Being ‘steamrolled’ holds little appeal
The northern part of the Third Ward is a jumble of vacant lots, shotgun houses, churches and schools, and the occasional small business or convenience store.
While the area is in need of revitalization, community leaders say it must be done in a way that benefits the community, not steamrolls it.
“The gentrification is edging ever closer,” said Elwyn Lee, vice president for community relations & institutional access for the University of Houston. “There’s a window of opportunity that needs to be seized.”
UH and other organizations are leading a revitalization effort aimed at improving the quality of life in the area by identifying the needs of the community and providing a framework for future development.
The organizations, collectively known as the Northern
Third Ward Consortium, are creating a plan for the 2.57 square miles bounded by U.S. 59 to the west, Interstate 45 to the north, Cullen Street to the east and Blodgett Street to the south. The consortium received a $100,000 planning grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation for the project.
The group will focus on such topics as land use, planning and urban design, community development, services for families and children, public safety, transportation, education, and parks and open space.
“The neighborhood, located south of downtown, faces significant challenges that include high poverty rates, vacant land, and high rates of crime and drug use,” Helen Stagg, senior director of Change Happens, said in a statement.
Lee said he doesn’t want to see the type of dense, high-end townhome and aparment development that forced many longtime residents from their homes in the Fourth Ward when it became a hot spot.
The Third Ward plan involves surveying residents to determine their perceptions of the community and identify what they think may be lacking.
By next summer, the group should have identified projects it would like to see implemented. It may then apply for an implementation grant.
Lee said a large amount of land in the Third Ward is owned by churches and other nonprofits, offering some hope that the community will have more say in its future.
“We have a chance to keep from being steamrolled,” he said.
The Third Ward consortium includes community development corporations, Project Row Houses, the University of Houston, Wheeler Avenue Triangle Ministries and the William A. Lawson Institute for Peace and Prosperity.
The grant is part of a national program by the Wells Fargo Foundation’s Neighborhood Grants Program. The Foundation will review the plan next summer and it will be presented to the public in August 2017.