State Rep. Garnet Coleman, speaking to NPR’s Steve Inskeep about the Third Ward:
As for anyone who moves into neighborhoods like the Third Ward — and integrates what had formerly been a segregated area — Coleman says the main problem often stems from the new arrivals’ attitude.
“Don’t come into the community, renovate your house and then act like the people that have been living there forever have no standing,” Coleman said.
“If somebody’s going to move into the Third Ward — I don’t care who you are — just become a part of it.”
Speaking more generally, that sentiment about becoming a part of the community you’ve moved into could apply to any of Houston’s older, historic neighborhoods. They’re not the suburbs, and the people who live in them like it that way. I don’t see why this is such a hard concept to grasp.
By the way, in case you haven’t seen Inskeep’s other stories about Houston, they’re worth checking out as well. Ken Hoffman is right, Inskeep got it.
I heard the interview and Coleman’s comment struck me as one of those things that sounded obvious in spirit but so vague that it doesn’t mean much. When I lived in DC the complaint was that newcomers were changing the neighborhood… with things like wanting the fish & burger place on the corner to follow sanitation laws and not leave a pungent, fly-ridden dumpster with rats scuttling around it open on a busy corner. Or by getting more foot and bike patrols by the city police when there were a lot of muggings – that was controversial. And on some local issues, the forces against change were actually people who moved OUT of the neighborhood but kept some connection to it via church or family – and so complained about changes, then went home to the Maryland suburbs when they were done speaking up.
I understand Coleman’s sentiment, but the reality on the ground is always more complex.