Downtown residents: More retail, less noise, please

A group of downtown residents gathered last night to talk with city leaders about what development that they'd like to see in their 'hood — and, not surprisingly, at the top of their list were more retail markets and fewer nightclubs. "I'm sick of seeing [downtown] slide, going into a burlesque environment," Annette McBride, who has lived downtown for more than 10 years, said.

City Councilwoman Carol Alvarado agreed that the clubs can be a problem — during the early morning Saturday, she said the windows of her Rice Lofts apartment shook with noise from a nearby club — but she said better enforcement would go a long way toward solving the problem. (Alvarado even did her part, calling the cops about the noise over the weekend.) She said balancing residents' and business owners' needs has been a problem since downtown renovation started a few years ago, but a new Historic District Advisory Committee, which will look at parking issues, public safety, nuisance laws and retail possibilities in the north end of downtown, should help.

Mayor Bill White, who also attended the meeting, told residents there are a number of residential projects in the works downtown — and that there should soon be more grocery options than the Midtown Randalls and the shady convenience stores along Main Street. As for businesses, Alvarado said residents have a lot of say in what kind of places open downtown: "We need more variety — a Barnes and Noble, more restaurants," she said. Houstonist isn't an urban planning expert, but we can't help but think that the lack of variety is exactly what hurts downtown: Sure, there are plenty of nightclubs open, but if you're not into going to clubs, you're pretty much out of luck. We'll be interested to see what the advisory committee can do to make downtown a real neighborhood rather than a place to sleep and drink — we're keeping our fingers crossed.

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Photo: flickr user deneyterrio