Battle in the Heights

"I think it's kinda antithetical to Houston for a few select, wealthier people from all the way across I-10 to dictate what happens to that land with anything but their shopping habits," Barrett said. "If 200 historic homes were gonna be bulldozed tomorrow, I might care or be sympathetic, but what's there now? If Walmart is the highest bidder, then let them do what they please, as long as it doesn't affect you. These people pretend to care about the 'true' character of the Heights, but I think one look at Washington Avenue will tell you the truth about that."

This story obviously won't be ending anytime soon. A neighborhood meeting is planned for July 20.
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DOING IT DAILY

There is a ton of new stuff each day on the Houston Press blogs; you're only getting a taste of it here in the print edition. Head to blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs (or "/rocks" or "/eating") and under "Tools" on the top-right side of the page, use the "categories" drop-down menu to find these stories:

Crime

The Houston Police Department's SWAT team was called out to arrest a big phone-marketing fund-raiser for a police union (Awkward!); one very drunk Montrose dude lit his girlfriend's wardrobe on fire and ended up in jail; and a portly Galvestonian tried to bull-rush his way out of a CVS with some contraband Blue Bell.

Spaced City

We posted a slideshow of readers' submissions to our Flickr page that made us go "WTF?"; we examined six covers from the classic age of comic books that turned out to be about Houston; and we looked at how residents of First Colony are fighting plans to build a large private water park there.

Sports

The LeBron madness was analyzed thoroughly; despite our offering of five reasons he would announce his becoming a Rocket, he didn't. The foundering careers of Astros GM Ed Wade and former LSU/Oakland Raiders QB JaMarcus Russell were also noted, and reasons for the foundering given.

Immigration

We talked with KTRH host Michael Berry, who took time from hoping that a mosque would get bombed to lead fans to Arizona to non-support the boycott. They weren't quite the Freedom Riders Redux, they were more like the Pale Riders.