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Honestly, unless I am on 225, the south end of Pasadena in the Fairmont/Space Center Blvd. area (which is about 5 miles away) doesn't smell and smells no different than Clear Lake, Seabrook and areas of greater Houston. Stinkadena is an old name from when they used to have sulphur processing going on in the 60's and maybe 70's. But people who don't live anywhere in that area don't know any better and still call it that. I can smell the petrochemical industries if I am actually on 225 but that is a rarity for me. I wouldn't call their schools great - I would definitely rather live in the area of Pasadena zoned for Deer Park schools if I had school age children.
Well, i would call Pasadena Schools great. Especially, the elementary schools. PISD was a NATIONAL MODEL SCHOOL DISTRICT in 2008-2009.
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With an enrollment of more than 52,000 students, the Pasadena Independent School District has established itself as one of the top districts in the state of Texas. Pasadena ISD has been honored as the International Center for Leadership in Education's National Model School District. Our district boasts 18 State Exemplary and 17 Recognized schools. Programs such as Expectation Graduation have resulted in greater college readiness at all grade levels.
So, because PISD is a big district it has more funds, that are significantly bigger than Deer Park ISD. Which results in more enrichment programs, after school activities, and better technology and books in our schools. Additionally, we had a school building boom with about a dozen, give or take, new schools recently constructed. Including 2 intermediate schools, 6 middle schools, and various elementary schools.
So anybody that says PISD is JUST an ok district, doesnt know what they are talking about. It only had 1 unacceptable school, out of all its schools. And that is in the process of getting changed due to misunderstood information.
And take it from somebody that lives on this side of Pasadena, its not that bad. But if you feel uncomfortable, i would greatly consider the Southern part of it, by Fairmont and Beltway 8. Already mentioned, its new and good food options, as well as retail options.
It would be helpful knowing more specifics, like what area of Pasadena you would be moving or working in.
The stretch of Space Center from Fairmont to Genoa-Red Bluff doesn't stink but you can see the flare stacks light up the sky at night. That's a deal breaker for me, but others may not care. Most of those homes are pretty nice, though. Also that stretch of Space Center also floods like crazy when it rains hard, so you may be stuck in your neighborhood for awhile. The drainage is poor out that way, and actually that goes for a lot of Pasadena in general.
The northern part of Clear Lake is down the road a few miles and has nicer neighborhoods IMO, no street flooding issues, still has more/better amenties and more ethnic places to eat, better school district, lacks the redneck element, and you'll pay a little more too.
So, because PISD is a big district it has more funds, that are significantly bigger than Deer Park ISD. Which results in more enrichment programs, after school activities, and better technology and books in our schools. Additionally, we had a school building boom with about a dozen, give or take, new schools recently constructed. Including 2 intermediate schools, 6 middle schools, and various elementary schools.
So anybody that says PISD is JUST an ok district, doesnt know what they are talking about. It only had 1 unacceptable school, out of all its schools. And that is in the process of getting changed due to misunderstood information.
And take it from somebody that lives on this side of Pasadena, its not that bad. But if you feel uncomfortable, i would greatly consider the Southern part of it, by Fairmont and Beltway 8. Already mentioned, its new and good food options, as well as retail options.
It would be helpful knowing more specifics, like what area of Pasadena you would be moving or working in.
Had a kid that went to PISD ... so I do know what I speak of. It is okay - certainly not excellent. Deer Park is better and CCISD (Clear Creek) is one of the tops in the state. PISD - isn't ranked with either of those. Thankfully he had his primary education in a different school district and once kids have those basics they can flourish pretty much anywhere but those primary skills are essential in grades 1-5. When said kid went to a community college nearby, the profs wanted to know where he went to school because he seemed more advanced and worldly than most of the kids who fed in from PISD and were a bit surprised he had graduated from PISD and not a better ranked district. I do attribute most of that to his elementary years and core basics. Seriously those rankings of acceptable, recognized etc. only go so far. A lot of those rankings are derived upon pass/failure rates and test scores which some schools are rigorously coached for those tests to meet those standards versus working more on the actual academics a kid will need. Like the time the h.s. called me because he didn't stay late for math tutoring. I asked why he needed math tutoring - his average was 89. It was tutoring for the TAAS test. I said no dice - kid has an 89, he'll pass the TAAS and he doesn't need additional tutoring on TAAS test questions (just to bump up the rating) in lieu of basic academics. No it's not a bad district -- it's just not an excellent district.
Everyone is correct in their description. But no one mentioned that it stinks. My spouse lived there as a kid and she said it was nick named Stinkadena. All the refineries let out a different smell every day but most of the smells are just the smells of oil.
Everytime I go through there, which is just about every day now, I look off to the side streets at all the homes and wonder how they can live with that stink. It smells pretty bad.
I guess your spouse hasn't lived there in a while. First, the prevailing winds are from the southeast, so most of the time the wind does not blow towards Pasadena or other south side towns from the ship channel industries. Second, the company primarily responsible for the name Stinkadena was the old Simpson Paper Mill which has been closed for the last 15 years and was demolished about 5 years ago. Third, odors along 225 rarely occur except in the area in the City of Houston where Texas Petrochemicals and the GoodYear plant are on the south side of the road. Odors along 225 do occur occassionally when the wind is from the north but with the exception of some very localized odors near shell and lubrizol, you general don't get any odors. There are always exceptions to the rule. Now I would not want to live in say...Galena Park.
Had a kid that went to PISD ... so I do know what I speak of. It is okay - certainly not excellent. Deer Park is better and CCISD (Clear Creek) is one of the tops in the state. PISD - isn't ranked with either of those. Thankfully he had his primary education in a different school district and once kids have those basics they can flourish pretty much anywhere but those primary skills are essential in grades 1-5. When said kid went to a community college nearby, the profs wanted to know where he went to school because he seemed more advanced and worldly than most of the kids who fed in from PISD and were a bit surprised he had graduated from PISD and not a better ranked district. I do attribute most of that to his elementary years and core basics. Seriously those rankings of acceptable, recognized etc. only go so far. A lot of those rankings are derived upon pass/failure rates and test scores which some schools are rigorously coached for those tests to meet those standards versus working more on the actual academics a kid will need. Like the time the h.s. called me because he didn't stay late for math tutoring. I asked why he needed math tutoring - his average was 89. It was tutoring for the TAAS test. I said no dice - kid has an 89, he'll pass the TAAS and he doesn't need additional tutoring on TAAS test questions (just to bump up the rating) in lieu of basic academics. No it's not a bad district -- it's just not an excellent district.
Well i guess it depends on the school, PISD has 5 High Schools, 3 more than Deer Park ISD. And Dobie and Pasadena Memorial are the "good" schools.
And of all our exemplary ratings, they all go to elementary schools. So if primary education is your thing, then PISD is a good district. Because the majority of the recognized ratings, and all the exemplary ratings are for Elementary schools. And no elm. school is unacceptable.
I guess, overall, its not an excellent district, as it is not recognized, but it has more excellent individual schools. Which is why it depends what schools you are zoned to.
But, at least PISD has more of a diverse student body. The more south you go, the less of the majority will be hispanic. Because DPISD is full of white people. So if diversity is a key, then southern PISD is where you should go.
There is a lot of industry in that area however it would stand to reason that if you work in one of those industries you would either not notice anything foul or at least not consider it offensive. To people in the refining industry that is the smell of $$$$$$ (at least that is how it was growing up on the South Side of Chicago in the 70's).
I grew up in Deer Park, owned a house in Pasadena with my ex-husband and my mother still teaches at Frasier Elementary in PISD. All of that said, I would recommend Deer Park over Pasadena any day of the week. There are a lot of older neighborhoods in Pasadena, particularly near 225 and towards the mall, that have gotten really trashy. There are, however, parts that are nice and you can get a house there pretty cheap compared to other parts of the city. Houses in Deer Park are also fairly inexpensive, but the schools are better, there's less violence in them, and it's overall a very quiet little town. Your commute to Pasadena would be pretty easy, maybe 10 or 15 minutes depending on where you're coming from and where you're going. But, there's also not a damn thing to do there. Any of your major stores (Best Buy, Target, Kohl's etc) are over at Fairmont and Beltway 8, in Pasadena. So if convenience is a factor for you, you might consider something in that area. And that's the part of Pasadena that goes to DPISD.
As for the smell, there IS a smell. My parents still live in Deer Park, and I get a whiff every time I go to visit them. But, the smell is largely centered around 225 and mostly near the 225/610 junction. The house I owned in Pasadena was near Red Bluff and Pasadena Blvd, and we never smelled anything from there. But that part of Pasadena has gone downhill since I lived there, so I really wouldn't recommend it.
Also, Pasadena is NOT a rich school district. Deer Park is, and under the Robin Hood program that was implemented a long time ago, Deer Park has to give a significant amount of its funds to Pasadena. This is according to my mom, who's been teaching in Pasadena for 15 or 20 years now.
Also, just to clarify something another poster said but probably isn't relevant to your decision -- Deer Park technically only has one high school that is split into two campuses. North Campus is for freshmen only, and South Campus is for sophomores through seniors. The sort of nice thing about that is that, in my personal experience anyways, there's not any freshmen hazing. The sophomores get a little bit of hazing when they get to South Campus (our favorite trick was to direct them to the bus to take them back to North Campus LOL) but nothing too bad.
Hope this helps, and if you decide to live in Deer Park, I know most of the neighborhoods around there so I could recommend a few for you.
There is a lot of industry in that area however it would stand to reason that if you work in one of those industries you would either not notice anything foul or at least not consider it offensive. To people in the refining industry that is the smell of $$$$$$ (at least that is how it was growing up on the South Side of Chicago in the 70's).
Don't work in that industry and still don't smell anything on the South side. It is as most posters have said around the 225 area and particularly at 225/610 interchange which is Houston actually.
And lol to the poster who likes Pasa-getdown-dena and Stink-a-dena. Both of those crack me up where I hear them because they sound so lame and so 70's..... A retro laugh to start the day.
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