kzseattle Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 I stumbled upon an Asian forum where they were talking about Alief, that how nice it used to be and it has now become a ghetto whose ghetto effect is growing. Someone blamed Alief for the decline in Sharpstown. Another guy wondered how it would affect other nicer areas around it such as Westchase and Ashford Park. It is frustrating to see how the city lets a decent area go down the toilet and after it has suffered years of neglect we hear that it is being gentrified. Why not keep the area gentrified and stop the decline as soon as it becomes apparent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UrbaNerd Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 I don't think Westchase is going to be affected too much by this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kzseattle Posted January 31, 2005 Author Share Posted January 31, 2005 I don't think Westchase is going to be affected too much by this.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>I think you are right. Someone on this forum mentioned that Westchase has actually improved in the past. The large presence of businesses/office parks, proximity to Royal Oaks community and its designation as a district should keep Westchase safe. On the southwest side of Alief is Sugarland. However, I doubt that Sugarland would allow any of its neighborhoods turn into a ghetto. The developments west of Alief, towards Highway 6 and beyond, are too new to say anything about them. However, the safest thing is to do is to prevent Alief from declining any further. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westguy Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Alief is one of those areas that had poor infrastructure to begin with, but the city annexed anyway to prevent it from developing into a competing suburb. It looks like its going to be engulfed by the new Chinatown anyway - especially with the abundance of cheap, developable land. It came as a great suprise that a powerful incumbant in the Texas state legislature could be defeated by a Vietnamese businessman in Alief. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kzseattle Posted January 31, 2005 Author Share Posted January 31, 2005 Alief is one of those areas that had poor infrastructure to begin with, but the city annexed anyway to prevent it from developing into a competing suburb. It looks like its going to be engulfed by the new Chinatown anyway - especially with the abundance of cheap, developable land. It came as a great suprise that a powerful incumbant in the Texas state legislature could be defeated by a Vietnamese businessman in Alief.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>So what's the annexation policy? Is it "If I don't succeed, I wouldnt let you succeed as well"? Just kidding!It is hard to say, what would Alief be like if it wasnt annexed. However, it seems that most cities around Houston are better off than Houston itself (in terms of city services and also because they are zoned); Sugarland, Stafford, Katy, West U, Bellaire, Pearland, League City, Woodlands, (although Clear Lake and Kingwood have been annexed, they were already in pretty good shape as well). Perhaps, Alief wouldn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heights2Bastrop Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 My girlfriend teaches at Alief, and she is leaving at the end of this year. She is fed up with all the crapulence she has to put up with there with unruly students and an administration that does not stand behind the teachers. They don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BayouCityGirl Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 I used to live in Alief (Bellaire/Hwy 6)...it was turning Ghetto and my dad left. Actually b/c the house he was living in was too big too! Too much maintance. But he told me that there was a time when Alief was safe and you could leave your doors unlocked. Kinda like when I used to live in Fondren Southwest growing up. It was safe in the late 70's..but it got to be so crime stricken I was happy to move away from there growing up. Too much crime that it was terribly unsafe for me to live in that area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kzseattle Posted January 31, 2005 Author Share Posted January 31, 2005 I used to live in Alief (Bellaire/Hwy 6)...it was turning Ghetto and my dad left. Actually b/c the house he was living in was too big too! Too much maintance. But he told me that there was a time when Alief was safe and you could leave your doors unlocked. Kinda like when I used to live in Fondren Southwest growing up. It was safe in the late 70's..but it got to be so crime stricken I was happy to move away from there growing up. Too much crime that it was terribly unsafe for me to live in that area. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Seems like where ever you lived turned into a ghetto! I am afraid to ask where you live now Just kidding! Westguy mentioned that Alief could be engulfed by the new Chinatown. However, it seems that Alief is too big for all of it to become Chinatown. Still, many Asians are moving to Alief and opening new businesses. Usually thats a good sign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Great Hizzy! Posted February 1, 2005 Share Posted February 1, 2005 Sounds like Alief (I still haven't gotten over there to see what the area's like) is experiencing what's happened to a couple of longtime sold hoods in Miami, such as Miami Lakes in NE Miami-Dade County. Some if it is stilll in pretty good shape just like I imagine parts of Alief is, while other parts are starting to go down fast. Another area is the N. Miami/N. Miami Beach area. These communities housed lots of doctors, attorneys, privelaged/wealthy immigrants from the Caribbean over the years but now those people are moving to Broward and Palm Beach County and what's left is being bought up by poorer immigrants, most of whom are decent, hard working people, but some of whom are your typical I-don't-give-a-damn-types.I think Alief, like other "at risk" areas of Houston, needs the city to step in and hold the subdivisions accountable for their own upkeep.Interestingly, my boss talked about the situation along the SW bend of the West Loop/South Loop, where years ago many apartments lining that stretch were bordered by barbed wire fences to try to curb the crack infestation that had taken place. Now, you have higher end apartments, rehabilitated subdivisions (I remember hearing about the notorious Link Valley apartments on Stella Link years ago before I moved hear) and much safer area. Reason? The city forced the apartment owners to take responsibility or get gone.The same could be done in Alief if someone cared enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssullivan Posted February 1, 2005 Share Posted February 1, 2005 Unless Alief either incorporates, is annexed,...Most of the area know as Alief is inside the City of Houston. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westguy Posted February 1, 2005 Share Posted February 1, 2005 Sounds like Alief (I still haven't gotten over there to see what the area's like) is experiencing what's happened to a couple of longtime sold hoods in Miami, such as Miami Lakes in NE Miami-Dade County. Some if it is stilll in pretty good shape just like I imagine parts of Alief is, while other parts are starting to go down fast. Another area is the N. Miami/N. Miami Beach area. These communities housed lots of doctors, attorneys, privelaged/wealthy immigrants from the Caribbean over the years but now those people are moving to Broward and Palm Beach County and what's left is being bought up by poorer immigrants, most of whom are decent, hard working people, but some of whom are your typical I-don't-give-a-damn-types.I think Alief, like other "at risk" areas of Houston, needs the city to step in and hold the subdivisions accountable for their own upkeep.Interestingly, my boss talked about the situation along the SW bend of the West Loop/South Loop, where years ago many apartments lining that stretch were bordered by barbed wire fences to try to curb the crack infestation that had taken place. Now, you have higher end apartments, rehabilitated subdivisions (I remember hearing about the notorious Link Valley apartments on Stella Link years ago before I moved hear) and much safer area. Reason? The city forced the apartment owners to take responsibility or get gone.The same could be done in Alief if someone cared enough.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>That sounds about right. None of Alief is wealthy in property and it seems to be about lower-middle class. Huntington Village seems nice enough and their schools look pretty impressive on the outside although AISD stretches far beyond the Alief area.Other areas around the apartments are allowed to fester. I think because property values are so low the city doesn't bother trying to enforce its own laws. Hasn't Mayor White recently raised the issue for discussion?I think the real ghettoish part is unincorporated Harris County. There's just nothing that can be done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debmartin Posted February 2, 2005 Share Posted February 2, 2005 the alief school boundaries are crazy - there is an alief elementary school off of gessner, between richmond and westpark. it's within walking distance to hisd's emerson elementary which is off of richmond and tanglewilde.debmartin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debmartin Posted February 2, 2005 Share Posted February 2, 2005 it's called sneed elementary and it's alief. located in the 9800 block of pagewood just off gessner, between richmond and westpark. like i said, you can walk around the corner to emerson elementary on tanglewilde off richmond. i have a friend who used to teach there and we carpooled to emerson - when i was early i would just walk on over. if you can't place it in your mind look it up on har.com's school finder, under sneed ele. it's a nice school and mostly attended by kids from the nearby apts.debmartin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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