Restaurants fit the pattern of patchwork UH campus


Todd

Epp

So the University of Houston administration wants to beautify the campus environs. That's a good thing.

But aren't they a little late?

Let's face it. The UH main campus isn't the most attractive campus in America. It isn't even the most attractive college campus in Houston.

No one will confuse the UH campus for Harvard, or the nearby businesses, train tracks and vacant lots as Harvard Square. Nor will anyone confuse Houston with Boston. This isn't a slam at Houston; the two cities are just different!

But neither is UH the ugliest college campus in America. I can think of several campuses that make UH look like the Garden of Eden.

What I don't understand is, why start the beautification effort with Wendy's and Burger King on Cullen?

Now, it's not that I think their shops and signs are things of beauty. But they are well-kept businesses that don't seem any more incongruous near campus than what I've seen throughout Houston.

Houston made a choice not to use zoning. Thus, Houston is kind of a hodgepodge of businesses, homes, factories and strip malls. It also has one heck of a booming economy, at least in part because the city apparently believed in the past and believes now that people can make their own choices without having the government tell them what they can and can't do.

Thus, if UH is a reflection of its community, then having Wendy's and Burger King near campus is very "Houston."

Further, the UH neighborhood isn't exactly like the Galleria, West University or other exclusive Houston neighborhoods. But just like wealthier parts of town, this neighborhood also needs businesses and services for its residents. Thus, the university should encourage that kind of activity, not just for the enjoyment and use of faculty, staff and students, but also as good neighbors to the permanent residents.

While the UH campus itself has some very attractive areas, a lot of the buildings are from the Neo-Concrete or the Post-Legos schools of architecture. For example, the Law Center is "lovingly" referred to as "The Bunker" by some law students.

UH looks like a lot of the rest of Houston - built in a hurry to accommodate explosive growth.

UH is still a relatively young university, certainly without Harvard's ivy-covered buildings from the 1600s or even the century-old halls of the University of Kansas.

Fortunately, recent buildings on campus do seem to have more attention to aesthetic details than the older ones. As it ages and develops, UH will gain more charm.

I do have good wishes for the administration and this project. However, what goes on in the buildings on campus and how UH serves students and its various constituencies is what really counts.

That is the most important "beautification" project of all - the enrichment of people's lives.

Epp is a Cullen Boulevard-dwelling

UH law student.