SE Houston residents say trash, stagnant water and unfinished construction are creating years-long eyesore

HOUSTON – Unfinished construction, trash, debris, and stagnant drainage water are some of the issues plaguing a fairly new southeast side community that people who live there say would otherwise be beautiful.

The people who live on that stretch of Marciano Street say they feel sandwiched between two issues that have persisted for years. There is a torn up sidewalk, and on the other end of the block, illegal dumping.

“Like ever since we’ve moved in it’s like basically, unfinished,” said Roni Moland.

“This has been going on for about two years,” another resident named T. A. Raglin said.

“It’s kind of unsafe. You have to go into the street because you can’t continue to walk on the sidewalk, on the pavement. So, if you’re walking your dog or walking with your kid you have to go on the other side of the street or in the street,” Moland said.

“We’ve been going back and forth to 311 to see if they can be completed, resolved and they haven’t,” Raglin said.

At Marciano and Almeda Genoa, there seems to be a major drainage issue.

“It doesn’t really drain out as much, I see some debris, but most of my concern is water staying in,” said another neighbor who asked not to be identified.

“Like a sofa cushion that’s been there for a long time, looks like there was some kind of accident or someone threw a automobile bumper down into the ditch as well,” Raglin said adding that has also been there for two years.

As far as the illegal dumping is concerned, we contacted District D Councilwoman, Carolyn Evans Shabaaz who assured us her office has what’s called a “hot team” that she plans to send out there to address the issue expeditiously.

“I’ve seen boats, beds, chairs, just trash just clothes just dumped in and around the neighborhood,” Moland said.

When it comes to the sidewalk, a Houston Public Works official said she found the initial call came in October of last year. They assured us they are into the issue also.

“It’s very frustrating to know that we pay our taxes and we’re good citizens and everything, and we’re just trying to have a nice community,” Raglin said.

Both Shabaaz and Public Works officials say residents there did the right thing. They called 311 to report the issue and got case numbers. If you do that and several weeks pass with no change, that’s when you reach out to Deven Clarke at Dclarke@kprc.com