Thursday, July 09, 2009

Absolutely the Worst Effin' Street in the Whole Damn Town

Perhaps not "absolutely." These designations, after all, are local--we're sure that every quadrant of town, perhaps every hectare of town, has its own worst street (we, for instance, don't regularly ply the byways of northeast Houston and therefore can't wield a very broad brush). This just happens to be the street we drove down about 20 minutes ago, and we're still steamin' (although normally a happy-go-lucky, live-and-let-live kind of fellow). It's South Braeswood, between Buffalo Speedway and Stella Link, and it's one f'ed-upped mess and has been for years, if not decades: seamed and rutted, potholed, bifurcated--hell, trifurcated--and it always makes us feel as if we've returned to the spine-jarring days of the Model T when we inch our way down it ('course road conditions do keep most traffic well under speed limit). It's like you're driving in Belize--rural Belize.

So the city council agrees to fund the silly-ass Houston Arts Alliance with $11 million. (We're sure this was from some dedicated fund that could only be spent on dubious " art" and the administration thereof and not road repairs, right?) We haven't been paying much attention to the mayor's race, but we know the kind of candidate who will appeal to us (and our wide, deep sphere of influence) will be one who says ixnay to the baubles and trinkets and promises a strict concentration on bread-and-butter neighborhood issues. (Yes, we know, promises are one thing ...)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Without yet looking at the post, I immediately thought of South Braeswood. Thank you! The street is unbelievably bad. It's like riding a bronco up and down the street. The city tears up good roads everywhere else but South Braeswood remains ridiculously terrible.

Anonymous said...

Your comparison to rural Belize is quite apt. (I've driven there.)

Though not as bad -- yet -- another horror is the nearby stretch of Buffalo Speedway, between Brays Bayou and Holcombe, which has been in pathetic, rutted shape for at least the last 20 years.

Now, the slabs of concrete are also separating vertically -- sinking and/or rising, it's hard to tell which. This makes switching from one lane to another a real Houston treat!

Banjo Jones said...

Slampo for Mayor.

guess you need to legally change your name before you file.