Moving to Houston; Need honest opinion and info on Houston Community College Central Campus

[chtx08]

I am a 33 year old single african american women from NE alabama who plans on moving to Houston. is it a good city to live in or is dallas better for a young black educated women. i think that i woul really like the weather and it is closer to the ocean. any opinons or advice

[jfre81]

I've walked around HCC Central at night and survived. Just watch your back and accept that somebody might try to bum some money off you. I wouldn't say the gentrification/revitalization has totally come to pass there - there are a couple abandoned buildings just north of the campus backed by a large open area that's bound to be developed/redeveloped soon.

Midtown is definitely an *urban* environment - use caution there like in a similar place anywhere else.

[Tiffany Holmes]

Originally Posted by chtx08

I am a 33 year old single african american women from NE alabama who plans on moving to Houston. is it a good city to live in or is dallas better for a young black educated women. i think that i woul really like the weather and it is closer to the ocean. any opinons or advice

Hello
I am also a single african american female. Been living in Houston for 9 years. I will tell you that it is a great place to get started, go to college, get a entry level job, meet a husband and buy a nice house.
I will tell you that if you try to move up the ladder here you will be slapped in the face with the 'good old boy club" . It can be very clicky here, unfriendly and cold. And most importantly , in Houston the women are extreamly Jelous . It is on a diffrent level.. they will get you fired from your job and cause you alot of problems. Houston is very divers but it still has that "middle class red-neck". (no disrespect to the others) element here that is tolerated . I was told this was because Houston is the biggest city next to East Texas ( do not ever go there!!!!).
My life was treatend on the job, I had a white female co-worker try to have me sued and I was harrassed daily at my job. I was repeatly told that I was a northern "transplant' and one of the reasons why Houston was not the same. You may not have these problems but I certainly did.
I will soon be moving to California got an executive level job. I am sure racism is every where but I definatly experienced it here. Houston is ok for starting out , but don't try to move up the conservative, religious right will knock you back down and don't care if you know it either.
Good luck
tiffany

[jfre81]

Sounds like you had more of a problem within your company than the city at large, Tiffany. Just my observation here. Good luck in California though.

[htxdrone]

Mom2Feebs - when did your husband teach there? Things have changed quite a bit at HCC central over the years. I lived nearby in the late nineties, and the area around it was practically a cesspool, as was much of Montrose. My roommates would complain of having to outrun muggers on their bikes when leaving class in the evening.

Whole different story these days, just driving through the area shows the huge changes. No longer packs of bums hanging out on the street corners, nobody running at your car when you stop at a light. A young female friend has been going there for a couple of years, and says she has never really felt unsafe there. A few near-incidents late at night, but let's be honest - you can get mugged anywhere in the city at night, just how safe are the areas around those million dollar houses in the Heights?

I work in the Galleria-area, and just last month someone got mugged in the next-door parking garage. That's with security. So, you had better plan when if you're concerned about your well-being at night, no matter where you are in town.

!c

[moddestmike]

Originally Posted by troyinhouston

I don't know who that person is who posted that HCC is a dump but theythey are obviously biased towards the suburbs so that should tell you all you need to know. Central campus is very accessible by bus, rail or my favorite mode of transportation, my bicycle. The area around the campus is gentrified, meaning you cannot pick up a townhouse for less than 300,000. Again, that person who posted that must never have been down here. There are no affordable places to live around the campus. The closest neighborhood where you will find an affordable apartment is Montrose. Affordable places are disappearing fast there too though. The facilities are early eighties, the exception being the main building, which is a historic high school, built in 1929 I think. By next Fall, the new building will be open, which is a four-story glass walled building. It will house the library, student center and computer center. The architecture is very forward thinking. They tore down one of the ugly buildings built in the 70's to make space for it and the other one is coming down after the new building is finished. I'm moving on to U of H in the Fall. My opinion of HCC is that it is no worse than any two year college in the country and in fact there are some excellent teachers here. The administration will frustrate you. The long lines in financial aid and the half baked answers will drive you crazy. I highly recommended B.K. Smith in Speech Communications. Always check your professors in ratemyprofessor.com, no matter where you are going.

I would have to agree, I was actually looking for townhouses in that area until I saw they were about 75k out of my range. I went to HCC downtown at night and walked to the side parking lot and have never been approached. Not to say vagabonds aren't around the area but they are generally pretty respectful towwards students and they are not trolling in packs, maybe 2-4 you may see in a day. HCC is also remodeling/adding a new Science/Technology building. Its going to be really nice once all renovations are done. I would recommend midtown if you are looking for a place to stay. Good for a young adult such as you or myself (25). Lots of things to do at all times of day and night.

[moddestmike]

HCC Central was also given Texas Construction Best of 2008.

Texas Construction | Best of 2008

Correction, I believe this was the North Campus but they are working on Central and have additional plans set to take off on 2011.

[neb85]

The area is generally okay during the day. At night it's a little bit sketchier, but not as much if you're just driving - I can't speak for walking since I mainly drive to and from there. There's good vietnamese food from the last old viet-town holdouts in that area (even late night), good nightlife, and easy access to transit. I would say it's fairly safe, just watch yourself and don't walk around areas with run down homes and boarded up shops at night.

[jfre81]

I've walked around there a fair bit at night with no particularly interesting stories to tell.

Once the superblock to the north gets developed it should be more lively around there.