An EaDo production of Rent?

Afternoon ashes: "Just a standard fire" smokes out downtown

Smoke billows as firefighters work to extinguish the fire.
Photo by Steven Thomson
The remains of the structure near the George R. Brown Convention Center.
Photo by Steven Thomson

Downtown was caught up in a frenzy on Tuesday afternoon with the sudden appearance of a black cloud of smoke above east downtown. Rumors circulated over the microblogosphere as some thought the view from the west revealed an up-in-flames George R. Brown Convention Center.

Others questioned if the flames derived from the Toyota Center, social ritual central Hilton Americas or the One Park Place high rise. (How tragic would it be to lose the future home of gourmet grocer, Phoenicia?)

Fortunately for downtown denizens, it was a false alarm (at least as far as downtown icon buildings are concerned). In truth, an abandoned warehouse on Polk Street, just east of Chartres caught fire and blew smoke in the area surrounding the convention center. Nobody was harmed, and the two-alarm fire was effectively contained within 20 minutes by several crews from local fire stations.

"This isn't necessarily the fire of the century," Houston Fire Department Assistant Chief K.J. Alexander said. "I can't say it's just a standard fire — but it's just a standard fire."

As it's become apparent that the entirety of downtown is not a hot orange mess, speculators are already setting sights on the site's future. Photographs reveal plenty of artistic and commercial potential: A performance art venue, the set of a new production of Rent, maybe an ad-hoc window display for an upcoming EaDo location of Urban Outfitters?

Or perhaps, as psuedo urban lofts continue to rise out of the concrete, the site may be preserved as a memorial to the urban blight that the self-contrived "neighborhood" once embodied.

CultureMap asks, what do you want to become of the ashes? And how much smoke did you inhale?

unspecified

Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

undefined

Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”