The Texas Department of Transportation promised it would improve Hillcrest's parks during the new Harbor Bridge project. Eight years later, residents say they have little to show for it.

Lynn Allison, a spokeswoman for Flatiron/Dragados, meets with the Community Advisory Board on March 23, 2023, at the Oveal Williams Senior Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Angela Piazza/Caller-Times

Corpus Christi Caller Times
Chase Rogers - Corpus Christi Caller Times
March 24, 2023

Hillcrest and Washington-Coles residents impacted by the troubled Harbor Bridge replacement project expressed frustration with state transportation officials this week, saying local and state agencies have broken promises to invest in the historic neighborhoods.

Their outlet was a public meeting of the Harbor Bridge Community Advisory Board, which is composed of current and former residents of the majority Black and Hispanic neighborhoods. The meeting, held Thursday at the Oveal Williams Senior Center, turned tense as board members grew increasingly agitated while discussing roadwork and bridge construction that has enveloped the neighborhood for nearly a decade.

Attendees largely felt the concerns of Hillcrest residents had been set aside by the Texas Department of Transportation as the bridge project has slowly inched forward. In one heated moment, longtime Hillcrest resident Ron Navarro said the meetings had become cyclical and unproductive.

“We go over the same things over and over again, but nothing happens,” said Navarro, 63, who had lived in Hillcrest for more than 50 years before relocating during the bridge project. “Nothing ever happens.”

Officials fielded questions about ongoing and upcoming construction, shifting traffic patterns, roadway lighting and neighborhood flooding. A spokesperson for the project developer, Flatiron/Dragados, provided a construction update on the project’s centerpiece: the new bridge, which she said was now eyeing a 2025 completion date — five years after it was initially projected to be complete.

The meeting came as lawyers with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation last month, saying TxDOT had failed to complete promised improvements to T.C. Ayers and H.J. Williams parks and a site where Booker T. Washington Elementary once stood.

Texas RioGrande Legal Aid represented Hillcrest residents in drafting the community’s initial civil rights complaint against TxDOT’s bridge project. Then, federal officials, after conducting an investigation, found the bridge project would have disproportionate impacts on the neighborhoods.

That complaint, in addition to forming the Community Advisory Board, led to the creation of a voluntary land acquisition and relocation program for the neighborhood residents. A majority of residents took part in the program. Last year, the city estimated that 150 households remained in Hillcrest — down from 500 in 2015 when the program began.

Last year, the Caller-Times interviewed dozens of current and former Hillcrest residents about the outcomes of the relocation program, which was run by the Port of Corpus Christi. Most remaining residents said the hollowing out of the neighborhood has made living there untenable. Residents who relocated reported mixed results, citing higher property taxes and a loss of community.

Asked about the delays to park improvements, TxDOT Environmental Coordinator Kimberly Amy said TxDOT and the city of Corpus Christi were dedicated to making the improvements by the time the project is complete.

The board was also tasked with electing a new chairperson who’d serve as a liaison between the community and TxDOT. The board selected Lamont Taylor, a longtime Hillcrest resident and founding member of the Hillcrest Residents Association, for the role.

The previous chairman, Rev. Adam Carrington, the former senior pastor of Brooks AME Worship Center in Hillcrest, had been in the role since the board’s inception. Carrington, as a result of ongoing health issues, died in January.

Though Taylor, 70, does not currently live in the neighborhood, he said he is working on moving back. He told the Caller-Times he will push for the board to meet more frequently and better highlight issues for Hillcrest's remaining residents.

The meetings used to be held monthly, drawing dozens of residents as the port's relocation program pressed on, but later shifted to once a quarter. Their frequency has slowed further in recent years as attendance has waned amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Thursday meeting was the first in more than eight months.

"They can't even get our park done that we were promised. That tells you something," Taylor said, pledging he would press officials for results. “We are not going to let them forget about us."