KatieDidIt

This use of eminent domain so wrong it makes me sick. Why doesn't the COH tell the Pavillions to budget space WITH the compound, instead of taking someone's house/private property. Oh, yeah I forgot about greasing the palms..........

A lot of it has to do with timing. If you bought a house in the early 1990's in Houston, its almost tripled in value. So if you can hang with the taxes, you are in a house far above what one could afford to buy these days. If you sold that house you could certainly move a little farther out (talking a few miles here not the true suburbs) an buy something a little bigger. I have always felt that your house should only be a 1/4 of your net worth. 3x's salary could get you in trouble. A house only being 1/4 of your worth means that you can bail yourself out if you need to. It also mean you actually save/put away more money than you spend. Most people I know follow this, putting down a substantial down payment when it comes to purchasing, often 50% or more when it come time to move up a size or up in neighborhood.

Eldridge has really gone upstyle lately. Hope the areas around it catch on soon.

Or at the least Galveston.

No, a little west in Yorkshire. The neighborhood is on its 6th New/Restructured construction in two-three years. The first few are very nice and go with feel of the neighborhood. You really have to look at them to see that they are totally revamped. The only way you can knock down in here is if there is some huge problem with the house. Otherwise, as long as you leave the slab and a portion of the roof line, you can totally rebuild it. The Texas Hill Country style seems to be popular to plop down in a neighborhood of Southern Colonials. Just a little east of here, in Wilchester, the spec new builds are starting. We have a majority of the 65+ set in here, which tends to lead to a little decline in the appearance of the houses. Now they're as kept up as nice as their owners can keep them, and they are from from junky. Just many have a "tired" look to them. But there is starting to be a turn over to younger families that want bigger yards and more neighborhood, which is nice for us. I liked Gaywood, but my husband wouldn't move into a neighborhood that had open culverts and no city drainage. That totally knocked the Villages out for us too, not that we could afford it at today's prices.

I watch the evening news almost every night. I hear about attempted abductions of children in all parts of town all the time. Searches for black women missing for weeks. Kids and women from all walks of life. In fact most of the searches are for people that come from nothing. Almost all the Amber Alerts all over the websites and Breaking News are for minorites So its ok for the media to report that a certain demographic is getting targeted,3 instances in a 24 hour period, just as long as they aren't white, rich and female? Some of the statments on here are as bad as any racist statements I've heard. Instead you are bashing someone over the padding in their bank account instead of the color of their skin. It makes me sick. Hatred is ugly.

Yes, The ROCC report gives more details than the Chron. Surprise Suprise. Chevie Impalaish car. Must be a new model because it was rare for the older American cars to have them. I just got another "unofficial" Security Alert that a teenage girl was approached by three black males again, out here in Memorial (Wilcrest/Memorial), last night. A gun was held to her head. She also got away. I wonder if its the same guys targeting high income areas? I'm certainly going to stay more alert.

LOL, um no. But I did go through a safety training class in Miami (don't ask, parents were always paranoid some Columbian was going to drag their blonde daughters away), and it was hard to find. Not to mention if you are in a panic and the adrenaline is going.

Well, the news will never tell you the color of skin anymore. That's profiling. I got an email alert right after this happened. I thinks its possible. Its extremely hard to find those trunk releases though. Here'e the email: CRIME ALERT - ABDUCTION Thursday, February 28, 2008. At approximately 0700 this morning a resident was assaulted and abducted in the 3800 block of Del Monte. The female resident was struck in the head and forced into the trunk of the suspects vehicle. As the suspects attempted to leave the area, the resident was able to free herself from the trunk and jump from the vehicle. The resident sustained non-life threatening injuries. The vehicle fled the scene east bound in the 3700 block of Del Monte with the trunk open. The suspects and their vehicle are described as follows. The suspects are black males, approximately 40 to 45 years old. They are of medium to larger build (250 to 275 lbs). Clothing was dark in color. One suspect is described as being unshaven. The suspect vehicle is described as a silver or Champaign colored 4 door, mid-sized vehicle. It has been suggested that it might have been similar to a Chevrolet Impala. The suspects made no demands of the victim at the time of the abduction. Police sources suggest that this might be related to a series of sexual assault cases in southwest Houston. The River Oaks Patrol and Houston Police are looking for any possible sources of information. Any residents who might have seen anything suspicious this morning are encouraged to contact our offices (713-622-0001)or HPD (713-222-3131) immediately. We are also looking for any security cameras that might have captured either the vehicle or the suspects in the area. All residents are encouraged to review any security tape that might prove helpful especially in the northwest area of River Oaks. You have received this message because you are on a list managed by River Oaks Property Owners. To unsubscribe click on the following link: River Oaks had no problem singling out the race. PS- I'm on the gossip trail to find out who this was. 39 is my pier group. Once I get a name, I'll let you know if its believable.

We bought outside the Beltway, I wouldn't consider our area "posh." Most of the houses were built in the 60's, about half look ratty on the outside, many look normal on the exterior and like a showcase home on the inside. They are starting to knock down many and build McMansions for over a million lately. Even though I don't like the styles, I guess that puts us in a rebirth cycle? Otherwise I guess we fit in the term decline/ghetto. Its an upper middle class to lower upper class ghetto though. But I love it here so I guess I'm ghetto fabulous.

Its starting to go up pretty fast now. T&C Village and Town Center now blend in the semi-completed areas. Can't wait for some of the eateries! Memorial Herman is shaping up too. Still not too sure about the tower. The whole look of the area really has been changed in the past year.

I thought the Grand Parkway was going through right around there,

You just described what 80% of what Memorial's residents do. The issue here is that these are SPEC homes in a bad location, in an area/demographic/part of town where a location lot is everything. The house is secondary.

You are minutes from West Houston in Katy. Memorial City Mall is much better than The Woodlands Mall IMHO. Also they are building a huge mall at the Grand PArkway and I-10, not to mention there is La Centera which is exactly like Market street. Also, CityCentre is being built, which will be like a Beverly Hills version of Market Street. If you buy somewhere close to the Westpark, you could be at Nieman Marcus/Galleria within 20 minutes at non-peak hours. We have better steak houses than Kirby's out this way.

Returning to the "Little Ice Age" We've had 120 years of very extraordinarily wonderful weather for planet earth.

I agree this is the issue in the Memorial area schools. You have kids from very smart and successful families, that are very into helping and being available to their kids. Most of the mom's are stay at home. The end result is a lot of kids making great grades and have good extracurricular activities. Getting that top 10% for UT is difficult. But who says you have to go to UT? With the education you are getting there one can go anywhere in the country. I hope my guys want to go to UVA or Duke and even Clemson. I think getting a little more broad experience will be good for them, because I know they will always be Texans and most likely Houstonians. We may join the public system when HS comes around. It just depends where they are in life. I don't think the schools are snobby, but they are proud of what they have created, and many are proud of the sacrifices they make to get into the district. But if you really want to look at that as snobby, so be it and then its not for you.

If money isn't an option, The Houstonian is a rather great place and building. Wonderful walking, safe, security, valet car and grocery, close to Memorial Park. A straight shot down Memorial to access the Heights and right by the freeway to get to Kingwood. A little far from the Med Center, but not too bad of a drive.

I spent a few years in the NW burbs, and all I have to say is that the people that are saying AA's from a poor background (now making it mind you) are bringing the neighborhood down, are white people from a poor background, finally making it. They get a little money and now they are big stuff. So there you go. Laugh at them and move on.

I agree that Sugarland probably fits your needs. Oh, and take all those "horror stories" you hear about HISD schools on message boards with a grain of salt. A lot of those opinions are coming from people who live in Houston's suburbs. To them, the wind hanging direction is suspicious much less an urban setting. There are some very good schools in HISD and SBISD. I think I could safely say that Lamar High School is better than any suburban school. On a list that came out a few years ago Lamar, Memorial and Stratford High Schools ranked in the Top 150-200 schools in the country. The suburban schools were suprisingly not ranked anywhere near that. Only one I really remember the ranking of was The Woodlands High School, and it was rank 730th +/- Ok, I just came back from Greatschools.com. You got my curiousity going so I plugged in schools that I thought would have a good grouping of all cultures. I found you can get white and hispanic pretty even with either a good number of black or asian (but not both together) Is this typical of Houston? Do those two cultures distance themselves from one another? The schools in 77077 might interest you. Barbara Bush Elem (this comes close to your 20/20/20/20 ideal as well as a desirable school) and Westside High School. You may want to look at those. The area is affordable and easy to get around. And HISD is know to help the motivated kids get into magnet programs/vangaurd and High Schools. Another area to scope out would be north of I-10. While there maybe a great ratio of Hispanic to other minorities, its a pretty good mix. That would be SBISD, which has an excellent reputation in Houston.

I drive by that house at least 4 times a day. How about the one right on the corner of the feeder they are building? I guess builders are banking on people having to have a new construction in THE zip code, despite the location over the LOT (with liveable old) in THE zip code with THE location.

Those ones in Memorial Bend are sitting forever. One million dollars to be on an 8,000 sf lot three doors down from the Toll Road feeder is a hard sell. It wasn't a bright move. There are too many really good older homes in the area, for around 800k, that sit on big interior lots to pull that off.

Because its not a hazard and there is not reason to change it. I'm glad to see them adding onto the park. That is making good use of dollars. Its been a great place for Houstonians to enjoy.

They are going to work on North Piney Point around the same time also. Big headaches on tight little roads for a while.

I think they put a few panels of glass on the tower on the western side. It was really reflecting this weekend.

Quick, everybody hide your rims! The could just set up a camera on Western Briarforest and get a reality show for the cost of an editor.