What’s Up In The Woodlands: July 2019 Retrospective

This transcript is provided by a Google speech-to-text process and is provided “as is”; it probably has some errors in it (especially the formatting), sorry.

Welcome to what's up in the woodlands. I am your host Kyle Souza and this is a retrospective episode on July 2019 new episodes about 2020 are dropping every Sunday, but I have a few in the bag about July or about 2019 that I want to get around to and this is that time so before I start my blog is the talkinggeek.com.
This is one of my podcasts there are other podcasts you can check me out on speaker, please leave a rating interview. I will get to sponsors at the end of the episode this one shouldn't be too long of an episode so looking back at July they started clearing out a bunch of homeless people off of a 28-54.
Out in Conroe and you know, we don't see a whole lot of homeless in the woodlands area and there's a couple reasons for that.But they do still exist they are still very real and thankfully there are some shelters and ministries and services in the area to help them.
Big news for our neighbor to the North Shenandoah came out there's been a lot of development there's the new movie theater and stuff up there, they also gave a significant race 7,500 dollars a year raise to the city administrator and on the bad side of that news, but kind of a good turn to it, they did find a guy's body there in a field.
Um in Shenandoah and he was I did.Mr. John Douglas who was 69 was found in between Outback and Starbucks no foul play is suspected don't know the story but they said that they're appear to be any reason to suspect that he was attacked and and left there for dead which is a relief but it's also you know a sad event to happen. 
I've talked on this podcast before about special place in my heart for elderly and I think that's because I had I have had and still have.So many great people from older generations in my life, so please keep an eye, excuse me, keep an eye keep an ear out for those who are older than you and may need some help with their memory and things like that.
Connor ISD which woodland schools are part of Conroe ISD or CISD condor independent school district.Came back at the end of last school year the star test STAAR back the day. I had the tax and toss and all that but uh now now we got the star test and um Conroe is above average so I'm not sure exactly where they stand on the scale but it is in the top 50th percentile, at least which is good these high school campuses same so much more like college campuses these days and they're very nice and,Teachers are of course underpaid but in area like this, we should be able to afford a good education even in the public school system.
You may not be aware but the Sam Houston National Forest does extend into Montgomery County and that it is pretty close by there's some great hiking and picnicking and parks and everything else in the San East National Forest so you can get to very easily from the Woodlands but illegal dumping has been has been a problem there and so one encourage you to throw your trash into a proper place and if you see someone dumping you don't have to approach them, you don't have to stop them, but you can call the police especially non-emergency number.
You can quickly Google that but if you need to you can call 911, you'll let them know that you see somebody doing a legal dumping and they'll direct you direct they'll transfer you to the right place but you we are given this land as public land it belongs to everybody. 
I shouldn't say that we're giving it public lands belong to everybody and it is everybody's duty to keep them clean and orderly and usable for everybody else to enjoy.And sadly some people a small minority of people don't treat them with respect and the rest of us have to be extra vigilant for that is it the worst thing in the world no it's not the worst thing in the world, but it is still not good so bad is bad, let's stop doing that if you have been guilty of that just just stop okay, if you know of a place that can be cleaned up organized some people for a weekend and go clean it up if you want to coordinate with somebody about it again the police non-emergency number.
Might be a good place to start.A lot of people don't know this but.CPR outside of a hospital has a high failure rate that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it there's a lot of great stories where that saves people's lives and you should always take an opportunity to save somebody's life when you can but one of the cool things that has happened back in July of 2019, is that Houston Methodist at the Woodlands got a CPR robot and so this machine the Lucas chest compression system is designed to.
Give the best CPR results possible there is a science to this right and and I think it's great when we are able to use technology to save people's lives.The Woodlands Christian Academy finished their 1 million dollar new building project for the updated or new high school building.And a big issue this summer was pool crowding the woodlands pools are fantastic. 
I didn't episode going over just the woodlands pools me and my family are fans of the Woodlands pool system, there's lots of great pools fantastic price, of course, the most popular one is the Rob Fleming Aquatic Center, it's a big one, they've got slides.Lots of cool stuff at the Rob Fleming Aquatic Center and some people were not happy with how crowded it could get at times.
Now lots of solutions were proposed to make it woodland's residence only except a large portion of the money comes from non woodlands residents, which do get charged more than woodlands residents do and another solution was to raise the prices even further which again it's much lower than splash town or whatever that's called these days or some other big water park but it also isn't that water park so those prices should not be the same.
I'm not saying that we have to build a whole nother aquatic center on par or even grander than the Rob. Fleming aquatic center. I think there are a mixture of solutions that can be taken. I don't like the idea of people being turned away at the gate but safety is a concern. 
I know that's a lot of people's chief concern it's not just about inconvenience, but it is about safety because the more people are in a pool the higher likelihood of drowning the harder it is on the lifeguards to monitor everything the harder it is on families to keep an eye on little ones, especially.
And it can be troubling and so this is a serious issue.At the end of the summer they did increase some of the prices and we'll see what they hold for 2020 as a more long-term solution to this issue of overcrowding at Woodlands pools, especially the Rob Fleming Aquatic Center a lot of people were announcing running for the Woodlands board back in July 2019, if you're not involved in local politics. 
I completely understand a lot of people aren't but I think that it is important to do so so please check at.Out.The the township board and just see what's going on there's lots of city council meetings or town council meetings that are available for the public to attend check out the Woodlands villager and community impact and the other newspaper that we have going on in the area too to stay informed on what's happening.
I know it can be really easy to just toss out the free papers that you get but they have some really good stuff in them too.Back in July people are excited about the new Torchy's tacos on the north side of the Woodlands Mall that was pretty cool it's been open now for several months back in July the play Street Museum opened this one's near me. 
I passed by it every day. I think it's a cool place it combines playing and learning just like the wilderness children museum does check it out the the play street museum.The Rayford Road road widening was continuing back in July, it's still continuing now, maybe someday it'll be done we'll see my condolences to anyone who lives on or has to travel down that road regularly.
My daughter does tumbling at a spring tumbling and just north of that on Gosling is the Woodlands sports complex, it's a new sports complex, it looks really nice haven't been to it just driven by it, but it looks really nice.Back in July the uncertainty of the Anadarko buildings became are the future of the Antarctica buildings was called into question since then and a darko sold it to the huge corporation and their consolidating to one building they're no longer anatar tower or it's no longer called Anadarko one or whatever it's it's now the Woodlands tower huge corporation is making one it's headquarters oxy is consolidating to one they're moving their Houston campus up to the woodlands and they are doing.
A lease back for I believe 13 years so we'll see what happens 13 years from now to that really start again called into question last summer and has now been finalized.The woodlands has no shortage on office space, but it does have pretty good vacancy rate less than 10% vacancy rate for office space.
But if you are looking to office in the area, you know, check out check out a realtor get with somebody there's lots of great places to rent or lease the YMCA are announced a Imperial Oaks location so apparel. Oaks over in spring just near here in the woodlands again, this podcast is about the woodlands but the area around us affects us and there's lots of people who work in the woodlands that live in Imperial. 
Oaks and YMCA location has a 10 acres.They're hoping to begin construction in 2021 and they need about 15 million dollars to do that.So I'm big changes to flood control laws were an active last summer anybody who's here during Harvey knows that Houston was impacted significantly, there were people impacted in the woodlands, thankfully it did not get the brunt of the storm compared to other parts of the area, but there have been changes to flood control laws if you're in the building space you do need to take SP6 SP7 SB 8 from the state into account.
The new performing arts center near the pavilion right this is exciting that came back up back in. May of last year that it was announced but discussions continued and I'm excited to see a new performing arts theater in the woodlands.Back in July there were multiple communications towers communication related. 
I believe it was seven towers under construction to improve emergency communications here in the woodlands, we have a pretty good emergency response rate in my opinion from what I've seen the stats look look decent, but it can always be better because when seconds matter it can be life or death in those situations and so communication is important.
So I'm glad to see that the city is investing in improving that even further.The woodlands express park and ride added stopping at a couple museums, so you know, this this is a quick way if you live in the woodlands and don't work in the woodlands, you know, you work down in Houston maybe in the medical center you can get down there through the park and ride system. 
I know at least one person personally who does that and they added a couple stops in the museum district? I think that that's great that makes it a whole lot easier for people to travel without having to deal with the traffic that ISo much despise about Houston and also that group commuting is great for the environment so I'm glad to see if they're adding more stops it's not just about work or just about the medical needs which are very important but also just about enjoyment and that quality of life that comes from going to an educational facility and event like they have at the museums down in Houston, there are some great museums in Houston.
Right next to my old apartment complex they began the construction of a new seven-story apartment building. I used to live at one waterway avenue they were you know, I'd give them shout outs here on this podcast. I know longer live there so doesn't you know, we don't have a relationship but I highly recommend if you're looking for an apartment in the area check out the Millennium Waterway or Millennium six Pines, there is a new building going up there at that corner and I think that's really cool though. 
I'm sure they're going to.Be very nice it's a great location as far as apartment life goes it was my favorite apartment in the area. I've been in spring the woodlands. North Houston.Big fan of the Millennium complexes check them out that again that that construction began July of last year and hopefully they will be open soon the average home value in the wilderness township is 397 thousand dollars or three hundred and ninety eight thousand dollars to round off right in there, which is a little bit higher than Shenandoah at 374 thousand lot higher than Oak Ridge north at 195, but we do have.
A few a few breakdowns here, but we do have rather high taxes here the Woodlands Township on that average home value of 398,000 are going to get about 900 and 4th out of 9004 dollars not 94,000 just 94 dollars just shy of a thousand Montgomery County is going to get about 18 and a half so 1,850.
Conroe ISD is about five thousand one hundred so the school system does get a large portion of that the loan star college system fantastic community college system great place for people out of high school to get a start before switching to a university you can also get associates in several certifications through the loan star system big fan myself though. 
I have no no degrees or anything from them, so I think they're great they get about 430 dollars the Montgomery County hospital districts, very important gets about two hundred andDollars and the minutes pull utility district gets about four thousand dollars out of all your taxes, so on the average home price of three hundred ninety eight thousand you're spending twelve thousand five hundred ish dollars on taxes here in the woodlands compared to Oak Ridge north which is coming in at six point six thousand and Shenandoah which is at seven point eight.
So you can see our taxes are higher here for people who live in the woodlands versus people who just live nearby and then commute to the woodlands but we also have lots of great benefits and you've heard about some of them on this episode and other episodes of this podcast and if you live here or work here, you are no doubt aware of those great benefits, like the pools the parks, etc.
Last summer Greg Abbott signed into law house bill 2571 which designated the portion of the highway between 242 in the Montgomery County and Harris County line as the George P. Mitchell Memorial Highway George Mitchell, the founder of the Woodlands back in 1974, and without him and his vision for this area, we wouldn't have the woodlands and so this part of the highway from 242 down.
To the Harris County Montgomery County line has been named after him. I think that's fantastic there are other places in the area named after him you have the George Mitchell nature preserve the George Pimento intermediate school the Jordan Cynthia Woods. Mitchell library, and then of course the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion Miss Mitchell being a fan of of the arts.
And a good woman in her own right separate from her husband as well, so they both have a fantastic history worth knowing about and together they created this live work play community for people.All right and that's all I got for this retrospective episode on July 2019 it is now January 2020, thanks for listening. 
I'm Kyle Susan my blogs to talking calm this podcast is we're brought to you by my sponsors P&P oil gas solutions check them out of PPOGS.com and Branch & Co reinventing realty only charging one and a half percent commission rates and still delivering quality service check out branchandco.com.