Galveston 43rd St. Restoration project is not friendly to the property owners along 43rd St.

Hey All,

I do feel a bit like biting heads off today, but I will endeavor to discuss the "facts" with as few editorial barbs as I can. I am making no promises though.

At the end of March, sometime around the 25th, I noticed a work crew that was marking some trees and shrubs along 43rd St. with colored tape. When I asked them what was going on and if my trees would be affected, they gave me a flyer that said basically, that work on the "43rd Street Restoration project" was beginning and the crew said "some of the trees and shrubs were going to have to go, but that mine were fine". They then erected a nice little temporary fence around my trees, which seemed to say "leave this property as it is!". That day and the next I noticed several palms trees, a couple of cottonwoods, numerous oleanders, and others along 43rd St. cut down.

At one residence the crew had decided not to cut the oleanders for some reason, but had uprooted the decades old plants. leaving 3 yawning holes, each 5 feet across, with a tangle of roots sticking in all directions.

 Let me tell you about this property owners experience. 

She is elderly, maintains the property herself, including all of the yard work, and is one of the only black property owners on 43rd St.

She had no warning that the city's street renovation plan included making use of her property.

When she returned home the day after the crew had pulled her oleanders out by the root, she had no idea who had done it. When she finally determined that it was somehow related to city work, she called and asked for a city employee to come and address her concerns.

Which were, first and foremost, Who gave the city permission to destroy her property without notice and consent? Then, what was going to be done about the gaping holes in her lawn? She was concerned about herself trying to work around such a hazard, as well as any bystander that happened along and was injured on her property.

The city employee that came to address her problems, told her that the city owned the property almost up to her house and could do whatever they want. He was very emphatic that there was nothing that she could say or do to change that. He then erected temporary fencing around the gaping holes and tangles of roots the work crews had left.

She did not point out to the city worker the strangeness with which her particular property had been treated. But in her discussion with me, the fact that every other home that had trees or shrubs removed for this project had been done with a chainsaw, very neatly with little to no debris left on the property, and the property of one of the only black property owners on the street was treated differently and left in shambles was not missed by her.

Those gaping holes along with the dangerous roots remained exposed until roughly June 22, when I pointed out to the contractor how that particular resident might feel her race had a factor in them treating her property in a singularly different fashion than any other home on the street.

Their solution?

Remove the temp fence, chop a few of the roots with a machete, and dump wet sand on the holes with a frontloader.

Now, do I think the city or the contractor singled her property out for different and inferior treatment because she was black?

Well? No, but it looks DAMNED weird! 

I have spoken to numerous people about it, driven different people up and down 43rd St. discussing the various residents and their individual issue with the project. When I point out her property and the fact the she is black, everyone of them is incredulous and said something to the effect of "How or why would they do that?"

I don't know, but it doesn't look good. And it doesn't make me feel any better about how the city is handling this project.

Feel free to take a drive up or down 43rd St. to see what I am writing about.

REB