I have gone back and fixed the two instances of this typographical error.

Also, thank you for your grammar lesson but we are quite aware of the difference between its and it’s. It’s a pretty common typographical error but, because it involves simply an apostrophe, it’s often missed. I myself manually check my articles for this error, but sometimes these slip by.

The thing is that the item you rightfully point out is a typographical error. Those types of errors are usually caused by bad typists and often involve subconscious habitual ticks. I for example have a habit of typing “ing” as “ign” and, in the sentence before this one, I just typed “my bad typists” instead of “by bad typists” on the first pass. The point being that one error is caused by carelessness which is a different fault than being ignorant of English grammar.

I for one am thankful when someone corrects my articles for errors (grammatical or otherwise) I also welcome disagreement with my articles but when someone goes around debating the substance of the article to try to discredit it based on a common typo, it speaks volumes to just how vacuous that person is. Many of the responses to this piece are biting and intelligent challenges to M. Martin’s view. Sadly, yours is not up to that level. Next time, I suggest that if you are going to point out a grammatical error you keep it at that and we will happily fix the error as I have done here. On the other hand, if you consider using this as a pretext to dismiss the substance of the article, I suggest you may want to educate yourself on the logical fallacy “Ignoratio elenchi.”

But then again, maybe FPH editors published such glaring grammatical errors to prove its point that the publication is not to be taken seriously.

Ugh!

1.A wol? Is that you Amanda wolfe?

2.@ MAR so you think that the HEB is an eyesore, what does that make Fiesta then, the place looks terrible on the outside and is what would be more correctly defined as an eyesore.

3.@Smitty that is a fantastic idea!

4. As a lower Montrose resident who lives 2 blocks away from the new HEB there hasn’t been any more traffic congestion than before. The store is fantastic inside and the people working there are quite friendly. So this anti-chain attitude and behaving like they just plowed half of the neighborhood out for a Wal-Mart is ridiculous.

5. I’m pretty sure Fiesta is a “chain” if HEB is a “chain” considering their 49 locations spread out among Dallas/ FTworth, Austin, and Houston.

6. I guess all the Montrose residents should be satisfied with Kroger and Whole Foods dominating the fresh, better quality, better selection food sales, because they represent themselves in a “unorthodox” manner as Montrose should only respect for higher prices! That’s totally what ever resident in Montrose wants… to shop at a prestigious store and spend double the money.. why? because its just what montrosians do! (seriously?) HEB is straight up cheaper for fantastic selection and quality…a large number of Montrose residents are industry and don’t enjoy spending carelessly.

7. I don’t know where the Montrose “residents” like the author of this hilarious article hang out but I have to say everyone I know loves the new HEB, maybe we should build a gate around Montrose and only allow the truly worthy people to have keys, is that accurate Mr.Martin?

At the end of the day… I think all the commentary comes down to we want to read about something a little more interesting and invigorating than your childish opinions of the big bad wolf grocery store that is only joining multiple other chains in the neighborhood…

At least I don’t have to worry about running into the likes of you while I grocery shop for my cheap and fresh food in a beautiful happy CLEAN environment!

2) Montrose community values . . .
a) That kind of insular thinking mirrors that of the dreaded suburbs you decry. Isn’t the most ‘meaningful’ part of living in Montrose its politico-cultural openness? If that’s the case, the ‘everyone except you’ logic you forward in this piece is both contradictory and shameful. If anything, Montrose’s worth should come from its valueless culture. Read a little Nietzsche and maybe you’ll get it.
b) Who are you (who is anyone, really) to arbitrate what goes where in this neighborhood? And where is the threshold in which arbitration can be stopped? Do we get to start deciding who lives in Montrose, what they’re allowed to wear, and how many babies they’re allowed to have?
c) food for thought on the ‘Kingwood’ comment* – at least in Kingwood you can smoke in restaurants and bars, in addition to buy booze at most of your average grocery stores. Ironically, it’s a place like Montrose where neither of those things are allowed. Community values in action, eh . . .
d) the store is not only applying for a liquor license, but a consumption license so you can drink AT the store. Doesn’t get any more Montrose than that, right?
*I am not from Kingwood

3) Consumer excess . . .
a) is having 5 or so used clothing stores all within a block of one another also a point of consumer excess? I’d like to think so, especially taking in to consideration the extremely high markup some of those stores offer to their consumers (one of which is Buffalo Exchange, one of the dreaded chain stores that is in no way local! eep!)
b) do you cry a little every time a Wendy’s is built? Or when you find out Brasil orders product from Ben E. Keith, one of the largest food product distributors in the country? Or when Sound Exchange sells LPs released on semi-major ‘corporate’ labels? Your consumer excess argument either,
i) is shallow and only made important when it fits your agenda, just like modern politics. Or,
ii) it’s something you do stand by (not likely, you’re using a computer, produced by the wonders of corporate excess, considering you could’ve published this at the library), which necessitates you living the hermit lifestyle without subscribing these life and times in any way. But, I doubt that.

4) If you really want a Fiesta, there’s ANOTHER ONE FIVE MINUTES AWAY on San Jacinto @ Wheeler. And it’s a much better store. But maybe Montrose residents just like to hang at the Dunlavy store because once you cross the freeway you have to take a look at real impoverishment, and not just a simulation of it acted out by kids who desperately want to feel poor.

So yeah – if you love Montrose (and I surely do), then you’ll stop telling people how to live their lives, and where to shop, considering your argument is a bad one, contradicts itself and, if you really love Fiesta that much, there’s one not too far away.

PS I look forward to your upcoming piece on the opening of a trader Joe’s in dear old Montrose.

Also, for being so desirous of making an impact in the Montrose, they didn’t do a whole lot to enhance the concepts of sustainable urban development people are talking about here and at HoustonTomorrow etc.; that space could have been used ten times more efficiently than a huge, pointless, DRY box in the middle of a dense neighborhood.

It’s about making Montrose – and all of Houston – a model for the future. Why, why, why is a suburban-style store development with an ocean of parking (relative to every other kind of business in the area) plopped on totally usable land?