Just looking around at some of these so called up and coming neighborhoods. Is there really that big of a difference between Garden Oaks and Oak Forest? And within Oak Forest, is there really that big of a difference between the West and East side of the Bayou in Oak Forest?

Yes, and very very very much Yes.

Oh yeah, they aren't "so-called" anymore. When you're selling $800K plus, it's not "so-called".

GO was, and overall still is, nicer than OF. But there is more new construction in OF and some of these new houses in OF are nicer than most in GO. There is a street or two in OF that for a couple of blocks is better than anything GO has, comparably.

But much of OF is still turning, and the lots are much much smaller so GO is still often preferred.

That said I'd rather my kid go to OF than GO elementary.

You're a little late to the game though.

True, maybe a little late to the game, but some timing is out of my hands, so working with the best options I have available to relocate back to Houston.

I appreciate the insight and information.

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GO was, and overall still is, nicer than OF. But there is more new construction in OF and some of these new houses in OF are nicer than most in GO. There is a street or two in OF that for a couple of blocks is better than anything GO has, comparably.

But much of OF is still turning, and the lots are much much smaller so GO is still often preferred.

That said I'd rather my kid go to OF than GO elementary.

You're a little late to the game though.

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There is one street in GO (Sue Barnett I think), just north of 43rd, that puts anything else in the surrounding area to shame.

Yeah you may be correct I always forget about that little pocket.

But Wakefield in OF is getting pretty badass for a couple of blocks.

I sometimes wonder if that area can turn into the next briar grove. Nice, expensive houses, good elementary schools, but tapped out after that. I think Waltrip will always somewhat limit the school situation but that's not that big of a deal.

Taxes have gone through the roof in that area. I've got friends sitting on old homes trying to decide if they want to bite the bullet, tear down, and rebuild.

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Yeah you may be correct I always forget about that little pocket.

But Wakefield in OF is getting pretty badass for a couple of blocks.

I sometimes wonder if that area can turn into the next briar grove. Nice, expensive houses, good elementary schools, but tapped out after that. I think Waltrip will always somewhat limit the school situation but that's not that big of a deal.

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Yeah prob, but you never know I guess. I saw some fratty looking upper middle class white kids at target the other day in Waltrip baseball practice gear. Threw me off for a sec.

Waltrip has one of the "whitest" attendance zones in the city. I wouldn't be surprised to see some folks actually send their kids there after HISD finishes redoing all the high schools.

I drive by Waltrip every day and have seen only like two white kids...

The school right now is 74% hispanic, 11% white, 13% black.

Here is the racial makeup of what I believe are the basic boundaries of the zone as of 2010. Red dots are a certain number of white people, orange are hispanic, blue are black.



Probably a decent portion of the enrollment are transfers into the school from other schools that are even worse. The heavily orange sector at the bottom of the zone is cottage grove, an area which is in the middle of almost totally transforming as of 2010, and my guess is that the eastern edges of the map, parts of the zone that are in the Heights are far less orange now as well. There are several apartments within the zone that I cant imagine being around for long. The one on Ella near Rainbow Lodge has already been cleaned off. You can see a really dense point cluster between Durham and Shepherd at around 6th or 7th street at the far southeast end of the zone. I cant imagine how those apartments are even surviving since that land has frontage on both Durham and Shepherd. Id be shocked if that wasnt redeveloped soon. Also decent portion of the hispanic population mixed into the GO/OF/Timbergrove/Shepherd Park areas are middle to upper class hispanics as well. Although their presence at Waltrip that likely wouldn't help as the tendency is to look at demographic percentages and make a snap judgement about what that means.

77008 and 77018 have both turned dramatically from majority hispanic to majority white in the pst 10-15 years and it will continue.

The main really poor area in the zone is and will continue to be the area on the far west side of the map west of TC Jester. Its hard for me to imagine that area ever being cleaned up.

[This message has been edited by JJxvi (edited 5/4/2014 4:30p).]

I mention the zip codes become more white in the past 10-15 years, but what I find insteresting is that the school actually went the opposite way. I graduated from Waltrip in 1999 and it was far whiter then. It was roughly 25% white, maybe 45%-50% hispanic, 20% black, and had more than a minimal asian number. Maybe 3-5% or so. The zone has gotten richer and those richer people have displaced the middle and lower middle class white folks who sent their kids to Waltrip with rich white folks who dont have families yet or send their kids to private schools.

[This message has been edited by JJxvi (edited 5/4/2014 4:38p).]

White people are soft.

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GO was, and overall still is, nicer than OF. But there is more new construction in OF and some of these new houses in OF are nicer than most in GO. There is a street or two in OF that for a couple of blocks is better than anything GO has, comparably.

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I think your'e seeing more new development in Oak Forest because the lots are smaller and the builders can pick them up cheaper. They also don't have the huge front and side setbacks that GO has so that is attractive to builders. Much of Oak Forest is zoned to OF elementary, which is obviously better than Garden Oaks so that's a plus in their column.

Garden Oaks will always have the nicer setbacks and better looking street layout. They should also (presumably) have a ton of money in the coffers for beautification and constables because of the 3/4% transfer fee in most of the neighborhood. I also don't believe that any of Garden Oaks is in the 100 year flood plain, so that is nice.

I would imagine most of the new construction you'll see in Garden Oaks will be custom or semi-custom. Those 16K sqft lots are pretty expensive to build spec homes on.

OF is for the gays....

Shepherd Forest represent!

Waltrip Alum here!!!

The only thing WHS has for it is the IB program. If you get into that you'll take all your classes with the rest of the honkies and not have to deal with gen pop riff-raff. The teachers are also better and you can earn college credits.

Again, if you raise your kids to be good people they'll be fine at Waltrip.

Every Waltrip grad I've ever met is more redneck than I am, including the black guys, and generally good people. But they're mostly my age range (mid 30s) and older.

Not sure what changes in school choice policy have done to it, but I would imagine the attendance zone is improving.

I've seen the kids that go to Waltrip often when class is dismissed. There is no way I send my kid there.

Same here, I've driven down 34th when school gets out multiple times. I have seen only one white kid. Not saying there is anything wrong with it, but all the white kids must be staying after school in detention or must be apart of some other whites-only activity like glee club or A/V club.

St. Pius X was the destination of choice for those that wanted their kids to develop their habit for prescription drugs among other like minded white folk back then instead of mixing with the riff raff, and I imagine that will continue for the area.

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St. Pius X was the destination of choice for those that wanted their kids to develop their habit for prescription drugs among other like minded white folk back then instead of mixing with the riff raff, and I imagine that will continue for the area.

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Don't forget Lutheran North.

Lutheran North was full on nancy boys.

Congrats on being a hard ass JJxvi!

[This message has been edited by agla06 (edited 5/5/2014 12:47p).]

He said up above that he went to the Trip.

One reason you don't see white people getting out of school is that they don't ride metro, loiter around the fast food joints and gas stations, or walk home.

I also don't think zoning of schools is so important these days. Seems like you can find a way to get your kid into any school. I had a bunch of friends who lived in OF and Timbergrove and went to Lamar HS on an FFA transfer.

New to OF, and zoned to OFE. Will send kids there, then see what Frank Black is like at the time. Right now i think its majority econ disadv Bus-ins.

It's my understanding that Black is on the up and up. Being right next door to OFE and the demographics of the neighborhood they're trying to use OFE as a feeder school and retain kids from the neighborhood. I've heard promising things about Black recently.

When I was growing up it was pretty rough and we all transferred to Clifton via their magnet program.

I've heard the same re: Black.

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I also don't think zoning of schools is so important these days. Seems like you can find a way to get your kid into any school. I had a bunch of friends who lived in OF and Timbergrove and went to Lamar HS on an FFA transfer.

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It's been getting harder every year. It's certainly something I would suggest trying if you don't like the school you are zoned to, but I would not count on it.