hbcu

I grew up in Briargate when Fresno was nothing but a pasture....if I'm buying a home..no way will it be in Fresno...it's becoming what Briargate, Ridgemeont, etc. was in the 80s except the houses aren't built as well and the infrastructure isn't developed. Everyone I know is out there in Fresno living in homes that are overpriced...you do better staying in Briargate in an older, bigger home for less cash and better access out the neighborhood. My parents have yet to move and house has tripled in value with the improvements and no MUD taxes. Teal Run is Briargate South now with all the former residents moving out there....might as well stay at home.

It was tolerable when it was Fame City...but it seemed like it took forever to get there as kid before the Highway 6 expansion... I went there in 2000 and it was obvious the area's demographics had an impact on the place...it was a glorified hangout and half the items in there were useless..... at one time, Fame City had a food court with numerous selections and every ride worked...it was like 10 tickets for $10 or so....eventually, a lot of the food places stopped opening up and rides were broken often

Peppermint Park I remember was where the beltway and 59 south meet now....it had some nice rides in it but it seemed like half the train tracks in there never worked... I remember Nathan's Phimsical Whymsical in Sharpstown Mall....it had a shadow room, a mirror maze, a big jumping castle... Westwood Mall had extensive renovations in 1991 or so...it had a 2-story merry-go-round. Mountain Park...I never figured out its purpose...I went there once... wasn't there 2 malibus in the SW Houston area? my father remembered playland park but he grew up in the time where he could go only on certain days...

I see someone said they stayed in Briargate...my parents moved there in the 70s when a 4 bedroom, 2 bath and detatched garage would run for $30,000 and you got plenty of front yard space in certain sections. I remember the shopping strip that had a Krogers, Buster Brown, an ice cream store, weiners, and a night club. 7-11 was across the street... in the 80s....Kroger moved to 2234 in the old safeway building and McDonald's came and a chicken place called Creoles moved in where the ice cream place was. We also had Kenney's shoes where you could get a decent pair of shoes at the last minute. for reasons unknown, McDonald's left..the Kroger strip center has seen its fair share of churches xome and go and the weioners is long gone...we have 2 seafood restaurants in the strip center now...7-11 turned into dump, corner stores but is now a Williams Chicken as for best bang for your buck...Briargate was a well-built neighborhood with direct access to Mo. City and Houston...it's right next to the beltway and ft. bend parkway and your only 10-15 minutes from downtown, sugar land or pearland outside the duplexes they built on the main street for reasons unknown and the townhomes outside the neighborhood...there isn't any type of high-density living... the area eventually transformed from white to an upper, middle class african american community in the 80s...however, alot of african americans thought the grass was greener and left the area for sugar land and in some cases, the kids suffered. anyone can remember, pound for pound...Willowridge was the most talented school in Texas for a long time

Klein Forest has an oddly drawn attendance zone that takes kids from Acres Homes (249 and West Montgomery) for obvious reasons which is ridiculous when Eisenhower High is right next door... But the 1960 area and Klein area is a product of Greenspoint moving north along nort-south arteries of Veterans, Ella and Kuykendahl. Look at Louetta now and I-45...there's a HUD housing project coming up and the Louetta wal-mart has had its fair share of news in the past year. It's no wonder Montgomery is seeing all these new homes built...

I work out in Prairie View...commute from 1960.....they are building out 290 from Fairfield to Becker Road and are now making it a full-fledged freeway with frontage roads...I guess they are doing that for future expansion new quest properties bought a chunk of land on the northside of bauer and 290 and will build 1,500 houses (not bridgelands) 2 miles down in front of ranch country past becker...a lenner homes community has been plotted but not built yet... and from that point, most of the land on the freeway from Hockley to Prairie View is up for sale now...

Fort Bend ISD has a magnet program now at all 10 schools AND intra-district transfer for people who worry about SAT scores... to me, SAT is overrated anyway....I took the test once, got an average score...never bothered with it again because I already knew where and what I wanted to do in college. if your kid is an athlete with a scholarship offer, all you need is the minimum score and a decent GPA to get in any school in the country.

a liitle over 2,000 sqaure feet under $200K? That's overprices 5 miles fown the road you can get 4/2/2 for a little over $100K... I never agreed with the HISD magnet program, it devalues your neighborhood pride because if the school isn't to your parent's liking, it's a cinch they are leaving... people don't remember at one time Westbury HS was the "elite" school and they used to flex Johnny Rebel at all their games. where's the mascot now?

On the corner of I-45 and Louetta behind the Starbucks it looks like a federal housing project is being built there but there are no signs to tell you anything about the development. Ironically, off of Fondren and South Main, the same exact complex is being built except they are building a 4 story unit in the middle of the complex in addition to the single story units. I can understand the complex being on Fondren because I knew the area and landowners will sell their souls to make money instead of doing what's right. How did this project make it off the ground? Did the public not know about it? if this thing turns out like the housing projects I watched destroy certain areas might as well start selling land in Centerville.

reminds me of Fondren with all those big homes but those apartments make the homes almost worthless... if you want to live close to the city but want a nice area and decent school district, consider where I grew up..Briargate.. parents bought a 4 BR house in 74 when white flight took place and the house has nearly quadrupled. There are numerous 4 bedroom plans and 5 bedrooms. No apartments are located near the neighborhood and once the South Main Freeway is finished (it connects with the FB Tollway), your going to be able to get to Downtown in less than 10 minutes. there are numerous ways out the neighborhood and in less than 10 minutes in either direction you have your choice of shopping. Homes aren't overpriced like they are in Westbury and the school district is Fort Bend ISD. and also....our area doesn't flood.

Westfield HS is similiar to what Smiley used to be.....the school's racial mix-ups have changed drastically and the original inhabitants moved further north...a new HS will open in 2007 on Imperial Valley Drive... if your from Scenic Woods your moving into the same situation anywhere between the Beltway and 1960. they tell me Scenic Woods was entirely different when it was first built..

this is how I see it.......you run to Alaska....the same problems you leave will find you...but lets be real now....how many places are teenage friendly these days? Astroworld is gone so now, those folks who dropped their kids off everyday, what will they do?

well....lets pack up the goods and keep on moving then....I hear the land is cheap in Centerville....weird....at one time, people left the small town for opportunities and now they run back.