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Saturday, June 23, 2018 • Vol. 63 • No. 21
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Historic Heights Guidelines make the cut By Zach Maxwell zach@theleadernews.com The Houston Heights neighborhoods deemed “historic” by the city now have something no other historic neighborhood in this city has: A draft document detailing design guidelines for officials to use when deciding home alteration or construction permits. By a vote of 8-2 in favor, the Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission sent the guidelines up the
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Photo by Zach Maxwell Cover of the 222-page Historic Heights Design Guidelines from the City of Houston.
chain to the city’s Quality of Life Committee. The QLC will discuss the guidelines at 10 a.m. on June 28 at the City
Hall Annex. If approved, the measure will go before the full city council for possible approval.
After an hour of discussions and a few last-minute votes on proposed changes to the draft, the moment came for the commission to vote on the measure. Even that was a stop-and-start process as Chairperson Minnette Boesel juggled final commissioner comments while trying to solicit a motion for the vote. Commissioner David Bucek made that motion with Edie Archer offering a second. It has been a long and la-
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Dig in. With hurricane season underway a non-profit pulls out the shovels to get ready.
Photo by Zach Maxwell Chuck House of Spring looks over his Hohner Randy Rhodes custom electric guitar with Dave Wintz of the newly rethought Texas Guitar Hospital in Oak Forest.
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New businesses reflect a dynamic climate By Zach Maxwell For The Leader
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Find it. BALDERAS CONCRETE WORK: Garage Slabs, Driveways, Breakouts, Tractor Work, Room Additions, Install Culverts, Permits for Driveways. 48 Years Experience. Free Estimates, call Gregory at: 832-675-2485.
The INDEX. Church....................................................... 3B Classifieds.............................................. 5A Coupons. ................................................. 4A Food/Drink/Art................................... 7A Obituaries.............................................. 3B Opinion. ................................................... 3A Public Information......................... 2A Puzzles...................................................... 3A Sports. ....................................................... 4B
See Guidelines P. 8A
Kids find dead body in Little Thicket Park
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Outdoor Beauty. Houston Arboretum adds fashion to the outdoor season.
borious process to reach the Thursday, June 14 vote – and that meeting was no different. What was to be a quick review of changes made to the document and an up-or-down vote became a 75-minute discussion of eave heights and more wording changes. Commissioner Sue Lovell tried to interject the removal of the floor area ratio in favor of an existing building code regarding lot usage, but her motion failed to pick up a second vote after a brief dis-
Northwest Houston is blessed with a vast selection of places to shop, eat and procure services of almost any kind. The list is growing and The Leader is profiling three new businesses which you may have not even known you need. The Heights is welcoming an Irish dance school and a unique flotation spa to its varied storefront selections. Over in Oak Forest, those having a dilemma with their Dobro can visit the
brand-pluckin’-new Texas Guitar Hospital. These are not your typical go-to outlets that you would expect to see on billboards, TV commercials or (preferably) full-page color ads in your local paper. But they fill a void nonetheless. Their establishment also speaks to the variety of services becoming readily available for northwest side residents – and to an overall climate of economic success across the city and beyond. Texas Guitar Hospital Texas Guitar Hospital has a
list of services on their website that includes 39 guitar-specific services. Some of them sound hospital-ish, like “repair loose bridges” and “neck adjustments.” Others are more technical, for those guitar aficionados out there: Refretting, or the “Floyd Rose Setup,” or cutting new nuts. TGH also helps with cleaning, wiring, saddles and pickups, even painting and mandolin repair. With all the live music in See Growing P. 7A
Houston police are awaiting autopsy results of a male found deceased at 1831 West 23rd Street about 6:15 p.m. on Wednesday (June 13). The identity of the victim is pending verification by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. No identification of the victim was available as of early this week. HPD Homicide Division Detective E. May and Officers R. Moss and D. Higgs reported: S o m e neighborhood children told a Photo by Zach Maxwell patrol of- A shoe on the banks of a ficer there bayou in LIttle Thicket Park, was a body near the spot where a man in a bayou was found dead last week. behind Little Thicket Park. Officers went to the bayou and observed the victim, believed to be a white male, was deceased. The male had a Miami Dolphins tattoo on his right shoulder. A group of teenagers happened upon the body when they were in the park, according to media reports. In a separate case, Houston police officers responded to a report of a deceased male found in a field at 300 Embry Street. The victim appeared to have suffered gunshot wounds. The male’s cause of death is pending autopsy results by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. The location is at the end of a street across I-45 from Woodland Park and near Little White Oak Bayou. The identity of the male is pending verification by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. Anyone with information in either case or on the identity of either male victims is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
HISD budget voted down amidst trustees’ frustration By Betsy Denson betsy@theleadernews.com Last week’s HISD board meeting covered a lot of ground and was also full of intense discussion among trustees about what direction the district should be heading, and how trustee meetings should be conducted. At various points throughout the meeting, trustees expressed surprise about measures that appeared on the agenda and voiced their desire for advance notice and more discussion.
One agenda item which was not a surprise was the vote on approving the 2018-19 school budget. However, in an unexpected move, trustees voted 5-4 not to approve the budget. By law, trustees have until June 30 to pass the budget for 2018-19. The presentation on budget was led by HISD Chief Financial Officer Rene Barajas and Budgeting Officer Glenn Reed. Reed noted that the city’s property tax evaluations – which is in large part how HISD is funded – showed more growth than anticipated, with a 3 percent increase
in residential homes and a 5 percent increase in apartment homes. Even with a decline in commercial values, there was still an overall 2 percent increase, which was much better than HISD’s worst case scenario last fall of a 3 percent loss. In addition, Reed noted that the district got a bigger revenue bump from the state’s Permanent School Fund. What HISD estimated last fall could be $208 million in cuts, was reduced to $115 by the spring, with the final number coming in around $82 million. With approximately
$33 million in cuts from the school side and $49 million in cuts from the administrative side, the deficit was whittled down – but the $2 billion budget proposal also included spending about $18 million more in 2018-19 on services for special needs students. It was the plan to make up the budget balance using the district’s rainy day fund that most concerned some trustees. Trustee Anne Sung said it was the second year in a row that the disSee HISD P. 7A
c u r r e N t p r o p e rt y L i s t i N g s
Oak FOrest
Jenny Leago
713-825-4203 5229 W 43rd street 2-1 Unique floor plan. Many modern twists to an oldie but a goodie. Plenty of closet space, plus an additional hallway walk in closet. $225,000
Oak FOrest
5014 W 43rd street
Janet Schmidt 713-419-7918
3-1.1-1 Real hardwood floors (under carpet) in BRs, hall and den area. Dining room adjust to kitchen & breakfast area. $235,000 MLS# 31119792
MLS# 68104421
Lori Austin 713-499-0485
Oak FOrest
5614 Chesire
3-1.1 Kitchen recently updated with granite countertops & stainless steel appliances. Manicured lot has a wooden deck $269,000 MLS# 90266873
WakeField CrOssing
827 Wakefield
Donna Hood 281-919-4444
3-3.1 • Beautiful island kitchen with granite countertops. Stainless steel appliances. Custom built on-site cabinets. $416,500 MLS# 85540771
A NAme you cAN trust 713-686-5454
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1803 W. 43rd • Houston, TX 77018
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