Homeless problem downtown

Aug. 2, 2003, 7:57PM


Park's refurbishing will bring an end to enclave
By BILL MURPHY
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

Construction workers outside the new downtown arena work to finish the gargantuan project. Somewhere inside, jackhammers forcefully pound away.

On La Branch nearby, cars whiz past. Everyone seems headed somewhere with a purpose. Blocks away, thousands of people in office towers are working.

But at Root Memorial Square, across the street from the arena, a half-dozen figures are sprawled on cardboard, asleep, and a half-dozen others sit idly.

Root has long been an enclave where the homeless gather beneath live oaks to pass the day, wash laundry and borrow cigarettes from one another.

That's about to change.

In September, construction crews are scheduled to give the square-block park a $2.3 million makeover. City officials hope it is transformed into Houston's version of New York City's Rucker Park, a famed venue for top-shelf street basketball.

City and arena officials avoid saying so, but they don't want people headed to events to be afraid to walk through the park because the homeless are there.

"We're hesitant to say that, because it sounds so callous," said Tim McDougall, Rockets' vice president of marketing. "This is a new arena. It was made so families can come out and see the circus. It's a family venue. Nobody in the organization wants to see (homeless people) put out with no place to go."

The refurbishment will add a basketball court with tiered seating, gardens, sculpture and new sidewalks. Live oaks and other trees that grace the park will be saved, except for several that are dying.

The park could eventually expand. Houston Rockets officials have said they will lead a drive to raise money to buy a parking lot on the block north of Root and give the land to the city, said Dawn Ullrich, head of the city's convention and entertainment department, which manages Root Memorial Square.

Arena street-level windows will allow passers-by on La Branch to watch Rockets' practices, unless curtains are drawn. The Rockets may run clinics in the park, McDougall said.

"It's kind of a Field of Dreams thing, having it in the shadow of the arena," he said. "(Rockets star) Steve (Francis) talked of stopping by and seeing what was going on in the park."

There is now little about the park that could be called a field of dreams.

On a recent sweltering day, most of those at the park were sleeping or reclining on benches or cardboard laid on the grass. Shopping carts, filled with belongings, were parked nearby.

Not all were idle. Hazel Algalala, 54, an immigrant from Trinidad, stood by the drinking fountain, laboriously filling an empty detergent container with water. She poured it into a 5-gallon plastic bucket and hauled it back to her spot.

"When I don't have the detergent, I have the bar of soap," she said, swiping the green bar over a sock.

Others had finished their laundry. A man had strung a line between branches of a live oak and hung shirts and pants, while another slept as his laundry dried on the park's border hedges.

Algalala and others in the park said police prevent them from staying there at night.

Office workers from buildings several blocks from the park don't stroll up for picnic lunches.

"It's like it's completely occupied. You kind of feel like you're walking into someone else's home or property," said Pat Whitten-Lege, a Midtown resident who sometimes bicycles past the park.

Several homeless men said it is fair for the city and the Rockets to want the park to be used by more than just the homeless.

"The homeless don't have no place here," said Lee Edwards, 60, who said he has been homeless for seven years. "People going to games, the homeless trying to sleep -- that ain't going to work."

The number of homeless soars to as many as 150 on Sundays, when the Rev. Alex Morrison, who runs Houston Christway Ministry, preaches there from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and hands out food.

Morrison has sought another park for his ministry while Root is being refurbished. His first choice was Elizabeth Baldwin Park on Elgin in Midtown.

The Midtown Civic Club and the Downtown and Midtown Residents Association lobbied the City Council to block Morrison's request. More than 100 residents turned out at a recent neighborhood meeting on the issue.

In the past five years, condo lofts, many selling in the $200,000-$300,000 range, have been built around Midtown, including around Baldwin Park.

"This park was all trashed out four years ago before (the condo owners) arrived," said Christina Hsu, who lives in a condo near the park. "There was trash and syringes, a lot of criminal activity."

Residents, including many of the new city dwellers, now help look after Baldwin, bring their children to the playground and jog on a path that winds under live oaks.

"We don't think they should take an inner-city park that has become the center of a neighborhood and turn it into another Root park," said Whitten-Lege, who lives across from Baldwin.

"I have seen 10 or 20 or 30 people sleeping in (Root) park," she said. "If they came down here in those kinds of numbers, I don't think anyone would want to take their children here. I don't think people who used the park would feel secure and safe."

After the outcry, Morrison, who has ministered at Root for seven years, agreed to look for another site. Allen's Landing, a park on Buffalo Bayou under the Main Street Bridge, was his second choice, said Richard Cantu, director of the mayor's Citizens' Assistance Office.

The University of Houston-Downtown and the Bayou Preservation Association got wind of Morrison's coming and made it clear they oppose the idea.

"It's kind of a `not in my back yard' deal," Cantu said. "They want to help the homeless, but just not anywhere near them."

Morrison said he is willing to leave Root for good if he finds a suitable site elsewhere. But, he added, "If (the homeless) congregate there, I will go there. The Lord has sent me to minister to these people nobody cares about."

City officials are taking a wait-and-see approach concerning how to deal with the homeless after Root park is refurbished, likely after the Super Bowl at Reliant Stadium on Feb. 1.

It could be a non-issue by then, because the homeless may move on if other people begin using the park in great enough numbers, said Pete Radiwick, spokesman for the city's convention and entertainment facilities department, which manages the park.

A park attendant will hand out basketballs and enforce regulations, which may ban laundry-hanging. The city also is looking into whether Morrison needs a permit to minister and hand out sandwiches in the park.

Cantu has talked with SEARCH and Bread of Life about allowing Morrison to perform his ministry at their facilities. SEARCH provides services in Midtown to help the homeless return to productive lives. Bread of Life, a nonprofit near downtown, provides social services for families struggling with poverty, homelessness, drug abuse, HIV and AIDS.

"We're between a rock and a hard place," Cantu said. "We have economic development and revitalization, and people want to see new facilities. Homeless people just don't factor into the equation.

"Because of that, it comes across to people as unsympathetic and cold-blooded -- a wish to shift them to another location, where they will be out of sight, out of mind."

District I Councilwoman Carol Alvarado, who represents the arena and Baldwin Park areas, said she hopes Morrison links his ministry with a group that provides more services to the homeless.

"I don't think providing one meal is really productive in trying to address the homeless problem," she said. "I would rather see the homeless getting services they need: alcohol and drug rehabilitation (and) mental health counseling."



I read this article in GARM and wanted to see what y'all thought about the latter part of the article. I live near downtown and have seen many of these homeless people in downtown, midtown, and montrose. Most of these people are either crazy, drunks, or drug abusers. While they aren't really in violation of the law, I still see these people as a danger to others and themselves. Does it seem to anyone else that there is way too much catering going on for a bunch of "bums"? What would your solution to the problem be?

 

Thanx for the responses guys. I haven't worked with the homeless, but I am around them almost everyday due to my delivery job in the montrose/downtown area and also the medical center. I'm sympathetic to these people, I always think to myself, "what terrible things have happened in their life to lead them to this point?" At the same time, I have to deal with the constant panhandling, I've even had to help a lady once when a homeless man tried to steal her purse. I just can't bring myself to give them my spare change because, besides the fact that I'm a poor college student , I feel it gives them incentive to keep doing what they're doing. It's not like I want these people to die, but isn't even giving these people food as part of a charitable function the same thing? Shouldn't the goal be to force them to either clean up their act or die of starvation? Granted, if they're mentally unstable they should get the help they need, but otherwise, why help them?