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Residents of today’s cities and neighborhoods are acutely aware of the cultural histories and social nuances that shape them almost as much as their streets and bridges, architecture and businesses. A few years ago Trent Gillaspie’s “judgmental maps,” from his site by the same name, hit a nerve and went viral; the totally unserious (but not necessarily inaccurate) maps pair geography with a snapshot of real life in modern cities, towns and neighborhoods. Gillaspie’s “Judgmental New York City” was spot on in many ways with its Manhattan of “amply rich people,” “super rich people,” “aging punks” and the “worst train station ever” and a Brooklyn that went from Jay-Z to Zombies. Now, Gillaspie is releasing a book (h/t Untapped) of his signature reality-check maps, including an updated New York City map and the city’s neighborhoods, decoded.
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I always thought that most of the Katrina refugees were located south of 610-S (where the map reads 'You will get shot here.' Sadly, my area has slowly become a nouveau 'more rich people' section (due to being inside The Loop), so I guess I'm going to have to move to one of the crappy places on the map. Posts to Judgmental Maps. Judgmental Maps. Evidently, New Hampshire is the only state actually in quarantine. (via Matt Shirley) March 24 at 3:39 PM Public. 12 Comments Full Story. Judgmental Maps. The new normal. Be safe out there.
.Join the chat on.If you prefer, we're also still.Or join from your favorite IRC client: irc.freenode.net - #reddit-houston- -. General:. Moving to Houston? Err, the smell is only around the poor side of town. The middle-class side of pasadena paid to have that shit taken care of.There was a story in the paper not long ago called the Tale of Two Cities that talked about the folks living in poor Pasadena getting pissed cause all the tax dollars are going towards the Fairmont area (which, is a legitimate argument to be fair). However, since the mayor and everyone who could do something about it live on the nice side of the town, they just laugh and say 'you're right, they sure do' and nothing has changed.The old downtown Pasadena is crumbling, the large buildings are beginning to decay ( for example, or ). Pasadena Town Square Mall used to be pretty decent, but if you walk through it now it looks like you wandered into a little Mexican street with shops that sell shoes and furniture.
The hospital is in disrepair and falling down around the patients, home prices are plummeting, and the streets are in serious need of updating.I was flipping through homes on Zillow and I saw this REALLY nice house going for just $90,000. I was shocked and excited until I saw the location was a block from the mall. I felt like Fry 'not a single livable place'.That whole side of town is reminding me more and more of a Hispanic Detroit. I grew up there my entire life and as a kid of the 80's who can remember when Town Square Mall and the bank building (the first one you posted there.) being viable places to hang out, skate, and just pal around and feel ok.
Used to walk to My T Burger after school to eat and hang with friends looking out the window of the place at the Cheri's and other the nondescript drive through liquor store across the street. Those two places are still going strong but the burger joint is now a cell phone place and that entire street (Preston) is nothing but liquor stores, dive bars, and hole in the wall restaurants until you get to Spencer Hwy.
When I was a kid I used to live on a skateboard or my bike and got home each day before dark. Back when I used to visit, I NEVER saw anyone out walking or riding around.My folks just sold their house on Walnut Lane in the Strawberry Hills area off of Pasadena Blvd. And Burke (by Sam Rayburn HS) and got a house built in Fredericksburg. They have been itching to get out for ages. As did most of the rest of my family as well. Only thing is.my aunts and uncles and cousins and whatnot moved to the Fairmont side, the beltway side, out to Deer Park. Now they all want out of those places too as well because it's not any better than where they were 15 years ago to begin with.
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White flight be damned I don't forsee Pasadena getting back to the way that it was before. But then again, smells aside, it has changed culturally there over the past two and a half decades and may never need to look back.Up to the point of my folks moving, I went back to visit a lot and never really had a problem with the perceived 'direction' the area was taking. But then again I am far more liberal than my parents, bilingual and I don't live there anymore.Sure everything from 225 to Spencer is like you described (and has street signs that now say 'Historical District').but the cookie cutter suburb slices off of Fairmont and the once high end homes of Visa Villas are just your run of the mill bigger 200k homes. Where do you think the up and coming family who just bought my folk's house is going to move in 5-10 years once they have had their fill of Walnut Lane? Moving on up.to the east side.Hispanic Detroit? Not that bad. One kid had totaled either two or three new cars and was all upset because his parents told him if he wrecked another car that the next car they bought him would be an American car.
Yeah, that's right, his punishment was a new American car rather than another new BMW or Mercedes.Drugs? Oh you bet, but crack was too low class (and meth hadn't taken off yet). The preferred drugs were what ever the kids could steal from their parents and grandparents. It was a thing to have parties where the kids traded whatever they'd lifted out of family medicine cabinets.Huge parties were pretty common because these kids were left home alone for days at a time while their parents were away for business. Most of the cops didn't care as much about catching the kids as they did about making sure that there weren't twenty or thirty cars full of drunk kids driving around like idiots.One night when I was on a ride along with my husband a call went out that someone was driving through yards and generally driving like a drunk. Everyone was looking for a dark blue or black older Toyota or Honda.
In the process of finding this guy, a car fitting the description was seen swerving around on Northpark. Four drunk Kingwood High boys were arrested (one for DWI, all four for minor in possession). At about the same time, we saw another of the same type of car run a stop sign, jump the curb and then take off when my husband hit his lights. This guy thought he was clever and turned off his headlights, probably thinking that we didn't see him make the left turn he made onto Laurel Fork. What he couldn't have known was that we lived on Brookdale at the time so knew that road was a U shape (Brookdale is the other half of the U).
We 'chased' him about half a block right up to his driveway.We pulled up right behind the guy at his parents' house. He's getting out of his car yelling, 'I'm at my house! I'm at my house you can't arrest me!
I know my rights! I'm at my house!' Of course my husband is yelling back at him to get down, etc. (I stayed in the car for this part of the fun, windows down so I can hear, of course.)The kid's parents come out about the time my husband is cuffing the kid (who is still insisting that he can't be arrested because he made it home).
They don't seem surprised at all. Dad tells the kid to shut up and cooperate and that he'll be down to get him out of jail in the morning - maybe.The kid was a pizza driver and had been delivering pizzas all night while drinking most of the box of wine in his passenger's seat. He alternately raged and cried all the way downtown.So remember the four other Kingwood kids who got busted? They're still waiting in area where HPD takes DWI suspects to take the breathalyzer test. They apparently recognized this kid and all started talking to each other. When those guys realized that this kid is probably the reason they got picked up that night.
Well it was a good thing they were all still cuffed because there was going to be a fight. It didn't happen while any of them were still in custody, but I'm willing to bet there was an epic beat down when they were all back home.Bonus, the law had just changed to make evading (running from the cops) a state jail felony not even a day before this happened.Gotta say that it was way more interesting to ride along in Montrose or in the Forth Ward (pre-gentrification), but Kingwood had it's moments.(Forgive me if any of this rambles or isn't clear. It's been years since any of these things happened and I'm typing this on my phone.).
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