HOUSTON — Plans to build a multi-million-dollar library in Acres Homes are back in motion. The City of Houston had recently pumped the breaks on the project over financial concerns.
Community advocates said they were left in the dark over the last six months about whether the neighborhood would get their promised new library. But Thursday, they got word it will move forward and they're hoping for clearer communication from City Hall.
The Beulah-Shepard library sits at the corner of Montgomery and Victory. It's been an Acres Homes mainstay for years. Now, they hope the new regional library up the road, will become an additional focal point for the people for residents.
"Libraries are incredibly important to communities like Acres Homes because they do act as a second resource hub for our neighborhood," said Rain Eatmon, executive director for the Acres Homes Community Advocacy group.
She said former Mayor Sylvester Turner's administration promised more than $16 million for that new facility only to see the project stalled when new Mayor John Whitmire took over.
"We need to make sure that we're honoring that commitment, even if it was in a different administration under that commitment," Eatmon told us.
Cynthia Wilson with Houston Public Libraries said the project's funding was short by $10 million, leading to that pause.
"A clean six-month window of no updates, no check-in, no feedback. Once again, communication is the key here," Eatmon said. "So, we go six months without hearing any progress update to hear the doomsday scenario. Of course it's going to rile everybody up."
Wilson said Whitmire's recent tour of a newly-built library in Alief convinced him to revive the Acres Homes project. And he's vowed to find the $10 million needed to move forward.
"Including the neighbors throughout the entire process. There is a long history of programming and projects happening in the community without resident really being at the center of the conversation," Eatmon explained.
The mayor's pause means the new library will be delayed by about a year with the design phase pushed out until 2025. Potentially giving the community more time for input for features it wants.