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DEFENDER | MARCH 16 | 2017
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New store to combat food desert in Third Ward Defender News Service
Houston City Council voted in favor of the purchase/sale agreement of property to build a grocery store to combat the food desert problem in District D. The property will be leased to Houston Housing Finance Corp. (HHFC), which will sublease it to H-E-B. “I am pleased with the opportunity to address the lack of quality food within my district,” said Councilmember Dwight A new grocery store is coming to Hwy 288 and MacGregor. Boykins, who represents the process of identifying grocery store retailDistrict D. ers that would be willing to partner with the “I want to thank the team behind this City of Houston by making the commitment project who has been working over the past to bring “fresh food options” to the District D two and half years to make this a reality. We community. are moving forward on this step in the process The city held a public hearing in 2016 about of eliminating food deserts within the city of the proposed project. Boykins said the communiHouston.” ty overwhelmingly supported the concept, which Boykins said the agreement for $13.8 milwould not only address the food desert challenge lion for the land at Hwy. 288 and MacGregor but provide more than 250 jobs and serve as a “is just one step in ensuring that this commucatalyst for revitalization. nity has access to a 72,000-square foot, fullBoykins stressed that there will be no local service, state-of-the-art grocery store.” funds used for the project. “All of the funds are He listed limited site selection, lack of coming from the federal government to the City interest by retailers and insufficient funding of Houston…,” he said. as some of the obstacles in meeting the area’s In addition, H-E-B will not receive any sublong-term grocery needs. sidies, low-interest loans or economic incentives. According to Boykins, in 2014, he began
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CWA, AT&T bring 3,000 jobs, raises Singapore and Vietnam) critics said would send more U.S. jobs overseas,” said The Communications Cummings. Workers of America (CWA) “However, the CWA District 6 bargaining comtook the lead on this ismittee has reached a tentasue for years, way before tive jobs agreement with Trump.” AT&T Southwest that will Years of talks between potentially impact 23,000 the CWA and AT&T became current and fuserious in 2016 ture workers. with both entiThe tentaties agreeing on tive four-year the need to bring settlement jobs back to the provides for U.S., leading to pay raises, their agreement. paid parental “When I leave, affordwatched footage able healthcare from Ferguson, and enhanced with Michael benefits for the Brown’s body 20,000 AT&T lying in the Claude Cummings, Jr. workers in the street for hours, five states belonging to and Black men being inCWA District 6: Arkansas, terviewed and asked ‘Why Kansas, Missouri, Oklaso much crime?’ Because homa and Texas. there’re no jobs. Folk will find A key provision of the a way to feed their families if proposed settlement, accord- no jobs exist.” ing to Claude Cummings Cummings, who is also Jr., vice president of CWA the NAACP Houston Branch’s District 6, involves AT&T’s second vice president, stated commitment to bring 3,000 the agreement with AT&T is jobs to the five states, jobs a direct response to “all the that had previously been Fergusons across the country.” sourced offshore. “It’s about economic “President Donald empowerment. And these Trump takes credit for killjobs coming back are not just ing the Trans-Pacific Partany jobs, but 3,000 good jobs nership [TPP], a trade agree- paying good wages, benefits, ment (between the U.S., healthcare and pensions.” Australia, Brunei, Canada, Cummings expects Texas Chile, Japan, Malaysia, to see its first jobs from this Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, agreement in late 2018. By ASWAD WALKER Defender
localbriefs A STATE SENATE PANEL CLEARED LEGISLATION that would overhaul the state’s voter identification rules, an effort to comply with court rulings that the current law discriminates against Black and Latino voters. The Senate State Affairs Committee voted 7-0 to send the legislation to the full chamber. Among other things, Senate Bill 5 would add options for Texas voters who say they cannot “reasonably” obtain one of seven forms of ID currently required at the polls. …….HISD HAS APPROVED A PROPOSAL to establish an internal disciplinary alternative education program (DAEP) for secondary students for the 2017-2018 school year based on
a timeline and benchmarks prepared by district administration. Bringing the program in-house would allow the district to align academic and behavioral interventions among campuses, improve transitional support for students between their enrolled school and the secondary DAEP, and improve efficiency by deploying staff members to schools when the DAEP is not at capacity…….THE CITY OF HOUSTON IS GETTING CREATIVE with flood control within the White Oak Bayou watershed by converting the Inwood Forest Golf Course, a 223-acre site closed since 2007, into a series of 10 connected detention basins. Once complete the new detention basins will be
able to hold 350 million gallons of storm water, almost 530 Olympic size pools worth of water, which is more water than the Astrodome could hold……. HIRE HOUSTON MARCH 27 DEADLINE APPROACHES and Mayor Sylvester Turner has called on Houston corporations to join his summer jobs program. The mayor has set a goal of providing 5,000 jobs for Houston youth this summer, yet has only received pledges from 3,000 companies. HHY provides young people, 16-24 with a sevenweek summer internship or job, earning at least $8 an hour. To sign up as an employer, visit www. hirehoustonyouth.org.
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