Residents say plan for bike lane left them out
The construction along Blodgett Street in Third Ward isn’t what alarmed Pastor
Keith Edwards of Pilgrim Congregational United Church.
Three weeks ago, Edwards, whose church has been in the community for nearly 120 years and on Blodgett since 1973, learned that the construction is part of a plan to add a bike lane to the busy street — as well as expand its sidewalks, repair drainage issues and improve safety and beautification.
No one would argue against the need to improve street infrastructure in a community that tends to be a low priority, as communities of color often are. And the bike lane, for some, is a needed amenity that will offer greater access to the Columbia Tap Bike Trail that leads to the Texas Medical Center, Texas Southern University and downtown.
But the bike lane addition has Edwards and some other community residents roiling because they say they were never notified or engaged in conversations about the plan, which will narrow Blodgett between Ennis and Scott from two lanes each way to just one. That will allow bike lanes on each side of the street.
“No one has contacted me at all, and it’s unacceptable,” Edwards said. “If they are going to do anything that impacts businesses and residents who live on this street, we should be engaged and have a seat at the table.”
The church campus spans both sides of Blodgett with a day care, community center, food pantry and credit union. Members of the church regularly park on the street during funerals, weddings and other events. Other businesses on Blodgett sometimes use the church lot, since some of the buildings don’t have sufficient parking spaces or even driveways.
In 2020, City Council approved a $100 violation for parking in a bike lane.
Edwards said the traffic from students entering and leaving the TSU parking garage next door can back up for blocks during major events, such as the school’s recent homecoming. A one-lane street would make things worse, he said.
“I don’t think this would have happened to a community that is not changing. If this was Joel Osteen’s church, they would be knocking the door down to talk with the community,” he said.
The project is a joint effort between Harris County, the city of Houston and TSU.
The proposed ordinance for the project was slated to come up for a City Council vote Tuesday. The city would allocate nearly $380,000 to pay for the sewer repair and sidewalk improvements. Harris County Precinct 1 is putting up $12 million for this and similar improvements on Rosewood and Sampson, as well as Tierwester, which has been converted from four lanes to two, with bike lanes on each side of the street.
City Council Member Carolyn Evans-Shabazz, District D, who represents the area, and other residents are pushing back on the project, saying community engagement of Blodgett businesses, residents and area civic associations was missing from the process. The city ordinance has been tabled for now. Evans-Shabazz plans to host a community meeting 6 p.m. Thursday at Pilgrim Church.
“I’m sick and tired and fed up with other people making decisions about what should happen in our community with no input from us,” Sammye Prince Hughes, president of Southwood Civic Association, said at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. “When it comes down to issues being done or changes being made in our community, the only time we find out about it is after it has already started.”
Community engagement was not the county’s responsibility, said Harris County Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis, an avid cyclist who championed the project and has led the effort to build bike lanes in Houston.
According to TSU, in 2018 and 2019, organizers conducted outreach with community meetings on its campus, at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church and at the University of Houston, while the city planning department held 11 community events in those years. The website presentation also included a proposed bike lane from Ennis to LaBranch, which is a city, not county, project.
However, some businesses on Blodgett, including Unity National Bank and Lang’s Master Car Care, said they were not aware of a proposed bike lane in front of their buildings.
In February, stakeholders held a virtual meeting for the project, with an indication that more communication would follow.
“The issue is community engagement,” said Evans-Shabazz, a cyclist herself. “Out of five civic clubs in the area, none were contacted. That’s a crucial step that was overlooked, and that’s not how we want to move forward with city projects.”
The pandemic didn’t help matters, likely creating a lag in communication. Also, the project was agreed on in 2018 by then-District D Council Member Dwight Boykins.
But now the needed street repairs are packaged with the proposed bike lane, so the community is forced into a “take it or leave it” scenario.
It’s not that the Third Ward community doesn’t want bike lanes, just not on Blodgett, said EvansShabazz.
While she is calling for the Blodgett bike plan to be revisited and separated from the street improvements, Ellis isn’t budging. He sees bicycles as a big part of the solution to the city’s traffic and emissions issues.
For bikes and cars to co-exist, sophisticated urban planning is required to navigate a zoning-free, car-focused city. But it also requires talking with the people who are impacted by the plan, so that a neighborhood is not forced to live with something for which it had no input.
In April, Evans-Shabazz met with officials from Metro, Park Houston, Houston Independent School District and Harris County to see how to ease traffic congestion around MacGregor Elementary School on La Branch during the dropoff, pick-up times. That included making adjustments to the bike lane in front of the school. No decision has been made on the proposed change.
BikeHouston executive director Joe Cutrufo said that, too often, critics of bike lanes tend to focus on what they are losing, not what they are gaining.
“We’ve become frustrated because Houston has been built for one mode of transportation,” he said. “We are not trying to cover every street with bike lanes. We are trying to create a connected bike network. We also are not out here to piss off drivers, we’re out here to save lives.”
To make biking a reality in Third Ward, more residents need bikes, and helmets. Organizations such as Tour de Hood, founded by cyclist Dr. Veon McReynolds, are helping with that effort. That vision involves Black families biking to MacGregor Elementary and other Third Ward schools, like families often do in suburban communities.
If the city stalls on the Blodgett plan, Ellis indicated it might change his ability to do joint projects with the city in the future.
“I wanted to invest in the street with an eye toward equity, and any street I do is a ‘complete street’ with sidewalks and bike lanes,” he said. “If the city wants more community engagement, I’m for it. But the agreement is done. The contract has been awarded. If they don’t like or want it, they can change it.”