Woodlands future (Houston, Dallas, The Woodlands: 2011, crime, house)

[StepRN3]

We are moving to the Houston area from Connecticut. We really like the Woodlands area. We have learned that the Woodlands is not technically a town, it is a very large private development. We also read that in the year 2011 the Woodlands will either be annexed by Conroe or Houston OR the Woodlands will need to incorporate their town.

Our question is: What does this all mean for the future of the Woodlands? How is this going to affect the Woodlands in terms of investing in a home there.

Thanks.

[Yetti0]

I have lived through this stuff many times....

THE Woodlands is a development and unless they incorporate , they are subject to annexation like Kingwood..was ... Laughingly Kingwood thought it could defeat annexation... The problem with the burbs... they advertise cheap housing but at the expense of County Tax payers who have to flip the bill unfairly for all the services theyuse, like fire, police etc...

INHO the best thing to happen to DA Woodlands is to let Houston annex it.
Their minds are greater than their BURB! The stories they tell from that place Bwahahahahhahahaha

Did you know Kingwood used more services than anyone outside of Houston from Harris County when it was a development ? they were cheating Harris county tax payers.... Harris county was flipping the bill for their protection etc.... and they overused their share...

I would not be surprized that DA Woodlands was and is doing the same.

You shoudl hear what is happening to a lot of hotsy totsy burbs that started out as white flight and what is happening to them today.


So many of them pretend to be so wonderful, but its because they misuse the services of the counties they are in... the reason its cheap is because the land was in the middle of nowhere... so they gave it 30 yrs or so to get their act together for the counties... Once the realization comes in that they have to now have their taxes increased to PAY their FAIR share of the cost, they belly ache.

They have gotten a free ride for several decades to give them a start!.. It provided jobs for laborers and builders and got people homes quickly with no thought to overall planning and the rest of the state paid for the so called "pioneering of the burbs" When payback times comes to pay their share of taxes from places like Conroe or Houston....Their ridiculous free ride and low taxes are over... they have to now earn it at their own sweat and $$$>

Taht is the story of the burbs!

Originally Posted by StepRN3

We are moving to the Houston area from Connecticut. We really like the Woodlands area. We have learned that the Woodlands is not technically a town, it is a very large private development. We also read that in the year 2011 the Woodlands will either be annexed by Conroe or Houston OR the Woodlands will need to incorporate their town.

Our question is: What does this all mean for the future of the Woodlands? How is this going to affect the Woodlands in terms of investing in a home there.

Thanks.

[Mom2Feebs]

Originally Posted by Yetti0

I have lived through this stuff many times....

THE Woodlands is a development and unless they incorporate , they are subject to annexation like Kingwood..was ... Laughingly Kingwood thought it could defeat annexation... The problem with the burbs... they advertise cheap housing but at the expense of County Tax payers who have to flip the bill unfairly for all the services theyuse, like fire, police etc...

INHO the best thing to happen to DA Woodlands is to let Houston annex it.
Their minds are greater than their BURB! The stories they tell from that place Bwahahahahhahahaha

Did you know Kingwood used more services than anyone outside of Houston from Harris County when it was a development ? they were cheating Harris county tax payers.... Harris county was flipping the bill for their protection etc.... and they overused their share...

I would not be surprized that DA Woodlands was and is doing the same.

You shoudl hear what is happening to a lot of hotsy totsy burbs that started out as white flight and what is happening to them today.


So many of them pretend to be so wonderful, but its because they misuse the services of the counties they are in... the reason its cheap is because the land was in the middle of nowhere... so they gave it 30 yrs or so to get their act together for the counties... Once the realization comes in that they have to now have their taxes increased to PAY their FAIR share of the cost, they belly ache.

They have gotten a free ride for several decades to give them a start!.. It provided jobs for laborers and builders and got people homes quickly with no thought to overall planning and the rest of the state paid for the so called "pioneering of the burbs" When payback times comes to pay their share of taxes from places like Conroe or Houston....Their ridiculous free ride and low taxes are over... they have to now earn it at their own sweat and $$$>

Taht is the story of the burbs!

Okay, I've read your post several times now, and I have really no idea what you are talking about--could you clarify?

Kingwood is in Harris County. They pay taxes just like everyone else. How in the world were they ever cheating anyone? To what services are you referring? Surely not police or fire or hospital, as they always had their own, using Precinct 4 constables and a volunteer fire department/EMS.

The citizens of Kingwood knew good and well Bob Lanier was not going to leave office without annexing them. They tried very hard to defeat it. There isn't much to laugh at--it was a takeover of a self-sufficient neighborhood to benefit the city 20 miles south of it. The only one who has benefited happens to be that city. Just ask the folks of Clear Lake City who dealt with the same issues in the 80's.

The Woodlands has a moratorium on any annexation by the COH until 2011. The Woodlands did that BECAUSE of what happened to Kingwood (as Kingwood, predictably, did a bit of a backslide as a result of the annexation). TWDC wanted time to let the citizens of TW figure out what they wanted to do. I do not know if it will result in a vote or not, but my guess is they will not allow themselves to be annexed by Conroe for sure (with the exception of Harpers Landing on the east side of I-45. I personally feel annexation by the COH would not be the best thing for The Woodlands. I see absolutely no benefit, tax or otherwise, to being annexed.

Overall, I don't see much of a drop in home prices if they were to get annexed--if I did we wouldn't be moving there (and we close on our house July 5). I am a firm believer in crossing the bridge when you get to it--but a little caution before you get to the bridge does a world of good. Find a great house, take care of it, invest in your neighborhood, your kids, your schools. If everyone continues to do that and take pride in The Woodlands as they do now, all residents will benefit, and annexation won't do much to your property values.

Good luck!

[KerrTown]

The designer of The Woodlands planned for Houston to annex it. That's what should be done!

[Guerilla]

Houston would only annex the commercial areas, not residential.

[randalmartin]

Boy you guys need to get more current information.

Goto the http://www.thewoodlandsgovernance.org/ and you will find out that The Woodlands is NOT and never will be annexed by Houston. The website states

"At the October 30, 2006, meeting of the Governance Steering Committee, recommendations derived from the public input, research and activities of Phase II were adopted by the Committee. Upon these recommendations, State Senator Tommy Williams and State Representative Rob Eissler acted quickly to negotiate a regional participation agreement with the City of Houston. The following is an excerpt from remarks given by Senator Williams at the December 7, 2006, press conference

"The Regional Participation Agreement provides for The Woodlands to determine their own future and form of self government. It removes the threat of unilateral annexation by Houston. The Woodlands will decide what form of self government they desire......" Go to the site if you want any more information.

[Premont]

I haven't seen any evidence that Clear Lake or Kingwood have suffered that much as a result of annexation. It's more a case of rich white flight people that resent having to call themselves Houstonian's, even thought they wouldn't exist without Houston. You don't see any large planned communities up north of Conroe do you? Let's be glad we're not boxed in like Dallas.

I think The Woodlands is going to see it's not that easy to govern themselves once they get over 100,000 people.

[Yetti0]

I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GLAD YOU ASKED.

Thank you!

In the late 70s and early 80s .. Kingwood was having a wave of crime from their latchkey kids .. out of control.. no parents around... They belly ached to the Harris County Sheriffs department that they could not find some gang of kids who were car bombing cars at their burb.

I mean they called and called and called. The sheriffs dept was doing their best... Turned out... the gang of kids were theirs and the leader was the son of the president of the Civic club who was belly aching...

After a few years of this continued demands of more service ... the county did a study and learned that Kingwood was using sheriffs office services as their main police force.. They had no police dept of their own at the time... and the services they demanded... cost more than the taxes they were paying... They were essentially ripping off other county communities who had to supliment the taxes to pay for Kingwoods habit of constantly needing sheriff protection...more than other Harris county communities...
The best thing that happened toKingwood was that it was annexed... About time they paid their dues and taxes.

Same for DA Woodlands.... they work in houston and need houston... they need to pay for Taxes... Also they dont' want to take care of their poor and elderly.... the saying in Da Woodlands is we dont' want THOSE people ... So they did not vote for a bus service...

I saw this happen with Sugarland... Da Woodlands will get their dues... They have been on a free ride for a long time.

Annexation will help pay for the services of the major city where most their employers are.... without their jobs and houston... Da Woodlands would just be Da Middle of NOWHERE

Originally Posted by Mom2Feebs

Okay, I've read your post several times now, and I have really no idea what you are talking about--could you clarify?

Kingwood is in Harris County. They pay taxes just like everyone else. How in the world were they ever cheating anyone? To what services are you referring? Surely not police or fire or hospital, as they always had their own, using Precinct 4 constables and a volunteer fire department/EMS.

The citizens of Kingwood knew good and well Bob Lanier was not going to leave office without annexing them. They tried very hard to defeat it. There isn't much to laugh at--it was a takeover of a self-sufficient neighborhood to benefit the city 20 miles south of it. The only one who has benefited happens to be that city. Just ask the folks of Clear Lake City who dealt with the same issues in the 80's.

The Woodlands has a moratorium on any annexation by the COH until 2011. The Woodlands did that BECAUSE of what happened to Kingwood (as Kingwood, predictably, did a bit of a backslide as a result of the annexation). TWDC wanted time to let the citizens of TW figure out what they wanted to do. I do not know if it will result in a vote or not, but my guess is they will not allow themselves to be annexed by Conroe for sure (with the exception of Harpers Landing on the east side of I-45. I personally feel annexation by the COH would not be the best thing for The Woodlands. I see absolutely no benefit, tax or otherwise, to being annexed.

Overall, I don't see much of a drop in home prices if they were to get annexed--if I did we wouldn't be moving there (and we close on our house July 5). I am a firm believer in crossing the bridge when you get to it--but a little caution before you get to the bridge does a world of good. Find a great house, take care of it, invest in your neighborhood, your kids, your schools. If everyone continues to do that and take pride in The Woodlands as they do now, all residents will benefit, and annexation won't do much to your property values.

Good luck!

[Mom2Feebs]

Originally Posted by Yetti0

I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GLAD YOU ASKED.

Thank you!

In the late 70s and early 80s .. Kingwood was having a wave of crime from their latchkey kids .. out of control.. no parents around... They belly ached to the Harris County Sheriffs department that they could not find some gang of kids who were car bombing cars at their burb.

I mean they called and called and called. The sheriffs dept was doing their best... Turned out... the gang of kids were theirs and the leader was the son of the president of the Civic club who was belly aching...

After a few years of this continued demands of more service ... the county did a study and learned that Kingwood was using sheriffs office services as their main police force.. They had no police dept of their own at the time... and the services they demanded... cost more than the taxes they were paying... They were essentially ripping off other county communities who had to supliment the taxes to pay for Kingwoods habit of constantly needing sheriff protection...more than other Harris county communities...
The best thing that happened toKingwood was that it was annexed... About time they paid their dues and taxes.

Same for DA Woodlands.... they work in houston and need houston... they need to pay for Taxes... Also they dont' want to take care of their poor and elderly.... the saying in Da Woodlands is we dont' want THOSE people ... So they did not vote for a bus service...

I saw this happen with Sugarland... Da Woodlands will get their dues... They have been on a free ride for a long time.

Annexation will help pay for the services of the major city where most their employers are.... without their jobs and houston... Da Woodlands would just be Da Middle of NOWHERE

Seriously, guy, I GREW UP in Kingwood, lived there from 1977 to 1991 and I have NO idea what you are talking about. We rarely, if ever, saw a Harris County sheriff's deputy patrol car in Kingwood. We had Precinct 4 Constables. As I said before, Kingwood is in Harris County, we paid taxes just like everyone else, and whatever you're smoking, bud, take a break.

[Yetti0]

Originally Posted by Mom2Feebs

Seriously, guy, I GREW UP in Kingwood, lived there from 1977 to 1991 and I have NO idea what you are talking about. We rarely, if ever, saw a Harris County sheriff's deputy patrol car in Kingwood. We had Precinct 4 Constables. As I said before, Kingwood is in Harris County, we paid taxes just like everyone else, and whatever you're smoking, bud, take a break.

I worked for Harris county and was involved. That is how I learned about Kingwood. Another misfit community is Hedwig Village... The stories I have on that little Peyton Place!

I experienced it from the county agency level. Facts are there. Most in Kingwood did not know who the car bombing gang was and the president of the civic club at the time harrassed the county law enforcement agencies about how Dare Houston crime come into Kingwood. He demanded they find the criminals to disgusting tiresome levels, and all along it was his son. When they found out.. they told the Sheriffs office. "UH NEver mind! we will take care of it" ... The sheriffs department siad no way... major crimes committed. The boys were prosecuted. Careful what you wish for.. You just may get your wish!


Looking at the fathers (civic club pres) behavior, its no wonder his little "Billy The Kid" thought he could get away with anything and there were family problems, which of course shows its ugly head in the neighborhood adn school... no telling what problems his little sapling caused the school while dad was commuting to works. IF the parents aren't around, the kids are on their own with community friends.


Kingwood is in major denial... and if you are denying the Little drill team girls who held up the doughnut shop with their fathers guns... They served their time in prison like ther rest of the deliquents. Drive to that major doughnut shop in Kingwood and ask the owners. it was all over the news... The Drill Team Bandits was the label they were given.

Hey I grew up in Houston.. Its a small town in many ways... and many of us never forget!