where is "upper kirby" and "rice village"? (Houston: crime, houses)

[boudicca2]

We are receiving recommendation left and right from my husband's co-workers. (they were the friends who originally recommended west university). They are saying there are good schools here, but I can't find them on the map nor har.com.

Also- does anyone know the zips or areas for:
Poe, Roberts, West U and River Oaks.
Again, these are schools the co-workers are recommending.

So overwhelming!!!!

[houstoner]

Google! It really is your friend! Most have Wikipedia pages, too!

Ex.
poe elementary houston - Google Search
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/HoustonPoeElementary.JPG (broken link)

upper kirby houston - Google Search
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/00/UpperKirbyStreets.JPG (broken link)

[westres1]

You will have to go to HISD and look at the zoning maps. Roberts is near the med center and is a great school. (look in South gate)Poe is mostly the neighborhoods along North and South Blvd and a small portion north of 59 between Hazard and Malone but not past Richmond. Some parts may include neighborhoods near the Childrens Museum. West U elem is West U and South Hampton.
Check in area 17 on har
Hope this helps.

[Josci]

I live in River Oaks and my zip code is 77019.

River Oaks Elementary is a good school in my area. I am not sure of others since I do not have kids yet.

[boudicca2]

I am sorry for asking such dumb questions. So "River Oaks" is a neighborhood within Houston? I am so confused which aeas are considered "Houston" and which are their own separate cities. I thought West U was inside Houston (it seems that way on all the maps?) but then they are not on the Houston Crime Maps because they don't post their crimes (?). Somewhere else online I read they are their own city? Same with Bellaire? Although it seems to be surrounded by Houston city proper, and is part of the Houston school district. I love google as well, but I have not found a map that shows all of the "neighborhoods" (or separate "cities" that make up Houston). What would be perfect would be a map that has all of the school boundaries WITH all of the neighborhoods labelled. Aaah, and then if you could search for houses within those neighborhoods/schools, that would be perfect.

[houstoner]

Bellaire, Southside Place, and West U are their own cities surrounded by the City of Houston. They're all right next to each other. West U is (wait for it!) west of Rice University. Southside Place is the next neighborhood over. Bellaire is next to that and continues outside the 610 loop into the SW side of town. West U is the nicest of these, IMO.



As for River Oaks, it is a neighborhood of Houston. It isn't contiguous with the other neighborhoods, but it's not very far away. It's closest to downtown and reaches into the Upper Kirby/Greenway Plaza area. While all four neighborhoods (the "cities" above are essentially large neighborhoods) are affluent, saying "River Oaks" immediately conjures up images of $$$ in the minds of Houstonians. All these areas have Wikipedia pages, too.

You need to refer to the HISD website for the school information. (I'm 99% sure all the schools also have Wikipedia pages with this info listed as well, but it may not be current. Still good for background info.) Enter the names of the schools in the little box in the upper right corner labeled "School Information" and click on "attendance boundary map." It will show you exactly what you want to know, like so: School Locator Results

[houstoner]

Just to add, you can use Google Maps Street View to get a good look at Poe and the surrounding neighborhood. That picture of it above is a bit misleading. It's on a tree-lined street in a very beautiful, leafy neighborhood. It doesn't work so well for the other schools.

Just to clarify, there isn't much difference to non-residents between the "cities" and other Houston neighborhoods. You won't be able to tell where one "city" ends and another begins, for the most part. Except for the fancy street signs.

[westres1]

I said South Hampton and I stand corrected...South Side Place. I have the flu.
The orange Houston Key map has a map of Houston with the neighborhoods names.
River Oaks starts at over a million, West U and South Side Place 700,000+

[boudicca2]

700k is too much for us. i am not sure how my husband's coworkers live there since they presumably make the same as we do??? they are really pushing these neighborhoods as the ideal places to live with kids, the best schools, etc but we are in a 525K house now and i would not like to spend even more on our mortgage.

[travelguy_73]

Originally Posted by boudicca2

700k is too much for us. i am not sure how my husband's coworkers live there since they presumably make the same as we do??? they are really pushing these neighborhoods as the ideal places to live with kids, the best schools, etc but we are in a 525K house now and i would not like to spend even more on our mortgage.

525k will be tough in West U or Bellaire (though in Bellaire (77401) you have a chance of finding something). If you expand to Meyerland (77096), Braes Heights (77025), and similar neighborhoods you will have much better luck, and will find yourself zoned to many of the same (if not the exact same) schools.

The city-within-a-city can be confusing here. Bellaire and West University are incorporated cities with their own taxes, trash pickup, etc. However, they share the same school district with the rest of "urban" Houston, so you can derive many of the same school benefits as those cities without having to pay the sky high prices.