TAK

not enough police... more police retiring/leaving than signing up... (and i hope they don't just start taking anybody) we were going to have this if we didn't have katrina... but with katrina, a 7% - 10% increase in population, the problem worsens. you'll notice the vast majority of the crime in houston has nothing to do with katrina evacuees... but keep blaming 'chocolate city' for it... it's trendier.

ih is 'outside the loop' tho... other than uptown, i haven't seen many townhomes outside the loop... i'd think independence heights would end up being homes like heights and shady acres (minus the townhomes)... no yard, but not a townhouse per se... but then again, if i bought it, i'd probably build 'affordable' MFHs and sell/lease.

eeeeasy there, gang... so, the question is, if i see something in IH, should i scoop it up? i have plenty of time to wait on the increase, which seems inevitable.

Ashleigh Page Benton is a blonde American female - and she was the 'lead' of this particular gang activity. So, blonde Americans females are responsible for 25% of the West End murders and their gang activity must be stopped!!! I don't feel safe around blonde American females - help me. Actually, if we could all get off the 'race' horse (pun intended) and see that the majority of the problems we have with crime are socioeconomic (more economic than 'socio'). People with money have the means to fill their time with lots of... whatever. People without money have.... not much to do except be pissed at themselves and everyone else... and then gangs and crime and other criminal elements come into pla... just like they did WAAAAY before there was a 'problem' with immigration from the south. History tells us that poverty and crime don't care what your ethnic/racial background are. Blaming 'illegal immigrant gang members' will not help the problem. Carry on.

if I.H. is crack controlled, then it's just a matter of time before it gets cleaned out... that real estate is too prime for crackheads to keep control of, and i'm guessing the dealers will move north of BTW.

i need to go look around Independence Heights... maybe buppyism can help nice the place up AND keep it affordable. ;-) that info about Independence Heights is awesome. that type of history is worth trying to preserve, and by preserve i don't mean kick out all of the poor people, knockdown all of the houses, put up something that cost twice the median house price, and then change the name of the neighborhood to attract more money. but then again, Independence Heights is a pretty cool name, so it probably wouldn't be changed.

If you travel north of the North Loop on Yale, to your left is Garden Oaks, to your right is Independence Heights. Other than the difference between the houses, residents, and incomes that are there right now, what is the difference that makes Indepence Heights "across the tracks"? It is quite close to the Heights, Garden Oaks, etc... what's the deal here? and why is it that Garden Oaks gets a sound wall from 610, but the less affluent neighborhood doesn't? Did Garden Oaks pay for that wall (i don't think so). Do poor people like the sound of 610? (i don't think so).

$4 coffee is a luxury. luxury @ northline = not so much... but it's coming, i suppose.

You heard incorrectly. Compton became a city before 1900. It is next to Watts. Greenspoint is no Watts or Compton. My Aunt leaves on Northchase - in an apartment. "Gunspoint" was bad for a minute. Now it's just lower-class income. Most of the people are good people. You might notice that we tend to label any non-middle class or above neighborhood as one that has either: 1. LOTS of crime 2. TERRIBLE schools which are both smoke screens for saying "poor minorities" (or in some cases, just "minorities"). there are areas of houston that are FAR worse than Greenspoint. Greenspoint needs an 'update' - it's 30 years old and pretty much in it's original condition. Memorial City needed an update - it got one. Town & Country needed an update... well, it got torn down as the open air stores replaced it. Greenspoint got an 'update' if you want to call it that - and the update was terrible. Now, having said all that, I think Greenspoint will still suffer. There are a lot of residences nearby, but not a lot of expendable income. There are a lot of kids, though. It will likely be a teen hangout. I'm sure it will be secure as I would expect the police presence to be significant as everyone is aware of the past reputation. I just don't think the money will come in. I think Northline will do better... Hmmmmm maybe they're updating Greenspoint to keep the crime and bad schools "out there" and away from Northline... I'm just being cynical and bitter... no particular reason, either.