Moving to Universal City, TX (Houston, San Antonio: apartments, house, transfer)

[JenLa73]

Hi, I am moving to Universal City, TX (northeast of San Antonio). I am looking for honest opinions of the area. I am from just north of Austin but due to a military lifestyle, I have lived out of TX for the last 10 years. We found a nice home in the Sunrise Canyon Subdivision. The neighborhood backs up to a undeveloped green belt. It looks like an older but well taken care of neighborhood and pretty stable. I would like to know more about the area and the city itself.
I am not to excited about the Judson ISD and am trying real hard to get my high school daughter onto the Randolph Air Force base schools. However that my not be an option, so any information on all the schools would be great. I have another child going into 5th grade. We will be here a while and I want to see what I have to deal with in the schools and the local area.
Please be honest.
Jen

[dangeruscurves]

I just moved out of Universal City. Where you live it is very nice. It's right next to the police station and fire department. And since I've mentioned the police station, DON'T SPEED!! Don't ever speed on Pat Booker either. I know you may want to because you don't see the cops and everyone is going so slow, but they have unmarked cars and will pull you over. Some of the male cops are really mean. Some of them are really nice. They will pull you over for the smallest thing. No light on your license plate, the license plate covering up Texas and will ticket you for it. Now you can get it dismissed, but it's the fact you had to waste all the time. The forum is nearby which is the the most popular shopping center in the area for now. It includes Target, Best Buy, Ross, World Market, Old Navy, Borders, all that jazz. There is a new Gateway Plaza which will be at 1604 and Lookout road which is about 5-10 minutes away from where you will be living which will have a Burlington Coat Factory, Olive Garden, and some other places that I don't of yet.

Rolling Oaks mall is not too far either which is at 1604 and Nacodogches is and that is also where you local hell Walmart is. Sorry I shouldn't have put hell for Walmart, but that's how I feel whenever I enter Walmart. I would recommend just using the Target at the forum, if you going during slow times you will not have problems with the traffic. There are also back ways you can take and you will miss all the traffic. I lived in the apartments near you and I could get to the forum in about 5-7 minutes going the 30mph speed limit with stop signs.

My favorite pizza place is Figlio's. They also have good pasta. It's on Pat Booker next to Billy D's. I actually still go to Billy D's a lot. I play poker and they have poker on Monday and Tuesday nights at 7 and 10 if you're interested.

Universal City isn't bad, but it wasn't my favorite place to live. I felt far from everything else, even though you really aren't. The good thing is that everything is really close by, so you really don't have to venture out very often, but that's what I didn't like sometimes. I have to be forced to venture sometimes.

I also attended Judson High School. I was accepted to Baylor University while I was a senior in high school and excelled in AP classes and on the SATs. Judson is really not that bad of school. They have a lot of opportunities you just have to take them. I also graduated with my Certified Nurses' Assistant and Pharmacy Technician certification. Just be active in your children's school careers and encourage them to look into the many programs that are offered and make a committment and they will go to any school they will so choose. Our valedictorian graduated from Stanford. I have another friend who was just top 10% graduating from Stanford this year. She actually got there on almost a full scholarship. When you're children are in middle school they will have a Health Careers and Business Careers High Schools, which are magnet schools in the Northside ISD. Judson provides transportation to these schools, so if you don't want them to go to Judson there are other free options. I went to Health Careers for my freshman year, but I got really sick and couldn't catch up on school, so I transferred back to Judson. Health Careers would have allowed me to go back to start my sophomore year, but I chose against it for personal reasons. It is a really great school and I am still in contact with the people I met there. Hope this helps you more.

If you ask me more specific questions then I may be able to answer more.

[buffy888]

dangeruscurves made several good points. Sunrise Canyon is a nice area. You are also within easy access of 1604 and 35. As mentioned, you can also cut through Olympia to get to the Forum rather than stopping at all of the lights on Pat Booker. Universal City certainly isn't the most cosmopolitan of areas, but I think parts of it are much nicer than they used to be and you are close enough to many other areas of San Antonio without being right there. You do need to go a bit further afield from Universal City for more "upscale" shopping and dining. You are only about 5 minutes from a movie theatre. The closest grocery shopping would be HEB. If you shop at Super Wal-mart, one isn't too far up the highway. There are also a few Super Targets - the closest two are probably the one at Stone Oak and the one at 410 & Fredricksburg Rd. There is also a Costco right next to the Forum.

Will you (or family member) be stationed at Randolph? Just wondering why the school wouldn't be an option.

I attended Judson ISD schools off and on throughout my school years (we would get stationed elsewhere for a couple of years, then come back to our house here for a couple of years the next time our dad was stationed here, then away again, then back...). I graduated from Judson HS, but was only there for my senior year (freshman year was at Kitty Hawk - they hadn't made the HS into 2 campuses quite yet - and sophomore and junior year were overseas). I never had any problems - I did take mainly AP classes and an IB class. As with any high school, there are opportunities for trouble, but it can also easily be avoided. I am also glad that I attended a district with a diverse population of students. Is there a specific concern you have with the district?

Oh, dangeruscurves did also make a good point regarding speeding. Be aware of this in neighboring Live Oak as well.

Schertz-Cibolo schools are good. If you aren't thrilled about Judson ISD, have you considered looking for a house in the Schertz-Cibolo attendance area?

Good luck with your search.

[JenLa73]

Thanks to the both of you! I will be asking more specific questions soon. My oldest daughter is the queen of over-extending herself in everything she can get involved in and since I still have to drive her everywhere, lately I do not have the time to even get on the computer. Thanks for the information and look for more questions.

[dangeruscurves]

I did the same thing as your daughter. She'll fit right in.

[JenLa73]

I like what you both said about the speeding, I am a speeder. I am not too worried about being in slower paced town that is not very "cosmopolitan." I lived at Fort Polk, LA for six years and the closest thing to a mall was over an hour away. Wal-Mart was all there was off-post for shopping and like most Wal-Marts, I left there more aggravated then before I went in.
I am getting my daughter into Randolph Field Schools. She has been used to smaller schools and I am worried she might not adapt or do well in Judson. It is bad enough that this is her third school in less than two years.
How long is it of a drive to Fort Sam Houston, from Universal City? Getting into San Antonio to do day trips, how bad is that? Also I saw that you both mentioned upscale shopping and that there is not any in Universal City or close by? What do you mean by that? My husband loves to go out to eat and is from Chicago, so he was spoiled by easy acess to lots of good places to eat. Are there any close by? It does not have to be upscale, just good food. I live 10 minutes from Kansas City and there is still no decent places to eat around here, so big city does not always equate good food or shopping!
Thanks again for the help.

[JenLa73]

My oldest one finds her niche quickly but she tends to over reach. That is one reason why I want her in a smaller school. My youngest one is going into 5th grade and I am enrolling her into Olympia Elementary School. I have heard it is a good school. The people we bought the house from had kids there and loved it.

[dangeruscurves]

Originally Posted by JenLa73

I like what you both said about the speeding, I am a speeder. I am not too worried about being in slower paced town that is not very "cosmopolitan." I lived at Fort Polk, LA for six years and the closest thing to a mall was over an hour away. Wal-Mart was all there was off-post for shopping and like most Wal-Marts, I left there more aggravated then before I went in.
I am getting my daughter into Randolph Field Schools. She has been used to smaller schools and I am worried she might not adapt or do well in Judson. It is bad enough that this is her third school in less than two years.
How long is it of a drive to Fort Sam Houston, from Universal City? Getting into San Antonio to do day trips, how bad is that? Also I saw that you both mentioned upscale shopping and that there is not any in Universal City or close by? What do you mean by that? My husband loves to go out to eat and is from Chicago, so he was spoiled by easy acess to lots of good places to eat. Are there any close by? It does not have to be upscale, just good food. I live 10 minutes from Kansas City and there is still no decent places to eat around here, so big city does not always equate good food or shopping!
Thanks again for the help.

Stone Oak is only about 15-20 minutes away from Universal City, and they are some good restaurants in that area. Universal City/Live Oak also has some great local places. I also recommend Bangkok Thai Cuisine if you are into Thai. It's the best I've had to date here in San Antonio. The forum has plenty of places to eat that I think you will be enjoyed with. Las Palapas, Red Robin, and this cajun resturaunt that I can't remember the name, but it's mentioned in this forum somewhere. I don't think food will too much of an issue. We are an obese city.

[buffy888]

You're 10 minutes from K.C. and there are no good restaurants? Don't you like barbeque? :-)

There are definitely restaurants/shopping in the area (the Forum is very close and you can get to it "the back way" by driving through Olympia rather than on Pat Booker - you will encounter stop signs rather than stop lights). There are several restaurants there, although most are chains rather than local. There is a mix of sit down restaurants as well as those that are more suited for take out... Some restaurants in the Forum are Sea Island, Las Palapas, TGI Fridays, Red Robin, Chick-Fil-A, Firehouse Subs, Panda Express, and Papouli's (there are more, but those are the ones I pictured right away). There are local restaurants in U.C. as well, but not typically what I think of as upscale - most are casual - not that they aren't good, just that I know sometimes it's nice to dress up and go someplace "fancy."

Here's a link to the Forum: Forum Directory

Shopping - You are within 5 or 10 minutes of most everything you need (grocery store, Target, Wal-Mart if you shop there, Home Depot/Lowe's) and there is a mall which is also not very far (Rolling Oaks - Simon Malls | More Choices — Rolling Oaks Information, Rolling Oaks Gift Cards - has Dillard's, Macy's, Penney's...). A bigger mall would be North Star, which is about 15-30minutes away depending on traffic - it has more stores (including Saks) - also has a Cheesecake Factory. The only Nordie's and Neiman's is at the Shops at La Cantera, which is over by Fiesta Texas - lots of shopping/restaurants in La Cantera as well as the Rim which is right by it. The Stone Oak area does have a large variety of shopping and restaurants also, but they are a bit more spread out over the area rather than centralized in 2 spots like at La Cantera/the Rim.

Getting into San Antonio for day trips - Is this downtown San Antonio? It's not a bad drive at all - as with everything else here, it really depends on traffic. About 20 to 30 minutes as well, usually.

[JenLa73]

Do not let the reputation of KC BBQ fool you. We have yet to find a good BBQ joint. I am from Texas, so maybe I am just compairing it to that. But we were REALLY surprised that to get decent food around here, you have to be willing to shell out quite a chunk of change and then it is not always good. We have found a couple of places we like, but it is a dissappointment. The area is great and there is A LOT to do around Kansas City but I think San Antonio will be more my kind of place (nothing beats Texas hospitality).