Swamplot is looking for a few neighborhood correspondents to photograph and report on the goings-on in various districts around town. Correspondents should have a keen eye, a good sense of humor, and a healthy respect for the facts they’ll be reporting on. These are non-paying positions, but the work won’t require a huge time commitment: We’ll only expect neighborhood correspondents to send us a minimum of 2 reports a month — though we’ll be happy to receive more.

Does this sound like something you’d like to do?

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If so, send us an email to let us know. In a couple of paragraphs, tell us what neighborhood you’d like to report on, and why; we’ll also want to know a little about you, and what you do with your non-Swamplot time. Also: Let us know how frequently you think you’ll be able to contribute.

• ULI Houston, a district council of the Urban Land Institute
• Houston Chronicle Real Estate
• The Tree House at 1608 Indiana, from Carol Isaak Barden + Company
• New Leaf Real Estate

Our newest advertiser is returning after a summer break: The Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies at Rice University. The school is offering a number of fall courses that Swamplot readers will likely find interesting:

• Green Houses
• Home Revitalization: Enjoy Now, Profit Later
• Houston’s Original Six Wards: Then and Now
• The History of Texas: New Perspectives, New Insights
• Sacred Spaces of Houston

Wanna see Swamplot keep on truckin’? Please thank our advertisers! And if you’d like to lend your support to Swamplot and help it grow, why not consider promoting your business here?

If you’re interested in sponsoring a prize for Swamplot’s weekly Neighborhood Guessing Game, there are slots still available!

Swamplot is read carefully and regularly by Houstonians who take an active interest in their neighborhoods and surroundings. Thinking about advertising on Swamplot? Look through our current rate sheet (PDF). And please contact us for more information!

A reader writes:

A new development sign went up recently in Midtown. It’s a variance notice regarding a lot bounded by Chenevert, Anita, and Hamilton streets adjacent to Baldwin Park.  The developers name on the variance notice (#53 on the July 9th variance meeting) published at Houston P&D is “Treemont Homes”. Interestingly, no such builder seems to exist either in the business directory or with an online presence. Tremont Homes, however, does exist and, I believe, was involved in the Tremont Tower fiasco a few years back in Montrose.  I am currently trying to determine who “Treemont Homes” is and who the principals are and if this could be another mortgage fraud/shoddy building/screw the people type of project.

Any help you could offer is appreciated.

The variance request is for a 5-ft. setback along Hamilton St., the 59 feeder road — which typically requires 25 ft. Hamilton Court would consist of 20 single-family lots on an L-shaped 0.78-acre property. The item was deferred until the July 23rd planning commission meeting, on the request of the planning staff.

• Previously in Swamplot: Tremont Tower coverage, The Lemon Lady Goes to Washington

Photo of sign at Chenevert and Anita: Swamplot inbox

The same organization that campaigned successfully several years ago to place that statue of Mahatma Gandhi next to the herb garden in Hermann Park is now proposing another Houston honor for the slain spiritual leader. Abc13’s Sonia Azad reports that Houston’s India Cultural Center wants to rename the section of Hillcroft Ave. between Highway 59 and Westpark to Mahatma Gandhi Street.

Or should that be Mahatma Gandhi Avenue?

[City Council Member MJ] Khan says he will support changing Hillcroft’s name to Mahatma Gandhi Avenue, if that’s what the community wants.

“Our city is a very international city so I think it will help if we start branding that area,” Khan explained.

Store clerk Inder Buhtti believes Gandhi Avenue could curb crime and violence in the area.

He said, “Everything he wants he wanted in a peaceful way, not with guns or with bombs.” . . .

Spanish, Guatemalan, Chinese and Persian businesses in the area attract an array of customers. Azar Delpassand from Iran says the street’s name should reflect that diversity.

She said, “In here, this street, you have Arabic stores, you have Indian stores, you have Persian stores. So excluding others because of Indians, I don’t think (so). It’s not fair.”

• Plan to rename street after Gandhi [abc13]

Photo of Gandhi statue in Hermann Park: Keri Bas

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Residences

• 3307 Clay St. 77003
• 3309 Clay St. 77003
• 6305 Rodrigo St. 77007 (garage only)
• 1348 Ebony Ln. 77018 (new construction by Dulce Vista Homes)
• 610 E. 32nd St. 77022
• 612 E. 32nd St. 77022
  

Working from a remote and undisclosed location, the now-expatriate Houston engineer known as Keep Houston Houston puts together a rough diagram identifying the city’s “traditional” walkable neighborhoods, and comments:

Houston has no shortage of gridded, walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods. Thing is, they’re all kind of squished together. And with a couple of exceptions, they were all platted out before 1935. What’s there is there. We’re not adding to it.

Why?

Developer conservatism plays a role, but is ethereal, subject to evaporate as soon as *someone* steps up and proves that suburban [Traditional Neighborhood Development] is sufficiently profitable. But several city standards and rules are standing in the way.

Are Houston’s development rules really the obstacle?

Keep Houston Houston scans through the city’s development ordinance, then throws together a quick design for a residential neighborhood following the basic requirements. What does that end up looking like?

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100′ Arterial (with 2000′ radius curve) leads to 100′ entrance road, which in turn feeds 60-foot collector “loops” and 50-foot local “lollipops.” Detention pond is repurposed as a water feature, adding value and “curb appeal.”

“Master planning,” by the book: Loops and lollipops!

• Street Grids vs. The Government, Part 1 [Keep Houston Houston]
• So Many Delicious Lollipops. I must eat them all. [Flickr]

Diagrams: Keep Houston Houston

Let’s see if someone can win that one-year individual membership in the Rice Design Alliance this time! That’s the prize for this week’s winner — and it’s sponsored by the RDA. Are you ready to play?

You play the Neighborhood Guessing Game by . . . guessing the neighborhood of the pictured home. If you guess correctly, you win! If more than one person guesses the right neighborhood, the player who gave the best explanation for the guess wins.

If you know this home already, or if you come across it or its listing while we’re playing the game, please don’t post the answer — you’ll just ruin the game for everyone. Instead, send Swamplot a link to the listing — so we know what you’re doing. Then post an incorrect guess, but make it sound real plausible, to throw the other players off track. If you do this well, you’ll get special recognition when the answer is announced. And if nobody guesses the correct neighborhood, you could win the prize!

Let’s have a peek at the rest of this place, then:

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Well, who wouldn’t be able to figure this place out?

Okay, but who else?

Let the guessing begin! Your entries belong in the comments. Stay tuned for the answer . . . which will be announced right here on Thursday!

• This week’s prize sponsor: Rice Design Alliance

Photos: HAR

Why didn’t it appear on Swamplot yesterday?

Because none of you sent in nominations! Really . . . is it all going so swimmingly out there? Has the market settled down, with nothing too high or too low?

C’mon: We’ll need a steady stream of nominations to make this work. Send us links to properties whose asking prices you think could use some adjustment. Tell us about the place, and explain why you think a fix is needed. Then pick a better price! (Unless you request otherwise, we’ll always keep submissions to the Swamplot Price Adjuster anonymous.)

We’ll feature the best nominations on Swamplot Price Adjuster. And then we’ll have some fun with it again, no?

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Commercial Structures

• Storeroom/Warehouse, 1315 Roberts St. 77003
• Friendly Street Apartments, 9005 Friendly Rd. 77093

Residences

• 3202 Clay St. 77003
• 3205 Clay St. 77003
• 3215 Clay St. 77003
• 3231 Clay St. 77003
• 3233 Clay St. 77003
• 3301 Clay St. 77003
• 3311 Clay St. 77003
• 3317 Clay St. 77003
• 3321 Clay St. 77003
• 3323 Clay St. 77003