I really don’t see the appeal in The Woodlands (Houston: live, law)

[Texas Minded]

Originally Posted by As Above So Below...

Let me try to explain this way.

I can tell youre obviously white and as such youre going to be able to be around significant numbers of people who look like you anywhere you go. Youll find people who share your culture and your values in nice neighborhoods all across the land.

I, for example, am Lebanese Arab and my wife is Thai. We dont find lots of people who look like us most places in America. Were limited to large cities and a few smaller ones. Nobody likes to feel like a token and while a diverse set of friends is ideal, most people dont like to be the only one that looks like them in a place. I cant imagine too many white people with means would, for example, move to PG County in Maryland because even though its well off they would be the only one that looks like them in their circle.

People can talk about "I dont see color" all day long but thats a lie no matter who is saying it. We all do. One of the reasons I like Houston is because, in addition to finding other Lebanese to be friends with, there are people from all over the world here. I could also be happy in the Detroit area because thats ground zero for my culture, but my wife would be less happy because there is very little East Asian culture there. Contrarily she might be happy in Seattle but they dont have a lot of my culture.

When we talk about the Woodlands, it is like Baytown. Both are suburbs of Houston but they function on their own without much interaction with Houston. That means their local culture is more independent of Houston. Its not like Katy, Sugar Land, Pearland, or Cypress where the local culture is very engrained with Houston. The Woodlands has its own thing going on. Houston celebrates diversity while the Woodlands is the antithesis of it. If youre white and conservative and want to be around just that, I cant think of a better place to be. But if youre not, then its not.

I appreciate what you have said and agree with a lot of it.

Just something from personal experience though...

I live in the southwest side of The Woodlands (Sterling Ridge area) and I have Indian neighbors across the street, a Latin couple across and 1 house down, a mixed couple (black / white) 2 houses down, another Indian couple 5 houses down, another mixed couple across and 5 houses down, a black couple 7 houses down, a lesbian couple across and 6 houses down... etc etc. My wife and I are a mixed race couple as well. If I had to guess on percentages in my subdivision I would say it is 65% white and the rest a mix of what I described.

So maybe The Woodlands is changing demographically albeit slowly?

I do think that The Woodlands is conservative politically overall but that does not automatically equate to being "white".

[SanJac]

Originally Posted by Texas Minded

I appreciate what you have said and agree with a lot of it.

Just something from personal experience though...

I live in the southwest side of The Woodlands (Sterling Ridge area) and I have Indian neighbors across the street, a Latin couple across and 1 house down, a mixed couple (black / white) 2 houses down, another Indian couple 5 houses down, another mixed couple across and 5 houses down, a black couple 7 houses down, a lesbian couple across and 6 houses down... etc etc. My wife and I are a mixed race couple as well. If I had to guess on percentages in my subdivision I would say it is 65% white and the rest a mix of what I described.

So maybe The Woodlands is changing demographically albeit slowly?

I do think that The Woodlands is conservative politically overall but that does not automatically equate to being "white".

I'm glad you said this. The Woodlands is being painted as some sort of anti-diverse, anti-inclusion community. We all know that is not the case. I would venture to guess that families don't move to the Woodlands because a.) distance from the city, and b.) affordability. Otherwise The Woodlands is the envy of suburban living.

[Texas Minded]

Originally Posted by SanJac

I'm glad you said this. The Woodlands is being painted as some sort of anti-diverse, anti-inclusion community. We all know that is not the case. I would venture to guess that families don't move to the Woodlands because a.) distance from the city, and b.) affordability. Otherwise The Woodlands is the envy of suburban living.

Precisely

[lotophage]

Originally Posted by Texas Minded

If I had to guess on percentages in my subdivision I would say it is 65% white and the rest a mix of what I described.

I think this shows that people have very different expectations, depending on where they live. You think 65% is diverse, while Austin catches sh*t for being too white at 48%. In Houston a school that's 25% white is considered a very white, very privileged school.

[Blair_de_la_paix]

The Woodlands has a very cohesive, well-designed and upscale look to it, it’s easy to see why many people are drawn to it.

We were contemplating to buy there at the beginning, possibly, partially due to the hype of “2021 best place to live in the US by Niche”. The hype quickly died down because 1: it simply feels too far from Houston. 2: it somehow gives me a claustrophobic feeling with all the intense, tall pine trees with nothing but trees, roads and more trees covering a mysterious corner of…ugh….CVS. It’s beautiful and does provide a great deal of privacy but I prefer a more open landscape and less “design”. It’s also a little bit Stepford Wives vibe to me.

I can see why it became “the best place to live”, but I’m also very glad we didn’t end up buying there. It’s a lovely bubble but not for us. It’s somewhere I’d like to visit or dine out but not living full-time and daily.

[usc619]

Originally Posted by lotophage

i think this shows that people have very different expectations, depending on where they live. You think 65% is diverse, while austin catches sh*t for being too white at 48%. In houston a school that's 25% white is considered a very white, very privileged school.

I’ve never heard someone say 48% is to white, that’s a new one to me.

[mkwensky]

Originally Posted by Texas Minded

I appreciate what you have said and agree with a lot of it.

Just something from personal experience though...

I live in the southwest side of The Woodlands (Sterling Ridge area) and I have Indian neighbors across the street, a Latin couple across and 1 house down, a mixed couple (black / white) 2 houses down, another Indian couple 5 houses down, another mixed couple across and 5 houses down, a black couple 7 houses down, a lesbian couple across and 6 houses down... etc etc. My wife and I are a mixed race couple as well. If I had to guess on percentages in my subdivision I would say it is 65% white and the rest a mix of what I described.

So maybe The Woodlands is changing demographically albeit slowly?

I do think that The Woodlands is conservative politically overall but that does not automatically equate to being "white".

Just go to Southshore Park on the weekend or the Whole Foods near Waterway and you'll see that The Woodlands is far from lily white.

[Redlionjr]

Originally Posted by Texas Minded

I appreciate what you have said and agree with a lot of it.

Just something from personal experience though...

I live in the southwest side of The Woodlands (Sterling Ridge area) and I have Indian neighbors across the street, a Latin couple across and 1 house down, a mixed couple (black / white) 2 houses down, another Indian couple 5 houses down, another mixed couple across and 5 houses down, a black couple 7 houses down, a lesbian couple across and 6 houses down... etc etc. My wife and I are a mixed race couple as well. If I had to guess on percentages in my subdivision I would say it is 65% white and the rest a mix of what I described.

So maybe The Woodlands is changing demographically albeit slowly?

I do think that The Woodlands is conservative politically overall but that does not automatically equate to being "white".

More people of color are moving into The Woodlands(I see more Indian families moving into The Woodlands than I ever did when my Mother-in-law moved there back 2010/2011-ish, but it's still overwhelmingly White. That's not to say that it isn't any kind of diversity or things aren't changing but the dominant culture there is catered to Families with conservative values. Now it's not Branson Missouri but it's not that far removed from it either.

When me and my Wife lived there when we moved back to Houston it was culture shock all over again. We just came from Atlanta and the part of Atlanta we stayed in was very diverse. Moving to the Woodlands especially as a Black Man you're reminded of it when you stick out in certain places. Not saying I ever ran into any bigots but you would get subtle looks every now and than. Nothing asinine though. You definitely felt the heat during the elections. The Pro-Trump/ Q-Anon gang was out every day. Even a couple of weeks after the election. The Woodlands and Cypress area is probably where I see that crowd at the most in the entire metro.

Originally Posted by lotophage

I think this shows that people have very different expectations, depending on where they live. You think 65% is diverse, while Austin catches sh*t for being too white at 48%. In Houston a school that's 25% white is considered a very white, very privileged school.

Austin catches **** because the social fabric and dominant culture of Austin caters overwhelmingly to White people. While the local Black and Hispanic population feel's pretty much isolated from the Austin people adore and love.

[DabOnEm]

Originally Posted by mkwensky

Just go to Southshore Park on the weekend or the Whole Foods near Waterway and you'll see that The Woodlands is far from lily white.

Both of these but especially the Waterway are regional draws for the entire northern Harris County/Montgomery County area, so it's gonna pull from a much larger pool of people than just TW residents. The demographics don't lie. TW is one of the least diverse suburbs in Houston. Luckily it's gotten better but still a ways to go.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by lotophage

I think this shows that people have very different expectations, depending on where they live. You think 65% is diverse, while Austin catches sh*t for being too white at 48%. In Houston a school that's 25% white is considered a very white, very privileged school.

If it makes you feel better, my HS class was about 99% white in Missouri, 20 something years ago
A couple of friends and I were the diversity