KatieDidIt

I got the same letter. That was fun. Anyway, I just finished with the informal and they put back down within the 10% raise. I'm still higher than many, but much lower than where they had me at. Not going onto the board. But that isettle thing is silly. I really don't know what that was all about and I won't use it again. It would have been easier to protest while the kids were in school, rather than dragging them with me in July.

There's a sign at the 59 Feeder and Kirby that points west to a "Farmers Market." Does anyone know about this one? Edit: I found it. Anyone been to it? 2oth is the one you went too? http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:z5k0Q...us&ie=UTF-8

Clansmen will drool at the sight of these things. Does Houston really need anymore of an image problem?

hmmm. Well there is already a "Sage Plaza" and its on San Felipe. 5100 block I think. Maybe they are going to redo it?

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Tenants have moved into a completed building of CC. Most are facing the Beltway Feeder.

How many more miles of trail with this add? We are on it every weekend. Hopefully they will "tree" this section like they did east of Dairy Ashford. West of DA is blazing hot in the sun.

Now H20, keeping on the financial impact of gas/power of this I have to take issue with your statements. We lived in a brand new Real custom home in an "exurb," and now live in a 1960's home here in the Energy Corridor area. Which one was built with better product? The Memorial one. I see it everytime we remodel. The wood is like concrete and hasn't warped or rotten or twisted. I would bet that 30 years from now, this house will still be here and standing....if someone doesn't whack it down for the lot. The new custom was very nice and well built, but I can almost promise it will be paper mache' 30 years from now. Which one is more "energy efficient?" I have no clue, but I do know our energy bills have gone down about 150, for same size houses, this June from last June in the other house. The new house had double pane windows and deluxe everything in those terms. But due to the ultra high ceilings, the units were constantly cooling. Now we did spray insulation and replace half the windows in the 60's home, but when the wind blows really hard you can hear it coming in through the eaves. Do I think that's bad? Not really, it's cooling off the attic. The biggest difference most likely? Our house is completely shaded by enourmous old trees,and so are all the houses around us. The Western sun is totally blocked and I think it probably allows the 3 A/C units to work a lot less. As for gas, we virtually spend nothing. Both filling up once a month. But since school got out for the summer, I haven't filled up since May 24. O/T rant-Oh and all the public schools are within a mile, kids walk to them all the time. The neighborhoods around here are loaded with children and it's very safe. We live on grid streets and it's fantastic compared to the isolated cul-de-sacs. It allows the kids better social interaction, creates privacy for adults, and it hasn't affected housing cost adversely here for 40 years. In fact the appreciation rate has been outrageous. I found all this to be true when we lived near the Galleria in Tanglewood/Briargrove as well. Apparently quality of family life can be found in the city. And I know I know, I live in a Houston-burb area when it's compared to Midtown, but it's very urban compared to exurbia, and it's close to work, so I'm doing my thing to help conservation. And when you live in an old house you're recycling right?

I think it's just an area called Towne Lake. <Running before I get whacked>

I've had less problems with my house built in 1967 than with my "ultra delux" custom in The Woodlands. They just built them better or had better product to use.

Kirkwood and Memorial. Job is at Kirkwood and I-10. Hubby does bike or walk when the weather is nice. I wish some development company would get more agressive in the Northern Spring Branch area building mid-range homes. So many possibilites over there and incredible location.

Yes, but it does bring a whole new dynamic to the discussion of "Dude I think the wall is breathing."

Chez Twirl&Hurl

In the almost 3 years we lived in the Woodlands, there was one family in our little subdivisionlette up there that actually worked up at Market Street...25 minutes away. Everyone else was Beltway 8 and on inward. I think maybe I met a small handful in all that time that actually worked there. Most of the husbands came crawling in around 7:00 each night.

As this city shifts west, I think those communities to the North and NE, becoming farther and farther from any Business District in Houston, will see the most decline. Therefore perhaps Bridgelands has a chance 30 years from now, but seriously...that is damn far out there. I think the main point of all of this is that there is an energy crisis NOW. Living in the way out and working in the way in, doesn't make as much financial sense anymore. We don't have 30 years for those places to become evolved into self-sustaining sub-cities, as Niche so logically pointed out. People are going to do what people are going to do. Everyone has their own personal straw that will break their back. Whether it's the cost of gas, the personal loss of time etc. Personally, I'm glad the move in is saving us some serious change. It's been a pleasant surprise and bonus.

I disagreed with your statement of "moving burb to burb." I went from exurb to burb. 6 miles round trip to any retail (usually a grocery store and dry cleaner only strip mall) is an exurb. 1 mile to everything needed is a burb.

I disagree to that. We went from a geographically isolated exurb dwelling with a commute to the Energy Corridor to a Houston-burb in the Energy Corridor. Wilchester would have been an exurb in the 70's, but as the city has grown west, it's just another urban burb like Briargrove or Tanglewood or West U. Yes its a burb, but it's a whole different animal from a master planned community. I think any single family neighborhood within Houston is technically a burb. And like most families in Houston, it's not like I'm going to live in a Loft in midtown with two boys and two border collies, that would involve another long commute for my spouse. It is Houston and it is close to work. And sticking to the orginal topic of this thread, living far away from an economic core (whatever your's may be) isn't making as much sense anymore.

Yeah, a mile west of the Beltway and Memorial.

That ought to be a lot of fun in a hurricane.

Well, I certainly agree that all this is personal choice. And there are really those that have to live in exurbs because of housing costs and truley believe it has more benifits for them. Currently, I notice we have 1000 more a month in our pockets after moving back into Houston. For a family, that is a lot of money. However, as one of the few posters on here that has gone from city to exurb and back to city again, I have a different view. And I do believe that where we currently live would certainly fair an economic storm far better than our old exurb neighborhood, where houses currently sit for sale for well over 6 months. This house would probably loose some value in a downturn, but it would be more of an adjustment than a loss. The neighborhood wouldn't slide and the houses wouldn't get abandoned like exurbs all around the country. Also, we could easily sell it if needed. It's a location situation. Yes, where we are is a burbish area of Houston, however compaired to an exurb it's downright urban.

The architect forgot to add the staircase in the design, so he slaps on a turret to house it? That's the best we have ever come up with.

Well it could be worse. The garage could be right in the front of the house. To me those are the worst offenders and I never understood it. Builders even did that in the Woodlands, when the lots were more than big enough to have them in the back, detached. And we are talking homes over a million that did that up there as well. When did people start to think that a metal garage door was a thing of beauty to put on the front of the house?

Think there was a problem with the fact the windows they ordered didn't fit. That's just a hood rumor though, so who knows.

City Centre and TCV doesn't NEED to be a sustainable community. It's already within it.

Funny that you think that Katy would suffer more than the Woodlands considering their geographical locations. Katy is much closer to an economic core than the Woodlands. And despite how some people want the Woodlands to appear, it's also primarily middle class. And I think Katy has built a Town Center type thing recently. La Centerra or something. North of I-10 hasn't ever been considered totally desireable along the west side, so the fact that it's the first to have foreclosure problems is no surprise. I dunno, if there is going to be any slide into the slums in any burb, I think they will all suffer about the same amount. Someone told me that Sugarland is having problems with multiple family moving into single family dwelling in some the the 400,000+ housing. No way to varify that though.