A Rescue Gone Weird

Mysterious Christmas tree snatcher returns the Hyde Park 10-foot tree, swearshe's no Grinch

The Hyde Park Community Christman Tree has been returned in its annual locationin Lamar Park after an area resident mistakenly took it home.
Photo via Hyde Park United Civic Association/Facebook
Hyde Park has been decorating a tree in Lamar Park for more than two decades.

The case of the missing Hyde Park Community Christmas Tree has finally come to a close . . .

Lamar Park — a greenspace at the intersection of Waugh and Hyde Park — sat empty Sunday, as surprised area residents prepared for the Montrose neighborhood's annual tree-trimming event without a tree.

Donated by Niko Niko's owner Dimitri Fetokakis, a 10-foot tree was delivered to a nearby site on Saturday, only to be carried away less that 24 hours later without a single eyewitness or trace of evidence. Houston police arrived on the scene to process an official report, but made no guarantees that the tree would be recovered.

"I told Hyde Park civic association I was happy to provide a replacement," Fetokakis told CultureMap. "The Village Flowery, who sold the first tree, heard the story and offered a new one for half price." The restaurant owner, who grew up in the neighborhood, has provided the community tree in memory of his father for the past decade.

"This was a crazy situation," said Niko Niko's owner Dimitri Fetokakis, "but a nice little Christmas story in the end."

By Sunday evening, word about the Grinch-esque scenario spread to local television news. Macy Bodenhamer, vice president of the Hyde Park United Civic Association, posted words on hope about the coverage on the community Facebook page: "Maybe someone will see it and find the holiday spirit to return it to our community!"

And, in fact, someone did see the news story.

On Monday night, civic association president George Sroka received an email from a man who claimed to have the tree. The mysterious gentleman agreed to return the tree, but pleaded for strict anonymity.

"The person said he'd seen the local news reports and quickly realized the tree belonged to the neighborhood," Bodenhamer explained. "He saw the tree sitting in Lamar Park and thought it was abandoned. He said he brought the tree home to 'rescue it' and 'keep it safe.' "

Bodenhamer and Sroka picked up the missing evergreen at 10 a.m. Wednesday morning, getting some additional help from the Niko Niko's landscape crew. The tree has now been secured into the ground with steel rebar as a precaution against strong winds or any other possible neighborhood misunderstandings.

"The guy did the right thing and brought the tree back," Fetokakis said. "This was a crazy situation, but a nice little Christmas story in the end."

Hyde Park residents have yet to plan an official tree-trimming, but it could happen as early as Thursday afternoon.

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Stretching the budget

A $100,000 salary in 2026 goes further in Houston than it did last year

Photo by Leo Yao on Unsplash

$100,000 stretches a little further in 2026.

A 2026 income study has good news for big earners in Houston: A six-figure salary goes further than it did last year.

A Houston resident's $100,000 salary is worth $84,840 after taxes and adjusted for the local cost of living, according to the new financial analysis from SmartAsset. That's about $1,500 more than Houstonians were bringing home last year.

The 2026 take-home pay is about eight percent higher than it was in 2024, when the same salary had an adjusted value of $78,089.

SmartAsset used its paycheck calculator to apply federal, state and local taxes to an annual salary of $100,000 in 69 of the largest American cities. The figure was then adjusted for the local cost of living (which included average costs for housing, groceries, utilities, transportation, and miscellaneous goods and services). Cities were then ranked based on where a six-figure salary is worth the least after applicable taxes and cost of living adjustments.

Houston ranked No. 60 in the overall ranking of U.S. cities where $100,000 is worth the least. If the rankings were flipped and the cities were ranked based on where $100,000 goes the furthest, that places Houston in the No. 10 spot nationwide.

Manhattan, New York remains the No. 1 city where a six-figure salary is worth the least. A Manhattan resident's take-home pay is only worth $29,420 after taxes and adjusted for the cost of living, which is 3.10 percent lower than it was in 2025.

SmartAsset determined Manhattan has a 29.7 percent effective tax rate on six-figure salaries. Meanwhile, the effective tax rate on a $100,000 salary in Texas (based on the eight cities examined in the report) is 21.1 percent. It's worth highlighting that New York implements a statewide graduated-rate income tax from 4-10.90 percent, whereas Texas is one of only eight states that don't tax residents' income.

Oklahoma City, No. 69, is the U.S. city in the report where a $100,000 salary stretches the furthest. A six-figure salary is worth $91,868 in 2026, up from $89,989 last year.

This is the post-tax value of a $100,000 salary in other Texas cities, and their ranking in the report:

Plano (No. 27): $72,653
Dallas (No. 47): $80,103
Austin (No. 53): $82,446
Lubbock (No. 59): $84,567
San Antonio (No. 62): $86,419
El Paso (No. 67): $90,276
Corpus Christi (No. 68): $91,110

According to the report, getting some "financial breathing room" by making six-figures really depends on where someone lives and what their lifestyle is. For residents living in the 42 states that levy some amount of income tax, their take-home pay dwindles further.

"And depending on how taxes are filed, reaching a $100,000 income may push a household from the 22 percent to 24 percent marginal tax bracket," the report's author wrote. "Meanwhile, locations with high costs across housing and everyday essentials may be less forgiving to a $100,000 income."

smartasset income finance six figures