The Third Ward's fight to manage gentrification (Houston, Rice: low income, crime)

[AllenSJC]

Hi all,

I'm an outside observer, but I am still interested in what's going on in Houston (and other cities, for that matter ). I thought that this was an interesting article:

...the Houston Southeast Management District, whose territory includes the council and redevelopment authority, is drafting a new general plan and running workshops with potential local investors in the area.

What unites these different geographies and groups is a vision of development without displacement, as Gilkey, of Project Row Houses, puts it. “This should be a community where there’s a mix of socioeconomic backgrounds,” she said. That mix will be critical to bringing sorely needed grocery stores and additional retail.

“We can’t halt gentrification; it’s already happening,” she said, “but we have an opportunity to change the way this process works.”

The Third Ward's fight to manage gentrification - Houston Chronicle


Comments, thoughts?

[right]

good luck with that

[shortel]

I get dinged on my comments about 3rd ward. So I will be more specific. Sunnyside is a crap hole place. its only second or 3 most dangerous neighborhood in the US.

[LocalPlanner]

While the use of the Midtown TIRZ funds to buy land in 3rd Ward (and actually across SE Houston) is a little sketchy ethically, maybe, I do give them credit for recognizing that the only meaningful way to preserve affordability in the face of gentrification is through ownership of the land by an entity that is either tax-exempt or can easily deal with the increased assessed value.

And while 3rd Ward (as opposed to Sunnyside, several miles to the south) definitely has rough areas with poverty and crime, it's becoming surrounded by much nicer areas like Riverside Terrace, EaDo (turning from nothing into something), and UH / University Oaks. Museum Park just across 288 is already well into gentrification. It's basically inevitable that 3rd Ward will gentrify, the location is just too good. Townhomes have already been creeping in between 288 and Dowling, more will follow.

[Stonemass55]

It not about stopping it ,it about managing it....the area doesn't have a problem with gentrification it has a problem with places being built that pushing out the native residents. This effect Houston over all as more poor to low income get pushed out two things happen. .


1)They are forced to live futher away from their employment center, meaning longer commute (more traffic )

2)are more reliant on mass transit (which is still sub oar for a city of this size.)

[979Texan]

The first thing I notice about the article is the incredible bias. It was written by a **former** Chron staffer who now works for the liberal Kinder thinktank at Rice which pays for pseudo-research in an effort to rewrite facts. The Kinder Institute is a lot like the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell's 1984.

This writer is a propagandist's wet dream having been educated at two of the most liberal school in America, Columbia and UC Berkeley. In other words, she's just another carpetbagger on some magical quest to solve the world's problems one emotionally charged hit piece at a time. A quick search reveals she is no journalist but a bleeding heart crusader for typical left social justice agendas like the death penalty, BLM/criminal Sandra Bland, LBGT and others.

Segregation is long past, so time for folks who clamor on and on about historical preservation nonsense to get over it. Houston is a functional city built, not some crap East Coast city with actual history worth preserving.

If you can't afford to live somewhere, MOVE.

[radiolibre99]

979Texan, sit down with that cornball tea party blather. The wards will and need to go through gentrification but it's good that the city is at least taking the residents into consideration rather than just going for full displacement. There will be compromises to make but at least the people will have a say.

Why is there always that one blow hard on here that never understands a complex issue and is just like, "if ya don't like it, git out"??

[NickelsTX]

Whiny leftist are upset that a crime infested ghetto may now become livable for actual humans? These poverty pimpin' leaches may be forced to come up with half-sensible policy for votes in that district for now on. Poor things.

[blkgiraffe]

Originally Posted by NickelsTX

Whiny leftist are upset that a crime infested ghetto may now become livable for actual humans? These poverty pimpin' leaches may be forced to come up with half-sensible policy for votes in that district for now on. Poor things.

Oh so the blacks who already dwell there aren't human????

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by blkgiraffe

Oh so the blacks who already dwell there aren't human????

No they don't think they're human. They think of them as filth that need to be washed away for more respectable people to move in.

Therein lies their entire argument.