid, Change is not something that happens to cities; it's the lifeblood of cities. Without developers, there would be no city, clomid fertility drug.

So you say that Houston had a soul in 1965 and has lost it. In 1965, we were ripping apart down neighborhoods to build freeways, leveling subdivisions to build Greenway Plaza, and letting urban neighborhoods rot. Surely, someone was saying then that Houston had a soul in 1940 but lost it. And in 1940, they were saying Houston has a soul in 1910. The city keeps changing. But, as long as we have new residents trying to create new lives, as long as people are scheming and agitating and building, as long as someone care enough to lament we have no soul, Houston has a soul.

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Clomid For Sale

• Preservation

Clomid For Sale, Blessed Sacrament Church (1910-2004), 4015 Sherman, Birdsall P. Briscoe, buy clomid online forum, Second month on clomid, architect [Photo by David Bush]

The Houston city council recently passed changes to the Historic Preservation Ordinance. The original ordinance, clomid mexico, Cycle length 50mg clomid, passed in 1995, provides far fewer protections and mechanisms than the law in other cities, clomid weight gain. Clomid affecting menstruation, David Bush, Director of Programs and Information for the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance (GHPA), clomid blocked tube, Conceive girl clomid, responds to the changes below.

Most of the amendments to the preservation ordinance are procedural changes for the Houston Archeological and Historical Commission (HAHC) or clarifications of existing language. The fact that it took six months of intense negotiations to come to an agreement on minor changes illustrates the entrenched opposition to even perceived attempts to strengthen the historic preservation ordinance, buy clomid in the united states, Clomid pcos metaformin, which applies only to designated historic districts (less than 1% of the city’s 600-sq. mile land area) and fewer than 300 individually designated historic buildings, Clomid For Sale.

The most significant clarification states that the application for demolition of a designated historic building cannot be filed at the same time as the application for new construction on the demolition site, clomid dizzy brown spotting. Clomid progesterone 21 day test, If HAHC denies an application for demolition (ironically called a Certificate of Appropriateness), the preservation ordinance calls for a 90-day waiting period, stopped taking clomid, Menstration affected by clomid, after which the building can be demolished. The 90-day waiting period was meant to give City preservation staff time to find alternatives to demolition, foods that help clomid. Clomid kit ovulation predictor, Seeking approval of the applications for demolition and new construction at the same time makes demolition a foregone conclusion. Clomid For Sale, Most of the questions GHPA received were about the new requirement that one member of the HAHC be a registered remodeler or builder. This change could be good or bad depending on which remodeler/builder the mayor or City Council appoint to the position, clomid multiple follicles. Clomid herbs, The same is true of the new requirement that at least four members of the HAHC own or reside in designated landmarks or contributing buildings in designated historic districts. Not all of the owners of significant buildings are sympathetic to preservation as proven by the ongoing demolitions in Houston’s historic districts, taking clomid to conceive twins. Cervical mucous with clomid, Whether this is a good or bad change will depend on who is appointed to fill the positions.

For the past six years, clomid verses femara, Herbal alternatives for clomid, we have been fortunate to have a mayor who recognizes the value of historic preservation. The real impact of these changes won’t be felt until after the November election, ovulation clomid, Negative opk clomid, when a new mayor and City Council begin appointing new members to the HAHC. Are cysts while on clomid common.

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The Julia Ideson Building: An Interview with Barry Moore

• Architecture, Preservation

Rendering of Julia Ideson Building Restoration and Expansion [Courtesy of Gensler]

In the Spring 2008 issue of Cite (74), Anna Mod wrote an article entitled "The Librarian Returns: Rehabilitating Houston's Beloved Julia Ideson Building." Click here to download a pdf copy. After the recent groundbreaking, Raj Mankad interviewed Barry Moore, a frequent contributor to Cite and a lead architect on the project. Raj Mankad (RM): How did you become an expert in preservation? Barry Moore (BM): By the time I completed my architectural education and joined the family firm, my father already had a reputation as the first preservation architect in Houston --- he was one of the founders of The Heritage Society in 1954. There always were one or two preservation projects in the office --- that's what we did. In my own practice I was successful in winning historic commissions --- the Kiam Building, the Pillot Building, City Hall interiors, the Orange Show, the first HSPVA, the Majestic Theater in San Antonio, the Stafford Opera House in Columbus. With that work under my belt, in 1987 I was asked to lead a graduate design studio at the University of Houston, with an emphasis on adaptive reuse of historic buildings. So now I am passing my experience on the next generation. RM: How does the Ideson project stand out in comparison to all that previous work you've done? BM: The Julia Ideson is the largest historic preservation project I have ever worked on. But there are many other "firsts": the first designed by distinguished past architects --- Ralph Adams Cram and William Ward Watkin, the first large public-private partnership, the first with an archive and archival staff, the first I could walk to from our Gensler office in the Pennzoil Building, and the first in a building I spent many happy childhood hours. The details -- acres of Spanish Renaissance embellishments rendered in stone, wood, iron and carvings --- represent the soul and character of the building. Instead of being a functional antique, like a warehouse adaptively reused as lofts, Julia Ideson is a historic civic monument, always loved by its users and occupants for the nature of its architecture. RM: Phoebe Tudor chaired the fundraising. Tell me about what it is like working with her. BM: Phoebe Tudor is one of the most skilled, knowledgeable, and able leaders I have ever worked with. She shares those characteristics with her Julia Ideson Library Preservation Partners co-founders, Margaret Skidmore and Minnette Boesel. Besides having a degree in Historic Preservation from Columbia, Phoebe has a clear vision of what the project should be. And her meetings always end on time! RM: The preservation includes new construction, which is was actually part of the original 1926 design by Ralph Adams Cram that was never built. Tell me about that process. BM: We have designed a new wing, located where Cram intended it to go. When the project was built in 1926, insufficient funds caused the city to "value engineer" out the south wing and south-facing loggia. Locating the new wing was an easy call because we all understood the architect's original design intent. The other unrealized vision was an enclosed reading garden at the southeast corner, at Smith and Lamar. That is now also part of the project. RM: Did you try to take Cram's plans and adapt them to modern materials, construction practices, and building codes? BM: There was a limit to how far our Gensler team could go with the original plans. In 1926 the three floors were to house a reading room, librarians' offices and staff workrooms, with daylighting and cross ventilation. Our program basically called for a whole new wing to house the Houston Metropolitan Research Center, with a reference/reading room on the first floor (functioning as the Texas Room does today), and as much high density stack space on the floors above as possible. That meant that the challenge for design architect Paul Homeyer was to organize east and south facing elevations to mimic the rhythm of Cram's fenestration without glass on the upper floors. The ornamentation will be a more generalized set of symbols than are found on the original. There was an early design decision to separate the new wing from the existing building with a light well --- to let light penetrate the original south windows on all floors, and to allow the part of the original south wall to remain visible. Of course building codes require more of a fire separation, which we will do with rolling fire shutters not visible during normal times. It was also a real act of gymnastics to work out the location of required exits. We think that when this project is completed early in 2011, the addition will appear seamless. As preservation architects this is one of our major goals. *** The exterior of the Julia Ideson building, shown in this 1926 photo, is considered an important example of Spanish Renaissance Architecture. [Photo courtesy of the Houston Metropolitan Research Center] Pictured is a 1926 photo of the second floor reading room. [Photo courtesy of the Houston Metropolitan Research Center] The third level gallery, and its gilded coffered ceiling, as it appeared in 1926. [Photo courtesy of the Houston Metropolitan Research Center] A new exhibit/reception hall is part of the restoration plans. [Rendering courtesy of Gensler] An archival research and reading room is part of the 24,500-square foot expansion underway. [Rendering courtesy of Gensler] Groundbreaking for the new archival wing began earlier this year with substantial completion expected by late 2009. The restoration of the 1926 structure will begin in 2010. [Photo by Raj Mankad] For more information, visit www.ideson.org.

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Disappeared: Galveston, Ike, and Affordable Housing

• Architecture, Preservation

Man throwing debris into pile in Galveston. [Photo by Eric Hester]

What happens when you take a failing affordable housing policy and add a direct hit by Hurricane Ike. I talked to Chula Sanchez, a LEED-certified architect and member of the Galveston Planning Commission, about just that. "The planning commission seems to be more of a permitting commission," Ms. Sanchez explained. "Our job will become more important as time goes on. The General Land Office (GLO) has drawn a new line in the sand four-and-half feet above sea level. People can stabilize their properties on the beach but we cannot issue new construction certificates in that zone. The line is normally based on vegetation but the storm wiped that out and the new line is based on mean sea levels. Drawing that line, many houses have ended up on public property." Away from the beach, the picture is at least as troubling, especially for lower-income people. "All of our housing projects have been closed," she said. "They are gated and closed. All of those inhabitants have had to look somewhere else." In the current issue of Cite magazine (no. 76), Susan Rogers writes about the national strategy to provide affordable housing, which is to promote home ownership. She argues that a large proportion of the population cannot afford ownership, even with subsidies. One in five Houston families cannot afford fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment (according to the Low Income Housing Coalition). Understood in that context, the closing of public housing in Galveston is an effect of the hurricane, but the failure to work towards reopening them is consistent with national trends and the example of New Orleans after Katrina. "The flooding issue happened all over town. Poor people, rich people," Sanchez said, but she quickly pointed out that the part of town east of English Bayou, called the Denver re-survey area, where many low-income and minority people live, was very badly affected. "I go week to week to these neighborhoods. Every week there are five houses wiped off. People are collecting their insurance if they are lucky enough to have it and selling their property for a song. That could be a good thing if developers build something that is affordable. But where are those people going now?" The Texas Observer covered the problem well in a recent article, The Castaways: Can Galveston's black community survive the island's comeback?

The north and south sides are roughly divided by Broadway Street, the island’s main east-west thoroughfare. During the Jim Crow era, Galveston’s white leadership made a push to uproot blacks from historically integrated neighborhoods and concentrate them in a ghetto north of Broadway. The result was the poorest and most crime-plagued part of the island. But also one of the proudest and stubbornest. Hurricane Ike damaged about 75 percent of Galveston’s homes. But the storm wreaked extra havoc on North Side neighborhoods. Water surged from Galveston Bay into the low-lying area, flooding homes that were built decades ago under lax building codes. Meanwhile, luxury houses, many sitting practically on the beach, weathered the storm virtually unscathed... On the North Side, four of six housing projects are filled with mud and mold, fenced in and condemned by the Galveston Housing Authority. Many of their residents are now stranded in a diaspora that includes San Antonio, Austin, Houston and Texas City. Others sleep in cars, on the beach or, until recently, in two tent cities that sprang up before FEMA brought in trailers.

This is all bleak news, but Sanchez told me that she had made a pledge to herself "to be positive." She said, "I know I can do one house. I can help one family get one house to code." That family is the Garcias. This Christian Science Monitor piece covers the effort to help the family, which is currently living inside a garage, Hit by hurricane Ike and unexpected layoffs, Galveston ponders its recovery:

"This is an opportunity to build smart and plan smart," says Sanchez, a local design professional and member of the Galveston Planning Commission. She'd like to see houses like the Garcias' rebuilt according to new codes, possibly elevated to help avoid future flooding, or even completely razed and replaced with sustainable and green housing.

Sanchez notes that she has good support from other architects including Cite editorial committee members, Susan Rogers and Rafael Longoria. Barrie Scardino and the AIA Disaster Recovery Action Director, Antoine Bryant, have coordinated an effort to provide volunteer assessments. Sometimes, though, it is difficult to connect people with the necessary help. "I called a woman I know," Sanchez told me. "She doesn't speak English. She's a ghost figure. She's sixty-years-old. Born in the US at home but her parents did not do the paperwork. She's watching her contractors put in the walls without any insulation. Is there someone who can help this person? The Salvation Army can't take people in. The hotels are full of adjusters, FEMA people, and contractors. This woman wants to stay under the radar. She was born here but doesn't have any papers. Her son was recently deported though he went to Ball High." Again, focusing on the positive, Sanchez attended the long-term recovery meeting two night ago. "We had our first public meeting," she said. "It was open to the public to formulate a plan for the council to vote on in 90 days and was facilitated by FEMA. It is a good beginning. We have had a lot of hot-button issues in the last two years. Ike brings them all to the front-burner. Housing, jobs, the environment. There are those who don't want any development and those who want unbridled development. I am in the middle, for sustainable development. I think high-speed rail from Galveston to Houston would be the boon of all times." Other good reading: A Tale of Two Storms: Galveston’s Seawall Became Its Maginot Line by Tom Curtis, who wrote a similar article but in speculative form for Cite's hurricane issue. Galveston council takes stand on housing: Resolution urges feds to speed up the rebuilding of low-income units [Houston Chronicle] by Harvey Rice. This brief report gives you a sense of the political struggle on the island. Photos by Eric Hester

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