Woodside Village Blog

Our Schools

2007-04-05T22:32:00.000-07:00

Another information post. Here is a list of the schools that are a part of our neighborhood:

Elementary School
Longfellow
Red
Shearn

Middle School
Johnston
Pershing

High School
Bellaire
Westbury

Land Use for Woodside Village

2007-04-05T14:08:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post on some maps I found. Based on Houston's Superneighborhood program (I'd love for someone to post an article to me on what this is and if it has made any difference), I have pulled down the maps which detail the Woodside Village land use breakdown. It is interesting the amount of commercial property represented in our area and why we as a community need to stay involved and potentially pressure these property owners to keep things "green" and in line with a quality neighborhood. Here they are:

Why Woodside Village? - Part 2

2007-04-05T12:56:00.000-07:00

As the second part to Why Woodside Village? I will address the name side of things. First, this is open for discussion as a topic and I would love to hear ideas/feedback on the name. Second, it was the best I could come up with given the varying names of our current communities. In general, not a lot to say here other than I tried to incorporate some of the existing names that are present in the area today. I also did not want it to be a ?-place or ?-land in order to be different than Meyerland and Braeswood Place. I also like the term village as it creates a sense of home. Again, open for discussion so please bring on the comments!

Why Woodside Village? - Part 1

2007-04-05T11:16:00.000-07:00

As my first post(s) here I thought it would be appropriate to go into a little more detail regarding two topics:

1) Why this blog
2) Why "Woodside Village"

To keep this simple, I am going to divide this topic into 2 parts so people can comment on either separately.

Part 1
As a resident of Willow Meadows and having lived in this part of town for over seven years, I have grown very impressed by the continued success related to our area in Houston. I love the convenience and locale of our neighborhoods related to the city coupled with the fact that they feel like true communities similar to those you find in the suburbs.

Of all the communities in this area, no one's success has impressed me more than Braeswood Place. Many are quick to point out the fact that the flooding from Allison spurred much of their growth, but I think this sells the residents and leaders in this community short. It was only though hard work, fundraising, coordinated events, and a strong home owner's association that they have gotten to the place where they are today. Strong schools, revamped parks, removal/renovation of decaying property, tight security, and an abundance of youth should all be credited to this community working together to achieve common objectives. To this point, one of the first items the leaders in this community had to overcome was the fact that they had many civic clubs independently trying to accomplish the same goals. This lead to the realization that they are stronger as a whole as opposed to 8 separate communities working independent of each other. To this end, Braeswood Place now operates under one homeowners association with a subdivision theme for the previous independent communities. With this model, they have been able to carve out a niche community that has standards across the neighborhood. This also lead to their ability to accomplish the before-mentioned items. With this, I ask how can we the residents of the communities within Woodside Village mimic and improve on the work accomplished by Braeswood Place?

For our area I don't necessarily have the answer, but I do know results when I see them. To that end, I am trying to take some disparate communities that I believe are committed to the betterment of their neighborhoods and bring them together for the greater good. I am not a city planner or civic expert, but my gut tells me that bringing a larger group together is in all of our best interests. Ideas include simple coordination across civic clubs, creating a new overarching neighborhood association, or something new all together which I am not smart enough to ponder. I leave that as a point of discussion and general theme for this blog. Again, I don't have the answer but I think it is time to start the discussion. If not, by mere extension of the "renovation of in town Houston" we will have the standards dictated to us and we may not like the results. As a final note to this point, I will leave you with a quick write up on Braeswood Place and the Stella Link Redevelopment Association as examples of success I think we should be shooting for:

"Keegan, president of the Braeswood Place Homeowners Association, likes the cooperative spirit among her neighbors. The association includes residents of Ayrshire, Braes Heights and several other neighborhoods.

Residents raised almost $350,000 to renovate Karl Young Park. The project, which will be finished in June, will include new playground equipment, drainage and landscaping. Fund-raising included home tours and selling paver stones that will form a pathway in the park.

The same type of grass-roots effort led to the Stella Link Main Campus, which will include Helen's Park, a Sheltering Arms Senior Service Center, a public library and a YMCA.

The Stella Link Redevelopment Association has raised about $10 million for land and development costs. The total project is valued at $49 million."

Welcome to the Woodside Village Blog

2007-04-05T10:55:00.000-07:00

Thank you for visiting the Woodside Village Blog. I have created this blog as an effort to piece together topics related to a number of neighborhoods and their associated civic clubs on the Southwest side of Houston. The intent is to facilitate ideas, share news/information, and hopefully foster better relationships between each of our communities. The following neighborhoods are considered to be a part of the overall blog:

Knollwood Village

Linkwood

Westridge

Westwood

Willow Meadows

Willowbend

Woodshire

Woodside

The major borders for this "superneighborhood" are the following: East: South Post Oak, North: South Braeswood, West: South Main Street, South: Main Street. On the map I have made exception for Braes Terrace which is a part of Braeswood Place. I do not know the specific streets which create the boundary for Braes Terrace.

Other surrounding neighborhoods include Braeswood Place, Westbury, Meyerland, and Bellaire. The reasoning for discluding these neighborhoods from the blog is that each of them in their own right are large enough to warrant a separate discussion. My commitment to this blog is to create a weekly entry as either a topic of discussion and relevant news for the neighborhood. I encourage feedback and open discussion and am also willing to post other neighborhood resident's articles/thoughts as well. Topics include but are not limited to: Security, Schools, Deed Restrictions, Beautification, Events, and Real Estate Developments. Again, welcome to the blog as I hope this will help to bring us all closer together and create a richer and fuller neighborhood experience for all.

Thanks.