Has your old neighborhood gotten better or worse? (Houston, Austin: apartments, lease)

[Kiovo]

Originally Posted by philopower

Not surprised that someone with the username "bubba" would make such an ignorant backwards comment. It's obvious that OP has never been to a non industrialized country because nothing in southwest Houston would ever compare to some of the stuff I've seen in Latin America. Stay in the burbs bubba.

You obviously never been inside some of the apartment complexes off Bissonnet, Fondern, Beechnut, Club Creek etc. Even though it might not compare to the worst slums of some third world countries, it definitely doesn't resemble something inside a first world country.

[philopower]

Originally Posted by Kiovo

You obviously never been inside some of the apartment complexes off Bissonnet, Fondern, Beechnut, Club Creek etc. Even though it might not compare to the worst slums of some third world countries, it definitely doesn't resemble something inside a first world country.

I grew up in the area so yes I have extensive experience in the area. Sure it's grimy, but most of the apartments are somewhat maintained. Most of the really really bad complexes have been shut down, take for example the one next to sharpstown high school was probably one of the worst in the city and it has been razed for a new apartment complex. The residential neighborhood although low end is quite well maintained as well. There are way worse areas in Houston (prime example: the 5th ward). My original point stands, southwest Houston is definitely not third world.

[blindinhouston]

Have you not caught on to the Houston housing scam yet? It works like this, build a neighborhood with sidewalks and a few ponds, sell all of the homes, offer no police protection, then it turns into a ghetto, rinse and repeat. The GOP owned home builders and city collect tons of money and taxes and you are left in a dilapidated house that you pay taxes on and you get nothing! even the roads are falling apart. So, you sell your home for a loss, then move to the next great thing subdivision they are pumping and do it all over again, then in 15 years or so it's a ghetto. This is how Houston does it.

[gsmj]

Originally Posted by philopower

I grew up in the area so yes I have extensive experience in the area. Sure it's grimy, but most of the apartments are somewhat maintained. Most of the really really bad complexes have been shut down, take for example the one next to sharpstown high school was probably one of the worst in the city and it has been razed for a new apartment complex.

You're thinking of the Promenade at 7400 Bissonnet, and it's still standing. 7500 Bissonnet Gardens is what was tore down and replaced, and it was a Hilton compared to 7400.

[philster001]

I grew up in the Mission Bend area in the 80s and 90s. When I was growing up West Oaks Mall started very high end with Saks 5th Avenue and Lord and Taylor. Now that mall is quite low end. Some of the businesses that were once in Mission Bend but have left are: Lubys, Target, Randall's, A high end steak house (Bellaire/Hwy6), Upscale furniture shop was in that same shopping center, Chilis, Safeway, Black Eyed Pea, HEB on Addicks Clodine, drug store in the old Randall's Center, drug store on Beechnut and Hwy 6, a couple of banks and a multitude of smaller shops. Shopping centers are not kept up and the area looks quite sad now. There are a couple of hourly motels and gang spray paint tagging is widespread. Crime has gone way up. Yards used to have beautiful flowers and always kept up (quite often by landscapers). Now, yards are not as well kept up. Flowers and plants are not kept current, trees aren't trimmed as nice if at all, homes need paint, and cars parked half hazardly. The area began to change in the mid 90s and really change for the worse around 2002.

[Weatherguy]

Originally Posted by blindinhouston

Have you not caught on to the Houston housing scam yet? It works like this, build a neighborhood with sidewalks and a few ponds, sell all of the homes, offer no police protection, then it turns into a ghetto, rinse and repeat. The GOP owned home builders and city collect tons of money and taxes and you are left in a dilapidated house that you pay taxes on and you get nothing! even the roads are falling apart. So, you sell your home for a loss, then move to the next great thing subdivision they are pumping and do it all over again, then in 15 years or so it's a ghetto. This is how Houston does it.

I'm not fan of GOP owned homebuilders (well, one late one), but your post is a way over-generalization and is not credible. Sounds like you experienced something most people do not. No need to make it sound like "everyone" experiences it, because they don't.

[hbcu]

I remember going to West Oaks Mall in the 80s and was amazed considering I had Sharpstown and Westwood close by before they declined...First Colony destroyed both

Also, that overpass near Mission Bend killed a few businesses and Alief's impact on that area was felt

I grew up in SW Houston off Hillcroft when Chasewood, Briargate were the destinations for a lot of ex-pro athletes and their children...but alot of the families ended up moving to Sugar Land, Mission Bend in the 90s and the decline of the father in the household hurt the area as section 8 started to come into play and people would rent their homes instead of sell or sell to investors instead of people

Grocers such as Kroger ran away from big properties and nothing came to fill their spots..Kroger had stores in Briargate and Fondren SW off West Airport and left in an instant...the businesses that relied on Kroger in Briargate such as Kenny Shoes, etc. left with them.

Fondren SW has at least filled a lot of their vacancies..

my question is...when they slapped all those apartments off Fondren, Gessner, etc. around those nice homes...was there any fight by the communities to stop them? The abundance of apartments is amazing to me and how could they allow those custom homes off Bellfort to be surrounded by that?

[Bad Haggis]

It is well known throughout the country that many many areas in Houston that start out nice and turn into a dump after 30 years. I find it humorous that after decades we are still blaming the demise on whites who leave when a slice of the 3rd world (including the habits, filth, violence, etc) gets introduced into their neighborhood. Can't take care of yourself? People need to stop bringing with them the very behaviors that turned their native countries into an unlivable mess.

I've been to 1st and 3rd world countries and would say nothing the only areas in Houston that resemble 3rd world are anywhere you see run down trailer parks or old, dilapidated shotgun homes... but even then the kids all have nice clothes, toys etc and aren't living in sewage.

[asonnier]

I grew up in the area that the OP is talking about. Glenshire was very nice. Between Glenshire West and Glenshire East was a big field. I used to ride my bike to the East to see my friends and go to piano lessons. Now the Beltway is there. The area started going downhill after I went to college in 86, but got much worse in the mid to late 90"s. I wouldn't live there for anything now. It's terrible. I graduated from Westbury H.S which is where Glenshire was zoned. It wasn't a bad school when I left. By 87 it was much worse. I have no idea what it is like today.
I'll take the burbs any day over that area!
BTW- Sharpstown and Westbury areas of Houston are both booming. The area where Glenshire is (Beltway and W. Bellfort/Gessner) not too far away is the exact opposite!

[GTRdad]

Don't you guys see that people's lifestyle/standards changed drastically? I do not see big houses in the older neighborhoods, definitely no 3 car garage, media rooms, 'open design', manmade lakes, playgrounds, gym, culdesacs maybe etc
I think everyone wants more. atleast give some impression to their old neighbors and classmates that theyre going places