Aldine: Is there any hope? (West, Mart: attorney, house, neighborhoods)

[Callo]

Yesterday I met with a friend of mine. His eldest brothers had graduated from MacArthur High School back in the mid 80s. We started talking and he mentioned how nice the ares used to be back in the 70s when they were growing up. That got me thinking: is there any hope at all for the area? We all know how screwed up and desolate it is now, but is there any way to bring it back?

[Poltracker]

I used to live there during that time period too. It was nice. As for now...not unless you outlaw all the junkyards and someone does something about the illegal street vendors and tresspassers.

[crbcrbrgv]

If you are a closeted racist/classist who is bothered by different things and different lifestyles, Aldine is no longer for you. Kind of like many neighborhoods that are spoken about on here ad nauseam.

[Poltracker]

Originally Posted by crbcrbrgv

If you are a closeted racist/classist who is bothered by different things and different lifestyles, Aldine is no longer for you. Kind of like many neighborhoods that are spoken about on here ad nauseam.

Is it racist or classist to expect folks to follow the law and our government to enforce it?
1. The junkyards - the majority of these are located illegally but the county attorney's office refuses to do anything about it. State law says that a junkyard.scrapyard must be at least 300 feet from a residence...not the case in Aldine. Most also do not comply with state environmental laws, this is documented. So they pose a health hazard to their neighbors who have shallow wells (a large portion of Aldine)
2. Trespassing - there are numerous street vendors who park on other folks property w/o permission to hustle up their business. Example: look at these guys that were setting up in the WalMart parking lot on West Rd. Every where there was an esplanade, these guys set up these booths. The property owners had to landscape the esplanades with sticky bushes to run them off and this has not worked entirely. Go down Airline between West Rd and Little York and see the street vendors parked on other's property. I have had friends try to chase them off their property and end up paying for waste disposal, etc. that these folks leave behind. The vendors are back the next weekend.
3. Sewage and waste problems - several points here:
a) homes designed to contain one family now house 3 or 4 and the septics systems (many of which are very old and failing anyway) cannot cope, so the folks send the sewage to the bayous. This is a very bad problem in Aldine and studies have been conducted to verify the problem by flood control, county and state authorities. Most of the homes w/ septic tanks also have shallow wells...can you say cross contamination problem?
b) many of the "mobile" taco stands never make it to get cleaned out as they are not really mobile. Therefore they are discharging their sewage out the back door to the roadside sitches and drains. I have seen this happening too many times to count.
c) going back to the roadside vendors, they leave behind incredible amounts of trash that the property owners and sometimes the government has to clean up. Some are also selling livestock w/ no health certificates. Heck, they even sell fighting roosters on the side of the road.
4. There is so much more...
I fail to see how expecting a decent standard of living is racist or classist in any form. Yes, I still have a very strong interest and family in the Aldine area. Despite the above and a hosy of illegal businesses, many of the neighborhoods are still not too bad, poor but not bad. There are still alot of good folks there of all races who work to try to get these issues addressed. God bless them and wish them luck.

[crbcrbrgv]

Pol, not at all. But I generally play devil's advocate to see reactions. Your response was genuine and very good. It won't let me give you another rep, so I owe you. Great post!