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Saturday, May 18, 2019 • Vol. 64 • No. 20
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When Avenue CDC, a nonprofit organization that builds affordable housing in Houston, announced plans to buy Doyle’s Restaurant at 2136 W. 34th St. and replace it with a five-story apartment building, there were supporters of the plan as well as some vocal detractors. It was the opposition that Mary Lawler, the executive director of Avenue, was hoping to win over at Monday’s Oak Forest Homeowners Association meeting. As a result of feedback from the community, Lawler detailed changes that have been made to the original plan for the development, named Avenue on 34th in marketing materials. She said Avenue still has the option to buy the property
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Photo by Adam Zuvanich A cyclist waits to cross 11th Street from a trail that runs alongside Nicholson Street.
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Contributed rendering An artist’s rendering of Avenue on 34th, the proposed affordable housing development at the site of Doyle’s Restaurant at 2136 W. 34th St.
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BREAKING.
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State judge voids Prop B
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but has not yet closed on it. The first amendment to the plan is the reduction in height from five to four stories, which would be made possible by the purchase of an additional lot behind Doyle’s. Lawler said the additional land also would improve traffic flow by providing access from a second street and adding to existing green space. Avenue estimates that around 100 parking spaces are required, and it would have around 105 spaces for residents. Another change is the addition of some units that would be unrestricted as to income. Of the 70 units, 56 would be restricted, and 14 would be offered at market rate. Most of the residents would have in-
By Betsy Denson betsy@theleadernews.com
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Avenue still pushing for housing development
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By Adam Zuvanich azuvanich@theleadernews.com
Multiple residents have complained about an increase in cut-through traffic since the fall of 2017, when the Texas Department of Transportation moved the entrance and exit ramps for westbound freeway travelers. The exit ramp for 43rd, which previously was between that street
More than $1 million per year in public funds has been allocated for the Houston Bike Plan, which the city council adopted in 2017 to promote accessibility and safer streets for cyclists and pedestrians. Near the top of the plan’s priority list is the intersection of 11th Street and Nicholson Street, where the Heights Hike & Bike Trail crosses one of the neighborhood’s busiest thoroughfares. City officials also identified safety concerns on 11th Street to the east and west of Nicholson, and they’ve put together a plan to address them. If the Heights community shows sufficient support for the proposal, which includes a reduction of vehicle lanes, the addition of bike lanes and the installment of a median refuge island at the trail crossing, it could become one of the first put into action under the citywide cycling initiative. “I think we’re really close. I don’t think we’re quite at that point yet,” said Ian Hlavacek, a Houston Public Works engineer who specializes in transportation and drainage operations. “Everyone’s a little bit nervous to pull the trigger. Have we done enough that we need to do? Have we talked to the right people? We
See Traffic P. 4A
See Bike P. 4A
From Staff Reports The will of nearly 300,000 Houston voters was nullified Wednesday by a state district court judge, who ruled that Proposition B is unconstitutional under Texas law. Judge Tanya Garrison of the 157th Civil District Court said in a written final judgment that Prop B, the voter-approved referendum granting the city’s firefighters equal pay to police officers of corresponding rank and seniority, is “preempted in its entirety by Chapter 174 of the Texas Local Government Code.” That was an argument made by the City of Houston and Houston Police Officer’s Union, the latter of which filed a lawsuit in November after Prop B was passed. Mayor Sylvester Turner, in a statement released Wednesday, said the city would rescind the 60-day layoff notices it had issued to 220 firefighters, 67 fire cadets and 47 other municipal employees. The city had planned the layoffs as a means of covering the cost of 29 percent firefighters raises associated with the implementation of Prop B and on May 10 said it mailed checks to firefighters totaling about $31 million, which represented pay raises effective Jan. 1. But Wednesday’s ruling voided those raises. “This is a tremendous positive ruling for the city as a whole, for keeping the city on solid financial footing and moving the city forward and quite frankly, it is my hope, pulling the city back together,” Turner said. “(Firefighters) are deserving of a pay raise that the city can afford. I do look forward to sitting down and talking with them.”
Residents of Oak Forest Section 17 have complained about an increase in cut-through traffic from the U.S. 290 frontage road since the Texas Department of Transportation moved entrance and exit ramps near the neighborhood in 2017.
Cut-through traffic from 290 troubles Oak Forest residents By Adam Zuvanich azuvanich@theleadernews.com Chastity Cox does not let her two daughters, ages 6 and 8, play in the front yard of their home on Berendo Street. She’s seen too many vehicles barreling up and down the short connector between the U.S. 290 frontage
road and 43rd Street, especially during the last two years. “It’s gotten worse, for sure,” Cox said. “Rush hour, you will see, like, steady, cars after cars after cars after cars just speeding down here.” Cox’s neighbors in Oak Forest Section 17 – a small cluster of streets south of 43rd, west of Antoine Drive and northeast of 290 – can relate.
Some in Heights picky about road diet
School finance bill on verge of becoming law By Betsy Denson betsy@theleadernews.com
Photo by Adam Zuvanich Houston ISD employees and students could benefit from a school finance bill on the verge of being passed by the Texas Legislature.
Increased funding for Texas public schools as well as across-the-board raises for the state’s teachers are close to becoming reality. After months of discussion and lobbying, the sweeping school finance legislation named House Bill 3 is being hashed out by a conference committee made up of House- and Senate-appointed members. The 10-member committee has until May 26 to produce
its final report to the Texas Legislature, at which point it will either be passed or rejected before the session ends the following day. Passed first by the House, the Senate passed its own amended version of the bill in early May. There are still significant differences between the two plans. One is the amount each body has allocated for schools’ basic per-student allotment, which hasn’t been raised for four years. The Senate increased it from $5,140 to $5,880, while
the House increased it to $6,030. The raises for school employees also differ. The Senate has put forth a $5,000 raise for teachers and librarians, while the House has offered an estimated $1,388 raise to school employees, funded by 25 percent of the per-student allotment, administrators not included. In the House plan there is discretion at the district level for who receives raises and how much. See Schools P. 2A
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