DrFood

The thing that amazes me is how many discussions there are on HAIF about Sharpstown. Folks seem to be obsessed with beating a dead horse to death.....and that horse that is being beaten is Sharpstown as a whole. The heart of each discussion seems to be the mall. Well if that is the impetus to get a fix started, then someone buy the mall demolish it and do something good with the land and surrounding property. I am a native Houstonian and my family moved into 1 of the first houses built by Vista Homes in 1966 just west of Gessner and Beechnut (for the first 11 years of my life we lived in Braeburn Terrace). My dad commuted everyday along Hillcroft to Westheimer until we moved to Sharpstown so I was able to watch Sharpstown grow from the original sales office at Hillcroft/Bellaire (torn down and the Citgo Station sits on that location now). I watched them build Sharpstown Mall. I watched them extend the SW Freeway out from 610 to Hillcroft to Beechnut to Bissonett and further out. I attended Pat Neff in 1/2 of 4th grade and all of 5th grade. I was in the first 6th grade class of Ed White Elementary and in the first 7th grade class of then Sharpstown Jr./Sr. High School (Now Sharpstown Middle School). My folks still live in the house they purchased brand new in 1966. I own a home in Westbury near Hillcroft/W. Bellfort (14.5 years now). And FYI Westbury is not a hot bed of crime as some on here would have you believe. I've been on the civic club board and know the crime statistics for the area.....we are not a hot bed of crime. I think I can speak expertly as someone who knows Sharpstown and the surrounding area. Much moreso than yankees who moved in during the late 70s and 80s. And the folks who moved in after the oil bust because you could get a house for cheap. There is a simply solution to Sharpstown. 1. Demolish the apt and townhomes along Gessner, Beechnut, Ranchester, Town Park, and along Bellaire Blvd and the area around Jane Long and the old Sharpstown General Hospital. Replace them with single family homes. If you look at areas like Meyerland and Maplewood that have single family homes along major streets you will not see the crime and "ghetto" influence. What do you do with the folks who live in the demolished properties. Create apartment communities where you have zoned building and building codes. Heck put them on the site of Sharpstown Mall. If you create an apartment enclave and provide services such as transportation and shopping within walking distance you will have a more urban like setting similar to Chicago or NYC. You haven't kicked the apt dwellers out of Sharpstown, you've simply managed housing in a more efficient manner. I cannot think of any city in North America or Europe that has successfully integrated apartments into single family home neighborhoods as we keep trying to do here in Houston. 2. Demolish all of the old run down retail like Target on 59 and K-Mart on 59 and Sam White Olds (no long Sam White) and create some green space along the freeway. We don't need all the land paved over. Make Sharpstown a green community. 3. Create a zone similar to the Heights where you have mandatory deed restrictions and homeowners covenants. 4. Run light rail down Bellaire Blvd or Beechnut run it N-S on Hillcroft and Gessner. Reclaim some of the green space that once was esplanades. Again make Sharpstown greener. 5. Get the churchs involved in the rebirth. I went to Sharpstown Baptist and they just celebrated their 50th anniversary. I didn't even find out about it until after the fact. Churchs in Sharpstown site on huge chunks of land and can be a pillar to the community. They were when I was growing up. Now most of them are barely hanging on financially and have to host multiple congregations just to maintain a physical plant. I have yet to see anyone address the chunk being lost directly across the street from the mall....what happens with the Circuit City building? Let's hope a dubz shop or another carnecaria move in. I disagree 100% with the comparison of Memorial City and Sharpstown. No way can you ever equate the 2. Memorial City Mall simply suffered from neglect and a poor management. They never had ghettos and criminals living within close proximity. You never had "grillz" shops in Memorial City. But you did have a hospital and a property management company come in and decide to make the area a focal point for the city. Unfortunately Memorial Herman and even HBU are simply too far from the current mall site to make a difference in Sharpstown Mall. As I've said on numerous posts about Sharpstown. I refuse to visit my folks after dark. The area is simply too unsafe for me to be driving around. And I don't say this lightly. I will walk or drive around Chicago, NYC, Miami, DC, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid, Berlin, Tokyo, Sydney at any time of the day or night and I never feel unsafe. And I will drive around Houston at all hours of the day EXCEPT Sharpstown. Fondren Southwest is safer than Sharpstown. I get gas at W. Airport and Fondren at all hours of the day, never feel unsafe. I shop at Fiesta and Walgreens on Fondren. Never feel unsafe. But I do not feel safe at CVS at Gessner/Beechnut except in full daylight. It's going to take a visonary person to fix Sharpstown by leading a group of folks.

Original Timmy-- Plaza del Oro was originally purchased by Shell Oil back in the 1970's. Their thought process was to have a commercial/residential/cultural center at the NW corner of 610 and 288. Basically bounded by Fannin on the west, OST on the north, 288 on the east, and 610 on the south. I can remember a huge billboard between Fannin and Almeda back when they first purchased the area. At Greenbriar and OST is a huge white building which used to be Shell's credit card and IT building. Not sure what it functions as now. If you are traveling south on Fannin at OST and you look behind the shell station there is a sign that says Plaza del Oro bank. I've looked for history on the area, but can't find anything more than my recollection. So I don't know why Shell bailed on the property. Back in the early 1990's I lived in Scotland Yard apts on Holly Hall. Good luck on finding out what the plans are for the area by your house.

To Stu-- Willow Waterhole is located between S. Willow and S. Main east of Chimney Rock. It will not be where Westbury Square is. It is a long term project of Harris County Flood Control District. If you're interested in more information the web site is.....http://www.wwgc.org/ As far as the future of Westbury Square and the name. Until we can put together a Master Plan I don't know that the name has even been considered. One thing that might hinder this is whether the current property owner claims rights to the name as being trademarked or something and he/they own it. To LarryDallas-- Musicman is correct. The City of Houston neighborhood protection division is basically hog tied when it comes to derelict properties and their owners. There are properties that the City has condemned and even has court backing on, but the owners claim they aren't being treated fairly so they drag it out in mediation. A perfect example of this is an apartment/condo complex just west of Fondren and W. Airport. The complex had 2 buildings burn to the ground. The owner abandoned it and the city seized it. Then the owner said he wasn't getting treated fairlyso the city gave him a fair deal per the courts. They scheduled a demolition date. That was last year sometime. The owner has taken the city back to mediation and they have no choice in the matter. So the complex sits empty, the wiring stripped by homeless, drug dealers and prostitutes have set up crack houses. The police are afraid to go in because of the inherent dangers. So it sits. The Centerette is functional and has businesses taking place in it. The junk stuff is from one area of it. The City has fought it, but alas the owners keep fighting back. Some people have deeper pockets than sense. I agree about the Exxon station, but when you've got an owner who is considered to be a hero within a community (Mr. Gaddi) and no one wants to challenge him outside the Indo-Paki community because it will be perceived as politically incorrect. Stuff sits and is an eyesore. Until Anne Clutterbuck and M.J. Khan take him to task it will sit. Structurally Westbury Square is not stable enough to salvage. A lot of folks would love to try and save it, but it would be foolish to spend money trying to make it workable. Unlike Old Jeff Davis which was structurally sound and a wise investment. Westbury Square is wood frame and lots of wood on the exterior. Plus there is a huge amount of physical damage. You need to walk through it on all sides to appreciate how bad it is. To All Westbury Square Readers-- CVS is actually interested in helping us out, but landowners are balking at helping. CVS wants to purchase the corner of W. Bellfort and Chimney Rock where part of the Centerette, Pizza Hut and Auto Zone are. They want to raze those buildings and build a new store there. But that's a matter of getting 3 landowners involved. I've talked to PetsMart and they want to build a store in the area, but there's no place feasible unless land is freed by demolition. There is also a move to get a Harris County Library in the area. But again no place to put it just yet. There is a lot of potential, but it's a matter of dealing with absentee landlords, slum lords, and finally Weingartens realty. I guarantee if Barnes & Nobles wanted to build a store in the place of 99 cent only our friends at Weingarten Realty would tear down 1/2 of westbury to accomodate them. (Sorry just ranting because of the mess being created in River Oaks)

Note to apower. I've lived in Houston all of my life (grew up in Sharpstown) and lived in Westbury since 1994. We have no inclination to recreate or model after the Woodlands. I used the Woodlands as an example where you have shopping, entertainment, employment, and strong sense of community that could be used to help plan how we want Westbury to evolve. No one wants that specific type of environment, if I wanted sterility and what color my flowers can be I would have chosen to live there. What we do want is to create a liveable village out of Westbury. Westbury Square is physically not sound to fix up from a fiscally responsible standpoint. However something similar could be built afresh with some planning, which we are doing. There are lots of opportunities to get things right as we update the area and get rid of some undesirable things that are plaguing the area. If you're really interested in having a part of seeing Westbury grow and flourish I invite you to get involved. I'm new to the Civic Club board and we've got some vacancies for people who really want to help. Send me an e-mail and I will help you get involved. Note to musicman. You are 100% right. Mandatory dues are hard as heck. Getting new deed restrictions passed is even harder. Westbury has over 5000 residences and a number of different versions of deed restrictions. When the area was built in sections back in the late 50's and early 60's each section or builder wrote their own deed restrictions. It's a mess as you can imagine. The other strain is getting folks to sign and then notarizing them. We're trying, but it's not an easy task. I don't people realize how important strong deed restrictions are and how important mandatory dues are to keeping an area growing. The biggest argument we have right now against mandatory for everyone is the original owners who have never paid and now can't afford to pay. Plus how do you handle rental property. It's an adventure as you can image. Thanks for any input you can give.

I don't think anyone will ever be able to put a finger on the exact cause of the decline of Westbury Square. Houston has gone through so many manifestations of trying to create itself, WS just happens to be a victim of that whole process. Now what can be done to fix the issue, especially in Westbury (the same ideas could apply to Sharpstown, Greenspoint and other areas). 1. Develop a Master Plan for the community--we are doing this to tie in the Willow Waterhole area and the Ft. Bend Toll Road to growth. 2. Develop a set of deed restrictions and mandatory compliance--we've developed the new deed restrictions. The problem there is that residents in Houston are scared to death of overzealous civic associations taking their homes from them. Remember the woman in Champions area who lost her home due to a clerical problem with the payment of dues. And then the woman in Katy who had to pay lots of money to defend her right to landscape her home? That scares the crap out of current residents. We've noted that the new folks moving in have no problem being mandated into compliance and paying dues. Only time will tell as we fight this fight. 3. Force local landlords to clean up property--The landlords are favored in a lot of cases in the courts so the City is really requiring strong cases. Take the case of the condos at W. Airport and Fondren. They have been condemned and burned and gutted. The City thought it had the courts ok to demolish as a neighborhood hazard. Guess what the landlord went to court again and got the whole thing quashed again. The laws should favor the residents of an area, not the business people. 4. Force absentee landlords to clean up property--Identify slum landlords for who they are and let the county and city do their thing to them. Limited court involvement. And when a slumlord is convicted of a crime, don't let them sell the land to a friend to protect it until they get out of jail. Make it go onto the open market and sell via the courts or a court mediator. 5. Run Metrorail down W. Bellfort and Hillcroft--Both of these tie into transit centers. W. Bellfort could tie into W. Bellfort/59 and Metrorail on Fannin. Hillcroft could tie into Missouri Park and Ride and Hillcroft P&R which will then have University line to go to Main. Guess what......there is a lot of folks in favor of this....but the NIMBYISTS in the area (sparked by Afton Oaks/Richmond Ave) folks have convinced folks in Houston that fixing transportation for the entire city can be stopped by 100 home owners and a few scared business owners. Oh yeah, if you run light rail down a major street folks will loose their mind and forget how to look out for the train too.....a la Main St. If you have mass transit that is easy and CLEAN (no diesel busses) you could reinvigorate areas like Westbury Square. 6. Give folks a destination--Cargo Houston keeps surfacing as a big draw of Westbury Square back in the day. Let's create a shopping village with some destination stores. 7. Pass zoning for Houston in some form--No further comment needed on that. At some point folks are going to have to wake up and fix one major area of town as a livable area and then branch out. The Woodlands is a great concept, perhaps we need something a little like that close to the loop.