Latest Houston-Area Trader Joe’s Nears Debut; Preserving Freedmen’s Town

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Photo of the Menil: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

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  • The Fourth Ward is garbage. If the inhabitants cannot take pride in the area, neither should anyone else. There is nothing worth preserving there. Its just a hot bed for drugs and crime.

  • Downtown, Midtown, Galleria–everywhere you turn in the city a fury of construction & improvements–what oil slump?!

  • @james – You are why this area and the buildings in it need to be preserved as a historic landmark. You have so much to learn about the culture and history of this area. There’s so much talk these days about not taking government handouts and taking care of yourself. Well that’s what the residents of this area did out of necessity so why shouldn’t that be noticed? The bricks that were laid in the street were handmade by residents of Freedmen’s Town. And that’s only one example of how these hardworking people started with nothing (worse than nothing, really: slavery) and created a vibrant, self-sustaining little city. Bravo to the Houston Housing Authority!

  • @GL, Those bricks are crumbling, as is the infrastructure. The residents do not maintain the area. Its swarming with drug dealers. Have you even been out there? Take a walk down Robin and Wilson st, where the triple homicide happened on the 4th of July. Their ancestors would not be proud of the way the current residents have let it deteriorate.

  • Re: $1.5 Billion being spent to improve downtown entertainment district before Super Bowl
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    Yikes. $1.5 BILLION is a lot of cash. And, I’m sure the bulk of that is construction costs for various buildings. But, I still find it odd that they are going to make four traffic lanes on the Avenida de las Americas (basically Convention Center boulevard) into pedestrian paths. Odd because I wonder where it will take people to?
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    I guess it does make sense since walking is sometimes faster than a car in our traffic-clogged city. Might as well make the conventioneers walk.

  • @James, I’m unaware of any neighborhoods in which the residents perform street maintenance. Otherwise, though, I agree that the apparent drug dealing and other criminal activity would certainly dismay the neighborhood founders.

  • Just because the area is a dump and the people there now do not take pride in the area, does not mean we should forget the people that built it. The idea is to preserve the history there. History shouldn’t be only owned or even jaded by the descendants of that history. History is for everyone.

  • omg who is doing donuts at the Menil!