Not all Houston residents can count on Mayor White to intervene when a developer proposes building a high-density project (via the Chronicle):
A San Antonio developer of low-income, multi-family apartments has plans to build a $26 million complex with 252 one- to four-bedroom units on South Gessner, between West Bellfort and McGee Lane, using $13 million in tax credits and private funding.
Some southwest Houston residents, however, are opposing the plans to build Costa del Rey, citing the approximately 96 apartments already saturating the 3-mile radius of the proposed site with tenants who place a heavy burden on area schools, law enforcement and infrastructure.
[snip]
Elaine Gascamp, president of the Super Neighborhood No. 36 and the city’s Super Neighborhood Alliance, and director on the Brays Oaks Management District, said the area is Houston’s second-highest in density only to Greenspoint.
She said the new proposal would place the complex in one of the area’s most densely populated neighborhoods — on South Gessner across from Welch Middle School and adjacent to Mount Olive Baptist Church.
Gascamp said she was not mollified by NRP’s assurances that Costa del Rey would only accept qualified professionals and others who earned near the $27,000 to $47,000 mark, since area schools are already at capacity and local police are stretched to deal with the existing population.
These South Gessner residents must be an example of the “low-income residents who might have less time or inclination to vote and take part in civic affairs” that the Chronicle editors described when they defended Mayor White against charges of favoritism in the Ashby high rise brouhaha. They shouldn’t hold their breath that Mayor White will provide any assistance.
