Though I’m sorry to see the Heights Village project go under, I’ve often wondered about the spate of construction close to – in some cases, right next to – the freight train line that parallels Washington Avenue and Center Street. I live a mile and a half away from the tracks, and I can hear the train whistles from inside my house, so I can only imagine what it must be like for those who have this in their back yards. (I didn’t blog about it, but I commented on it in a couple of photos I took of one such residential development in 2007.)
As the area has gotten denser and more populated, the issue has gotten a higher profile. A coalition of neighborhood associations and activists have been pushing for the Washington corridor to be designated as a quiet zone, which would forbid the trains from sounding their whistles in that area. This article from the Houston Association of Realtors has a good discussion of what quiet zones are all about. They’ve got a website, WashingtonQuietZone.com, to support their efforts. If you care about this issue and want to help, check it out and see what you can do to help. I wish these folks good luck with this.
Guess it takes money to get attention for this little gem of “Inner Loop” living. Can’t seem to remember this being an issue on anyone’s soap box when the West End hadn’t been gentrified yet…