Scenic Woods is a neighborhood located in northeast

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, United States,Sewer project on tap for Scenic Woods area
" ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...

''. June 14, 2001. Retrieved on July 16, 2013. near Homestead Road and Parker Road. The community is populated by working class

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

s. The community is a quiet family oriented place with manicured lawns and well maintained homes. Scenic Woods is a traditionally

African-American neighborhood African-American neighborhoods or black neighborhoods are types of ethnic enclaves found in many cities in the United States. Generally, an African American neighborhood is one where the majority of the people who live there are African American ...

. Fontaine Place adjoins Scenic Woods.

History

In 2001 Kinsel Industries Inc. of Houston won the contract for a sewer upgrade project in the Scenic Woods area with a low bid of $1.8 million. It was to perform manhole repairs and overhaul 6 inch through 12 inch sanitary sewer lines. The project area was bounded by Mount Houston to the north, Hirsch Road on the west, Sultan Drive on the east, and Ley Road to the south. According to Robert Stanton of the ''

'', Carol Mims Galloway, a member of 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 ...

, "was instrumental in steering the project to Scenic Woods".

Government and infrastructure

The Fontaine-Scenic Woods Civic Club and the East Houston-Settegast Super Neighborhood Council serve the community.Saucier, Heather.
Scenic Woods work targeted
" ''

''. May 13, 2004. Retrieved on July 16, 2013. It is located in Beat 8C60 of the Northeast Patrol Division of the

Houston Police Department The Houston Police Department (HPD) is the primary law enforcement agency serving the City of Houston, Texas, United States and some surrounding areas. With approximately 5,300 officers and 1,200 civilian support personnel it is the fifth-largest ...

. Scenic Woods, as of 1987, was in

District B.

Education

Children in the neighborhood attend schools in 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 ...

.Agenda Board of Education Meeting July 18, 2013
"

. Proposed Attendance Zones for the North Forest Transition Attachment E-1 (21 of 77). Retrieved on July 10, 2013. Archived fro
the original
on June 10, 2013. They previously attended schools in the

North Forest Independent School District North Forest Independent School District (NFISD) was a school district in northeast Houston, Texas, Houston, Texas. Established in the early 1920s in a low-income white area, it later became majority-black and black-run. The district had a histo ...

, until it merged into HISD on July 1, 2013.Barajas, Erik.
North Forest ISD officially closes today
" ''

KTRK-TV KTRK-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, airing programming from the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on Bissonnet Stre ...

''. July 1, 2013. Retrieved on July 1, 2013. The proposed attendance boundaries for the 2013-2014 school year, to be decided upon on July 17, 2013, show the community being zoned to Shadydale Elementary School, Forest Brook Middle School, and

North Forest High School North Forest High School (NFHS) is a secondary school located in Houston, Texas, United States. The school is a part of the Houston Independent School District (HISD); it was a part of the North Forest Independent School District (NFISD) until t ...

. Fonwood Early Childhood Center, previously Fonwood Elementary School,Principals selected, changes proposed for North Forest schools
"
Archive

. Retrieved on June 14, 2013. is in close proximity to the Scenic Woods Library. It was built in 1964.Chapter 5 FACILITIES USE AND MANAGEMENT NORTH FOREST INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT
"

Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts is an executive branch position created by the Texas Constitution. The comptroller is popularly elected every four years, and is primarily tasked with collecting all state tax revenue and estimating the a ...

. Retrieved on November 21, 2011. It became an early childhood center when NFISD merged into HISD on July 1, 2013.

Public libraries

The Scenic Woods Regional Branch Library of the

Houston Public Library Houston Public Library is the public library system serving Houston, Texas, United States. History Houston Lyceum and the Carnegie Library The Houston Public Library system traces its founding to the creation of the second Houston Lyceum in 1 ...

serves the community. It was built in 1986.Franklin, Cynthia Coleman.
Library undergoes renovations
" ''

''. June 20, 2007. Retrieved on July 17, 2013. In October 2002, the permanent library building closed for a routine renovation. The renovation included replacing the furniture and service desk and upgrading restroom facilities. Upon discovery of the roof requiring to be replaced and mold behind the wallpaper, the re-opening was delayed and rescheduled to March 31, 2005. A temporary replacement facility was established at Tidwell Park, in a room half the size of a standard American classroom in the park's community center.Saucier, Heather.
Temporary library shows signs of growth
" ''

''. January 15, 2004. Retrieved on July 16, 2013. The temporary library had about 600 books, videos, and CDs, including one set of encyclopedias. Sandra Fernandez, HPL's public relations manager, said that technical complications prevented the installation of computers and telephones. As of December 18, 2003 it received four computers connected to telephone lines, giving them internet access
Heather Saucier
of the ''

'' said that because the library was so small, many area residents complained. They argued it was too small to effectively serve the area while the permanent library was renovated. In 2003 many residents complained, citing a lack of signage, the small space, the limited amount of reference material, and the initial lack of computers and telephones. Effie Hackett Williams, the president of the Fontaine-Scenic Woods Civic Club, said that the branch was too far from the park's parking lot and "not convenient for everybody". Jackie Tolbert, the director of public relations of the

(NFISD), said that the school administrators considered expanding hours at Kirby Middle School because the hours of the temporary library did not easily accommodate NFISD students. Since the Lakewood Branch Library closed temporarily on May 1, 2004, for a period Scenic Woods area residents had to travel to the Dixon Library, the McCrane- Kashmere Gardens Library, and the Tuttle Library in Denver Harbor to receive library services. Galloway asked

METRO Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urb ...

to establish a shuttle from the Lakewood Library to the McCrane Kashmere library, but Chip Lambert, a spokesperson for the

Federal Transit Administration The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transportation systems. The FTA is one of ten modal administration ...

(FTA), said that under FTA rules METRO is not allowed to operate charter routes. The library was closed on June 9, 2007 through June 13, 2007 to receive $107,000 ($ when adjusted for inflation) worth of repairs funded by a $40 million HPL capital improvement bond and Community development block grants and Housing and Urban Development grants. The HPL director of building services, Issa Dadoush, stated that the repairs were for the air conditioning systems and controls and that renovations were scheduled to be completed on July 30, 2007.

Parks and recreation

Two parks, Scenic Woods Park and Gleason Park, are in Scenic Woods.AE1997_82-2_0055.jpg
"

Harris County, Texas Harris County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas; as of the 2020 census, the population was 4,731,145, making it the most populous county in Texas and the third most populous county in the United States. Its county seat is Houston, ...

. Retrieved on July 17, 2013. The Scenic Woods Park is complete with a basketball area, baseball field, walking trail and tennis courts. The Northeast Family

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

serves residents of Scenic Woods and Fontaine.

Notable residents

* Shelia Dansby Harvey, author of '' Bad Girls Finish First'' and '' Illegal Affairs''Novelist to speak at Scenic Woods
" ''

''. September 27, 2006. Retrieved on July 16, 2013. * Slim Thug- Rapper from Scenic Woods.

References

External links

Fontaine Scenic Woods Civic Club
- Neighborhood Link
Fonwood Elementary School

Fonwood Elementary School alternate website

(2007-2008) {{Coord, 29.8608, N, 95.3008, W, type:landmark_region:US-TX, display=title Neighborhoods in Houston