The $899,000 permanent generator that will be constructed and operational within a year will be given to Kashmere Garden’s multi-service center. At the FY2025 budget hearing in June, Councilwoman Letitia Plummer introduced an amendment calling for a permanent generator for the neighborhood’s resiliency hub, the only one of its kind in the city, in order to prepare for catastrophic weather conditions. Other council members supported the amendment, which was approved.
“The resilience of some of our locations that people were actually referred to during our storms was what became so glaring,” Mayor John Whitmire stated at a press conference. The fact that this will be our new model makes this an exciting day for Houston residents.
Plummer told the council about their predicament, stating that the community has suffered continuously throughout the years as a result of severe weather. It is intolerable, she said, that residents in the area have had to deal with frequent power outages and temperature swings without supplies for heating and cooling.
The Kashmere Gardens community has a 20% shorter life expectancy rate than any other community in Harris County, and I think it’s essential to mention that their [residents’] perseverance has brought us to this point, Plummer said. But with the new generator, we are putting the infrastructure in place to guarantee that residents, particularly the elderly and the most vulnerable groups, have a secure place to go in the event of a crisis, bringing Kashmere Gardens one step closer to being a true resiliency hub.
The Office of Business Opportunity will oversee the contract with Enchanted Rock Solutions, which was awarded with an 11% target for M/WBE participation.
The city’s Chief Recovery and Resilience Officer, Angela Blanchard, declared that Kashmere’s current solar panels had been fixed. She stated that the extra funding for the generator site came from Shell, an oil industry business.
A much-needed reprieve
Residents of Kashmere Gardens celebrated this news as a victory. The Greater Fifth Ward Super Neighborhood #55 president, Joetta Stevenson, attended the most recent meeting to reiterate her support for the generator.
“We want that [resiliency] hub finished, and in order to do that, it needs a generator that can power the entire facility,” Stevenson stated. To be honest, I’m sick of traveling far from home to charge my phone or to be warm. In order for us to proceed, I will therefore implore each member of this council to kindly authorize the required sum of money.
According to Martha Castex-Tatum, a council member from District K, the council agreed on this agenda item and had been preparing to approve it the following day.
Stevenson stated that following approval of the generator, it would also service nearby neighborhoods prior to the implementation of this model in other locations.
We are grassroots individuals. We’re accustomed to hearing things like, “all of my food is gone,” or “I don’t know where to charge my phone,” Ms. Stevenson.
In his absence, Plummer also read out a statement from Kashmere Gardens’ father, Keith Wyndel Downey.
For the rest of our lives, we will encounter storms, and we need to be ready for them when they occur in underinvested neighborhoods and underserved areas, Downey wrote. These storms affect the lives of the most vulnerable people on a daily basis. The community wants confidence that they have somewhere to go in the City of Houston in case the weather gets too hot or too cold. They also need an address, which they already have.
It will take a year for the generator’s benefits to reach Kashmere residents, which includes another winter and a hurricane season, even while the announcement appeases locals’ desires for long-term neighborhood solutions. According to Whitmire, his government would offer respite through initiatives and programs meant to address these problems. According to Blanchard, one of these is searching the city for resources that could be used as warming or cooling facilities.
Before we put generators in the two dozen or more locations, we will have to deal with other disturbances, Blanchard stated. We are aware of our need for them. We’ve already been surviving without those and finding ways to get by.
Whitmire went on to say that his government will implement plans to build infrastructure in Sunnyside and the Heights, focusing on underprivileged populations.
He remarked, “Kashmere has been neglected for my entire childhood, so we have our work cut out for us today.” As has been stated time and time again, the ultimate objective is to fix the entire city.
Kashmere Gardens: A Neighborhood Forgotten During Climate Disasters
Kashmere Gardens, a primarily Black community in Houston, has endured climate disasters for years. In 2017, Hurricane Harvey severely flooded almost 3,700 dwellings (44%). More recently, the area lost electricity for weeks due to Hurricane Beryl.
The neighborhood becomes the focal point of a new storm every time it attempts to heal. Most Kashmere residents were left without health insurance after an ice storm damaged their homes in 2021, forcing them to fend for themselves while watching out for their neighbors.
Here, almost half of the population is unemployed, and 29% of homes are below the poverty line. Because of this, the area is disproportionately affected by climatic shocks, underscoring the need for solutions that take into account its most vulnerable residents.
The city collaborated with Resilient Cities Catalyst (RCC) to create a two-year program to assist the people of Kashmere under the direction of former Mayor Sylvester Turner. Kashmere’s multiservice center was named Houston’s first-ever resilience hub by city officials in December of last year. It will provide locals with Wi-Fi, community education, and food aid, as well as act as a resource connecter during climate emergencies.The multiservice center lost power during Beryl, and the resilience hub was not operational despite its inauguration.
