We have been advised that the president and CEO of the Houston Housing Authority, Tory Gunsolley, was fired yesterday. Stay tuned as more information and details come out! Keep an eye on your email (including spam folders), our Facebook Page, and our Website.... In the meantime we still very much need your letter of opposition. Please take a few minutes to get that to us. Information is below 2020-01-17 Dear Concerned Neighbor,
As you have probably read in the Houston Chronicle, a judge issued a temporary restraining order against the Houston Housing Authority (HHA), yet the HHA continues to ignore the neighborhood and residents. We need your help. Please write a letter of opposition addressed to “All Public Agencies and Elected Officials” and then email the letter back to this email address. If possible, please sign it and indicate whether you are a resident, business owner, property owner or interested person. We will compile all letters of opposition in one location and send to all public agencies, including HUD, HHA, TDHCA, TXDOT as well as elected officials (Mayor’s office, City Council, State Representatives, etc.) We will also send it to the press and social media channels to ensure that the letters don’t get conveniently “lost”. It is important that everyone writes their own letter so that all intended recipients realize that the neighborhood residents and business have many (and different) legitimate concerns. Below is a summary of objections to the two projects proposed by HHA, that are “coincidentally” supposed to be on sites both owned by Pinto East End, LLC, which is controlled by the Cockrell family. We are sure there are other legitimate reasons to be opposed to the projects so feel free to write your own. Summary of Objections An “Open Records Act Request” requesting information on the proposed projects was delivered to the HHA six weeks ago, and they still have not produced a single page. The lack transparency on behalf of the HHA, the City Council Representatives and the Mayor’s office to the community on the proposed plan to acquire over 43 acres and build over a thousand units in such a small area will have a significant impact on both the neighborhood as well as the future residents of the proposed Ojala and NRP projects. The concerted efforts to push the projects to push the projects through before the neighborhood has a chance to comment. The removal of 43 +/- acres from the property tax rolls in our neighborhood forever which will lead to millions of dollars in lost revenues that would otherwise benefit our neighborhood. Specifically, approximately 30% of all property taxes generated by improvements on these tracts would otherwise benefit this neighborhood directly through the TIRZ 23/ Harrisburg Reinvestment Zone and The East End Management District. Therefore, the proposed projects by HHA would eliminate many millions of dollars which would have otherwise been utilized to support revitalizing projects such as improving aging infrastructure, building sidewalks, beautifying roadways, parks and many other projects. HHA never informed the directors of TIRZ 23 / Harrisburg Reinvestment Zone of their proposed plans even though HHA has been working on them for over 18 months, yet the HHA plans to remove the largest budgeted revenue source from TIRZ 23 / Harrisburg Reinvestment zone. The lack of communication by the HHA with local law enforcement to assess the ability of the already understaffed crews to properly secure our neighborhood once there are thousands of more new residents. HHA likely has failed to inform many other public agencies as part of their concerted efforts to push these projects through before the public has a chance to find out what they are doing. The removal of millions of dollars of property tax payment obligation every year for market rate units which will allow private developers NRP and Ojala to profit unfairly at the expense of the neighborhood and all property owners who pay taxes. Adding so many units that are subsidized by tax dollars in such a small area that is already saturated with so much low-income housing as opposed to spreading reasonably size projects all over the city in accordance with HUD, FHA, TDHC and even HHA’s own guidelines and requirements. Using taxpayer money to move Clayton Homes residents away from the Freeway only to put them next to another bigger freeway megastructure proposed by TXDOT and railroad tracks. Using taxpayer money to build 600 apartments to provide low income, affordable and market rate housing adjacent to the proposed massive I-45/ I69/ I-10 bridges proposed by TXDOT which will produce debris, noise, emissions, and other environmental concerns during and after construction. Using tax payer money to acquire the two tracts of land both owned by Pinto East End , LLC, controlled by the Cockrell family, in order to build the two bad projects proposed by the private developers Ojala and NRP. Using tax payer money to acquire the approximate 20 acres from Pinto East End, LLC, controlled by the Cockrell family, along Jensen Drive and inherit the liability from development issues and environmental factors resulting from the noise, debris, air pollution, and other environmental concerns that will be caused during and after the construction of the TXDOT I-45/I69/I-10 realignment as well as other environmental and development issues unique to the tract. The bridges that TXDOT proposes to build are supposed to be at least as tall as 10 story buildings per TXDOT renderings. Additionally, the proposed project would be adjacent to the railroad that bridges over Buffalo Bayou. Using tax payer money to acquire the approximate 28 acres from Pinto East End, LLC, controlled by the Cockrell family, along Middle Street and inherit the development and environmental liability that will resulting from the adjacent Lead Products State Superfund Site, the adjacent City of Houston Incinerator Site, the incinerator ash landfills, the erosion of Buffalo Bayou banks by flood events, the lack of proper infrastructure to serve the over 400 units proposed by NRP, the inadequate access through the small local neighborhood streets to handle, the inadequate public transportation and other environmental and development issues unique to the tract. | 
