Need a liberal community in Houston (Temple, Pearland: big house, neighborhoods, private school)

[fnh]

Yes, West U is not populated by liberal types. Southside Place or the Heights are a better bet, as crone suggests.

No one will think twice about your son being Asian.

We live in a close-in suburb and consider ourselves very liberal, and plenty of our neighbors are like-minded. Our friends from Seattle who visit us leave with a changed impression of Houston, for the better.

Finding a good public elementary school inside the beltway is not difficult but middle and high schools tend to be rougher as most affluent families move their kids to private at that point. Areas with good middle and high schools as well tend to be strongly conservative, inside or outside the beltway.

[crone]

Call the Harris County Democratic headquarters or ask Juanita Jean at the World's Most Dangerous Beauty Salon about Ft. Bend county liberals.

The OP will not find a concentration of liberals in Houston or Harris County in the price range they are looking in.

Every senatorial district has a club. She said they were politically active. There are all kinds of candidate organization, etc. There are no liberal enclaves that I am aware of.

The whole town is an oil company compound. The only liberal oil person I know was a PR person for Shell. The only other moderate to liberal oil person I'm aware of is Bob Cavnar.

[Katy4life]

Houston was founded on conservative values. It's why this area is economically superior to the rest of the country. If you do decide to move here and have an effect on the voting block, remember that. Dont turn Texas into another California....full of failed liberal polices.

[David Dollar]

Originally Posted by Katy4life

Houston was founded on conservative values. It's why this area is economically superior to the rest of the country. If you do decide to move here and have an effect on the voting block, remember that. Dont turn Texas into another California....full of failed liberal polices.

I am pretty sure that is not the reason.

[patricia43m]

Ugh - Ok the response of "Try China" is exactly what I'm afraid of. My son isn't Chinese by the way. If China is more diverse than any community in Houston, we are in trouble!!

[d2mini]

Heights for sure.
You can afford a pretty sweet house in a nice part of the heights.
It's real diverse, lots of activity, the homes have lots of character as do the people, you'll just have to decide what to do about schools.
The burbs get real conservative, real religious and less tolerant.
I live there, but it's much cheaper so I deal. Plus we feel it's more kid friendly out there, but I understand what you're looking for.

[Sunderpig2]

Originally Posted by Katy4life

Houston was founded on conservative values.

Based on what? What is your reference or proof?

Houston even several decades past (1970s and earlier) was nothing like it is now. People were surprisingly calm, open-minded, sensible, and rational. There was no hardcore foaming-at-the-mouth obsession to force one "acceptable" mindset thinking down the throats of everyone.

Houston, and much of Texas, used to be about freedom, liberty, and justice for all. It's the opposite now; full of regressive thinking and limited options and opinions. Just look at all the stupid political commercials on TV now. There's no expansion or promotion of freedoms and personal liberties (what this country was founded on). It's Person A is "one of us", and "he'll represent our values", and fight to keep only allow those around. That's more like fascism than anything else. Anti-personal freedom = Anti-American. They might wrap themselves in the flag, but they're using it like toilet paper...

[Topaz]

Originally Posted by patricia43m

Ugh - Ok the response of "Try China" is exactly what I'm afraid of. My son isn't Chinese by the way. If China is more diverse than any community in Houston, we are in trouble!!

Don't let one ignorant racist scare you away. Houston is no more racist than anywhere else, and I'm saying this as someone who has lived in the Pacific Northwest, California, Colorado, the Midwest, and the Deep South.

[patricia43m]

Thank you for the responses. The commute is an issue BUT my husband would drive an hour if he knew he was coming back to a great community. We prefer something close to the city anyway but I'm not sure how Houston suburbs work (how far out do you have to go to get a single family house with a yard).

We haven't made up our minds yet about the move. I have lived in Europe, South Africa, NYC (home), upstate NY, Atlanta and Washington DC/Maryland. Atlanta was easy because we lived near major hospitals and Emory so there was a very liberal and intellectual community. We have always tried to find communities near research universities (even though that isn't our field). They just tend to create a good community nearby. Also, gay and lesbian communities are also very comfortable for us even though we are not a same sex couple.

I know we won't still be in Texas by the time high school comes around so the elementary school is the primary concern. Private school is an OK option but not Catholic school for obvious reasons.

To the poster who thinks Texas is economically superior because of conservative values - I don't think anyone outside of Texas thinks that. I'm not trying to get into a debate. I just don't want to surround myself with closed minded conservatives who are somewhat unaware of the world outside Texas. (That said, I know a little about the world and nothing about Texas!)

I know a few people who live in Texas who are pretty progressive so I'm sure there must be a way to find a community that is progressive. We could go up to $850,000 but we have two other homes we haven't sold yet so I prefer to stay in the $700,000. Seems like that should be possible.

[TrueDat]

As one who has visited Houston often, and lives up the road in Dallas, I'd suggest staying within the Loop in areas like Montrose (the heart of Houston's gay community) Montrose, Houston - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia or The Heights, and the areas near Texas Medical Center, the museums, and Rice University. The issue then becomes finding a house with your space requirements at your price point.