Kids on the Block

Even the residents of Beech Street were surprised.

“We had no idea there were this many kids on our block,” said several Beech Street residents and as Buzz photographer Jud Haggard found out, 58 kids ranging from infant to eighteen was quite a challenge to shoot.

In our April issue, the Bellaire Buzz asked residents to submit evidence that their Bellaire block had the most kids in our official “Kids on the Block Contest.”   From the response we received it is evident that Bellaire’s streets are buzzing with kids.

The 4500 block of Beech Street, with 58 kids out of 38 homes was far and away the winner.  Why, you ask does Beech Street have so many kids on the block?

“When we moved in back in ’88 there were probably 8-10 kids on the block,” said resident Carmen Wieting.  But then, Carmen said the homes were mostly original homes with people in or approaching retirement age.  Slowly those homes have turned over and new homes were built. Virtually every new home consists of families with children. And then, there was Tropical Storm Allison.

“I would say that the flood created a major quickening of the latest new construction. After Tropical Storm Allison about 8 to 12 new homes have appeared,” said Ken Reusser, who bought the first new construction home on the block back in 1984.

Could it be that streets that had the most major flooding now have a flood of children?

Another title the 4500 block of Beech Street might deserve is “most variety of schools attended on the block.”  Schools represented among these kids include Horn, Pershing, Beth Yeshurun, River Oaks Elementary, River Oaks Baptist, T.H. Rogers, Post Oak Montessori, Shlenker, Trafton, Lanier, Episcopal, Lamar, Bellaire, and HSPVA.  Karen and Fred Valente have 3 daughters and have lived on Beech since 1993. They organized a Beech Street directory a few years ago and Karen was instrumental in entering their block and organizing the photo shoot.

Finally, we know that very bright kids live on Beech Street, as evidenced by 3- year old Blake Myers.  Blake’s mom Lisa said he saw the Bellaire Buzz’ yellow Buzzmobile one day and walked up to it and kissed it.  Then, while on a plane ride, Blake saw a yellow toy replica in a magazine.

“He just stared and stared at it, so we had to buy it,” said Lisa.

As our contest winners, the 4500 block of Beech Street will receive an exclusive pool party May 15th at the Bellaire Pool sponsored by Escalante’s Mexican Grille, Bellaire Parks and Recreation Department, and The Bellaire Buzz.