Signs of gentrification are sprouting up in Third Ward just as quickly as the weeds gathering in its many vacant lots. With the ever-increasing proximity of Midtown, the historicric neighborhood is becoming home to new brick residences and freshly paved streets as dilapidated shacks and stretches of shotgun houses become extinct.
It’s no doubt to many residents that the construction of Metro’s University line, which is planned to trace through Third Ward’s residential area, would only further change the dynamic of the predominately black, historic community – a result residents and home-owners feel may not be what’s best for them.
"We’ve been waiting and trying to get the infrastructure in Third Ward as long as I’ve been here," said Shape Community Center board member and volunteer Ed Banks, a 50-year resident of the neighborhood.
"And when we see it coming, we know it’s not for us. It’s for the influx of other people, for the $300,000 dollar houses they’re going to put in."
Banks said he gets letters from Metro for the sale of his house every month.
"I’m old and retired," said Banks, age 65. "I’m not going anywhere. People are waiting on us to die out."
In October 2007, Metro’s Board of Directors adopted a light rail plan calling for a University line to run east on Wheeler Avenue from Main Street and turn north on Ennis Street to run beside Texas Southern University before continuing east on Alabama Avenue to the University of Houston. City Council members cast a 13-2 vote on June 18 to approve the $2 billion dollar consent agreement for the construction of 30 miles of Metro light rail to span the Houston area with its construction deadline slated for 2012.
"We want rail. We just don’t want to destroy Third Ward in the process," said City Councilwoman and Third Ward resident Jolanda Jones, who voted against the Wheeler Avenue route. "Taking the rail down Wheeler will go a long way to change the neighborhood. The alignment would totally divide and gentrify Third Ward."
Pressured by the community’s protest of a plan that would consume the majority of Third Ward’s portion of Wheeler Avenue, on July 24 Metro’s Board of Directors approved a modification to the University Corridor that would instead have the rail run east on Wheeler Avenue, turn north on Hutchins Street, east on Cleburne Street, north on Dowling Street and then east on Alabama Avenue to UH.
Third Ward residents were strongly opposed to a light rail path running through the neighborhood’s thoroughfare, saying it would not only be a detriment for both small businesses and home owners of Wheeler, but it would also do a great deal to further gentrify the historic community. Home owners feel elderly residents living on a fixed income will be less likely to weather the rising value of real estate and, ultimately, be forced to move out of the area.
"You take a condominium and put it right next to some shotgun houses and that’s going to up the property value," said Lawrence Washington, who has lived in Third Ward for 50 years. "The old folks who can’t pay taxes will wind up selling out."
Though the new alignment would call for a greater number of property acquisitions, claiming a total of 50 properties from the proposed Wheeler Avenue Station to the University of Houston, versus 45 on the previous route, for residents it was a better choice.
The modified and locally preferred stretch of Third Ward would decrease residential acquisitions to 15 from 17 and increase commercial acquisitions to 16 from 12.
"I’m sad that anyone has to leave their homes, but Wheeler is the accepted option of the community," said Jones, who believes having the train run along Alabama Avenue will be less disruptive. "We had to provide more transportation options because the cost of gas and the economy."
Light rail construction would also consume nine government-owned properties versus an original seven. Metro’s new purchase would include an extra vacant lot, increasing to eight from seven, and the number of church properties being acquired would remain at two.
Whether it’s parents keeping a closer eye one their kids while they play outside, residents dealing with construction woes or elderly taking extra precaution when driving down Alabama Avenue, the line running through the neighborhood will lead to changes for the community.
Texas Southern University political science senior Aisha Savoy said she’s concerned the proximity of the re-routed line will pose a threat to children who walk to and from school across Alabama Avenue and said she would have to keep a closer eye on her children, ages 7 and 9, when they’re playing outside.
"A lot of kids are walking home," Savoy said. "A lot of children don’t even know the street signs."
Metro spokeswoman Sandra Salazar said the modified line was crafted with a tremendous amount of input and that Metro rails are not the driving force of change in Houston.
"Light rail is being built because this is what people want, because of Houston’s growth." Salazar said. "Change in the neighborhoods will take place regardless of Metro."
Albert Bryant, a Third Ward resident of 53 years, feels as though the community should embrace development. While some feel aligning the Metro rail through Third Ward will threaten the neighborhood’s history, Byrant said since he’s been there the neighborhood has endured its share of freeways and construction and that the neighborhood should welcome progress.
"The construction will definitely cause congestion problems and it may disrupt the neighborhood for a while, but it will never be an end to Third Ward," Bryant said.
