COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHY WE MOVED UP TO THE WOODLANDS “My mom moved to Afton Oaks as a child & went to Lamar. I grew up in the Galleria area & my family now lives in TW because we work out of our homes and, when that’s the case, TW becomes the more rational place to raise a family. The air is cleaner, the free schools better; the city has been officially declared bike friendly, and the 160 miles of paths are great for a runner like me. I really don’t want to spend $300,000 over 12 years sending my children to private and then never be able to retire. Sometimes as a native Houstonian who lived in H-Town — Galleria, Rice Military, downtown loft — for much, much longer than we have lived here, this back-and forth is tiresome. “Chains†up here include Hubbell & Hudson, 1252, and the G’s, and those who tend to blindly diss TW are simply ignorant. So; fine; I’m glad we’re getting a TJ. Houston’s going to be getting one too.” [M77002, commenting on Here’s Where the First Trader Joe’s Is Going — in The Woodlands]
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As someone who lives in the loop by necessity – I am constantly embarrassed by my snobby neighbors who think the city is far superior.
Each area has significant advantages for different people….I grew up in the burbs and liked it – I live in town now and I like it too
This inner loop snobby attitude and pure hatred of everything commercial is really sad – b/c most of the people who espouse such beliefs are really just snobs who feel insecure about their own personal lifestyle.
I love The Woodlands. I couldn’t deal with the drive every day, but for someone who works at home or for one of the companies there, it’s a great place to be.
Thank You! I’m not big on the suburbs – mainly the people – but there are some great LOCAL restaurants, stores, etc to be had.
However, expecting the bulk of SL commenters to not complain/bitch/whine is like expecting the Duggars to put a condom on.
You’re delusional, the woodlands is a hotbed for drugs and bored rich kids, not what I’d want to expose my kids to. I grew up there, and far prefer Klein to the drugged out suburbia of blandness that is the woodlands..
Where is TW? Don’t you mean THE Woodlands (not The Woodlands… THE Woodlands)
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When I was a kid, the wild Woodlands girls would come out to the Richmond strip to go clubbing. They were insane!
I have no problem with anyone moving to the Woodlands or any other suburb if that is what you want to do. I just wish you’d stay there. We inner loopers hear far too often the complaint of, “but I drove all the way from the Woodlands for that.” You know what? That’s not my problem. You decided it wasn’t incovenient to live there so stop your whining. And, while you’re at it, stop releasing all those tail pipe emissions from your giant SUVs and trucks as you drive back and forth to Houston.
You’re delusional, the woodlands is a hotbed for drugs and bored rich kids, not what I’d want to expose my kids to. I grew up there, and far prefer Klein to the drugged out suburbia of blandness that is the woodlands..
Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha….that’s too funny corey.
I like The Woodlands, for certain things. But to claim that it is “the more rational place to raise a family,” under any circumstance, is silly. A good place to raise a family? I will accept that. But more rational than what? My wife and I are raising four kids in the Heights. My wife works out of our house, and I work out of the house 1-2 days per week. Our two oldest go to public school – a very good public school. I have a 20-mile run that I do a couple times a month, from my house, to Memorial Park, through River Oaks, along Buffalo Bayou to Downtown, then back to my house. How many of those 160 miles of paths do you use? And bike friendly? A city’s ability to be “bike friendly” only goes as far as the ability and desire of its drivers to respect people on bikes. I for one will not let a label lull me into thinking I am safe on my bike. But above all of these, we enjoy the diversity of living in a big city. And not just diversity of stores or restaurants – but diversity of people, architecture, entertainment, groups of friends…the list goes on. I did a stint in the suburbs – it has a lot to offer. But you calling it “more rational” is plain silly.
From dan:
“When I was a kid, the wild Woodlands girls would come out to the Richmond strip to go clubbing. They were insane!”
Really!? Hrmmmm…wish I’d grown up in The Woodlands.
“I have no problem with anyone moving to the Woodlands or any other suburb if that is what you want to do. I just wish you’d stay there. We inner loopers hear far too often the complaint of, “but I drove all the way from the Woodlands for that.†You know what? That’s not my problem. You decided it wasn’t incovenient to live there so stop your whining. And, while you’re at it, stop releasing all those tail pipe emissions from your giant SUVs and trucks as you drive back and forth to Houston.”………says the ultra sophisticated innerloop checkout clerk.
To me,the biggest mistake people make is thinking The Woodlands is a suburb of Houston. That’s like saying San Antonio is a suburb if Austin. The Woodlands is it’s own city, for better and worse.
The Hoodlands… too bad there’s not a BIG fence around that place. And talk about snobby people – who’s teenage sons come to Montrose to “beat up some queers”, as one of the little darlings who murdered Paul Broussard put it.
I’m convinced that the ugliest place in the whole greater Houston area is the internet. It’s where people go to claim moral superiority over all their neighbors, calling them toothless, meth-making, racist, gas guzzling rednecks or rich/welfare guzzling, gang-affiliated, coked up wastrel hippies. It’s where they are *sure* that everybody who’s from that other place is smug and privileged, unlike themselves. The internet is a horrible, violent neighborhood. It amazes me that we all want to live here.
Of course, then Robert posts some divine picture and I learn something new about the city, or Gus posts the plans for a beautiful new park, and I remember why the neighborhood is actually pretty awesome.
what you call ugliness i call enjoyable self-deprecating humor, back off my freedoms. houston is a city of suburbs so naturally anyone calling for superiority here won’t get very far in the real world. as evidenced above, most everyone has lived in BOTH suburbs and cities throughout their lifetime and can identify with the negatives and positives of each. however, it never hurts to rub those negatives in each others faces in good fun.
could of sworn i typed up a nice whimsical response to be included here for fun but i guess others didn’t concur.
…and it goes on…
Woodlands’ kids are aware they live in a bubble; they (especially the girls) cannot wait to see the other side of the fence and ‘go clubbing’ – to teen nights at the bars and to go to dinner in town on Prom night (even though there are plenty of great dining establishments close to home.)
They want what they don’t have, God love em.
I grew up in a few different suburbs, in a few different cities, and they all lived up to being sub-urban places to live and grow up. In my opinion. I would never do that to my children.
Funny, but as a former Harvard recruiter, I can tell you that while The Woodlands High School and College Park are respected, they are definitely behind DeBakey, HSPVA, Bellaire, Lamar, Memorial, and the privates (St Johns, Kinkaid, Episcopal, Awty, John Cooper, Strake, St Agnes, and Duchesne). TWHS and CPHS are solid suburban schools but so are Cinco Ranch, Taylor, Kempner, Klein, etc…
Klein yes, Woodlands NO. CISD is a mess.
Grew up in Houston and have now lived in TW for 10 years. Best decision we’ve ever made. Cannot stand going into town, dirty, crowded, terrible drivers, the list goes on. Schools here are far superior, shopping, restuarants, like minded families. Private road to IAH and downtown. And best of all ZONING!!! It is a beautiful place, like living in a resort.
The Snoblands is, by far, the biggest joke I’ve ever encountered. These people want to believe they are something they are certainly not. Do yourself a favor, and stay away from the schools at pick-up/drop off times. The loudmouthed, wanna-be pretentious stay-home, lazy, unattractive “moms” will disgust you. The driving is among the worst I’ve seen, and, I came here from L.A.!!!! This place can go to Hell! These people aren’t Sourherners. They are a bunch of rude, selfish, pretentious, dillusional,uneducated, white trash with a few bucks people I’ve seen…
Jesus H. Christ. This thread (and not a few others on SL) is a graduate level course in parochialism. Brings to mind Ray Davies’s line “I was born, lucky me, in a land that i love”. How fortunate that each of us was born in the best possible place on the planet, right down to the street we were hatched on. I mean, what are the odds? Do any of these endemic jingoists really believe the tripe they’re spouting?