Third Ward News Repurposed

This:

[Claudia Feldman, ChronBlog]

“This is my home,” he says. “Everybody is welcome who wants to help sustain and protect the community.”

Those who don't share the sentiment, he(Ed. note: State Rep. Garnet Coleman) seems to suggest, should stay away.

Hearkens back to this:

[John Bunkin, Governing.com]

And Coleman, an intense, chain-smoking power broker who represents the neighborhood in the Texas legislature, isn’t happy about it. “You can tell a neighborhood’s turning,” he says with dismay, “when you see them out at night walking their dogs.”

Coleman is determined to stop gentrification in Houston’s Third Ward before it gets out of hand. “I understand how this happens,” he says. “I understand how to stop it.”

Which leads to this question.

[Brian Phillips, Live Oaks Blog]

We must wonder about the values of a man who finds it disheartening when people are walking their dogs at night. I suppose that he would prefer that they be huddled in their homes, afraid to walk the streets for fear of being attacked.

The Government.com article that Phillips linked to was three years old, proving that so-called "new" ideas (limiting redevelopment to certain areas of town while leaving others untouched) are not really. Neither is the news in the area. Not that my problem is with the article written by Claudia Feldman, it's a good article that I suggest you take the time to read in its entirety.

The issues, however, have been with us for quite some time. That's important to remember in an age when news is often provided absent of historical context.