Downtown Homeless Situation

[ToolMan]

By MIKE SNYDER

Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

To downtown and Midtown leaders, it's the perfect spot for a scenic gateway linking their two communities. To Metro officials and residents of a nearby high-rise, it's essential space for parking.

And until Monday, it was a home of sorts for more than 200 people with nowhere else to go.

The dark, damp strip of concrete beneath a section of Interstate 45 known as the Pierce Elevated is suddenly an alluring piece of real estate.

Chronicle Link

[musicman]

By MIKE SNYDER

Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

To downtown and Midtown leaders, it's the perfect spot for a scenic gateway linking their two communities. To Metro officials and residents of a nearby high-rise, it's essential space for parking.

And until Monday, it was a home of sorts for more than 200 people with nowhere else to go.

Chronicle Link

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Midtown residents have been irritated about this for years. There are homeless everywhere in Houston already. I guess the powers that be have deemed them them unacceptable. We'll see how long they stay in these "motels and other social facilities" before they end up back in the streets in OUR neigbhorhoods. Go down to the park where Shamrock Hilton stood and to Hermann Park at night. You'd be surprised at how many are sleeping on the benches since the ban of homeless in Midtown was implemented.

They spent millions in north downtown on new fountains that line the sidewalks. Anyone seen them recently. Brass and copper fixtures have been stolen for scrap and of course noone thought that this would happen because homeless are already banned from panhandling in downtown.....but they do it EVERYDAY. There are two painted ceramic tiled circular fountain at Market Square where the drain grates were stolen for resale. As a result there is a hole surrounding the fountain where someone's foot could fall in and then they'd sue the City.

The drinking fountains installed by metro on main have red tags cause the water is unfit for drinking. METRO claimed they couldn't find a drinking water supply yet the ENTIRE section was rebuilt??? who was the engineering firm involved?

The City just can't get their act together. I better stop cause my blood pressure has gone up!

[ssullivan]

The drinking fountains installed by metro on main have red tags cause the water is unfit for drinking.  METRO claimed they couldn't find a drinking water supply yet the ENTIRE section was rebuilt???  who was the engineering firm involved?

You have a valid point here, although the reason the water fountains were turned off on Main is not that they couldn't find a drinking water supply. There was (I think it may have been fixed now but could be wrong on that) a leak in the water supply for those fountains that was allowing sediment to get into the line, therefore making the water unfit for drinking. It wasn't a case that the fountains weren't hooked up to a water line. Apparently the leak wasn't discovered until the project was nearly complete and the fountains were turned on.

Last time I walked by one of the fountains I think the red tags had been removed. I know they were trying to get this fixed last year when the problem was first discovered.

[musicman]

You have a valid point here, although the reason the water fountains were turned off on Main is not that they couldn't find a drinking water supply. There was (I think it may have been fixed now but could be wrong on that) a leak in the water supply for those fountains that was allowing sediment to get into the line, therefore making the water unfit for drinking. It wasn't a case that the fountains weren't hooked up to a water line. Apparently the leak wasn't discovered until the project was nearly complete and the fountains were turned on.

Last time I walked by one of the fountains I think the red tags had been removed. I know they were trying to get this fixed last year when the problem was first discovered.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There was a ch2 series on this and they stated that even though public works said the drinking fountains were redtagged, when they took the cameras there they weren't.

Sounds like the prudent thing would be for the City to just turn off the supply water and then noone will drink it.

[SteveTXMD]

found this in the Houston Chronicle today. Can't help but wonder if the homeless will just move a block or two over...

Homeless leave Pierce Elevated

Metro fences in land for parking after 172 people take deal to move

By MIKE SNYDER

To downtown and Midtown leaders, it's the perfect spot for a scenic gateway linking their two communities. To Metro officials and residents of a nearby high-rise, it's essential space for parking.

And until Monday, it was a home of sorts for more than 200 people with nowhere else to go.

The dark, damp strip of concrete beneath a section of Interstate 45 known as the Pierce Elevated is suddenly an alluring piece of real estate.

While residents of 2016 Main tussle with the Metropolitan Transit Authority over parking spaces and discussions continue on the gateway concept, the relocated homeless people are settling into rooms in motels or rehabilitation centers.

The week's events began Monday, when outreach workers voluntarily relocated 172 homeless people who had been living under the freeway for months, putting them up in motels or other facilities while social service agencies try to help them stabilize their lives. Another 56 people went on a waiting list.

On the same day, in a courtroom about a mile away, state District Judge Tony Lindsay refused to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent Metro from fencing off two blocks of the property for parking for its new headquarters at 1900 Main. The chain-link fence went up Monday afternoon, to be replaced later with a permanent iron fence.

"They (Metro officials) are taking that public parking and turning it into private parking," said Howard Bookstaff, the lawyer who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the owner of a planned restaurant in the 2016 Main building. He said residents of 2016 Main rely on the area for parking and may join the suit, which he said will continue with a hearing April 4.

Deal called 'power grab'

Last month, the city and Metro signed an agreement giving the transit agency permission to use two blocks of the space, from Fannin to Travis, for parking. In exchange, the transit agency agreed to install lighting, clean up litter, paint concrete columns and make other improvements to a six-block area between Caroline and Louisiana.

A lawsuit claims the agreement violates a 1968 contract between the city and the Texas Department of Transportation, which owns the property. The contract calls for the land under the freeway to be used for public parking.

Noel Cowart, the president of the condominium association at 2016 Main, said the metered spaces under the Pierce Elevated provide the only convenient parking for visitors or patrons of the building's retailers.

Metro's deal with the city is a "power grab" necessitated by the agency's failure to plan for adequate parking when it built its new headquarters building, Cowart said.

Space for fleet vehicles

Metro spokesman Ken Connaughton said the agency intends to use the Pierce Elevated space primarily for its fleet vehicles and senior staff. Most employees park in pay lots near the building, he said.

The transit agency left about 20 metered spaces outside the fence available for public parking, Connaughton said. Bookstaff said this is "sorely insufficient."

Before it could fence off its new parking area, Metro had to find a humane way to remove the homeless encampment that had developed under the Pierce Elevated over the past year.

The Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County Inc. obtained $100,000 from the city and $90,000 from other donors to pay for rooms in motels or other facilities for a month. The coalition's president, Anthony Love, said the homeless people readily accepted the offer when outreach workers approached them Monday morning.

During their motel stays, the homeless people will be offered job training and placement assistance, substance abuse treatment and other services to help them stabilize their lives and find permanent housing, Love said.

"The philosophy is, after we meet their basic needs for food and shelter, we look at their long-term needs," Love said.

Giving it a try

Charles Williams, 26, said he knew nothing about the plan to relocate the homeless people until he woke up at his spot under the freeway Monday morning.

"I saw people lining up and I didn't know what was going on," Williams said. When someone explained the motel offer, "I said, 'That's cool, I'll give it a try,' " he said.

Williams said he'd been sleeping under the Pierce Elevated off and on for three years after his release from prison on a felony drug possession charge.

He spoke Wednesday from his room at the Lieutenant's House, a residential drug treatment facility. He said he hopes the program there will help him get off the streets and find a job.

The relocation of the homeless people may also make it easier for downtown and Midtown leaders to move forward with their own gateway plans, which are still in the conceptual stage despite several years of intermittent discussions.

"We think there's an opportunity to beautify that concrete structure, but we haven't settled on an approach," said Ed Wulfe, the chairman of the Main Street Coalition.

Dan Barnum, a member of the Midtown Management District board, said the gateway might include signs, landscaping or "maybe doing some artistic stuff on the columns."

"It would be a way to experience the transition between downtown and Midtown," Barnum said. "We've been looking for a Texas artist to provide an artistic image" to provide a theme for the gateway.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/m...politan/3089357

[MidtownCoog]

How bout that church in a school bus ever Sunday under the PE on Chenevert?

Where are those fools going to go?

[Subdude]

Dupe. See original thread here.

[debmartin]

isn't it ironic how $190,000 could be tossed up at a moment's notice just because metro says it needs the space for parking? don't they realize that putting people up in hotels is just throwing money away? i realize there are also people being relocated to "treatment" locations, but the fact that a man recently released from prison was living there with no plans or prospects says everything about what's not being done.

awhile back i shared some investigative insights i had about the downtown location of search, which i called "daycare for hobos". that place keeps them busy by day but at night they could end up anywhere, doing anything. i've also spoken out against the refusal of the city to participate in the SRO program by refusing to allocate matching funds - hundreds of thousands of federal dollars have been left on the table by houston for the past several years. even dallas has gotten their fare share - SRO's (single room occupancy) make sense and by utilizing abandoned hotels and other properties they are an efficient way to address more than one problem. gordan quan was appointed to look into the SRO issue but i have not seen anything about it recently. i guess one of the biggest challenges is the fact that neighborhoods would not welcome the addition of an SRO, although a halfway house is not much more appealing.

deb martin

[LTAWACS]

it's about time they get rid of the bums there.... why dont we ship them to Austin. I hear they are welcome there...

[Dream]

The homeless are coming back to the Pierce Elevated. The last few days I've driven by the newly fenced in areas of the Pierce and the homeless are simply setting up camp along the fence line. Basically they are back to business as usual, this is really sad. Unfortunatley, I really don't have any solutions, the homeless seem to like this area as it is close to food and services. I guess we are stuck with all 12,000 of them.

Dream

[RayLSU]

i would like to donate $100 to shipping them to Austin....

[kjb434]

Hey, many northeast and some midwest cities like Chicago used to by the homeless one way tickets on Amtrak trains to other cities to get rid of them.

New Orleans felt this problem when they realized that many of the homeless were seen getting off Amtrak trains during the last month.

It's sad practice but at least the adminstration in Chicago can say he got rid of the homeless.

Houston needs to enact an ordinance the forces people that ask for money at street corners and intersections to get permits. This allow for legitimate groups to do this but will make the homeless liable. Then, when the cops arrest them, the homeless get the option of going to jail or to a homeless shelter. This policy worked in New York in cleaning up the streets.

It's a tough love sort of thing.

[LTAWACS]

Midtown residents have been irritated about this for years.  There are homeless everywhere in Houston already.  I guess the powers that be have deemed them them unacceptable.  We'll see how long they stay in these "motels and other social facilities" before they end up back in the streets in OUR neigbhorhoods.  Go down to the park where Shamrock Hilton stood and to Hermann Park at night.  You'd be surprised at how many are sleeping on the benches since the ban of homeless in Midtown was implemented. 

They spent millions in north downtown on new fountains that line the sidewalks.  Anyone seen them recently.  Brass and copper fixtures have been stolen for scrap and of course noone thought that this would happen because homeless are already banned from panhandling in downtown.....but they do it EVERYDAY.  There are two painted ceramic tiled circular fountain at Market Square where the drain grates were stolen for resale.  As a result there is a hole surrounding the fountain where someone's foot could fall in and then they'd sue the City.

The drinking fountains installed by metro on main have red tags cause the water is unfit for drinking.  METRO claimed they couldn't find a drinking water supply yet the ENTIRE section was rebuilt???  who was the engineering firm involved?

The City just can't get their act together.  I better stop cause my blood pressure has gone up!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You should search for my posts. I've said many times that our city leaders are nothing more than hairless, idiotic, inbred, republican apes.

[skwatra]

Hey, many northeast and some midwest cities like Chicago used to by the homeless one way tickets on Amtrak trains to other cities to get rid of them.

New Orleans felt this problem when they realized that many of the homeless were seen getting off Amtrak trains during the last month.

It's sad practice but at least the adminstration in Chicago can say he got rid of the homeless.

Houston needs to enact an ordinance the forces people that ask for money at street corners and intersections to get permits.  This allow for legitimate groups to do this but will make the homeless liable.  Then, when the cops arrest them, the homeless get the option of going to jail or to a homeless shelter.  This policy worked in New York in cleaning up the streets.

It's a tough love sort of thing.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

didn't salt lake send a bunch of busses of homeless down to vegas just before the olympics?

if houston starts arresting homeless, won't that cost a lot of money, to put them in jail, considering the gaurds/food, lack of space?

[MidtownCoog]

We should put them on a Bum Cruise up and down Buffalo Bayou.

Kinda like they do in Amsterdam.

[kjb434]

When they home get arrested they have the option of either going to city jail which isn't that nice or going to a homeless shelter. The streets are not an option. It worked really well in New York City not many went into jail. Most of the ones that where arested from resisting to go to they shelters had psychological problems and placed in the psych hospitals. Other accepted the invitation to the shelters.

The city didn't intend on jailing all the homeless, but they figured when given the option that they'll chose the shelter. At least at the shelter they can get help and possible find a job and move on with their life.

[LTAWACS]

We should pit them against each other in gladiator style fights.

[Lowbrow]

^^That makes me very sad.

[LTAWACS]

^^That makes me very sad.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Why? If we televise the bouts the city could stand to make some extra $ from ratings. I think there is an untapped market out there for this...

[Lowbrow]

I think everyone went to jail that was associated with the last bout of bum-fights.

[LTAWACS]

I think everyone went to jail that was associated with the last bout of bum-fights.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Why??? I didn't see anything wrong with those videos. At least the bums were good for something....

[Jax]

New construction near downtown Houston... it's a shanty town under a billboard. Have any of you ever seen anything like this before? They were actually constructing a new structure as I watched! I saw at least 4 people in this shanty town.

Edited October 11, 2007 by Jax

[moni]

New construction near downtown Houston... it's a shanty town under a billboard. Have any of you ever seen anything like this before? They were actually constructing a new structure as I watched! I saw at least 4 people in this shanty town.

Free rent! lol

[lockmat]

I posted a video of a story NBC ran on a place like this in Miami. It was a little town like this full of homeless, and it was right under the noses of many of the high-rise condos. crazy

[urban909]

i know there are similiar "establishments" along the baffalo bayou and there's that one guy by westpark dr/610 where you can get on/off the HOV lane who has got a fairly large box shelter going...

[bkjones98]

i know there are similiar "establishments" along the baffalo bayou and there's that one guy by westpark dr/610 where you can get on/off the HOV lane who has got a fairly large box shelter going...

I remember the one under the Buffalo Bayou bridge--right there by The Aquarium? That guy was definately setting up camp.

[Jax]

This was more than one guy, it was at least 3 or 4 and they were hammering and sawing and building structures as I watched. And one guy was sitting on his roof for a while chilling out. The guy must have had an awesome view from his rooftop!

[MidtownCoog]

A Houston favela!

I think there is also a homeless shelter near by. This is between the RR tracks and the Post Office, right?

[Vertigo58]

Looks like it went "condo"

[Original Timmy Chan's]

There used to be a hell of a "shanty town" under 59 in the Museum District, at least in the early/mid 90's. That was when 59 through the Museum District was elevated above grade, before it was excavated out and built below grade as it is today. There must have been hundreds of homeless living underneath that freeway.

As I recall one of its residents was former Houston Astro JR Richards, one of the most feared MLB pitchers of all time.