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LEAD-IN BY HOST: A Harris Country Flood Control District plan to protect homeowners from flooding has many residents in Northeast Houston upset. Sarah Richards files this report:
STORY: Forty-three year old Deborah Butler is standing by her kitchen sink, washing her daughter's hair with relaxant. With its unscuffed cupboards and new windows overlooking Hunting Bayou, Butler's home could be the envy of many a young family. In Kashmere Gardens, this house is even more of a rarity. There aren't many new, two-story brick homes in this neighborhood. "We've been living here now for three years on this land as far as a new home. [We used to live across the street at 5111 Wayne] and we grew up in this neighborhood on this street." But depending on a Harris County Flood Control District proposal that has been on the drawing board for the past five years, this home, along with up to 800 others located on the area floodplain, may disappear. It will be demolished for bayou improvements to reduce flooding. "I feel the city or whoever is over this project should have warned ahead of time [that it was a bad idea to put money into this home.] No one ever mentioned anything. [No one ever told us that if we put this house here. I'm sure they knew something in last 3 years. All the permits passed, no one told us anything.]" Although the district says it has documented widespread flooding on numerous occasions in the area, several residents like Butler say their homes have never flooded. But other individuals say they have either experienced or witnessed flooding. "My name is A.W. Willis, I live in the neighborhood, near the Kashmere Gardens area. I've been here 30 years plus, and I have witnessed flooding on more than one occasion, not in my personal residence, but on the bayou here just south of the 610 loop. Something needs to be done, I just don't know exactly what it is." Kashmere Gardens is a historic neighborhood. Located in northeast Houston, it was one of the first areas where blacks bought property. In 1955, Butler's mother and father bought lots on either side of the bayou after saving up $6,000. "[I live at 57 Wayne.] My name is Deel Henpeel. [I moved here with my husband before Deborah was born.] When we came here, it was mostly white out here, older white people out here. Just about all out here. I think we were about the second blacks to move out here then. [I been here, raised all my kids here. There's no where else I'd want to be.]" Today, most of Kashmere's residents are older blacks and Hispanic families. Thirty-nine percent live below the poverty line, and many of the homes have seen better days. But the neighborhood is located on what many consider to be prime real estate: Kashmere is only minutes from downtown. It is waiting to be discovered-and according to some, that's just what has happened. "Well, we're in Fall Creek, Perry homes building a new subdivision. They say the homes vary from $140,000 to $1 million. We're over in the one million section now." A few miles from Kashmere Gardens, Kashmere activist Anna Gray steers her car down the winding streets of Fall Creek, a new suburb being built. Bulldozers clear trees so that workers can erect new homes. Like many other residents, Gray believes the district's flood control project is part of a wider gentrification plan in the area. "You know, we just passed homes worth about $30,000 a few minutes ago, and now we're over in the millions. It's amazing how turning a corner can make a difference in Houston. [They're beautiful, palatial homes.]" On Tuesday, residents attended a meeting with officials from the Harris County Flood Control District. It was standing room only in the auditorium, as residents streamed in by car, foot-even by taxi. [Ambient sounds of meeting starting: "Thanks for coming out tonight..."] Officials presented four possible plans that would reduce the number of homes threatened by flooding. Aside from scrapping the project altogether-an unlikely event-all of the alternatives require the dismantling of anywhere from 50 to 800 homes. Spokesman Fred Garcia says residents will receive generous compensation in a buy-out. He says the land will not be used to build new homes. "In this case we're buying property that we know is needed for a project that we're not going to deem as surplus, so that's why I'm saying that we wouldn't be buying it with the idea that we were speculating to sell it later for profit [because we're not in the land speculation business.]" But many remain skeptical. Jeff Thomas, who's fiancée lives in Inwood Forest, says a volunteer buy-out is the best solution and that there's no need to pay construction companies for another costly project. "It just seems like its always the same old usual players who are able to gain a financial benefit at this at the expense and distress of the tax payers and home owners." As for Deel Henpeel, she doesn't think the district can afford to pay residents enough to start over again. "Now, my husband is dead and I'm on a fixed income now. And it's no where else you could go because when my daughter wanted to build, she went and looked at different lots not half as big as this and they were selling $50,000 to $60,000, just the lot, not the house." Residents fear that seniors will lose priceless support systems. Neighbors often check in on each other to make sure they're all right. In Kashmere, generations of families live side-by-side, like Butler and her mother. For Anna Gray, this is more than a race issue. It's about money and power. "If you deal with people who have lots of money, well, they'll have lawyers come and sue you and keep you in court until your grandchildren are around. But people with limited resources aren't able to fight you as readily as someone else would. " In the meantime, some residents wonder if they'll have to leave the only home they've ever really known. For Deborah Butler, the irony in all of this is that she moved back to Kashmere because she wanted to stay in the community where she grew up. She overcame resistance from her bank to fund her home building. Looking out of her kitchen window, she can see her mother's house, where she was raised. It too is threatened. Butler says she doesn't understand why any of this is happening. "I hope that it don't happen. Because like I said, we put a lot into this home and this was something we saved for. And I don't plan to rebuild and let the city come in and take what I've worked so hard for. [I really feel will devastate a lot of people, especially older people who can't afford to start over. I'm actually devastated about it because I really don't think its fair.]" A decision on the project is expected in June. Sarah Richards, KPFT News, Houston.
E-mail Sarah Richards at sarah_richards@hotmail.com .
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