Members of the Hillcrest Residents Association say the city's plan, which is the subject of a federal civil rights probe, would be a "death knell" for the neighborhood. City officials disagree.
The new Harbor Bridge will cut through the once bustling Hillcrest neighborhood. For those who didn't move away this is what life is like now.
Lucas Boland, Corpus Christi Caller Times
Corpus Christi Caller Times
Chase Rogers, Corpus Christi Caller Times
April 20, 2023
Monna Lytle shifted her SUV into park and grabbed one of her newly printed yard signs, stopping at a Nueces Street house that had been "on her list for a while" for her usual drives through the neighborhood.
As she did, a stocky gray dog emerged from behind two cars and began barking at the unfamiliar visitors.
"Oh, you are just handsome. Can you get your owner for me?" the 67-year-old Hillcrest resident joked. After waiting a few minutes without seeing the residents, she got back into her SUV, opting to move on to the next house. "We'll have to come back to this one. Try again later."
Lytle visited a number of homes during her Wednesday drive in the Northside neighborhood, handing out black and red signs reading, "SAVE HILLCREST. STOP DESALINATION" — a reference to the city of Corpus Christi's proposed marine desalination facility near the northwestern corner of the neighborhood.
While most residents she spoke with gladly accepted the signs, some declined to take them, and others, to her dismay, were unfamiliar with the city's plans or the ongoing civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development into the proposal.
The HUD investigation, a result of the Hillcrest Residents Association and other organizations filing an administrative complaint against the city last fall, remains ongoing and will assess whether the city violated parts of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 when it selected the site near the predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhood.
HUD committed to updating city officials and the complainants after 100 days of the investigation elapsed. Earlier this month, in a letter to all the parties, HUD officials said the agency was in the process of interviewing subjects and planning an on-site investigation.
"(T)he information gathered so far shows a need for more investigation and analysis," said Christina Lewis, a HUD regional fair housing director based in Fort Worth, in an April 5 letter obtained by the Caller-Times.
In the letter, Lewis said the projected completion date for the investigation was Aug. 31, 2023, but the date could change because "we cannot always predict what additional information or further action may be necessary to ensure that a comprehensive and impartial investigation has been conducted."
A HUD spokesperson has repeatedly declined to comment on the investigation.
Some Hillcrest residents and environmental advocacy groups worry the city's proposal would further upend the neighborhood, which has been largely hollowed out by a voluntary relocation program devised to lessen the impacts of the nearby Harbor Bridge replacement project.
City leaders contend the facility would have a negligible impact, pointing to the plant's distance from residents and what they say would be unobtrusive operations. The city, in a December letter to HUD, denied the allegations in the complaint, saying the site was chosen after an "extensive engineering evaluation” — not through discriminatory practices.
The city and Port of Corpus Christi officials largely support establishing the "drought-proof" marine desalination facilities to bolster the region's city-managed water supply. While city-port relations on desalination have been strained in recent years, the two entities officially renewed collaborative talks last month.
The city's desalination proposal near Hillcrest — which officials refer to as the Inner Harbor site — is one of two sites the city is pursuing. The port is pursuing two locations of its own. Any of the proposed plants, which the Texas Water Development Board projects could come online in the 2030s, would be the first of their kind and scope in Texas.
Corpus Christi City Manager Peter Zanoni said the city is committed to improving the quality of life of residents remaining in the neighborhood, but added that, due to the voluntary relocation program by the Port of Corpus Christi, no homes remain in close enough proximity to the site to merit stopping the city's plans.
Last year, the city estimated 100 households — down from 500 in 2015 prior to the relocation program — remained in the neighborhood.
"There are three homes remaining on one street and a fourth one several blocks away (from the site). That's hardly a neighborhood," Zanoni told the Caller-Times Wednesday. "It's an unfortunate aspect of the city and how the bridge impacted what was already a declining neighborhood."
Last year, the Caller-Times interviewed dozens of current and former Hillcrest residents about the outcomes of the port's relocation program. Most remaining residents said the hollowing out of the neighborhood has made living conditions untenable. Residents who relocated reported mixed results, citing higher property taxes and a loss of community.
But many members of the Hillcrest Residents Association, including Lytle, see the city's proposal as a "death knell" for the waning neighborhood.
"I learned something today — some people here don't know what's coming," she said while taking a break from door-to-door visits at Brooks AME Worship Center, a regular meeting location for the neighborhood association. "We've got a lot more work to do."