HOUSTON — Houston Mayor John Whitmire is working with community groups to restore the historic brick-paved roads laid by free slaves in Freedmen's Town.
The brick-paved roads run for about 1.5 miles through the neighborhood. Free slaves laid them around the 1870s because the city wouldn’t do it.
The roads have long been in rough disrepair as activists and the city battled over fixes and finances. It's been a two-decade-long battle, but community groups are now hopeful things will progress.
“This community has been trying to get these streets restored for two-plus decades now, and now, I feel like everything is in place," said Charonda Johnson, engagement manager for the partnership between Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy and Contemporary Art Museum of Houston.
According to Whitmire, Freedmen's Town has long had infrastructure problems, drainage and mobility issues. At one point, the city started making repairs but a lawsuit stopped the repairs because the historic bricks that were being removed weren’t preserved properly.
Whitmire said the city kicked around $10 million to make repairs and restore the bricks in Freedmen's Town, but the question is, where will the city find this type of cash?
Houstonians know the city can't currently pay for the new $650 million firefighters’ contract and has promised to repair 125,000 residential water meters by January 2025.
“I've already said we're broke," Whitmire said. "I mean, I'm very transparent about the city's finances, but it's what you prioritize and how you collaborate.”
He hopes Texas, Harris County, corporations and nonprofits will step up.
“I've already talked to the Kinder Foundation this morning," Whitmire said.
Johnson said the Mellon Foundation has promised $1.5 million to the project.