A test well is shown as Kathy Blueford-Daniels, a Fifth Ward resident and community activist, talks about health concerns in the area near her home from the creosote contamination at the former Union Pacific Railroad site wood treatment facility shown Monday, Feb. 14, 2022, in Houston. Residents had previously picketed at the contaminated rail yard on Valentine’s Day, but decided not to picket as they are frustrated and tired of fighting.
Melissa Phillip/Staff Photographer
City Council will now wait until Feb. 7 to decide whether to give $2 million of the fund’s current $5 million to the Houston Land Bank, which was set to take a lead role in acquiring land and building new homes for community members who choose to move.
“Folks, we have unanswered questions… I just think it’s irresponsible to move forward,” Whitmire said as he asked City Council for time to meet with residents and look at the program with fresh eyes. He expressed concern after hearing that many area residents were confused about the plan or reluctant to participate.
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Tenants and homeowners whose houses sit directly on an underground plume of the toxic creosote substance, left over from a shuttered wood preserving facility on a site now owned by Union Pacific, were promised the opportunity to move to a comparable home by former Mayor Sylvester Turner.
Though City Council’s support for the relocation project remained strong in the fall, some members had previously raised concerns over the plan, including over the city’s lack of full funding for the project, which would cost tens of millions of dollars.
Other officials, including Council Member Tarsha Jackson who represents the impact district, have insisted that the initiative should not be stalled.
“We’ve been talking about it since 2014. People have been dying,” Jackson said in Wednesday’s meeting. “Not voting on this and referring this back to the administration, it’s not what’s in the best interests of the residents in Fifth Ward in this cancer cluster.”
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When Turner first announced the initiative in July 2023, residents came to City Hall to thank lawmakers for finally taking action, saying their relatives had been dying from cancer for decades before they knew the former wood preserving site was a risk to their health. State officials have since established that the area over the plume features one of several cancer clusters in the area.
Council Member Edward Pollard seconded Jackson in the meeting, saying the plan that began under Turner was a good start.
“If all we continue to do is go back and forth on this issue while these people’s lives are at stake, then I think we’re doing them an injustice. I think we can do both.”
But Council Member Letitia Plummer, who raised the initial motion to delay a vote on payment to the Land Bank by four weeks, thinks the extra time will only help the program.
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“I just want to make sure the community understands that we’re not stopping anything, that the fund has been created, (that) they’re still building out the program,” Plummer said.
The fund is designed to help residents who lived permanently above the relocation zone prior to June 1, 2023. If the $2 million allocation is approved on Feb. 7, the Land Bank would serve as the master builder for the program, and those who chose to relocate could purchase a home on a Land Bank lot.
Abby Church contributed to this report.
