With state-of-the-art facilities in the heart of Montrose, the University of St. Thomas is Houston’s hometown choice for the doctors, nurses and scientists of tomorrow.
Learn more at stthom.edu/woodlandheights.
Yard of the month goes to Jennifer Beard at 522 Merrill who has been tending her azaleas there for over 29 years. Jennifer had the best looking azaleas in the entire neighborhood this month so hopefully she'll share her secret with the rest of us!
The following Woodland Heights neighbors have agreed to be on the nominating committee for the Woodland Heights Civic Association Board Positions for the March 2017 to March 2018 board term.
Rosie Walker (rosiethewriter@gmail.com)
Pat Rutledge (pat@flagstonemortgage.com)
Carla Reed (mrscarlareed@yahoo.com)
Brad Snead (snead@wrightclose.com)
Matt Hartzell (maymat@aol.com)
If you are interested in a WHCA board position for the March 2017 to March 2018 term then please send an email to one of the members of the nominating committee with the completed nomination form.
All WHCA Board Positions are open for nominations for next year: President, President Elect, VP-Treasurer, VP-Deed Restriction, VP-Security, VP-Infrastructure, VP-Communications, VP-Beautification, VP-Secretary and VP-Membership.
As a reminder, the WHCA board elections will be held on March 21, 2017 at 7:00 PM at Hogg Middle School. Nominations at the meeting are not permitted so please make sure to send in any nominations before the March 21 meeting.
All WHCA Board members must be current members of the WHCA and the VP of deed restrictions must be a licensed attorney.
Michael Graves
VP Communications, WHCA
Please join the Friends of Woodland Park (FWP) as we celebrate our past successes, our tremendous future plans, and our 10th anniversary. We will be hosting a free, rain or shine, family fun day in the community center building at the park: 212 Parkview St.
We are excited to be bringing Bayou City Play back to Woodland Park for another opportunity to enchant and energize children of all ages. Snacks and drinks will be provided.
We are looking forward to sharing our "monumental" plans for 2017 with the community and are fortunate to have some special guests helping us, including Council Member Karla Cisneros.
CM Cisneros will help us unveil our plans for "Firefly Field", a truly inspiring sculpture designed by our fourth-generation Woodland Heights resident and metal sculptor extraordinaire, Dylan Conner. Fundraising for this park gateway installation, which is planned for the great lawn, will take place in the coming weeks. We look forward to an outpouring of community support for this remarkable addition to the park.
Our heartfelt thanks go out to the Woodland Heights Civic Association for their continued support of our efforts, and for their specific sponsorship and underwriting of this family event.
Neighbors,
Yesterday, we received word from the City of Houston Public Works that they are moving forward with the installation of the speed cushions, based on feedback from the neighborhood. The email from Public Works is below:
"Below is a summary of the public feedback on the latest proposed speed cushion plan (presented to the residents at the 12/06/2016 public meeting).
After careful consideration of the latest feedback as well as comments from the previous public meetings, the Department decided to move forward with the installation of the speed cushions. Here are the next steps.
We’ll collect additional speed and volume data before the cushions are installed.
After the cushions are in place and the traffic settled down, we’ll collect speed and volume data to determine the cushions’ effectiveness and impacts.
We’ll conduct another public meeting to present the before and after data, and recommend modifications to the plan if necessary.
Please notify the residents of our decision."
Matt Johnson
VP Infrastructure, WHCA
Newsletter subscribers: To view a larger version of this chart please select the article title to view the image on the Woodland Heights Civic Association website.
Last month we listed the names of the WHCA Board and the positions they held. This month we are furthering that introduction by sharing a photo along with more personal information about each of our board members. Now, when you reach out to a WHCA Board member you can make a more personal connection with a neighbor that gives their time freely to serve you and the community in which you live. – Roger Moxley
Tyson Greer, President-Elect assists the President in carrying out the mission and objectives of the WHCA. Tyson has lived in the neighborhood since 2010 with his wife Jan. Both from smaller towns, they were drawn to the Woodland Heights for its neighborhood feel, location and beautiful historic homes as the perfect spot to raise a family in Houston. They’ve since added two more to the crew (Moses and John) and you can see them pretty much every weekend at the “Dinosaur Park” or cruising the neighborhood in an array of miniature vehicles. Tyson joined the WHCA board to help preserve its history and charm but also ensure that the neighborhood progresses with its place at the center of one of the largest and most diverse urban environments in the country.
Susan and her husband Ward moved to Woodland Heights in 2012. Also known as “the dinosaur people”, the Pennebakers have been involved with Association activities throughout their residency in the neighborhood. Susan has served as Secretary of the Association since 2015. Her responsibilities include preparing the Minutes of all Board and General meetings, maintaining key Board documents (both electronically and in print), and responding to online inquiries directed to her account. Passionate about not only our neighborhood, but also the community-at-large, Susan is active as a Board or Committee member of the United Way of Greater Houston, the McGovern Health Museum, the American Leadership Forum and the KKG Charitable Foundation. She is a Principal of Pennebaker, a marketing/advertising firm.
Michael Graves, VP Communications, is responsible for the various channels that the board uses to communicate with the neighborhood, including; the WHCA web site, email mailing lists, and WHCA-related activity on Facebook, Nextdoor and Twitter. He also oversees the regular production of a monthly email newsletter. A home-office based technologist with a background in media production, Michael has a longstanding aversion to commuting. He’s been a WHCA resident since relocating from Toronto in 1998 and can often be found in one of our many public parks, riding a bike, walking his dogs or flying kites.
Carla Reed, VP Beautification monitors the community entrances, common areas, and neighborhood entry signs at Watson esplanade, Houston Ave., and N. Main. She and her husband Adrian raised both of their now adult children in the Woodland Heights and have been in the neighborhood for over 20 years. As a scientist with a passion for gardening, she spent a decade running the garden at Travis Elementary where both of her kids went to school. It is with the greatest pleasure that she gets to pick the yard of the month.
Melissa McKee, Treasurer keeps the WHCA in top financial condition by maintaining the Association's books; physically writing and depositing checks in addition to tracking electronic payments; reconciling bank accounts; presenting financial statements at meetings; and, preparing and submitting the required tax returns. Melissa studied Accounting at Texas A&M University, where she also met her husband. She loves rock 'n' roll, the great outdoors, scrapbooking, and all-day breakfast. She wanted to “give back” to her dearly beloved 'hood of six years by joining the Board in April 2016.
Brad Snead, VP Security oversees the Constable Program as well as collects and reports on crime statistics in our neighborhood. Brad is an attorney at Wright & Close, LLP and specializes in civil appeals. He is happily married to Lauren Snead, who is a professor in the College of Education at the University of Houston. They have lived on Omar Street since 2010 and have a lab-golden retriever mix named Maggie. She barks a little too much, but isotherwise the sweetest and cutest dog in the neighborhood.
William Getschow, President through March 31, 2017. William has been a resident of the Woodland Heights since 2006 and a lifelong Houstonian. William has been very active with the July 4th Parade and other Woodland Heights community events over the last few years.
We are currently seeking a replacement for Gigi John the current VP Deed Restrictions who will not be continuing in this position after March 31, 2017. This is a very important position in that the VP Deed Restrictions reviews and provides the position of the WHCA as to whether new build or remodel plans meet deed restrictions. The position also coordinates revisions/updates of existing deed restrictions; coordinates new deed restrictions for unrestricted subdivisions; educates neighbors/realtors about the importance of deed restrictions, the role they play in historical integrity and quality of life in your neighborhood. As soon as Gigi’s replacement has been selected we will publish a photo and bio on that person as well.
VP Membership actively seeks ways to increase the WHCA membership by keeping residents informed of what their dues pay for; solicits feedback from residents on ideas to increase membership; coordinates a New Resident Welcoming program and the Block Captain program. Roger Moxley held this position for a portion 2016-17, resigning in early February, not long after preparing the material for this story. The position will remain vacant until board elections in March.
The Constable Patrol operates on a fiscal year ending March 31. Through January, we have approximately 409 subscribers, which is below our usual amount from past years. To sustain two deputy shifts for an entire year, we need 460 subscribers. Luckily, we have had a little bit of a surplus to help fill the gap this year due to a donation by Greystar Apartments. We have about 1-2 months left of a surplus. In other words, if we do not get our membership numbers up next year, we may not be able to have two full deputy shifts for 12 months. More details to come next month as we officially start the renewal campaign.
Please support the Constable Patrol, and please let me know of any ideas you have on how to improve the program and make it sustainable moving forward.
Here is a recent testimonial from a subscriber about her experience with the vacation watch.
“I sent in a vacation watch form to let the constable know I would have a house guest. I indicated on the form I would be in town. I have a new Ring Video Doorbell Pro, and was surprised when a female officer went to my front door and tried the handle. Then the next day I saw remotely that a male officer did the same thing.
On the third day it happened when I was home and went upstairs and turned on the light - and I saw the officer parked across the street, waiting. I called the constable to ask why they kept trying my front door. It turned out that somehow it was entered into "the system" that I was on vacation. I felt so protected that they would check my house EVERY DAY.
I also have experienced that the constable will show up in under 10 minutes, while HPD can take up to an hour. The constable patrol is well worth the investment."
Here is a summary of the criminal activity in our neighborhood over the past month.
Here is a map giving a snapshot of the criminal activity, showing most activity around Houston Avenue near I-45. Legend: car (thefts of/from vehicle); star (burglaries); ring (other theft); hand (violent crime).
Wonder what our Constables do, other than generally patrol the neighborhood to be seen and prevent crime? Here is a summary of “Contract Activity Report.” There were 403 activities logged, about half coming during our day shift and half during our evening shift. Some activities were logged by constables patrolling nearby neighborhoods when our constables were off duty (which is another perk of the program).
If our deputies are on duty, they should be monitoring those calls, though you can also call Precinct One dispatch after calling 911 for crimes in progress. Do not hesitate to call Precinct One for something that doesn’t look right. Our deputies want you to err on the side of calling things in. Our neighborhood is big, and you can help direct our deputies to suspicious activity.
Brad Snead,
VP-Security WHCA
The University of St. Thomas Cameron School of Business is accredited as one of the finest in the world. We educate Houston’s diverse community of working adults in ethical behavior as a foundation for graduate business studies.
OPTIONS – MBA program includes 9 concentrations
CONVENIENCE – just minutes away from where you live
FLEXIBILITY – evening and weekend classes offered
Join us at our March Information Session and learn more about advancing your career:
Wednesday, March 22, 6 - 7 p.m.
Register for the event online
It was a tough month for anyone in our neighborhood to have a good looking yard after the hard freeze a couple of weeks back. However, Randy McBrides' yard at 935 Ridge looks fantastic!
Randy has been in the Woodland Heights for over 19 years and tells us that the reason his yard looks so good is that he has endeavored to make it low maintenance. The two deciduous bur oaks out front with their unusual bark and huge acorns are a knock out along with ground trailing juniper, azaleas, and African iris. It really looks good!
Click on the image to go to the city web site and begin the survey.
What are the keys to designing a compatible house or addition in a historic district?
At previous community workshops, participants evaluated a series of alternative building models for new houses and additions. Some models were rated as being either clearly appropriate or clearly inappropriate. For other models, opinions were mixed, or there wasn’t enough feedback to draw clear conclusions, and so this survey focuses on those models for which we did not receive clear direction.
We have also updated some illustrations to more closely reflect the character of individual historic districts. Your answers will help us recommend building design tools to be included in the Woodland Heights Historic District design guidelines.
The survey is divided into three parts:
Part 1: Overall Issues In the District
This section asks the extent to which you agree or disagree with issues that were mentioned in previous workshops.
Part 2: Building Design Tools
This section asks you to comment on the usefulness of design techniques that can affect compatibility, in terms of mass, scale, and relationship of a building to its neighbors. A background paper, titled Houston Historic Districts Potential Design Tools, provides further information about the design tools in Part 2.
Part 3: Building Scenarios
This section presents seven house designs -- three that show different approaches for constructing an addition to a historic single-family home, and four that illustrate new single-family homes in the historic district. Each scenario incorporates a combination of the design techniques described in Part 2 and will help us determine how effective these tools may be in achieving compatible designs.
All surveys must be completed online or postmarked no later than Friday, January 27, 2017.
The WHCA board elections will be held on Tuesday, March 21, 2017 at 7 PM at the Hogg Middle School Cafeteria. The WHCA bylaws require that a nominating committee of five (5) individuals be established to receive nominations for the WHCA board positions. The nominating committee is to consist of two (2) current WHCA board members and three (3) woodland heights residents.
Carla Reed, VP Beautification and Brad Snead, VP Security have agreed to serve as the two (2) current WHCA board members on the nominating committee.
If you would like to serve as one of the three (3) woodland heights residents on the nominating committee please send an email expressing your interest to William Getschow at president@woodland-heights.org. Once the nominating committee is formed then further instructions will be sent out to the neighborhood about how to nominate someone for a WHCA board position for the next term (March 2017-March 2018).
As a reminder, all board positions will be up for election on March 21, 2017. We hope that many of the current board members will serve in the next term but they will need to be nominated and elected. The WHCA board positions are as follows: President, President-Elect, VP-Security, VP-Treasurer, VP-Deed Restrictions, VP-Membership, VP-Beautification, VP-Infrastructure, VP-Communications and VP-Secretary.
Thank you,
William Getschow
President
Newsletter subscribers: To view a larger version of this chart please select the article title to view the image on the Woodland Heights Civic Association website.
Yard of the month goes to Arnold van Ek who for over a decade has been creating a sculpture garden in the lot he owns across the street from his home at 619 Euclid.
When Arnold retired after a long career in the oil and gas business in 2005 he decided to fulfill a lifelong dream of becoming an artist. He enrolled at the Glassell School of Art and for the first time learned to weld and cut metal.
The first sculpture he created was a cardinal totem pole after a trip to Toronto where he was inspired by the totem poles of the American Indian Inuit tribe. Next he produced 3 large spheres; a giant marble, Pluto, and Earth.
Arnold invites you to walk the lot and check out the copperhead Medusa, casino wind chime, lazy Atlas, and the resident alien. At the back of the lot is a shed that features a short movie every night at 7:30 featuring many of his neighbors.
The past month has seen some changes in the faces on the WHCA board. The current board is comprised of the following officers:
These officers will serve through March 2017. In March the WHCA will be holding elections to determine the officers for the coming year, which runs through to March 2018.
Lights in the Heights came together nicely this year. It takes such effort from us the neighbors: from the committee, the porch volunteers, the Gala attendees, those who deck out their homes to the nines, to those who graciously attend LITH.
There are some key characters on the Lights in the Heights Committee who deserve our gratitude: Stephanie Leachman, who ran the Lights Gala to provide much-needed proceeds in a fun way with some particular challenges this year, Meredith Burk who did an amazing job recruiting and managing the logistics of TWENTY bands and porches in a way that made the evening perfect, Robyn Klepper in charge of all new, flashy signage and new, flashing merchandise and cloisonné ornaments and their distribution and the decoration contest, Katie McCafferty who took over Friday Night Lights from three co-chairs and added a food and toy drive, Andrea Gorney who took on the various maps and flyers and delivery, Terri Guerra who listened to me whine and managed the security as she has done for many years, Caroline and Lauren Earthman who kept the luminaria tradition glowing while eliminating the sandlot. Several others played key roles, especially doing the last-minute, overlooked tasks: Michael Graves, Desiree Ruiz, David Coyle, Philip Teague, Amanda Brown, Lauren Snead, Sara Metsa, Ginnie McConn, the Brock family and the Jordan family all took on something important for LITH2016.
The WHCA takes on so much work for us at this time of year also: Mark Sternfels put in hours creating online sales portals and adding and editing web pages and marketing material for us. Casey Ballard and William Getschow spent a great deal of energy on insuring us properly. Melissa McKee cut as many checks as I will have to write thank you notes and kept the budget on track. Marian Wright and the block captains helped with delivery of notices to the neighborhood.
While it would not be inappropriate for me to thank all our sponsors also, I am including Jason Glover and Memorial Herman Greater Heights staff because they took part of our workload this year. His graphic design team drafted many logos for us, updated them with our comments and drafted most of our signage design. MHGH volunteers collected our toy drive and food drive items, and arranged delivery to Heights Interfaith Ministries.
Thank you to my committee. I deeply appreciated each of you giving your extra time to this beloved holiday event. I love Lights in the Heights and I love the Woodland Heights and feel thankful. If you know anyone listed here, do tell them thanks. They absolutely deserve it.
- Jan Greer, LITH Chair
From the Editor: LITH fell into a gap created by the transition between people in the VP Communications position. This resulted in a delay in the January newsletter, including this post.
The Lights in the Heights Gala was held on Saturday, 11/19/16, at the new Elan Heights Apartment Building. This is our primary fundraiser for Lights in the Heights, and we raised $12,000+ this year through ticket sales, silent auction, and raffle.
Elan Heights was wonderful in opening their doors and welcoming us to their beautiful game room overlooking the bayou and downtown. The Houston Heights Orchestra group provided music. Special thanks to our neighbors who helped to pull this event together: Jan Greer, Robyn Klepper, Phil Teague, Michael Graves, Emily Trout, Teri Hagen, Meredith Burke, David Coyle, and Mark Sternfels. Thanks to those who helped the day of the event: Desiree Ruiz, Amanda Brown, Lauren Snead, Amalia Doebbert, Janie Reyes, and Andrew Burke.
The event sponsors were instrumental in organizing the event: Elan Heights, Memorial Hermann Heights, Sonoma, Kagen Cellars, Cherry Pie Hospitality (Lee's Fried Chicken and Pi Pizza), Treadsack Restaurant Group (Down House, Hunky Dory, and Bernadines), Wokker TX Ranger, Red Dessert Dive, Happy Fatz, Eureka Heights Brewery, Heights Floral Shop, Heights Print Store, Wolfe’s Cleaners, and Davis Hardware.
We had wonderful auction/raffle items donated by: Kagen Cellars, ABC Home and Commercial Services, Opera in the Heights, Obsidian Theater, Jack Nadel, Bayou City Smiles, Onion Creek, Good Dog, Town in City Brewery, Buchanans, NiaMoves, Orange Theory, Woodland Heights Civic Assn, Dalia Rihani, Houston Heights Orchestra, and Heights Kids Day of Music.
It was a fun night with wonderful neighbors, and set the stage for Lights in the Heights.
- Stephanie Leachman, LITH Gala Chair
Don't forget about the upcoming Traffic Meeting hosted by the City of Houston at the Hogg Middle School Cafeteria on Tuesday, Dec. 6th, 7PM. If you did not receive the most recent traffic meeting notice in the mail from the City of Houston you may download a copy here or simply follow this link to comment online. Even if you comment online you may still want to download a copy of the comment card as it also includes a map of the new proposal. You will have 14-days to submit your comment after the meeting (deadline: December 21, 2016).
This is a new plan put together by city engineers. Comments submitted based on previous plans do not carryover. IF YOU WANT YOUR COMMENT TO COUNT YOU MUST SUBMIT A NEW ONE — NEW PLAN, NEW COMMENTS.
Newsletter readers: To view the charts please select the article title to read this article on the WHCA website.
The Constable Patrol operates on a fiscal year ending March 31. Through mid-November, we have approximately 400 subscribers, and 460 are needed to make two shifts sustainable long-term. We recently reached out to the neighborhood to get people to join for the second half of the year, and in the first two weeks of that, picked up about 20 new members. Hopefully more will continue to respond and I am optimistic we can hit our number with next spring's renewal campaign. You can also find information for membership on the Woodland Heights webpage. Please support the Constable Patrol.
As usual, about 50% of theft from vehicles was on Studewood and White Oak in and around commercial areas and they are as likely to occur at lunchtime as at night.
We had one breaking and entering (3500 block of Micheaux), one robbery (2100 block of White Oak, 7pm Wednesday Oct. 12th), one assault (1500 block of White Oak, 9pm Monday Oct. 10th), and one vehicle theft (1000 block of Merrill, Oct. 8th).
Most assaults and robberies occur in the commercial areas on the outer boundaries of our neighborhood. While not in the neighborhood, most months we see one or more assaults or robberies in the 3600-3700 blocks of North Main. We remind you to please be aware of your surroundings when you are in the commercial areas that surround our neighborhood.
We remind everyone for a crime in progress, please call 911 first. If our deputies are on duty, they should be monitoring those calls, though you can also call Precinct One dispatch after calling 911 for crimes in progress. Do not hesitate to call Precinct One for something that doesn’t look right. Our deputies want you to err on the side of calling things in. Our neighborhood is huge and you can help direct our deputies to suspicious activity.
Our deputies come to work in our neighborhood, and remain through their shift, unless they are called to respond to a nearby contract. When they stop to look at something or take some action, they keep a log, so we have a general idea of their activities. For October 2016 here is some of their activity:
| Number | Activity |
| 15 | Traffic stops, resulting in 1 citation. The deputies have radar and use it to monitor speeds in areas where there are complaints. |
| 18 | Suspicious person/vehicle call responses. This number increased substantially from recent months, and I view that as a good sign because people are calling in things that don’t look right. Please do not hesitate to call dispatch as this is the most effective way to utilize and engage our deputies. |
| 15 | Times they stopped to check something in the parks. |
| 116 | times they stopped to check something in the neighborhood (not otherwise included in these statistics). |
| 12 | House alarm responses (happily all were false or cancelled alarms). |
| 17 | Miscellaneous: responses to traffic issues and calls about speeding; various disturbances/loud noise, gunshots, mischief; stranded and abandoned vehicles and truancy. |
| 38 | “Meet the Citizen” – this is a conversation with a member of the neighborhood in a fashion that’s not covered above, (e.g. to introduce themselves or to answer a question). |
Our deputies are very service oriented, so if you see a deputy and have a question, or just want to say hello – please flag them down.
Steve Howard
VP-Security WHCA
November 28, 2016
WHAT: Movie night, It's a Wonderful Life
WHEN: Friday, Dec. 2 6:30pm (doors open)
WHERE: Woodland Park Community Center, 212 Parkview
If you haven't heard, the Friends of Woodland Park in partnership with Star of Hope Charities will host a movie night this Friday at the Woodland Park Community Center. Bring a gently used (and clean!) blanket to the movie night and donate it to help someone stay warm this holiday season.
Doors open at 6:30pm and the movie starts at 7pm. Bring the kids, popcorn and refreshments provided.
Hope to see you there!
