The Friends of Oak Forest Park is one of Rhonda's Oak Forest Faves! Through their spectacular fundraising events like the Festival of Abilities, collaboration with the City of Houston and neighbors and local businesses working together they’ve raised funds to create a park for kids of all abilities. Their mission is the one of the many reasons why Rhonda enjoys sponsoring this festival. 

Harris County Commissioner's Court moved forward with a vote to adopt interim floodplain development rules yesterday, and one of the most sweeping changes is to the stormwater detention requirements for new development county-wide. The purpose of these changes is to continue to make the region more flood-resilient in the long-run, and stormwater detention and drainage play a huge role in this. Basically, detention is any feature on a tract of land that serves to slow down the rate of drainage downstream and/or into the storm sewer system. When the rate of drainage is too fast, that puts properties which may be downstream or "lower" at greater risk of flooding, and there is obviously a chain reaction to this. While most of the current regulations at the

Boulevard's resident flood expert Bill Baldwin is quoted in the Houston Chronicle article "After supporting flood bond, Houston-area developers want to delay new building rules" on the county-wide push to modify the floodplain development code as it relates to stormwater detention and other standards in anticipation of a "growing" floodplain. Read more at the link below!

Houston Association of Realtors board member Bill Baldwin said the county must focus on developing “smart policy” and advocated for a three-month delay implementing the new rules. He lamented that a group of stakeholders, a mix of city and county officials, developers and engineers, had met just twice since the flood control district proposed the rule changes in March. “I sure would

We watch City Council each week and often attend—heck, sometimes we're even there on official business like being reappointed to City Boards & Commissions—so we sometimes get a little in the weeds of City happenings. Fortunately, Council Member At-Large Amanda Edwards has this very helpful series of 60-second recaps of City Council and other City Hall affairs. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Of course, if you do want to delve into any of this, feel free to reach out to us and we'll get you up to speed.

Check out last week’s City Hall in 60 Seconds to find out what has been happening at City Hall! pic.twitter.com/vFiuLsFfdD

This story originally appeared in The Leader Newspaper:

To some, the Heights of today is a far cry from the Heights that Bill Baldwin found when he started his real estate career here over 20 years ago.

“Sadly, there was no way you could get many real estate firms to see past the burglar bars to even show the amazingly intact bungalows here. Some firms wouldn’t take a listing on this side of I-10, much less think of opening an office here,” recalls Baldwin, recently dubbed “The King of the Heights” by the Houston Chronicle.

“I always have taken enormous pride in calling the Heights ‘home.’ Collectively, as a neighborhood, we have had to work hard to tell the evolving story of the Heights, not only as a location with a great past but one with an

Bill Baldwin and Boulevard Realty invite you to join us for a very special evening with Dave Ward at our brand new, state-of-the-art Heights office, organized with Mrs. Laura Ward. This will be one of only a few public opportunities to meet Dave Ward and have your own copy of his long-awaited memoir, Good Evening, Friends: A Broadcaster Shares His Life, signed by him in person!

Reserve your book for free and pay in person on the day of the signing:

RSVP

We felt that this was the perfect way to unveil our new building since Dave Ward’s story is intrinsically tied to Houston, much like the story of Boulevard Realty. Ward has always felt a special connection to the Heights, calling Heights people "his people" because they are engaged in the

From Bill's Facebook:

"Thank you to Mayor Sylvester Turner, Marty Lewis Stein, the Houston Planning & Development Department staff, my fellow Commissioners, and all of City Council for the continued support and votes of confidence!"

This is an excerpt from a story originally appearing in The Leader:

"A group of homeowners in the Heights and a residential developer in Chicago have been at odds since December.

They didn’t even know it until February.

Brinshore Development, which has produced more than 75 housing complexes during the last 25 years, entered into a contract Dec. 18 to purchase three plats of land in the Heights from a family estate. Its vision for the property on the northeast corner of 4th Street and Columbia Street, where a small business and two vacant lots have been located, is to build an affordable apartment complex in a popular and increasingly expensive part of Houston.

Two days later, and with no knowledge of Brinshore’s intentions, two nearby