Fifth Ward residents upset about illegal dumping

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Some neighbors in the Fifth Ward are complaining about illegal dumping and it's not just all the trash they're concerned about. It's also the fact that they say the city of Houston was doing nothing about it.

Neighbors say they're tired of it. We found out the city has been monitoring this site for some time. But the big problem is that as soon as crews clean up the mess, the illegal dumpers are back in action.

In the 3000 block of Amboy, neighbors like Earline Goffney say the mess is the eyesore they've been stuck dealing with for weeks.

"Now they just dumped this stuff out here. I don't know where this come from," Goffney said. "Next thing you know, it's a pile out there."

It's a huge pile of illegally dumped old furniture, dead tree limbs and other smelly garbage that's spilling into the street in front of an old abandoned and neglected house.

"You see over there, over there, over there. I don't know," said neighbor Manuel Trevino.

Frustrated neighbors say they don't know who's behind all of this dumping.

"The city can come out here and clean up the lot, by the time they are through with the lot, it'd be a truck come by from out of nowhere and be dumping it," Goffney said.

One neighbor claims he's called the city several times to report this nasty nuisance problem. When Eyewitness News checked, we found out the most recent complaint to 311 came in last Thursday.

After our calls Monday, a neighborhood protection inspector was sent out to look at the mess. A few minutes later, a solid waste inspector also showed up.

We've learned the city's inspections and public service division is scheduled to handle the weeds on this lot. And we're told the contractors will also handle the illegal dumping at that time.

Now homeowners like Goffney say they're just glad this garbage will soon be gone.

The inspectors took photos of the mess here and told us the site is under legal review. Solid waste workers showed up Monday afternoon and started removing the trash pile.

We heard from neighbors about a similar situation on Houston's south side back in February.

They told us they were fed up with people using their neighborhood as a dumping ground. They told us the trash had been piling up for months, and their calls to 3-1-1 had been ignored. We started asking questions and by the end of the day, the city was out cleaning up the trash.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

local, demond fernandez

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HISD teacher shows fifth graders horror film in class

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Fifth grade students at an HISD school got a break from class to watch a movie, but what they saw has at least one mother angry and her son scared.

Houston ISD says the teacher made a mistake. The movie was shown this week at Shearn Elementary on Houston's south side.

'Insidious' looks like a freaky movie, even for adults. Entertainment Weekly calls it a haunted-house movie that has some of the "most shivery and indelible images in any horror film in decades."

Rated PG-13, parents are "strongly cautioned" against their children watching it.

"I couldn't believe what he was telling me. From school -- he's in fifth grade," parent Mary Baker said.

So you can imagine Baker's horror when her 10-year-old son, Kyle, came home, saying he watched it at school.

"I think it was a very poor choice for a teacher that was educated. He knows better, and it affected my son horribly," Baker said.

Baker says a teacher at the school let her son's class -- a group of 10- and 11-year-olds -- choose between a funny and scary movie, and 'Insidious' was one of their options.

"He was physically sick," said Baker. "He was throwing up last night until almost midnight. Then got in my bed and ended up sleeping with me the rest of the night."

A spokesperson for HISD confirms the teacher showed the PG-13 movie in class without approval. They added that their policy is that "any film shown in class must be approved by the principal. As a result, the teacher will be reprimanded and an apology letter will be sent home to parents."

Other Shearn parents agree.

"Do you let your student watch horror films?" we asked parent Guadalupe Gil.

"No I don't," she said.

"So I wouldn't feel comfortable," parent Heather Mouton said.

The teacher made a mistake. Baker just hopes now he's learned his lesson.

"Kids are affected, they're affected. It affects them. The little things count - even movies," Baker said.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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City tears down dangerous abandoned home in Fifth Ward after ABC13 report

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- We have an update that's going to make a lot of folks in northeast Houston happy.

Bulldozers Friday turned an old abandoned building into a pile of rubble. We first told you about this dangerous property on Jensen on Tuesday. Neighbors were worried the building could collapse at any moment, and someone could get seriously hurt or even killed.

After our investigation, today the city finally did something about it.

"I think once they do that the property value will come up, the kids will come out and play and it'll just be a lot nicer," said resident Brett Forward.

The city says it still hasn't found the owner, but because it was a serious and immediate hazard, they cleared all the legal hurdles to tear it down.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Fifth Ward residents want city help to demolish abandoned homes

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- They're dangerous, they attract criminals, and bring down property values -- and neighbors want them gone. Old abandoned homes are literally falling apart in a northeast Houston neighborhood. So what, if anything, is being done about the problem?

On a quiet street, along Lavender near Liberty, tucked in the middle of the Fifth Ward we found homes no one would want for a neighbor.

Frustrated families on Lavender say they're dealing with a big neighborhood nuisance.

"It's just horrible," said neighbor Barbara Beal. "It's just like something out of another country."

Homeowners are calling nearly half the houses on the 2900 block of Lavender "abandoned or neglected properties."

"I'm glad somebody came out to see what we are talking about," said neighbor Sandra E. Richardson. "On paper, it's nothing. But if you can get to see what we live next to, maybe they'll do something."

The neighbors say some of the vacant homes are hazardous and caving in. They say others are raggedy, attracting too many rodents, squatters and other strange traffic. Neighbors say they're asking the city to do one thing.

"Demolished. Just clean them all up," Beal suggested.

"It is a serious problem," acknowledged Houston's Chief Development Officer Andy Icken. "It's one that we are trying to get our hands on right now."

Icken says the city is trying to tackle the abandoned property issue. Last month, council members approved $3.5 million from the affordable housing fund to demolish hundreds more homes. But Icken says the city's dealing with several challenges.

"Finding who the owner is, getting them to respond," he said. "That's the biggest challenge as we start here."

That reality isn't a good enough excuse for neighbors on Lavender who say they've been complaining about the eyesores for years.

Richardson said, "We need some help from somewhere and all we are asking is them to come in and help us."

Just like the city, we also had a tough time tracking down good contact information for those property owners. The city's next scheduled demolition day is May 19.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

local, demond fernandez

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Alief ISD fifth graders learning to give back

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Some fifth-grade children in Alief ISD are getting a better view of the world by raising money to help others worldwide.

Even though 79 percent of the children at Chancellor Elementary School are socio-economically disadvantaged, they are already learning to give back. "We are about $100 away from our $3,000 goal," teacher Teresa Dola said. These fifth-graders aren't your ordinary kids. They're working to become global citizens. "We give people another chance to make their life better," student Nicoles Lepton said. Students in Dolan's class have been working to raise money to help entrepreneurs in other countries like Mexico, Vietnam, Jordan and even Iraq. They're working with the charity, Kiva, an organization that loans donated money globally to people starting businesses. The students pick recipients from the charity's website. "We read their stories and the ones we have a good, personal connection with, that we can related with, we just start giving it to them because we know how they feel," student Edison Huynh said. But they do their research, taking time to look at conditions in the country. Many in the class are children of immigrants, so they want to give back. Each child set a goal of raising $50 and they've worked to get it. "I've done helping hand tickets around my house, doing chores and taking up all the chores in the house," student Ayodeji Odole said. So far, they've raised $2,900 of their $3,000 goal. They've also made 15 loans. Mrs. Dolan says the project teaches the kids they can always help, and it's had an impact on them. "I think one of the greatest things of this project is to show it doesn't matter how old you are, where you come from, your economic background. Everyone can give, everyone has a way to change the world," Dolan said. "I feel like I'm really connected to the project and I feel like I'm a part of something now," student Daniel Karee said. By Tuesday afternoon, the students exceeded their donation goal with a car wash, reaching $3,200. They plan on raising money through the end of the school year. (Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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