President's Report: July 2025

The fourth WHCA Member’s Meeting of the year was held on Tuesday, July 8th in the great room at Zion Lutheran Church.

Now that we’re well into summer, I expected a modest group attending. Even so, and despite some late afternoon rain, some 23 neighbors gathered to hear our guests and receive an update on WHCA activities.

Act One

The first guest was Thomas Wheaton, Director of Communications from CM Castillo’s District H Office. He highlighted the council member’s Prop A initiative to move the last public session each month into the evening. WHCA is one of many civic clubs that signed onto a letter to the mayor and council in support of this proposal.

The simple fact is that working people find it challenging to go to the afternoon public sessions. This fundamentally alters the feedback that council gets from the residents. A late afternoon or evening session will improve the chances that council hears representatives on all sides of any particular issue.

City council took up the issue the following day, and it passed! The first evening session is going to be 6pm Tuesday, August 26th. Now it’s up to us to attend these sessions, to show council that they have real merit.

Mr. Wheaton concluded by handing out a flier asking everyone to fill out the 2026 Council District Service Fund (CDSF) Survey. This is an effort to collect community input spending priorities, including; public safety, sidewalks, parks and more.

Act TWO

The second guest speaker was Sherry Weesner, President of The Memorial Heights Redevelopment Authority (aka TIRZ5.) Sherry outlined a number of projects in the area, eventually settling on a new effort that focuses on updating Stude Park.

The headline here is that HPARD and TIRZ5 have committed $1M to improvements to the park. The process starts with an evaluation of state of the park, and study of how it might be improved to better address how it’s used. The first capital project will be a playground renovation.

Sherry emphasized that the study will require significant public input from park users. She urged the assembled audience to make their voices heard in that process, to ensure the project reflects the needs of the community. As more information including meeting dates becomes available WHCA will be sure to provide information on how you can make your voices heard.

The final phase of her presentation answered the question, “What is a TIRZ and how does it work?” This little civics lesson was follow-up to the very basic intro to TIRZ and management districts that was part of the March Member’s Meeting.

Act THREE

Louise Moss rose to give an update on plans for the 2026 Woodland Heights Home Tour. The committee heads are still seeking homes to profile. If you’d like your home to be considered, or know of a home you think should be considered, please contact Louise Moss or Megan Mastal.

There are just a few weeks left in this stage of the process. In the late summer they will be selecting the homes to be featured, such that photographs can be taken before the holiday season is upon us.

Later in the year, they will be seeking volunteers to help with the execution of the event. It takes over one hundred fifty people to act as docents, guiding attendees through the historic homes.

Act Four

Lauren Snead followed with an update on the Lights in the Heights Bash. The 2025 LITH Bash will be held the evening of Thursday, November 13 at the historic Heights Fire Station on 12th Street. . Many thanks to the Houston Heights Association for partially sponsoring the event venue costs, we welcome their sponsorship of the event.

Lauren was seeking a new co-chair to help plan the event. Danielle Garcia has stepped up and will be co-chairing the Bash with Lauren! Welcome aboard Danielle so very happy to have you working with Lauren!

Volunteers and donations for both the live and silent auctions are needed. In the past, the auction has featured a wide variety of items, for example, a week in a country house, sports tickets, home & yard services, jewelry, photographs or paintings, fine wine, and fine dining gift cards.

If you would like to engage in any fashion please contact: bash@woodland-heights.org

April Member Meeting Tuesday, April 12, 6-7pm

https://www.woodland-heights.org/calendar-1/2022/3/8/whca-bi-monthly-member-meeting

Agenda

• Houston Public Works will make a brief presentation on the North Main Bike Lane Extension, which will run from West Cottage to Airline.

• WHCA will talk about our Curbside Native Tree Program.

• We will be accepting nominations for board for May elections.

• Pickup your 2022 Constable Patrol Sticker or your 100+ club sign.

• There will be an open forum at the end.

City of Houston: Next Historic District Guidelines Meeting

The City of Houston’s ongoing Historic District Design Guidelines project continues on Thursday, December 1, 2016, with a community workshop from 6:00 – 8:30 p.m. at the United Way Community Resource Center, 50 Waugh Drive, Houston, Texas. 
 
This will be the second workshop conducted by consultants from Winter & Company, who are currently developing guidelines for seven historic districts: Houston Heights East, Houston Heights West, Houston Heights South, Freeland, Old Sixth Ward, Norhill, and Woodland Heights. You do not have had to attend the first workshop in order to come to this one. All property owners in these seven historic districts are welcome and encouraged to attend.
 
This workshop will help property owners prepare to give informed, meaningful feedback on a Visual Preference Survey, which every property owner will receive in January 2017.  Consultants from Winter & Company will explain the various design tools that might be used to achieve the goals for each district, as well as the factors that make additions and new construction compatible with existing buildings. All information will be presented in an easy-to-understand way, and reference materials will be available online, prior to the meeting. The workshop will also include one or two exercises, designed to help the consultants further understand what the property owners in each district feel are compatible with their specific district. The workshop exercises will be made available online for those who are not able to attend. 
 
Please visit the project webpage (http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/HistoricPres/Design-Guidelines-Heights.htmlbefore the meeting to find links to the informative materials, and again after the meeting to find links to the online exercises. More information about the project and previous activities can also be found on the project webpage.

City of Houston: Traffic Meeting

The WHCA is sharing this on behalf of the City of Houston. Any questions about the meeting, the provisions of the traffic plan, or the comment form should be directed to the Department of Public Works and Engineering. The Notice of Public Meeting will also be sent out from the City via mail to all residents affected by the proposed Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan per city ordinance. (Download the CoH Meeting Notice)

Based upon the comments received from the previous proposal, the City's engineers will be presenting their latest proposed revision of the plan during the meeting to be held on December 6, 2016 at 7pm.  The meeting will be held at Hogg Middle School's cafeteria.

Please note that a NEW comment period will follow the meeting and all residents are requested to provide new comments, as the city does not amalgamate old comments (from previous plans) into the new commenting period. Please DO NOT submit comments before the December 6 meeting.

Save the Date: Neighborhood Traffic Meeting Dec. 6th

Mark your calendars for 7pm on Dec. 6th at Hogg Middle School for the next public hearing with city engineers regarding the most recent traffic management proposal. The City of Houston will mail you an official meeting notice so please be on the lookout for it. Be sure to check our website, Facebook page, or Nextdoor for new information on this topic as it develops.

Download the most recent traffic plan.

Video: General Meeting May 2016

WHCA General Meeting

The next WHCA General Meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 8, 2016 at the Hogg Middle School Auditorium. Note that elections for WHCA Board positions will be held at the March 8 general meeting. In early February, the WHCA will notify the neighborhood (via NextDoor, the WHCA website, newsletter, and signs) regarding the details of how to submit nominations. Please remember that nominations cannot be accepted from the floor at the March 8 meeting.

Traffic Management Meeting

The City is going to hold a Neighborhood Traffic Management Program meeting on February 3rd at 7 PM at the Hogg cafeteria. The City is going to outline the proposed traffic plan for the Woodland Heights, which includes speed cushions and neighborhood traffic circles on Watson, Bayland, Michaux, Beauchamp, Euclid and Pecore. We really need to have strong support for this plan so that the City will move forward with implementing the plan. The first stage of the implementation will involve the installation of temporary devices to gauge their effectiveness on the aforementioned streets, and confirm that traffic is not simply shifted to other streets in the neighborhood. Please make every effort to attend the meeting and ask your neighbors to attend as well.

WHCA General Meeting

The next General Meeting of the Woodland Heights Civic Association is scheduled for November 10, 7 p.m., at the Hogg Middle School Auditorium. Guest speakers will include Principal Angela Sugarek of Hogg Middle School, Joey Sanchez will discuss his work on the Blue Tile Project, and Brian Latham of HSPCA will discuss their upcoming iWalk fundraiser at Stude Park benefiting Houston's animal shelter.

Special Guests at September General Meeting

The WHCA is excited to announce that all three candidates for the open District H City Council position -- Roland Chavez, Karla Cisneros, and Jason Cisneroz -- have accepted invitations to attend and participate in a candidates forum at the WHCA’s September 8 General Meeting. Each of the candidates will have ten minutes to speak about his or her platform, and then we will open up the floor to questions for approximately thirty minutes. Please make every effort to attend so that you can listen to each candidate’s vision for the City, District H and the Woodland Heights for the next two years. 
 
When:  Tuesday, September 8, 7-8:30 p.m.
Where:  Hogg Middle School Auditorium