City Officials Put Renewed Focus on Neighborhood Revitalization

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Efforts to renew Houston’s neighborhoods, by tearing down abandoned and storm damaged property are part of a weeklong campaign to address city beautification and revitalization. But along the way, officials hope to honor some forgotten Houston history.

Florian Martin, KUHF Radio
Throughout this week, six Houston neighborhoods are seeing an increased effort in beautification and cleanup projects. They are part of a citywide revitalization initiative.

The city is partnering with “Loving Houston,” a faith-based initiative that aims to revitalize some Houston neighborhoods with the help of volunteers. All week, volunteers are tackling about 100 different projects in Acres Home, Independence Heights, Fifth Ward, Denver Harbor, Third Ward and Sunnyside.

A special project is at Olivewood Cemetery, Houston’s first incorporated African American graveyard located in the Heights. Graves here date back to 1865, but it’s in dire need for clean-up.

Margott Wood is the founder of the Descendants of Olivewood. For the last five years, her group has been working on restoring the cemetery. It was completely overgrown by weeds and bushes and has fallen victim to vandalism and erosion. About half of the 7.5 acre property is still overgrown, so Wood says she’s excited about the help from the initiative.

“They will be in the back moving a lot of the debris into the gully area, the trees and the brush in the gully area. It will be a more greener way to addressing the erosion.  And they will be working on the top part of the erosion where a lot of the remains have been washed away.”
Read and hear the full story at KUHF Public Radio

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