Illegal dumping in Houston neighborhood causing health concerns for residents
HOUSTON - A community in South Houston is asking city leaders for help cleaning up trash that continues to pile up along Webercrest Road.
"We drive through other neighborhoods," said Pastor A L Hickman from New Commandment Christian Fellowship Church. "We shop other places. We visit other places. We don’t see the mess we see over here. We’re just asking for parity. Help us."
For roughly two years, Pastor Hickman says he has watched people illegally dump trash along Webercrest Road near South Acres. According to Hickman, he has reached out to Houston 3-1-1 for assistance several times, but the garbage is still a huge problem.
"We do feel ignored," said Hickman. "We believe the City of Houston has what is needed to clean this up."
Pastor Hickman reached out to FOX 26 for help. On Monday, he and several other members of the community spoke up about the issue.
"You’re not going to go to Pearland and see this," said Sherrie Smith.
"Don’t tell us something to do this or do that," said Christine Law. "We’ve been working on this for three years. Come and do something now."
On Monday, we met with Councilmember Carolyn Evans-Shabazz about the trash issue along Webercrest Road. The location falls within her district.
"They’re certainly not being ignored," said Evans-Shabazz. "There are some instances we cleaned up that area."
According to Evans-Shabazz, her district has "hot teams" that go around and pick up trash caused by illegal dumping. She says trash has been picked up along Webercrest Road, but the garbage pile there will require more attention.
"Department of neighborhoods will open a case in its system and visit the location near 12021 Webercrest [Tuesday] since the dumping is on an undeveloped property," said a spokesperson from the City of Houston. "Once inspected, we legally have to give the owner up to 14 days to comply and cleanup the property. Thereafter, we can assess abatement options to clean it up with Solid Waste Management."
Over the summer, the Department of Justice announced an investigation into the City of Houston for how the city responds to illegal dumping cases. According to the DOJ, they’re looking at whether, "policies have resulted in discrimination against Black and Latino residents in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964."
We asked Evans-Shabazz if this case is a matter of racism or discrimination.
"I certainly don’t think so," said Evans-Shabazz. "It’s a matter of manpower. This is a complaint all over the city, if it was just my district, or other minority districts, it would give me pause. But, that’s not the case."
A church leader and a community, now hoping the trash along Webercrest Road gets cleaned up.
"Come see us," said Law. Come visit us. Come see what is going on in the community. We need help."