During the early '90s, Gulfton's old neighbor, the Shenandoah subdivision, lobbied the city to help protect them from what some residents of the subdivision perceived as an increase in crime caused by the sudden demographic change in Gulfton. In 1992, Mayor Lanier included Gulfton as one of ten neighborhoods slated for a revitalization program. One part of that plan was to erect barricades around Shenandoah to reduce crime and traffic, and while supported by the Shenandoah Civic Asssociation, the Gulfton Area Neighborhood Organization opposed the separation and claimed that racist motives were behind it. In the end the two groups worked out their differences and the barricades were built.
However, like many areas of Houston that have seen bad times, there are glimmers of hope that the Gulfton area might someday see better times. In 2010, the Baker-Ripley Neighborhood Center was created nearby, and the center provides many services such as a gymnasium, a community garden, an elementary school, and a tax center. These are the types of services that the neighborhood always lacked, and has needed for years.
There have also been educational improvements in the area schools, and Gulfton seems to be slowly heading toward becoming a more stable community. It also benefits from its geographic location. Being just outside the 610 Loop and near communities like Bellaire, there is always the possibility that Gulfton will transition into a more desirable neighborhood. Stranger things have happened, and the diverse cross section of immigrants living there today are already contributing some unique shops and restaurants to Houston's increasingly international culture.
Driving through the area today does not fill me with dread or the feeling that Gulfton is some permanently blighted neighborhood with no chance of improvement. Changes are happening, albeit slowly, but in a decade or two we might see Gulfton as a success story just like other areas of Houston that were formerly considered the "bad side of town."
Rather than looking at the irresponsible development of the area that is largely to blame for the enormous blocks of apartments that are in Gulfton today, we may see the area revived, fueled by the diversity of people's settled there, and by the neighborhoods proximity to Houston's central core.
One thing about H-Town that we should all remember is that it is constantly changing, and it's short sighted to count out any neighborhood forever.
Flashback:
The Changing Face of Houston - The Old Sixth Ward
The Changing Face of Houston - Riverside Terrace
The Changing Face of Houston - Glenbrook Valley
The Changing Face of Houston - Downtown
The Changing Face of Houston - Oak Forest
The Changing Face of Houston - Sharpstown
The Changing Face of Houston - Spring Branch
