Inner Loop Population and Demographics (Austin, West: renting, home, transfer)

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

East River probably not much.

Helix Park and BioPort I could see causing a serious amount of gentrification though.

All three will be a force for gentrification in currently lower-priced areas. There's been new townhome development creeping into 5th Ward for over 10 years already, and East River will certainly boost that.

[Spade]

Quite interesting that the COH stopped posting figures for the population of the Inner Loop. They use to but stopped in 2016.

[SanJac]

Originally Posted by Spade

Quite interesting that the COH stopped posting figures for the population of the Inner Loop. They use to but stopped in 2016.

What would be their motive for stopping?

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by SanJac

What would be their motive for stopping?

Good question. I'll have to ask folks from the Planning Department if I run into them.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

Good question. I'll have to ask folks from the Planning Department if I run into them.

Tell them I said hi

[Spade]

Originally Posted by SanJac

What would be their motive for stopping?

I would love to know as well. (I was wrong as this is Harris County information instead of the COH)

Here is the last update.
https://budget.harriscountytx.gov/do...ion_Report.pdf

It has the inner loop at 519,000 in 2016. Now that's estimates but you would believe that the actual local governments usually have a better understanding of their growth than the census does. They deal with their locations every day unlike the US Census. This is why I believe the population is actually higher in the loop than what the census has showed for 2020 which I believe somebody said it was between 502,000 to 520,000. Also, while I remember before the 2010 census that many of us thought the population was well above 530k because of all the development, the city of Houston never jumped on that bandwagon and had it under 500k and sure enough, they had the population at 470,000.

[NigerianNightmare]

I’ve talked about it before but if apartments aren’t an issue just converting U of H and TSU from commuter schools to actual fully fledged schools would do so much for the Third Ward albeit I don’t know if the culture of the third ward would remain if it became a lot more college-centric not to mention Rice benefitting form new Student Housing in that area.

[atadytic19]

I didn't realize how close UH and TSU are now.
In my day between Scott and Cullen was mainly seas of parking so the two seemed world's away. UH has done so much building in the last 20 years.

I am all for preserving culture and against large scale demographic displacement, but that has to be balanced by progress.
I remember when Houston put forward an Olympic bid, there was a proposal to put the Olympic village just north of UH and that got tons of push back. People were all up in arms about those shotgun houses. Houston has a poor record on preservation, but those things, imo opinion are not worth it.

It's kinda a wasted opportunity, as the area could have developed in a more cohesive manner. The area is developing anyway, but more haphazardly, Like this:

2016: 3518 Rosalie St
https://maps.app.goo.gl/oEF6rd94wXeKWRXZ9

2022: 3518 Rosalie St
https://maps.app.goo.gl/xbof7ZJNn3UhWUrs5

It's a shame. Houston could have had an active Olympic village with stores, restaurants and other activities, but instead those precious dilapidated shotgun houses got replaced by fenced in Fortresslike housing with its back turned to the neighborhood.

The plan was to convert the Olympic village into student housing after the Olympics and that would have gone a long way in helping UH progress from its commuter school status.

The good thing is there is still a lot of space in 3rd ward, and a nice cohesive student oriented neighborhood can still be formed west of Scott, just north of TSU.


It is crazy that there is still space like this next to 2 large universities and a stone's throw from Downtown:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/2HSHnoTnEaWCNaLK9

I am also of the opinion that UH is already too large in land area and needs to stop expanding out. I can understand the need for open space on campus, but sheesh, its all open space. They have pushed east past spur 5, and South to OST. It makes for a more haphazard, incohesive campus.

The dense part of the loop is south of I10 and west of 288/ 59/69. The other 65% of the loop is of much lower density, with some parts on the eastern half still looking like small town Mississippi.

[TallGreengrass]

Originally Posted by NigerianNightmare

I’ve talked about it before but if apartments aren’t an issue just converting U of H and TSU from commuter schools to actual fully fledged schools would do so much for the Third Ward albeit I don’t know if the culture of the third ward would remain if it became a lot more college-centric not to mention Rice benefitting form new Student Housing in that area.

1. Why is being a commuter school a bad thing? UH and TSU are in the middle of the 4th largest city in the US and therefore urban. And being urban, the commuting aspect is naturally a part of their framework. UCLA is a commuter school and it’s a great state school.

2. what do you consider a fully fledged school? UH and TSU are accredited institutions that confer bachelor, master and doctoral degrees. Both have sports teams, on-campus housing and nationally affiliated fraternities and sororities. What else do they need to be considered an actual fully fledged school?

Third Ward is a toughie. It’s great location so you’d think it’d be farther along in its development, partnership, identification with UH/TSU but it just hasn’t materialized.

[atadytic19]

Originally Posted by TallGreengrass

1. Why is being a commuter school a bad thing? UH and TSU are in the middle of the 4th largest city in the US and therefore urban. And being urban, the commuting aspect is naturally a part of their framework. UCLA is a commuter school and it’s a great state school.

2. what do you consider a fully fledged school? UH and TSU are accredited institutions that confer bachelor, master and doctoral degrees. Both have sports teams, on-campus housing and nationally affiliated fraternities and sororities. What else do they need to be considered an actual fully fledged school?

Third Ward is a toughie. It’s great location so you’d think it’d be farther along in its development, partnership, identification with UH/TSU but it just hasn’t materialized.

Commuter schools are more in line with community colleges where school is not your main focus. You have your apartment you have to pay, so you have to work, you might have a kid or two, and college you fit in between your other responsibilities. You normally take a lot longer to graduate.

A full fledge college is more catered to college being your number 1 focus. Because of that you tend to stay closer to campus, or better yet on campus so you spend more time studying and have closer access to school amenities, such as libraries and labs. Students usually have less responsibilities so they generally finish within 4 years.

UH is not an AAU tier 1 school mainly because it was more in that community college category. It has gotten much much better, but they still have difficulty graduating students in 4 years.

UH was referred to as Houston High for decades because it was more like high school in terms of student mindset. You go to school from 8am to 3pm then go home and place school at tge back of your mind.

Yeah, on campus life is usually wild. Especially freshman year, but even then the focus is still more on education than other things.