Million Trees+Houston Initiative Kicks Off in February

The Houston Parks and Recreation Department will plant approximately 20,000 trees in select areas across the city as part of Mayor Bill White's Million Trees + Houston initiative as announced in October 2008. The campaign aims to plant more than a million new trees in the city within five years through corporate and private donations. The first round of trees to be planted is scheduled for February 2009. At the same time certain esplanades have been scheduled to be planted in response to Super Neighborhood Action Plan (SNAP) requests. All trees will be planted by a contractor working for the Houston Parks and Recreation Department in the following order:

District A - 4,089 bald cypress trees will be planted on 9 esplanades on Clay Road between Eldridge and Addicks Dam.

District G - A total of 1,792 trees, including 598 bur oaks, 597 winged elms and 597 crepe myrtles, will be planted on 10 esplanades on S. Dairy Ashford Road between Whittington and Westheimer. (As an Ashford Hollow resident I am very excited about this part of the project)

Once District A and G tree plantings are completed, the contractor will begin to plant SNAP tree requests in the following order:

District A - A total of 150 trees will be planted on the railroad track right of way between Kansas and Rawls street.

District D - A total of 30 live oaks will be planted on the West Gray right of way between Montrose and Taft.

District F - A total of 100 Bur Oaks will be planted at Burnett Bayland Park.

District C - A total of 100 trees, including bur oaks, crepe myrtles, and cedar elms will be planted at Hagar Park. A total of 50 trees, including bur oaks, crepe myrtles, and winged elms will be planted at Westbury Park. A total of 500 trees will be planted at Willowbend Park.

District I - A total of 2,334 trees, including 467 bur oaks, 467 cedar elms, 467 crepe myrtles, 467 bald cypress and 466 green ash will be planted on 14 esplanades on Bellfort Boulevard between Mykawa and Telephone.

The second round of the Mayor's Million Trees + Houston initiative will begin after the SNAP trees are planted on Wayside beginning at Little York and going south.

Updates on types of trees and scheduled planting dates will be sent out before the planting begins.

Great time to invest in real estate in Houston

HAR has just released the monthly press release for January residential sales. The sales are down, but the numbers indicate that there are a lot of smart investors out there. In January 2009, foreclosures made up 34.0 percent of all single-family home sales in the Houston area compared to 25.0 percent one year earlier. Also, the demand for single-family and townhouse/condominium rentals increased again in January. Single-family home rentals rose 4.8 percent in January compared to a year earlier, while year-over-year townhouse/condominium rentals were up 17.0 percent. The numbers speak for itself...it is a great time to invest in real estate in Houston.