Shenandoah is a subdivision in

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. Shenandoah, located outside the

610 Loop Interstate 610 (I-610) is a freeway that forms a loop around the inner city sector of the city of Houston, Texas. I-610, colloquially known as The Loop, Loop 610, The Inner Loop, or just 610, traditionally marks the border between the i ...

, inside

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, and south and east of

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(Southwest Freeway), is surrounded by a community of apartment complexes called

Gulfton Gulfton is a community in Southwest Houston, Texas, United States that includes a group of apartment complexes that primarily house refugee and immigrant populations. It is located between the 610 Loop and Beltway 8, west of the City of Bellaire ...

. Shenandoah's sections include Shenandoah Section 1, Shenandoah Section 2, Shenandoah Section 3. The Shenandoah Civic Association has control over all of these sections and also controls a portion of the neighboring Sigrid subdivision.

History

Shenandoah, the first subdivision in the area, opened in the mid-1950s on former greenfield. Shenandoah had 16 blocks of ranch-style homes.Rogers, Susan.
Superneighborhood 27: A Brief History of Change
" ''

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''. The Shenandoah Civic Association opened in 1956; since the City of Houston has no

zoning Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...

, the Shenandoah Civic Association's main goal is to enforce deed restrictions which regulate construction of housing and prevent businesses being operated from homes.Fisher, Robert and Lisa Taafe. "Public Life in Gulfton: Multiple Publics and Models of Organization." ''Community Practice: Models in Action''. 38. Robert Fisher and Lisa Taafe, authors of the 1997 article ''Public Life in Gulfton: Multiple Publics and Models of Organization'', said that the sudden demographic shifts in the late 1970s and 1980s "profoundly affected" Shenandoah as bars, warehouses, and nightclubs appeared next to Shenandoah houses. Many area apartment owners let their units decay from a lack of maintenance. The factors threatened Shenandoah property values, therefore the Shenandoah Civic Association added a security patrol, lobbied for the

Houston City Council The Houston City Council is a city council for the city of Houston in the U.S. state of Texas. Currently, there are sixteen members, 11 elected from council districts and five at-large. The members of the Council are elected every four years, w ...

to end liquor licenses of bars adjacent to Shenandoah, engaged in neighborhood beautification, and supported the establishment of a

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storefront in Gulfton. Generally the Shenandoah Civic Association did not involve itself in matters related to the apartments surrounding the subdivision.Fisher, Robert and Lisa Taafe. "Public Life in Gulfton: Multiple Publics and Models of Organization." ''Community Practice: Models in Action''. 38-39. In April 1992

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, the

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, named Gulfton as one of ten Houston neighborhoods targeted by a city revitalization program. One aspect of Lanier's project consisted of building barricades around the Shenandoah subdivision to reduce traffic and crime; the Shenandoah Civic Association supported and pursued the street closures.Fisher, Robert and Lisa Taafe. "Public Life in Gulfton: Multiple Publics and Models of Organization." ''Community Practice: Models in Action''. 39. The Gulfton Area Neighborhood Organization (GANO) opposed Shenandoah's barricading.Fisher, Robert and Lisa Taafe. "Public Life in Gulfton: Multiple Publics and Models of Organization." ''Community Practice: Models in Action''. 44. All of the other advocacy groups, except for some GAAC members, opposed the closure. Members of the community groups said that the closure has

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

motives, that the closures would not effectively control crime, that the city was not using funds wisely, and that the closures would harm local businesses. Fisher and Taafe that the Shenandoah Civic Association was a conservative organization made of mostly middle class residents that aimed to maintain the neighborhood and its property values. Fisher and Taafe said that after Central American Refugee Center (CARECEN) merged into GANO, the combined organization was unlikely to cooperate with the Shenandoah Civic Association. In November 1995, when the

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established a juvenile crime prevention grant for Gulfton, GANO cooperated with the Shenandoah Civic Association to accomplish the goal.

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Shenandoah is within the

Houston Independent School District The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest public school system in Texas, and the eighth-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby and ...

. Cunningham Elementary School serves Shenandoah Section 1, Shenandoah Section 2, and Shenandoah Section 3. Braeburn Elementary School serves Sigrid. Shenandoah is zoned to Jane Long Middle School, with

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as an option, and

Margaret Long Wisdom High School Margaret Long Wisdom High School, formerly Robert E. Lee High School, is a publicly funded secondary school located in Southwest Houston, Texas, United States 77057. The Houston Independent School District, the 7th largest school district in the ...

(formerly Robert E. Lee High School), with Lamar and Westside high schools as options.Home Page
as of May 9, 2005. '' Lee High School''. Cunningham Elementary School opened in 1953, Braeburn Elementary School opened in 1956, Long Middle School opened in 1958, and Lee High School opened in 1962.School Histories: the Stories Behind the Names
." ''

''. Accessed September 24, 2008. In the early 2000s, Braeburn served portions of Shenandoah Section 1 and Shenandoah Section 2, while serving all of Shenandoah Section 3 and Sigrid. Cunningham served the parts of Shenandoah Section 1 and Shenandoah Section 2 not covered by Braeburn. When Westside opened in 2000,Viadero, Debra.
Personal Touches
" ''

Education Week ''Education Week'' is an independent news organization that has covered K–12 education since 1981. It is owned by Editorial Projects in Education (EPE), a nonprofit organization, and headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland in Greater Washington ...

''. June 16, 2004. residents of the Lee attendance boundary gained the option to attend Westside instead of Lee, with no free transportation provided.Westside and Lee HS Boundaries
" ''

''. October 3, 2000. Retrieved on May 7, 2009.

References

External links

Shenandoah Civic Association
* Harris County Block Book Maps: ** Section 1
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** Section 2
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** Section 3
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{{coord, 29.711, -95.485, region:US-TX, display=title Neighborhoods in Houston