Bracing for Gentrification in Houston's Near Northside

Erin Mulvaney writes about the current gentrification trend in neighborhoods like Glen Park in Houston's Near Northside. According to Mulvaney, "Glen Park… is well inside Houston's Loop 610, with skyline views and easy access to the North Freeway. It's the kind of real estate people increasingly have proved they are willing to pay a premium for."

Mulvaney writes that residents of Glen Park and others on the Near Northside, traditionally Latino communities, are "girding themselves for the developers already making forays from neighborhoods like the Woodland Heights or the First Ward, just across the freeway, where they've been expanding many bungalows almost beyond recognition and bulldozing others to make way for suburban-style leviathans."

So far neighborhood resistance has consisted of "Keep Glen Park Weird" bumper stickers and a grassroots campaign to support minimum lot-size restrictions that, according to Mulvaney, "will keep oversized townhomes away and protect the character of the neighborhood." Also, the proposed development of a three-stage music hall, now under construction, has ignited new levels of controversy. According to Mulvaney, "the development has been a sore spot for [Glen Park resident Steve Bermudez] and some of his neighbors, wary of what a concert hall will do to the quiet community. More bars and restaurants will likely follow. Parking may overflow onto their streets."