Channel 26 news reporter Isiah Carey’s Insite blog features scans of a scalding memo distributed recently to residents of the Blue Creek Ranch subdivision, near Highway 249 and Beltway 8. The memo scolds four residents by name (and address) who “wish to make the neighborhood a ghetto” and urges residents to attend a Blue Creek Homeowners Association meeting at Doss Community Center last Wednesday night, with this gentle rejoinder:
IF YOU REMAIN SILENT AND DO NOT SHOW UP THEN YOUR HOME WILL BE WORTHLESS AND THE NEIGHBORHOOD WILL BE A GHETTO. [original emphasis]
Way to increase attendance at neighborhood meetings!
Among the attendees: reporter Vicente Arenas from Channel 11 News, who asked association president and memo author Tamika Harris exactly what she meant by the term “ghetto.” Maybe he hadn’t read the memo carefully enough:
The Ghetto Agenda:
- Play loud music
- Allow the kids to play in the street
- Barbeque in the front
- Let the gang roam the neighborhood
- Use the garage and driveway as a place for family meals, hanging out, parties, and hair dressing
- No deed restriction enforcement
- Get rid of security
- No consideration for the many cultures in this neighborhood
- Allow trucks, trailers, and commercial vehicles in the neighborhood
- Not concerned with the books being in proper order
- Allow people not to pay their assessments
- Use the Association as a social club
- Increase annual assessments
The memo ends with what appears to be an invitation to some sort of real-estate duel:
. . . PUT UP or SHUT UP. If you lose, you move. The Board challenges these women to sign a legally binding contract where each side agrees to put their house up for sale and move if they lose at the Special Meeting. This Board is willing to put their money where their mouths are. Ellen, Lorraine, Patricia, and Wendy are you? We are waiting to hear from you to set a time to sign the contract.
No word if this strange challenge was accepted, but after an election, Harris did survive the meeting as board president.
- You Know Your Neighborhood Is Ghetto When . . . [Insite]
- Homeowners Association Under Fire for ‘Ghetto’ Memo [KHOU]
Photo: View from 13426 Fountain Hills Ct., on HAR
