Cite Fall 1990 Fourth Ward and the Siege of

Rives Taylor

The stalemate in rhe city's Fourth Ward it is clear that the HACH has set out on a Venture, is malcing good-faith attempts at The need for an effective and comprehen- and Allen Parkway Village appears to be course of conduct that creates a hazardous, learning how to work with this realiry. sivc ciry masrci plan, possibl) including reaching a conclusion of sorts in late 1990. uninhabitable environment for the tenants Nonetheless, the trust of the neighborhood notions of land use controls or zoning, is On one front, the joint efforts of Cullcn at AI'V apartments. It is equally clear that residents in either the public bureaucracy nowhere more apparent than in Fourth Center, Inc., and American General the purpose of the Frost-Leland Amendment or rhe profit-driven corporation is minimal. Ward. With the listing in the National 1 Investment Corporation in the Founders was to stop that course of conduct. Register of Historic Places of both Allen Park Venture have precipitated the begin- The efforts of the past year on the parr of Parkway Village and Fourth Ward, the nings of a community participation process I I1.1t legal action should he necessary to the Founders Park Venture to acquire efficacy of this designation in general is in the formulation of plans for the neigh- protect the complex underscores the portions of Fourth Ward and all of Allen largely unrealized and essentially unrecog- borhood's 600-plus acres. The city, in disparity between the ideals and goals of Parkway Village and create a master plan nized by the city as a great urban potential. general, seems to be waiting on the side- the city housing authority and the aspira- for a large mixed-use development there The demolition and sale of Allen Parkway lines of this current process. Meanwhile tions of a dwindling number of African- make this a propirious moment to reexam- Village and the slow disappearance of numerous city agencies, when questioned, American residents in Allen Parkway ine the physical and political landscape of Fourth Ward neighborhoods, whether rhe are being very circumspect in describing Village and Fourrh Ward. The issue is a these neighborhoods. In August 1990 a result of malevolent intention 01 not, taisc their past actions in the area because of a much larger one, however. While a number communiry forum was held and a neigh- the question of the validity and wisdom of lawsuit pending against the Housing of ciry officials are outspoken in separating borhood sreering group formed, both dispersing the disadvantaged and elderly Authority of the City of tHACH), the fate of Allen Parkway Village from that orchestrated by Gary Hack of Carr Lynch from homogeneous communities to smaller brought by residents of Allen Parkway of Fourth Ward, events in the last 15 years, Hack and Sandcll of Boston and frank settlements scattered throughout the wider Village. The community groups of rhe area, and more specifically the last two, have Kelly of Sikes Jennings Kelly & Brewer of city. The improvement of vital road and divided in allegiance, patience, and means, shown that the area bounded by down- Houston, both urban design planning and service infrastructure, key throughout the continue ID try through .1 numbci ol efforts town, Taft Street, , and the architecture firms. In the first section of city, is essential in Fourth Ward. Its to preserve, or at least save a bit of, their West Cray vicinity is in fact an area with a this article, the efforts of city agencies to antiquated water and sewer systems have neighborhood. common future - a future of great impor- solve the neighborhood's problems are exa- stifled most new growth and rehabilitation tance to the entire city. These disparate mined in a chronological lorm that iden- on any scale and have given the ciry cause Ruling in April 1989 against the housing neighhorhoods are ar the epicenter of a tifies the various actors and their intended to adopt an unstated policy of outright authority in an injunction sought in con- complex array of private and public forces policies. The alternative approach, urban condemnation in the area. There are even junction with the lawsuit, federal judge vying to fashion a vision of Houston for policy made by eliciting communiry allegations, forwarded by community Kenneth M. Hoyt assumed an admonitory the 1990s. Planning this valuable acreage participation in order to formulate a activist Virgil Knox, that this area will tone: has tested and will continue to test the new coordinated master planning process, is become the site for a Metro station huilt in balance of power in the ciry following its apparent in the private sector's nascent conjunction with a proposed bullet train years of economic upheaval. Whereas efforts, mentioned above. The second terminal across Buffalo Bayou.! The evidence shows that the HACH com- Houston was a closed field of endeavor for installment will examine this formulation menced destruction of the APV [Allen private capitalism, a new era of comnui- of urban policy and the origins and Parkway Village} apartments in 1983- In terms of rhe political landscape of the nii\ ktM.il participation and vision has viability of the various Fourth Ward and Ever since the HACH's application for the city of Houston in the next decade, no swept across the country, compelling even Allen Parkway Village communiry renovation was rejected by HUD, the HACH emerging facet of the current debate will Houston, along with its private sector, to activist groups. has ceased to actively repair and improve have more far-reaching ramifications than face the prospect of forming and building AI'V apartments. Indeed, its policy of no- the concept of community control of a communiry consensus. renovation has admittedly contributed to Allen Parkway Village and Fourth Ward neighborhood's development. The question the uninhabitability of over 90% of the continue ro be the testing grounds for a is no longer simply what the power available units. The HACH's 1984 formal Up to this time, as witnessed by HACH's number of urban principles. A joint public- structure wants, but rather how and to application to demolish the AI'V apartments attempts along Allen Parkway, the city as a private partnership, more common in this what end the community, the city, and the simply memorializes a de facto policy to larger entity has not seen fit to be part of age of limited government monetary private realm will reach agreement. This is raze the apartments. . . . As a matter of that process. The private sector, as demon- largesse and expertise, will have to develop a new power-sharing and community- policy, finds should not be used to study strated in the recent efforts of American an effective inner-city urban renewal orienred decision-making process. Most and plan an activity which activity cannot General Investment Corporation and program along with its design principles planners would emphasize that a triangular be legally accomplished by those finds. Cullen Center, Inc., in the Founders Park and logistical and economic guidelines. dialogue between private interesrs, commu- nity participants, and public policy makers has to exist in order for the community- based process to function. A combined effort, a combination of resources, is needed to manage the complex interaction of agency priorities, public priorities, and market realities. By all accounts, what is missing from this triad in Houston is a coherent public policy on the part of the city, from its mayor, its city council, its planning department, or its housing authority. Such a policy could establish a context and framework for communication between the communiry and the private developer; the staff of a city planning agency could assure the free flow of information and create a prototypical process of interaction. Lacking such a policy, the private developer has taken on the conflicting roles of both developer and broad urban policy maker. Further, the citizens cannoi turn to the city a\ the fc arbitrator between their own and the private sector's interests.

In the light of HACH's actions at Allen Parkway Village and the various city agencies' work in Fourth Ward, there is little possibility that city representatives would be trusted in these neighborhoods in the first place.

Notes

Kenneth M. Hoyt, 12 April 1989. United States District Conn, Southern District oflexas, Houston Division, Residents'Council of Allot Parkway Village rt alia vs. United Slates Department of Housing and Urban Development el alia. Civil Action H-89-0292. David Theis, "Bad Connections," Houston IWss. 30 Aerial view looking west from downtown along the axis of West Dallas Avenue. Allen Parkway Village and Buffalo Bayou are to the August 1990, p. 12. right of West Dallas; Fourth Ward and the Freedmen's Town Historic District are to the left. The group of three towers, center top, is part of the American General Insurance Company complex, 1 9 8 9 . View along Valentine Street in the center of Allen Parkway Village-San Felipe Courts Historic District, 1989.

AGENCIES AND ENTITIES Reagan administration HUl> officials, Houston's 18th District, in another August The Public headed the authority from August 1982 1987 Post article targeted Allen Parkway until his resignation in early 1989. Accord- Village as an "example of the failure of the Sector, Part 1: ing to Burney, he "reversed the poor Reagan administration to develop housing Mayor and City Council condition and status of HACH" that he options for the poor."1 Of course, one • City of Houston Planning inherited from William McClellan, who problem with demolishing the 1,000 Allen Commission WhatHACH was director from 1979 to early 1982. Parkway units is that the housing authority, • City of Houston Planning and McClellan, an appointee of Mayor Jim with 13,000 applicants on its waiting list, Development Department McConn, was fired from the position by must quickly build one-to-one replace- • City of Houston Housing and Hath Wrought Community Development the housing authority board at Mayor ments for all units that are disposed of. Department The Housing Authotity of the City of Kathy Whitmirc's urging when she first • Building Conservation Houston is an independent authority took office; the board then resigned. Pursuant to HACH's policy of public Division* created by state and local statutes. Funded Whether this was an admission of complic- housing dispersal, Allen Parkway Village Housing Authority of the primarily by the United States Department ity in the running of a shamefully disorga- has for the last 13 years been the target of City of Houston of Housing and Urban Development nized agency or a protest of the new three concerted but ill-conceived applica- (I [I'D) and to .a lesser extent In grants from mayor's strong-arm tactics is not known. tions made to HUD by the Houston the city, the corporation of the housing Burney was one of Mayor Whitmirc's new housing authority for permission to authority is in budget and operation appointments to the board; she took office demolish the complex and sell its 37-acrc • Historical Commission theoretically independent from the city. in 1982. site. As late as 1977, 95 percent of Allen FEDERAL Parkway Village was occupied, with However, the mayor of Houston appoints When interviewed, Burney refrained from thousands on the waiting list.' Even at this U.S. House of Representatives the five members of its board of commis- discussing the pending lawsuit and HACH's date the complex had been "allowed to U.S. Department of Housing and sioners. These are citizens from outside the current policy regarding Allen Parkway deteriorate," and "very little if any preven- Urban Development public agency who have an interest in and Village. She did restate the authority's tative [sic] maintenance had been done on U.S. General Accounting Office commitment to housing problems. One of overall philosophy, as articulated in an the property over the last 10 to 15 years," s U.S. District Court, Southern ihi five commissioners is appointed article written by Earl Phillips for the said H. J. Tollett in 1985. Tollett, chair- District of Texas, Houston chairman by the mayor and approved by Houston Post in August 1987: "Our society man ot the HACI i board of commissioners Division the other commissioners, /.inetta Burney, no longer applauds the notion of ware- from 1982 to 1984, favored demolition chair of the commission since 1984 and a housing the poor in sprawling mini-cities and disposition of the Allen Parkway PRIVATE SECTOR & INDIVIDUAL lawyer, recently described the board's of public housing within larger cities, Village property, as had many commission- ers over the years. It was under the director- • National Trust for Historic purpose as creating policy for what is encouraging them to remain in low-income Preservation "essentially a regulatory agency." While communities where few role models for ship of Robcrr Moore (1976-78), during • Houston Housing Concern HACH manages a citywidc network of change or upward mobility exist."-' Burney Fred Hofhcinz's administration, that the • Allen Parkway Village Residents' units, Allen Parkway Village has become reiterated that the children of disadvan- housing authority in November 1977 Council the most visible symbol of the authority's taged families, "learning by experience, forwarded the first of three "secret" requests • Pro bono activists policies. exposure, and education," need to be to HUD to demolish Allen Parkway Village. • Developers integrated into the larger community, in In the proposal, demolition was the only • Architects and planners course of action advocated by HACH, the More than 20 percent of the housing smaller complexes that are designed not to authority having estimated that rehabilita- authority's inventory of 4,443 units are in have the stigma of public housing. One- tion of Allen Parkway Village would cost Allen Parkway Village.' The critical such complex is the 100-unit Forest Green $11 million. This was "far too much" for situation of the complex becomes evident in northeast Houston, acquired by HAC11 what was currently available for such when one consults housing authority in 1978. The success of public housing expenses, stated the HACH proposal. Also, statistics to find that, as of September dispersal, Burney emphasized, belies Allen Parkway Village's property values had 1990, the complex had 96 units "out of arguments that HACH opponents put "escalared beyond a cost where housing is service" and 862 units designated forward. Their arguments, she stated, put the highest and best use." The proposal "unleasable." Thus out of a total of 1,000 too much emphasis on proximity to valued the 37-acrc site at between $17 and units, only 42 were leased and occupied. downtown as the key to viable public $26 million, and Moore mentioned that The vacancy factor of Allen Parkway housing. Accessible employment, ease of one or rwo developers were interested as Village, by a statistical sleight-of-hand, is transportation, and a close-knit ethnic well. What he did not mention was that an therefore zero. community, all essential for the group's continued well-being, can be features of unnamed developer had met with the public developments scattered throughout commissioners of HACH and strongly The position of director of the housing the city, according to Burney. urged them to demolish the units and sell authority can be a turbulent one. HACH's the land. This developer had left a $1 current executive director, chosen by the million check to "show his good faith."'' housing authority board, is Joy Wardlaw Divide and Conquer The commissioners had kept the demoli- Fitzgerald, who succeeded the flamboyant Yet the voices of opposition allege that tion request secret to avoid the "problem" Flarl Phillips as director in December 1989. HACH is simply following an old strategy of explaining their actions when they Each was selected after a nationwide search. of divide and conquer. The late Congress- themselves did not have all the answers. In Public Works Department until 1989. Phillips, reportedly well connected with man Mickey Iceland, a Democrat from 8 Cite Fall 1990

The response from the Carter adminis- this impetus, a second "secret" demolition Whitmire's Opportunities families from 5 percent in 1976 to 60 trations secretary or housing and urban request was sent to HUD in late 1981, just for Reappraisal percent in 1983. Poor white elderly development, Patricia Roberts Harris, and after Mayor McConn was defeated by Her administration now had the opportu- tenants, many longtime residents, all but I PJD's regional director, Tom Armsrrong, Kathy Whitmire. In the request IIACH ad- nity to break with unsuccessful past policy. disappeared, because apartments left vacant was negative. The alternative housing sites mitted that although Allen Parkway Village On 27 September 1982 the new director. by a tenant's death were not filled.1"' HACH were in the far suburbs, and Harris was "not in excess to [sic] local needs of Earl Phillips — hired in the previous month denied this "steering," or skipping over apparently (according to Armsrrong) had a low-income housing" (which would make by the new board of commissioners at eligible black families. Then in 1985 nearly policy against disposing of low-income it ineligible for demolition under HUD Mayor Whitmire's instigation - sent a letter 40 percent of the lndochincse families in housing if it could be rehabilitated. guidelines), HUD should waive this to HUD requesting emergency appropria- Allen Parkway Village were evicted, in a Armstrong related, "She was not going to requirement. Further, the HACH request tions from the $10 million renovation scandal involving HACH staff pracrices of let the developers profit at the expense of stated that current funds were not adequate fund. The request contained an estimate issuing invalid leases. As reported in both low-income people. ""HUD instead encour- ro improve the complex significantly. This that HACH needed $5.67 million to restore local papers, the tenants, who had no aged HACH to apply for federal funds CO seems to be a mistake, given the $10 safe and sanitary conditions at Allen money for a legal challenge, chose to move rehabilitate the complex, and in 1979 HUD million HUD allocation of 1979. Parkway Village. Yet the letter is tagged out. The empty units were boarded up; made $10 million available for ih.n with a peculiar reference to the complex's whole blocks of Allen Parkway Village purpose. Sometime in that period HACH The request was warmly received in uncertain future: "Be advised that no final began to be abandoned. started to receive directed funding, in the Washington nonetheless, so warmly that decision has been made by our Board neighborhood of $ I million a year, for the HUD not only allowed HACH to bypass the relative to the selling or the complete It was at this juncture, 1980 to 1984, that maintenance of Allen Parkway Village. agency's area and regional offices (where rehabilitation of this development. How- the efforts of the Allen Parkway Village Moore stated some years later in retrospect holdovers from the Carter days might ever there is a need for immediate emer- Residents' Council and its chairman, that when the housing authority took the detect the same problems as before), but gency repairs totalling $5,676,300." Lenwood E. Johnson, attained the credibil- money it was with the idea that any sale of also overlooked the mounting evidence of Phillips continued, "We recognize that if ity and authority to become known in the the complex was out of the question.'' The HACH's own financial mismanagement, if we do not obligate these funds at this time larger city community, beyond the project, following year HACH went so far as to pay not outright fiscal ineptness. Criticism that the remaining dollars would be Fourth Ward, and HACH. an architectural firm to estimate the cost of from HUD auditors, who cited huge cost returned to the HUD central office." The rehabilitation. The figure was $1 1.6 sum included utility repairs, architecture overruns, focused on unjustifiable travel By 1983 a number of factors pushed the million, or $11,600 per unit. and engineering fees, and over $2 million expenses and large salaries paid CO an authoriry to rethink a demolition proposal. for roof repairs and building remodeling.'* excessive number of administrators. At the The city had just hired Efrai'm Garcia as The reference ro the "remaining dollars" Eleven years after HUD made its allocation, same time, citywide public housing man- director of the Department of Planning being returned apparently stems from a [he bulk of the $10 million remains agement and maintenance had become a and Development. His mandate was to HUD policy freezing funds for a project if untouched. By 1985, with 13,500 qualified low prioriry. The 1980 HUD investigation plan the redevelopment of Fourth Ward those funds were not used for rehabilita- applicants on the waiting list for public simply stated that HACI i "routinely and Allen Parkway Village; he later tion: earlier in the year HUD threatened to housing, only $700,000 had been spent at violated federal fair-housing laws and [its] recounted that this modern urban renewal breeze the remainder of the original 1979 own guidelines," effort was "fairly cut and dried. . . . the Allen Parkway Village, none of it for appropriation. rehabilitation. In fact some $337,000 was decision to demolish Allen Parkway Village 1 spent on administrative expenses and However, in March 1982, two months into had been made in advance." " The theory $40,000 in boarding up units. the new city administration and just before In response to this rather indecisive letter, ot action was succinctly stated in a slogan McClcllan was fired, the Housing Author- HUD on 27 January 1983 disapproved the adopted by the Allen Parkway Residents' Mayor Jim McConn in the late 1970s ity of the City of Houston sent a finalized request: "The majority of the items in your Council: "As goes Allen Parkway Village, so spearheaded the effort to dispose of the demolition proposal to HUD that included request were cither for long-range improve- goes Fourth Ward." housing project and arranged a sale ro the confidential disclosure of an undis- ments, or the items were of the scope that Kenneth Schnitzer, who was developing the closed party's offer of $60 to $70 million can currently be maintained in your The majority of the HACH board of 1 Allen Center complex on the other side of for the Allen Parkway Village property. Operating Budget." ' The latter budget was commissioners continued in 1983 to see . The deal is reported to have This apparent boondoggle incited the now $1 million per year solely for the the economic benefit of demolishing Allen gone as far as arrangement of financial regional HUD agents, who knew the land maintenance of Allen Parkway Village. Parkway Village and selling the land. To terms before the real estate market was worth much more (a confidential HUD admonished HACH, stipulating that that end, Phillips hired a housing specialist cooled off. HACH appraisal of March 1982 pegged it requests for such additional "maintenance" from New York, Robert Aprea, in May at $250 million),1' to advise the new mayor funds could be made only if the funding 1983 to research the area and, among other In Washington, the new Reagan adminis- that HACH's financial improprieties and was beyond the financial limits of the things, ascertain the cost of rehabilitating tration and HUD secretary Samuel Pierce mismanagement required the dismissal of I IACH operating budget, if the funds were the housing complex. After field research encouraged HACH to take a second look at McClellan and the board of commission- necessary to maintain the minimum and meetings with a select steering com- the future of Allen Parkway Village. With ers. Mayor Whitmire took the advice. number of habitable dwelling units mittee, Aprea produced a figure of $36,200 required, or if the work was beyond the per unit, or a total of $36.2 million. Aprea's capability of HACH's maintenance staff to study was probably the first comprehensive perform. The implied question was, Why *. survey of the urban infrastructure and the spend in excess of $5 million on the com- i demographic, architectural, and cultural plex when Houston's housing authority was components of the area. It took into still considering tearing it down? V i account the need for a master plan to • reflect existing conditions and resident 1 s A 1982 HACH appraisal made in connec- aspirations, but what stood out was the V tion with the demolition request had enormous Allen Parkway Village figure. The figure's magnitude is even more I pointed out to HACH the potential value of selling the property. Even with Houston's apparent when it is compared to rehabilita- slowing economy, the housing complex tion costs at two other HACH projects, * > acreage could potentially draw $250 Clayton Homes and Kelly Village, both of million; so stated a "confidential" housing the same age and construction type as Allen study of March 1982. Assuming top-end Parkway Village. Their rehabilitation price- assembling and construction costs of tag was $10,000 per unit, a range that $50,000 per residential unit, the authority HUD usually authorized. The sum to could build approximately 5,000 new units rehabilitate Allen Parkway Village was "far too large to justify it."" 1 with the windfall. These new units also <•*• could be scattered around the city to con- form to HACH's antiwarehousing policy. $36,200 Rehabilitation Price Tag Following the publication of the $36,200 In order ro smooth the way for demolition, figure, opponents to demolition claimed in the ten years between 1976 and 1985 the cost was in fact inflated by 100 percent HACH began a program of changing the to 600 percent. Such items as $385 doors, composition of the population of Allen jogging trails, elevators for the three-story Parkway Village that might organize to blocks, and paint jobs of $1,400 per unit oppose it. That, in the eyes of certain HUD were pointed out as excessive. There was officials, appeared to be a planned attempt some question about whether Aprea had to foster internal antagonism, divisiveness, included interim construction interest and and interracial hostility within the com- HUD financing costs, to a tune of $3.5 plex. Inspection of tenant rolls shows a million, to bolster the size of the renova- decrease in the percentage of black families tion budget. These numbers were usually Forty families remain in the 1,000-unit Allen Parkway housing complex, despite the from 66 percent in 1976 to 35 percent in city's repeated efforts to remove them. The neglected project represents 20 percent of built into the standard HUD loan and not the housing authority's inventory. 1985, with an increase of lndochincse part of the actual "renovation request." Cite Fall 1990 9

Individual garden plots in one of the many green spaces between apartment blocks at Allen Parkway Village, 1989.

• i •

implications for future demolition and disposition of public housing units in the nation."2'1 HACH's response to the press was that this was one more delay in the inevitable process, and that the GAO's report had vindicated its action.

In brief, the 1986 GAO report found that the November I 985 revision met the letter of the law, as prescribed in Section 18 of the U.S. Housing Act of 1937. The five criteria were that the plans provide more efficient and effective housing; that lower- income housing stock be preserved; that HUD be reimbursed for existing project debt and development costs be covered; that the redevelopment plan outline how tenants would be assisted in relocation; and that the city of Houston certify that the latest application conform to the city's housing assistance plan. With regard to Lenwood Johnson and the Allen Parkway Fourth Ward, organized by Neil Prince and solicit, receive, and evaluate bids, and to consultation with tenants, the GAO found Village Residents' Council, assisted by Deborah V. Brauer, which included negotiate a final agreement. The authority that notification and setting aside a period community activist Barry Klein, countered another weekend design charrette, this time in fact only finally commenced the RI-'I' for comments had in fact taken place on a with a critique of Aprea's conclusions and organized by the Young Architei ts Com- process in the late spring of 1990, number of occasions throughout 1983 and their own "research" that showed the job mittee of rhc Houston chapter of the 1984, The authority had also on numerous could be done for Si4,500 per unit. They American Institute of Architects. A In each of the two revisions HACH used the occasions made clear its intention to sell also pointed out that HACH itself had symposium followed featuring Rcnzo figure of $ 120 million as the potential sale the complex. The third contested point estimated that to buy the land and con- Piano. During the exhibition the KUHT- TV price. The General Accounting Office that the GAO report addressed was the struct 1,000 replacement housing units film Who Killed Fourth Ward?, produced in (GAO), in a 1986 report, estimated that $6 housing authority's $36 million rehabilita- anywhere in Houston the housing author- 1978 by James Blue, Ed Hugcrz, and Brian million of this would be used to liquidate tion figure. Although it differed greatly ity would have to spend close to $50 Huberman, gained an even more apprecia- the indebtedness of the project (rhat is, the from HUD's 1984 estimate of $14 million, million, more than the Allen Parkway tive audience. Architectural and cultural original funds loaned by the federal the figure was not an issue, "since a Village renovation cost of $36 million, A historians Kenneth A. Breisch, Nia Dorian government to F1ACH in the 1940s to build rehabilitation estimate is not required statement by Charles Taylor, former head Becnel, and Stephen Fox began the slow Allen Parkway Village), relocate the under law or HUD regulations as the basis of HACH's rehabilitation cost estimating process of nominating Fourth Ward and tenants, and demolish the building. HUD for approving or disapproving the housing section, in a court deposition in 1985 then Allen Parkway Village to the National estimated that the remaining $1 14 million agency's disposition application." supported their accusations of cost infla- Register of Historic Places. A major point would allow for the construction of more tion. Taylor testified that Phillips had these pro bono efforts made was that the than 2,000 units. indeed instructed him to "manufacture the economic viability and cultural uniqueness Even with this vindication HACH did not hell out of them [the itemized costs]" to of the neighborhood could be conserved In January 1986 the HUD regional office in get final approval from the national office support Aprea's numbers. Taylors staff had with some modicum (as yet undefined) of Forr Worth, which had given HACH such of HUD. Gonzalez and Lcland in effect in fact established a figure for a "Cadillac public assistance. troubles in the early 1980s, at long last stalled the decision through the early part design" at $27,000 per unit. Taylor also recommended that the national HUD office of 1988 by asking for further studies and related that Aprea had confronted him in There was renewed hope for groups approve the request. Farl Phillips's connec- clarifications. The lactic caused the now the HACH offices with the admonition that favoring rehabilitation when the initial tions with the Reagan administration and infamous HUD secretary, Samuel Pierce, to Taylor's figures were loo low to "justify 1984 application for demolition of Allen HUD officials finally seemed to be working. send a scolding note to Gonzalez insinuat- demolition." Phillips denied all the Parkway Village and sale of its land was not ing that Allen Parkway Village's dangerous inferences, and Aprea said the charges were approved. HUD had doubts and needed Events in Washington condition was in large part due to the the work of a disgruntled employee." HACH to clarify two key points. While Yet there remained a gadfly. A few months congressman's delays! During this 1987- HUD noted that HACH focused mainly on earlier, in November 1985 and then again 88 period articles in the guest editor pages By August 1984 Earl Phillips and the the demolition and sale of the project, in January 1986, U.S. Congressman in the Post and Chronicle attempted to sway housing authority had processed the third valued between $98 million and $114 Henry B. Gonzalez, a Democrat from San public opinion. Presidential candidate Jesse and final demolition and disposition million by HUD in December 1984, the Antonio, requested that the General |ai kson loured Mien Parkway Village and request.'" The request went through several HACH application did not tell how Accounting Office study and review the Fourth Ward in March 1988 and compared resubmissions, ['he first version oi the demolition would provide more efficient HACH application on three points: did the city's policy in the neighborhood with submission of 1984 followed a November and effective housing. Nor did HACH F1ACH meet the letter of the federal law for the policies of . Jackson also 1983 vote by the board of commissioners outline how it would act to preserve lower- replacing demolished units; hail the tenants pressed HUD secretary Pierce to oppose authorizing the executive director to seek income housing within the larger city. been meaningfully consulted; and what demolition. At the same time, Congress- HUD approval for demolition of the Plans to repay development costs and was the basis for the $36 million figure to man Lcland disclosed Mayor Whitmire's project. On 1 August 1984, city council existing debt were also vague. The second rehabilitate the project? The CAD presented proposal to spend $25 million in commu- and Mayor Whiimirc finally went on area of concern for HUD was that HUD its findings in September 1986 in "The nity developmem funds foi a convention record favoring demolition with a vote "did not believe that the housing authority Report to the Chairman |on] the Proposed center hotel while the city still lacked a supporting the authority's request. had sufficiently described and evaluated Sale of the Allen Parkway Village Project in credible plan and funding for the rehabili- comments received from project tenants." ' Houston, Texas." tation of Allen Parkway Village. Public opinion, influenced by Lenwood Johnson's success at enlisting the aid of HACH responded with two more revisions, Congressman Gonzalez also issued in It was during February 1 988 that the Allen professionals outside Allen Parkway Village dated March and October 1985, that March 1986 the first of three requests to Parkway Village Residents' Council, with and Fourth Ward, had by 1984 begun to addressed these points. It is in these HUD to delav action on the demolition and the help of Nia Becnel and Stephen Fox, swing from apathy to a more critical stance. revisions that the authority established the sale of Allen Parkway Village. He had was successful in having the complex listed Lditorials during June in both local papers housing goals and the time frame still in investigated the project's situation at the in the National Register of Historic Places. called for a closer look,JI Dana Cuff, force today. The 1,000 replacement urging of Congressman Mickey Lcland, assistant professor of architecture at Rice housing units would be distributed in who wrote in his August 1987 Houston Post Legal Roadblocks University, put together a student design smaller complexes around the city, with article about the sad state of affairs at in the presidential election year of 1988, charrette in April 1984, which was fol- 400 housing units tor the elderly to remain HACH. Gonzalez, first requested a delay in which led to a change of administrations lowed by an issue of Cite devoted to Allen in Fourth Ward. The authority targeted order to allow time for the House Subcom- and the eventual removal of Samuel Pierce Parkway Village and Fourth Ward (Winter 19,000 units of foreclosed property owned mittee on Housing and Community and his cronies, a sea change took place in 1984). John Kaliski of the University of by the city that HACH might purchase for Development, which he chaired, to receive the fortunes of Allen Parkway Village. In Houston, Diane Ghirardo of Texas A&M low-income housing. The applications also the GAO's report on the proposed sale. He mid-1988 an amendment to the Indepen- University, and other faculty members mentioned an indeterminate number of nexr requested a delay when the GAO dent Agencies Appropriation Act of 1988, from area schools of architecture collabo- city-controlled properties available for new released the report, so his subcommittee the Frost-Lcland Amendment, was passed, rated with Cuff on these efforts; the group housing. These plans did not seem to could hold hearings on the audit. The final prohibiting the expenditure of federal solicited Aldo Rossi to participate as a juror include details of when, or how, the new request, at the end of the year, asked for a funds in any step on the path toward in the charrette. In 1985 Cuff published a units would be created. HACH also delay until February 1987, because of the destruction. With this new directive, HUD review of the events and the results of the estimated that it would take three and a need to investigate another recent govern- became increasingly hesitant to act on design charrette in Places, a journal wirh a half years to relocate existing tenants, to ment audit of the application. Gonzalez HACH's unclear and ever-changing inten- national design audience." In early 1986 demolish the structures at Allen Parkway continued to question whether the full tions. After all. the housing authority by Diverse-Works presented the multimedia Village, to develop a detailed request for letter ol the law in demolition procedures 1988 had not found a prospective buyer for exhibition Architecture and Culture: The proposals liu disposition of the land, to had been followed. His concern was "the the Allen Parkway Village land, valued by 10 Cite Fall 1990

rhe residents' council's lawyers at only the RFP had to outline the developers' plans Notes S28.2 million; nor did Karl Phillips have to replace low-income housing and relocate much time to spare, as he was having a the tenants as well as state what the pay- 1 This figure included 3,733 "conventional™ units, good deal or trouble in other quarters of his ment schedule to HACH would be. The public housing tor low-income tenants and the personal and professional life. (One thorn request asked for a rough outline of public elderly, and 300 Section 8 units, subsidized but in his side was Memorial Plaza, a H u n - and private funding sources and schedules privately owned apanments. 2 'Allen Parkway Problem: Ir simply outlived its funded project to turn a defunct Holiday that would be used to pay for the develop- usefulness," Houston Post, 2 3 August 1987. Inn, across Buffalo Bayou from Allen ment. In late April 1990 the authority 3 Houston Post, 19 August 1987, p. 3B. Parkway Village, into a complex to house released its first RIP; after almost ten years 4 Ihc chronology of Allen Parkway Village from the elderly tenants.)-" By May 1989 not only of applications, this seems to have been late 1970s through 1985 was gathered in a scries ot did HUD's director of public housing, HACH's first attempt to follow the pre- articles by Craig Hournoy, "The Houston Project," under new secretary of housing and urban scribed process and advertise for developer in the Dallas Morning News, 9 June 1985, pp. 1A, development Jack Kemp, want to know proposals. Either the authority had never 28-30A. 10 June 1985, pp. 1 A, 6A, 7A. The dates are Detail of cast-in-place concrete canopy bor.ited by .1 I 'mini Slates (ienei.il An (Hinting what HACH's long-term plans were, but before gotten that far, or it previously had shielding first-floor window, Allen Parkway Office document of 1986. "Proposed Sale of the Village, 1 9 4 2 . The designing architects, there were hints that HUD wanted to see decided to circumvent the process. In order Allen Parkway Village Project." MacKie & Kamrath, ingeniously combined Allen Parkway Village rehabilitated. to pay for the processing and administra- 5 Huurnov, "The Houston Project.1* ordinary building materials to give the Eventually HUD would release the remain- tive costs of the RFP while abiding by the 6 Ibid. apartment blocks much richer surface ing $9 million, funds originally forwarded court order not to spend any federal 7 Ibid.: quoting Frumencio Reyes, "We anticipated finishes than were customary for in i louMon in 1979 and ihen withdrawn funding or any of HACH's own funds, this moreproblemvbringiiigtli.il out puhliih than U.S.H.A.-built public housing complexes. in the wake of the 1984 HACH demolition first RFP required a S 10,000 fee from all answers we had at the time." 8 Ibid. request. In 1989 HUD began six months proposers before releasing project 9 Ibid. of repeated inquiries to the new acting specifications. 10 Ibid. director of HACH, Joy Fitzgerald, and her 11 Ibid. legal counsel about long-term plans. In a The HACH board of commissioners met 12 Ibid. 13 Ibid. June 1989 letter Fitzgerald claimed that the with little interest in the development housing authority had no clearly defined 14 Rcgclio R. Santos for James Wilson. Supervisor community and declared that the few 6.87, to Phillips, r lanuary 1983. position for or against demolition and responses - including one from the disposition." 15 Hournoy, "The Houston Project." Founders Park Venture group - were not in 16 Ibid. compliance. Later, in August, a second RFP 17 bconomic Research Associates had prepared a By December 1989 HUD opposed any- was released, with a 9 November 1990 working paper, "Phase A: Reconnaissance," in October 1979 that was an economic and quasi-social thing but rehabilitation of Allen Parkway deadline; a $10,000 fee was required to overview of Fourth Ward in the context of rapidly submit proposals. Apparently no complete Village. The 1984 request for demolition growing Houston. This document chronicled the An apartment block at Allen Parkway was finally denied. The letter from HUDs proposals were submitted at all. In both existing infrastructure, housing, and public facilities, Village, 1942. Associated Housing director of public housing, Thomas RFPs the HACH board of commissioners and discussed the social cohe.sivcness of the neighbor- Architects of Houston, architects. Sherman, stated firmly that HACH had to linked the sale of the Allen Parkway Village hood and its "private-sector participation potential." submit a plan within 45 days "outlining its property to a tequircment that the devel- Skidtnorc. Owings & Merrill assisted in preparing the future intent for the protect."*" oper himself build 1 50 low-income public report. housing units on site and 850 units 18 Hournoy, "The Houston Project." elsewhere, a number that developers view 19 Ibid. Another interview "scoop" in Craig Floumoy's The year 1989 saw a flurry of legal and Dallas Morning News scries; what should have caused political activity as the tide turned against as prohibitive.'' The public agency seemed sensation and scandal in Houston did not because demolition. In conjunction with its lawsuit to have tailed to understand what a profit- local news media gave it scarcely any press. against HACH, the Allen Parkway Village driven developer can accomplish. 20 In Flournoy's timetable this date is March 1984, Residents' Council in January obtained a while the GAO'l 1986 report on the "Proposed Sale of the Allen Parkway Village Project" says August 1984. restraining order against HUD and HACH As of fall 1990, the lawsuit against HACH Ihc date difference is key, as the liAOs date would prohibiting use of federal funds to pursue is still pending. The residents' council have the I IA11 I submission after city council's pro- demolition. Federal judge Kenneth M. remains hampered by lack of funds and, demolition vote. Ihc dates and submissions of Hoyt based his decision on the Frost- as Lenwood Johnson relates, less-than- 11 At I Is efforts lor the years of 1983 and 1986 come Lcland Amendment and barred the enthusiastic pursuit of the case by its pro from this CiAO report. housing authority from spending federal bono legal counsel. Prehearing motions 21 "A Question of Timing." Houston Post, 7 June 1984; monies in any way to further the cause of continue before the trial date, originally set "Need some clear answers on Allen Parkway plans," demolition; the order is still in force. Led , 5 June 1984, sec. 1, p. 12; Bob for 30 July, then pushed back to 30 Sep- Sablarura, "Allen Parkway Village should be by Rodney Ellis and Anthony Hall, city tember, and then pushed back again to the renovated," ibid., 29 June 1984, sec. 1, p. 27; sec also council rescinded its support for demoli- end of October; at publication no date had "Housing Authority should explain irsclf. Forthwith," tion four and a half years after ir was been announced. There has been a good ibid., 7 August 1984, sec. I. p. 14. approved. This occurred after years of bit of negotiating between the parties, 22 "Beyond the Last Resort: The Case of Public Housing protest marches on council chambers by although public officials remain elusive in Houston," Places, vol. 2, no. 4 (1985), pp. 28-43. the residents' council and activists of the about any aspect of the court case. A late 23 "Proposed Sale," GAO report, 1986. 24 Kathcrinc Kerr, "Delay Sought," Houston Post, 11 Houston Housing Concern. September 1989 memo to the mayor December 1986. suggests that HACH expected at least 120 25 Kathy Kiely, "Allen Parkway Village May Dodge From mid-March rhrough mid-April 1989 units in Allen Patkway Village to be Demolition," Houston Post, 25 February 1988, Judge Hoyt heard testimony from the rehabilitated and brought up to HUD p. I2A. residents' council against HUD and HACH standards, bowing to community activists. 26 See Tim Heck. "House ot Cards," Houston I'rtss, 14 June 1990, pp. 6-14. in the injunction hearings. Dating from A point in this review to the mayor 27 Fitzgerald's letter of 15 June 1989 is cited in Thomas February 1987. the lawsuit is an attempt by promises that the housing authority will "review successful plans in other U.S. Sherman. HUH Director of Public Housing, to the residents of Allen Parkway Village to Fitzgerald, undated (received December 1989). make HACH abide by the restrictions of the cities."'" This is encouraging from an 28 Sherman to Fitzgerald, ibid. Frost-Lcland Amendment (HUD Regula- organization whose myopic policies, the 29 James Robinson, "Private sector turns back on tions Section 415) and use the $9.3 million unfortunate result of internal disarray, have housing project," Houston Chronicle, 10 November already appropriated by HUD and the $1 wasted 15 years and millions of public 1990, p. 31 A. million annual maintenance fund for the dollars. Today the majority of Allen 30 Joy W. Fitzgerald, 16 October 1990, "Allen Parkway Village Status Report to Kathryti J. Whitmire. Mayor, legally mandated maintenance and rehabili- Parkway Village's 1,000 units - which at one time provided decent housing- remain and City Councilmcmbcrs." tation of Allen Parkway Village. After the 31 Robinson. "Private Sector." Robinson notes that firsr hearing, the residents' council with- boarded up, the culmination of a decade of repeal "would not necessarily guarantee that the drew its request for an injunction against neglect during which Houston's need for government would approve the demolition." HUD, as it was apparent that HUD was no public housing has only grown. longer pushing for demolition or withhold- ing funds for rehabilitation. Editor's note: 's successor, , was reported in mid- In the midst of the lawsuit and the resigna- November to be considering trying to repeal tion of Earl Phillips in mid-1989, HACH the Frost-Leland Amendment. " moved ahead with its request for proposals for the disposition and reuse of the Allen Parkway Village property. A request for proposals (RFP) in general is a document submitted by a developer team Mating the team's ideas for development and the way it proposes to accomplish them. In this case Cite hill I 11

The Public Sector, Part 2: The Planning Department and Fourth Ward

construction in both housing authority In very much the same manner as Earl press releases and architecture periodicals) Phillips, Efrai'm Garci'a's power of personal- of San Felipe Courts, now Allen Parkway ity, experience, and ties to the HUD Village, occurred in 1940. The 1950 census hierarchy in Washington, D.C., made him showed 9,000 residents in Fourth Ward, Bv appear well suited lor the job of what one 1980 that figure had dipped to 7.000, a observer described as "packaging the decrease of 8 percent from 1970; the city's Fourth Ward for sale to private interests."1 population expanded 29 percent during the Looking north on Wilson Street in Freedmen's Town Historic District in Fourth Ward, He was known as a specialist in urban 1970s. The median income was $4,755. 1984. These houses have since been demolished. design block grants from his previous Fifty-six percent of the population lived in tenure as manager lor planning in the San what the city still defines as overcrowded Antonio redevelopment agency. He had conditions.' established his own consulting firm in when in late 1982 one of Mayor Meanwhile, a number of churches re- Whitmire's assistants asked him to become mained in the neighborhood, the third director of the newly reorganized planning significant force in the community. Their department, a post that included overseeing pastors, joining with precinct judges and creation of the city's (as opposed to the the homeowning residents most often housing authority's) housing policy. Garcia involved with Freedmen's Town rehabilita- saw his actions as director as justified by tion projects, strengthened their political the notion that "we have the responsibility stewardship of the ward. These groups, to be the leveraging mechanism."' To that however, have not been unified in their end, Garcia from the very beginning ol his aspirations and goals. tenure in March 1983 worked to assemble and sell large tracts of Fourth Ward to a City Policy of Condemnatio n single developer in order to promote 21 M The fourth factor is the city of Houston's Garcia's phrase, "orderly development. policies toward the area. Mayor Whitmire He also saw the fates of Fourth Ward and hired Lfraim Garcia expressly to handle the Allen Parkway Village as inextricably redevelopment of the area through the linked, a belief he shared with the residents city's planning and development depart- of both places. ment. His efforts were hampered by the lack of a comprehensive city plan for the A shotgun cottage in Fourth Ward. Much has been written about the cultural future. Also, Garcia and Phillips quickly and architectural heritage of Fourth Ward's began to contend for superiority in their Freed men s'Fown Historic District and the efforts to redevelop the larger area, a for the city. . . . Without directional tenants can't afford higher rents to cover rapid disappearance of the fabric of (he competition that led to mistrust and guidance in a drawn form, every area in the improvements," concludes the HHC. area. Technically, neither "Fourth Ward" miscues. city can fall into this dilemma." In a more nor "Freedmantown" (the original name of conspiratorial vein, a report reached This downward spiral plays into the city's the settlement) describes a legally distinct After 1985 the city needed to face the issue Lenwood Johnson in late September that a development plans, Houston Housing area of the city; the appelations simply refer of whether to recognize or ignore the special city inspector from the building Concern alleges. The policies discourage to an African-American community and its designation of Freedmen's Town, and later conservation division may recently have reinvestment in existing properties, so even strong historical and spiritual presence. A Allen Parkway Village, as a National been assigned solely to Fourth Ward. more properries are threatened with demo- number of resident and preservation groups Register historic district, but instead it has lition for code violations, and even more have for years actively tried to save the area. avoided the question. In 1990, however, In the Winter 1986 issue of Cite, Douglas landlords demolish their buildings them- The 40 blocks of the Freedmen's Town city council designated the Main Street- Sprunt reported an example of how such selves rather than face legal proceedings. In Historic District, within the larger 70- Market Square National Register historic condemnation can affect historic struc- addition, the talk of city redevelopment block Fourth Ward area, is an outgrowth district in a local tures. The historic Smith House was cited and Garcia's efforts at a package deal in of the original neighborhood that was historic district, the first municipal for code violations. Rather than face stiff 1983 led absentee landlords to suspend founded in 1865 by freed black men and recognition of any special district other penalties or be assessed the cost of demoli- repairs on rental property in anticipation women. In 1985 the area was listed in the than scenic districts, where billboard size tion by the city, the owners chose to of being "bought out' by the city or a National Register of Historic Places, a and location are restricted. Whether this demolish the house. Issuing such citations developer. designation that, although not officially will set a precedent for other National to landowners almost inevitably brings recognized by any city agency, has found its Register historic districts in Houston is not buildings down. Had the city in fact A question inherent in the Allen Parkway way into the thinking of some developers clear. Whether the city's seeming neglect is proceeded with the demolition, it would Village Residents' Council's lawsuit against and even into Garcia's plans. willful or due to a tight planning budget is have had to obtain environmental clearance HACH is used to conclude the Houston debatable. from the Texas Historical Commission, Housing Concern's letter. The query The more recent history of Fourth Ward is since the Smith House was listed as a remains unanswered - arc federal block as lively as its beginnings, yet from the By 1984 the city's water, sewer, and public contributory structure within the Freed- grant monies being used to pursue Fourth 1930s the neighborhood has been declin- works agencies had announced that the men's Town Historic District. Other Ward demolition? ing. Four interwoven political forces and infrastructure of Fourth Ward was in examples of heightened enforcement social factors have shaped the character of hopeless condition. New construction was include the requirement of an unusually Garcia Enters t h e Fray the ward. During the 1920s and the banned until the city, or some other group, thick foundation slab for a two-story Lfraim Garcia entered the arena in 1983 Depression a number of families from upgraded that infrastructure. Meanwhile addition to Mount Horab Missionary and almost immediately embarked on the Sicily who had settled in the area at the the city's building code enforcement arm, Baptist Church, and the requirement of two projects that would be his hallmarks, turn of the century began to buy land the building conservation division, has often onerous fireproofing work in small F.I Mercado del Sol and the Fourth Ward inexpensively from the original families, been zealously enforcing a set of new business establishments whose owners can redevelopment effort. He reorganized the who were now destitute. As a result, the building ordinances. These were adopted ill afford it. planning department to concentrate power. African-American landowner who lives in by city council in 1982 to set minimum To supplement the department's original the area is scarce; more than 80 percent of standards of health and safety in new Absentee landlords are also quick to task of platting he added a community the land is privately owned by absentee construction on a cirywide scale with demolish if code violations are found. development section and a long-range and families or family-owned companies that citywide application: setback, off-street Research by the Houston Housing Con- comprehensive planning section. He also hold five or more properties. Thus by parking, and right-of-way requirements are cern (HHC), presented in an open letter to established 25 community development 1984, 95 percent of Fourth Ward residents uniformly applied across the city, regardless Mayor Whitmire of 21 January 1990, first commissions, whose elected representatives were renters, and poor.'The absentee of the character of the individual area. documented the unusually high number of on citizens' advisory committees have with landlords, to their credit, have attempted to Fourth Ward's narrow streets with 19th- demolitions in the ward. This group saw varying degrees of success been responsible hang on, yet any sale of their land for a century dimensions, its dense accumulation the demolitions as a result ol a consistent for allocating the $25 million a year good price still makes economic sense of wooden houses, and its subdivided lots effort on the part ol the city in the last five- coming to the city from federal Commu- to them. make the area an easy target for code years to force land-use change by making it nity Development Block Grant funds. violations and subsequent condemnation. easier for developers to gobble up residen- The second reality to shape the ward is the Planning commission chairman Burdette tial territory. "Few tenants want to wait for By November 1983 Garcia had created a migration of the population out of the Keeland points out that here again, with eviction because of code violations, |which plan to redevelop the 296 acres of Fourth neighborhood. African-American families "the city running on zero budget, it's results in] an atmosphere of dead ends, . . . Ward, a plan characterized by Jacqueline who could afford to leave began to move difficult to give any extra effort to solving so the house is abandoned," says the HHC Bechman in Houston City Magazine AS away as early as the 1920s. The demolition individual human needs - it won't happen letter. Landlords faced with a long list of "reminiscent of the urban renewal projects of the most blighted part of the ward for until someone is paid to look at it." expensive repairs also have no choice but to used during the 1960s and 1970s to the construction of the all-white housing Keeland continues that "any neglected area demolish the house - "a sensible policy on 'eliminate blight.'"'' This was a plan of project (as it was categorized at the time of is due to the lack of a comprehensive plan the owner's part if they are convinced that (continued on page 31) Cite Fall 1990 31

Fourth Ward (continued from page 11)

public and private sector partnership. Ward and Phillips authority over Allen Garcia appealed directly to the Property Parkway Village. She appointed R. Alan Owners Association, which he had been Rudy to act as mediator. (Jacqueline instrumental in organizing. Under his Bechman's Houston City Magazine article direction the owners were to amass their also names Rudy, one of the mayors properties, a total of 80 to 90 acres, with longtime advisers, as the man behind the Cite The Architecture and Design two city-owned tracts of land - the 37 acres redevelopment plan in the first place.) Review ot Houston of Allen Parkway Village and 13 adjacent acres - in order to make a large, attractive Garcfa also overlooked the strength of Subscription / parcel for sale to a single developer. Garcia outside support for the Fourth Ward One year. 2 issues: $8 aimed to sell Allen Parkway Village for $46 community. During the 1983-84 period, Two years: S15 per square foot, a total of $100 million, the Allen Parkway Village Residents' and the private lands for $15 to $20 per Council, as Garcia would relate, had square loot. (lart i.i saw ih.n it w.is essential elicited support from "vocal blacks and do- that Allen Parkway Village be part of the gooder whites." Having stated that "his- Fourth Ward deal. The assembly would toric preservation is a rich man's hobby," he have to be successful in order to avoid the ignored both the funding that owners of random sales that would frustrate a total historically designated properties can effort; any "chance for a comprehensive receive and the solidarity that a cause can redevelopment ot the area would be lost" bring. It quickly became apparent that, ( Hs-M.ik- Zip otherwise, said Garcia." with the exception of the absentee Property Owners' Association, few of the neighbor- ; Check for $_ _cnclosed. A mechanism was created, the Metropoli- hood's residents or owners needed Efrafm tan Devemopment and Real Estate Associa- Garcia to broker a better future for them. Gill Subscription i Bill me tion, to orchestrate the Fourth Ward land sale. This "independent" association was a By 1985, Houston's real estate market had quasi corporation that could both purchase become too soft to absorb 140 acres, and and amass land currently held as rental the timing was wrong to capture $200 per properties. It could also act as agent for the square foot for the Allen Parkway Village Sicilian absentee landlords in the negotia- parcels, Plans had to be put on hold as tions with potential block buyers. By 1986 1 LAC "I I tried to get permission to demolish this association had grown to 225 land- and sell Allen Parkway Village. The deal fell The Rice Design Alliance owners, mainly the white absentee land- apart completely in late 1986 when HUD lords who controlled in excess of 80 rejected HACH's latest application for The Rite Design Alliance, established percent of the area. demolition, and the subsequent residents' in 197.1. is tin educational organization council restraining order and lawsuit halted dedicated to increasing general aware- These 1983 plans called for a multi-use the process altogether. In mid-1987 Efraim ness ill architecture, design, and the Garcfa was asked by the mayor to resign as environment. RDA sponsors lectures, development and a new utility infrastruc- exhibitions, lours, and symposiums and ture and street grid, to be paid for by a director of the department of planning and publishes Cite, a biannual review of federal grant for which the city of Houston development. architecture and design. Membership in would apply. The planning director also RDA is open to the general public. foresaw the need lor the city to allocate During the 1988 and 1989 fiscal years an funds to defray development costs and the increasing number of grants were procured costs of relocating existing low-income from HUH to rehabilitate groups of residents, most of them African-American buildings in Fourth Ward. The Greater tenants. Even before the state and federal Houston Preservation Alliance early in Membership Benefits historic district designations became 1989 was awarded a grant from the official, Garcia envisioned a token six-block National Trust for Historic Preservation to Individual Membership $35 • I kfcfa diKOUMi li»t RDAprocrums historic district lor Freedmens Town. help implement a "Freedmen's Town • I'ire suhscnplion Iodic: The Archtlcctun; and IJcsian Founders Park and the adjoining Beth Community Credit Union Preservation Review ol 11.'ii i .i • Invilaltnus to "members only" event* and Faruh Israel Cemetery would remain as open Fund," which was to be used to rehabilitate < ,.i]lrr> openings space. This plan also would accommodate substandard houses for low-income • Dttcounh on selected Lille* turn [lie Hu/ir. bociksioic • I'.iiiKitulmn ill the aiinujl mcinbeishipmcelinc the 200 to 300 subsidized units for elderly residents." Throughout the last two years renters from Allen Parkway Village that the Texas Historical Commission has been the developer of Fourth Ward would be I .uiiih Membership $50 sending inquiries to the city about the * AllunltL- above bend11, li,r yuui lutnty obligated to build in the area. This was demolition of listed buildings in the Freed- the same number of units that 1 EACH had men's Town Historic District. It seems that Student Membership $15 stipulated any developer would have to a state agency has to step in to protect the • All «if Ihe above hencfih build in order to demolish and dispose of historic elements of Houston. Sponsor Membership $125 Allen Parkway Village. * All nl Ihc bencfiis .itmuled in lmlinilu.il Members • Courtesy ticket* It, Iwn selected RDA programs with In May 1989 the Metropolitan Develop- reservations m advance Garcia's Mistakes ment and Real Estate Association went What Efraim Garcia did not anticipate, as bankrupt. At the end it had amassed 70 Patron Membership $250 • All ot Ibc benefits accorded to Individual Mcmheis Burdette Keeland relates, was the vast rental properties, covering 12 of the 1 15 • Courtesy ncVels In ihrce selected RDA programs with number of actors involved who needed to privately owned acres in the neighborhood. reservations in advance be satisfied. His first mistake was to appeal Sustaining Membership $540 primarily to the absentee landlords, As was the case with Earl Phillips, Efraim • All of the benefits accoriled to Individual Mcmheis excluding the 20 powerful neighborhood Garcia's golden touch and connections to » Courtesy tickets to alt ROA program* churches, 104 resident homeowners, and the Washington piggy bank were not Corporate Membership $1000 owners of the scattered African-American sufficient to overcome local obstacles. The • All ul the benefits acamled to Sustaining Members businesses left in the ward. All of these • Recognition in Ihc RUA |ounul Cile and at successes of the urban renewal programs of special events groups had, in Kecland's words, "staying the 1950s and 1960s, when federal money power and the commitment to the supported grand visions often designed by neighborhood." out-of-town designers and economists and Membership Application implemented over the objections of the He also did not anticipate that the overlap local residents, were not to be repealed here Stykjacks in Houston. It has fallen to the private of authority between him and Earl Phillips would lead to a power play. Both city realm (as usual in Houston) to create and Unique miniature halogen lighting agencies had "viable" plans for the Allen implement the policy necessary tor a ideal for kitchen tables, buffets Parkway Village site, anil each recognized feasible development - one linked, it is to the land as the linchpin to its own success. be hoped, to a careful rehabilitation of i IK Sua Zip ami wetbars The two directors' goals were not incom- Allen Parkway Village and Fourth Ward. • Stop by fur your free copy of the new patible: Garcia wanted the essential Allen Parkway Village parcel linked with the telephone Ughtdier Lifestyles Collection Catalog Notes Fourth Ward sites, and Phillips wanted the millions a sale would bring to pump back 1 Flournoy, "The Houston Story." Octttpt ...144 pages of new products, designs into HACH projects elsewhere. But neither 2 Quoted in James Peters, "Houston Gets Religion," and ideas. strong-willed leader wanted to take a back I'Liiming. August 1985. p, 7. 3 Ibid. Membership Category seat to the other. Phillips was determined 4 These dates and figures .ire taken from Jacqueline to ensure that, whatever happened on the Bcchman. Tourrh Ward - A S101) Million lihctto." Allen Parkway Village site, the resulting Houston City Magazine, May 1984. Amount enclosed MMUGHTING condition would not repeat the indignity 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid. COMMERCIAL RESIDENTIA L that Fourth Ward had suffered in the early 1940s, when HACH displaced African- 7 I'etcrs, "Houston tier Religion." Checks should be sent to: Your In Stock lighting Source! Americans to build the originally all-white 8 ^^reservation News, June 1989, p. 1,6. Rice Design Alliance, P.O. Bon 1892, San Felipe Courts. 5620 S. Rice Avenue Houston, Texas 77251. Houston, Texas 77081 When hostility boiled over in midwinter 1983-84, Mayor Whitmirc stepped in to 713/667-5611 referee, giving Garcia authority over Fourth