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98-519: Las Américas serves newly arrived refugees and other immigrants, aiming to adjust them to the American lifestyle and educational system. Many students reside in the Gulfton area, and other schools and refugee agencies refer students to Las Américas. As of 2015 the principal is Marie Moreno; she worked as the school's principal since 2005. Las Américas has hosted school administrators inside and outside

196-424: A 1997 article, that the development and decline of Gulfton originated from a, "purely short term, relatively spontaneous speculative process." They state that the process focused on building apartment complexes, clubs, and warehouses for short-term profit without providing supporting infrastructure such as parks, libraries, recreation centers, small blocks, and sidewalks. In 1985, recent Salvadoran immigrants opened

294-680: A 2006 keynote address to the Rotary Club of Bellaire, "When I look out my window on Chimney Rock, I don't see big corporations; I see Gulfton; I see mom and pop businesses ." The Houston Metropolitan Chamber, previously the Greater Southwest Houston Chamber of Commerce, provides economic assistance in Gulfton. As of 2005 many Central American businesses have outlets in Gulfton. ADOC footwear has its only United States store located in Gulfton. Pollo Campero has

392-620: A density of 16,000 people per square mile, while as a whole the area within the 610 Loop has a density of 3,800 people per square mile. Of the 32,298 reported residents older than 18, 22,941 (71%) were Hispanic, 4,064 were non-Hispanic white, 2,980 were black, 1,715 were Asian, 38 were Native American, 10 were Native Hawaiian, and 65 were of other races and were not Hispanic. 485 were of two or more races. The super neighborhood contained 17,467 housing units, with 15,659 occupied units, 14,865 rental units, and 794 owner units. Super Neighborhood #27 had 9,930 families with 36,019 individuals counted in

490-411: A few morphological contexts, the sequences 'ki' and 'ke' may be pronounced interchangeably as [ki] and [ke] or [ci] and [ce] according to speaker's preference. The letters ⟨a, e, i⟩ at the end of a word followed by a word starting with a vowel often follows a pattern of omission in common speech ( sandhi ), though the orthography remains the same. Consider the following excerpt of

588-435: A group of apartment complexes along Broadway Street in eastern Houston. The size of the city blocks in Gulfton differs significantly from that of Downtown Houston in that sixteen downtown city blocks will fit into one Gulfton block. Few sidewalks exist in Gulfton. In 1999 Houston City Council District F representative Ray Discroll said "[Gulfton residents] don't have sidewalks, let alone sidewalks that are only two and

686-682: A half feet wide. There are pregnant women walking down the sides of the roads." In 2005 the Houston-Galveston Area Council identified Gulfton as one of the most hazardous communities for pedestrians. Dug Begley of the Chronicle wrote in 2019 that "pedestrians and cyclists, [ sic ] navigate streets designed for cars that can leave residents facing wide intersections with fast, unimpeded right turns and signal timing that forces younger, elderly and disabled travelers to hustle, as hundreds of cars pass by." That year

784-605: A housing shortage in the Houston metropolitan area . In the mid-1980s the Houston-area oil industry economy declined and more than 200,000 jobs were lost from the local economy. Thousands of renters left causing a rise in apartment vacancies. Many apartment complexes throughout the Houston area experienced bankruptcy, foreclosure, and frequent turnover in ownership. Colonial House Apartments, which became known throughout

882-494: A large number of immigrants in the mid-1980s and the regional economy could not support the increasing pressure of the new workers. This led to higher unemployment rates and families tended to "double-up" housing, where multiple families shared the same unit to reduce family expenditures. Scott Van Beck, head of the Houston Independent School District 's West Region in the Gulfton area, stated in

980-511: A main swimming pool, twelve other swimming pools, and a club called "Bonaparte's Retreat." Within a 1-mile (1.6 km) radius of the main entrance to Napoleon Square, 5,000 apartment units in at least twelve apartment facilities, about forty swimming pools, about or more than twenty-four bars and nightclubs, and about twelve tennis courts. A subsidiary of Western Capital purchased the complex in March 1985. As of 1999, about 1,500 families reside in

1078-622: A more accurate population count may have also contributed to the increase. In 2021 about 12% of households in Gulfton did not have cars, while the Houston average was around 6%. In 2015 the City of Houston-defined Gulfton Super Neighborhood #27, which includes Gulfton and various surrounding subdivisions, had 41,089 residents, with 14,508 people per square mile. 73% were Hispanic or Latino, 15% were non-Hispanic black, 7% were non-Hispanic white, 6% were non-Hispanic Asians, and 2% were non-Hispanic others. In 2020 Hispanics and Latinos made up about 69% of

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1176-479: A political consultant of the group Campaign Strategies, drew the boundaries of District J in order to ensure that Gulfton and Sharpstown were together in one area. That way, the Hispanic residents could lobby for influence with their city council representative, whether he or she is of Hispanic origin or not. In the 2000s Gulfton was divided between two city council districts, District C and District F, while in

1274-620: A twenty-year span ending in 2000, the non-Hispanic white population decreased by 50%. In 1980 only about 15% of the area population consisted of children, by 2000 that had risen to nearly 30% of the population. Gulfton is served by the Houston Police Department 's South Gessner Division (previously Fondren Patrol Division). Previously the Gulfton area was served by the Southwest Patrol division, then headquartered on Beechnut Street. A June 1999 report entitled

1372-418: A unit). John Goodner, a Houston city council member who represented a district that included Gulfton at that time, said that more demographic changes occurred within his district in the years leading up to 1988 than in any other part of the city. He was referring to the shift in the demographics of various apartment complexes. Goodner said that the complex owners were unconcerned about this development as long as

1470-420: A variety of morphophonological changes in the preceding segment) and the subjunctive (ending in the morpheme -e ). According to Botne (1983), a verb may belong to any of eight Aktionsart categories, which may be broadly grouped into stative and dynamic categories. In the immediate tense, dynamic verbs take the imperfective stem while stative verbs take the perfective stem, while both use the imperfective stem in

1568-731: Is a Bantu language and the national language of Rwanda . It is a dialect of the Rwanda-Rundi language that is also spoken in adjacent parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Uganda , where the dialect is known as Rufumbira or Urufumbira . Kinyarwanda is universal among the native population of Rwanda and is mutually intelligible with Kirundi , the national language of neighbouring Burundi. Kinyabwishya and Kinyamulenge are mutually intelligible dialects spoken in

1666-859: Is in Texas's 9th congressional district and represented by Al Green since 2009. The United States Postal Service operates four offices near Gulfton: the De Moss Post Office, the Rich Hill Post Office, the Bellaire Post Office (in the City of Bellaire ), and the Sage Post Office. The Consulate-General of Nicaragua in Houston was located in Suite 470 at 6300 Hillcroft Avenue, adjacent to Gulfton. In 2009

1764-578: Is located near Fire Station 51 Sharpstown, a part of Fire District 68. The community is within Super Neighborhood #27 Gulfton and its recognized council was established on June 22, 2000. Each super neighborhood represents a community advocacy block of civic clubs, places of worship, businesses, and other community interests. Houston City Council District J now covers Gulfton. District J was created in 2011 to allow Hispanic voters to more easily select candidates who cater to them. Robert Jara,

1862-469: Is normally pronounced [ɾɡw] . The differences are the following: These are all sequences; [bɡ] , for example, is not labial-velar [ ɡ͡b ] . Even when Rwanda is pronounced [ɾwaːnda] rather than [ɾɡwaːnda] , the onset is a sequence, not a labialized [ɾʷ] . Kinyarwanda uses 16 of the Bantu noun classes . Sometimes these are grouped into 10 pairs so that most singular and plural forms of

1960-741: Is the Gulfton Youth Development Program which operates out of the Gulfton Community Learning Center at 5982 Renwick Drive. The Southwest Courthouse Annex 19 is located at the county complex. The Harris Health System operates the Vallbona Health Center (formerly People's Health Center) near Gulfton. The Harris County Juvenile Probation Department runs the Burnett-Bayland Reception Center and

2058-511: Is the city’s great challenge and its great opportunity." Las Américas Middle School was originally one of the schools of the Las Américas Education Center in Gulfton , which also included a preschool named Las Américas Early Childhood Development Center and Kaleidoscope Middle School. The education center started in 1995 as a reliever campus for Cunningham and Benavidez elementary schools in Gulfton. The reliever school

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2156-653: Is within District 17 of the Texas Senate and represented by Joan Huffman since 2009. In May 1991, Marc Campos of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project , expressed concerns that proposed state senate redistricting plans would deliberately re-draw Texas Senate, District 15 to ensure the re-election of John Whitmire . He felt this would hamper the possible election of Hispanic representatives. Campos cited

2254-478: The Houston Chronicle said that Gulfton, "with its rows of down-at-the-heels apartments that still bear jaunty names from their swinging-singles days, makes an incongruous gateway for the newest waves of immigrants and their many children." Roberto Suro of The Washington Post described Gulfton as a "tightly packed warren." Some of the apartment complexes are over one block long. In the 1970s one of

2352-594: The 1990 U.S. Census and the 2000 Census , the counted Hispanic population in Gulfton increased from 18,422 to 33,424, an 81% increase, and the non-Hispanic White population decreased from 6,371 to 4,908, a 23% loss. Occupancy rates at many apartment complexes increased; for instance, Napoleon Square's rate increased from 60% around 1996 to over 95% in 2001. Mike McMahon, the co-founder of the Gulfton Area Neighborhood Organization (GANO), said that increased census worker efforts to ensure

2450-558: The COVID-19 pandemic as of July 31, 2020, 13 people in Gulfton died and authorities confirmed that 1,100 had been infected with COVID-19. Rose-Ann Aragon of KPRC-TV wrote that the pandemic "hit Gulfton hard". Gulfton is located in Southwest Houston outside the 610 Loop . Gulfton is about 10 mi (16.1 km) southwest of Downtown Houston and approximately 2 mi (3.2 km) west of Bellaire . Susan Rogers of

2548-677: The Darfur region), Tanzania , Turkey , Uganda , Venezuela , Vietnam , and Zambia . As of 2015 students who have been enrolled in the school have spoken the following languages natively: Amharic , Arabic , Burmese , Cantonese , Dzongkha , French , Fur , Hindi , Kanuri , Karen , Kibembe , Kʼicheʼ (Quiché), Kinyarwanda , Kirundi , Kunama , Lingala , Luganda , Mandarin Chinese , Mandinka (Mandingo), Nepali , Oromo , Persian , Punjabi , Russian , Somali , Spanish (Castellano), Swahili , Tigrinya , Urdu , and Vietnamese . In

2646-708: The Gulfton Community Five Year Plan , produced by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention , stated that the sudden changes in Gulfton's population exceeded the police department's ability to adapt. The establishment of the Gulfton Storefront Station augmented the police department's presence in Gulfton. This station, originally located near the Napoleon Square Apartments, opened in

2744-651: The North Kivu and South Kivu provinces of neighbouring DR Congo. In 2010, the Rwanda Academy of Language and Culture (RALC) was established to help promote and sustain Kinyarwanda. The organization attempted an orthographic reform in 2014, but it was met with pushback due to their perceived top-down and political nature, among other reasons. Kinyarwanda is spoken in Rwanda , the Democratic Republic of

2842-573: The Rwandan anthem : Reka tukurate tukuvuge ibigwi wowe utubumbiye hamwe twese Abanyarwanda uko watubyaye berwa, sugira, singizwa iteka. would be pronounced as Reka tukurate tukuvug' ibigwi wow' utubumiye hamwe twes' abanyarwand' uko watubyaye berwa, sugira singizw' iteka. There are some discrepancies in pronunciation from orthographic Cw and Cy. The glides /w j/ strengthen to stops in consonant clusters. For example, rw (as in Rwanda )

2940-699: The Salvadoran Civil War . Grupo TACA operates the Houston-area TACA Center on Bellaire Boulevard in the Gulfton area. Additionally, Famsa , a Mexican appliance and furniture chain, operates the #38 Bellaire location in the Southwest Management District, adjacent to Gulfton. Throughout the neighborhood food vendors, called paleteros , travel on bicycles and sell foods and snacks such as spiced cucumbers and popsicles ( paletas ). The emergence of

3038-553: The University Line , an approximately ten-mile segment connecting Hillcroft Transit Center to the Eastwood Transit Center. In a 2007 Houston Chronicle questions and answers page regarding the proposed line, Daphne Scarbrough and Christof Spieler asked why METRO did not include a station to serve Gulfton. METRO responded that the agency originally envisioned "more of an express" line, but would examine

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3136-424: The subject . Then a tense marker can be inserted. The class I prefixes y-/a- and ba- correspond to the third person for persons. The personal prefix n- becomes m- before a labial sound (p, b, f, v), while personal prefix tu- becomes du- under Dahl's Law. Every regular verb has three stems: the imperfective (ending in the morpheme -a ), the perfective (ending in the morpheme -:ye , which may trigger

3234-486: The "old poor" in existing low-income areas to the "new poor" in newly created communities. The HRCPC members argued that the original "Community Development Targets" were not fully served prior to the service areas expanding and budgets shrinking. The council had no authority to force any changes in public policy. Rose Mary Garza, then the principal of Cunningham Elementary School, stated that some government officials were reluctant to expand services to Gulfton as they believed

3332-505: The 1960s and 1970s Gulfton experienced rapid development, with new apartment complexes built for young individuals from the Northeast and Midwest United States. They came to work in the oil industry during the 1970s oil boom . In the 1980s, as the economy declined , existing tenants left, resulting in a significant drop in occupancy rates in the apartment complexes and forcing many complexes into bankruptcy and foreclosure. Owners marketed

3430-757: The 1990s all of Gulfton was in district F. By December 3, 1991, increased crime and demographic shifts in southwestern Houston neighborhoods led to many political rivals competing for the city council seat of District F. The City of Houston operates the Southwest Multi-Service Center within the Southwest Management District (formerly the Greater Sharpstown district), adjacent to Gulfton. The city's multi-service centers provide child care, elderly residents programs, and rental space. The complex includes

3528-524: The Bellaire location in Gulfton. Salvadoran banks have three branches and an importing business in the area. As of 2004 the Salvadoran banks include Banagricola (a U.S. division of Banco Agricola ), BancoSal (a subsidiary of HSBC El Salvador) and Bancomercio. At that time many businesses in Gulfton, including small grocery stores and restaurants, were owned and operated by Salvadoran refugees from

3626-590: The Burnett Bayland Park and Burnett Bayland Community Center in Gulfton. The complex has an outdoor basketball court, a hike and bicycle trail, a playground, a lighted athletics field, and a water park. No recreation centers existed in Gulfton prior to the opening of Burnett Bayland. In 1995 Mike McMahon, executive director of Gulfton Area Neighborhood Association (GANO), criticized the city for not establishing any libraries, multi-service centers, parks, or recreation centers in Gulfton. However, through

3724-679: The Burnett-Bayland Home, residential post-adjudication facilities for youth. The Reception Center opened in 1998 with revenue from the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission state grants and county funds. The Burnett Bayland Home is a 40-acre (16 ha) campus for juvenile offenders who do not require secure confinement. Gulfton is located in District 137 of the Texas House of Representatives and represented by Gene Wu since 2013. Gulfton

3822-921: The Central American Refugee Center (CARECEN) to provide legal services for central American immigrants. Between 1988 and 1992 CARECEN cooperated with the Central American Refugee Committee (CARC) to publicize and advocate issues related to the Salvadoran Civil War and the immigration of Salvadorans to the United States. In 1988, various religious representatives created the Gulfton Area Religious Council (GARC) open for any Christian church to join. GARC advocated assistance for Gulfton residents and established focused programs. Taafe and Fisher suggest that GARC focused on relieving

3920-443: The City of Houston's "Neighborhoods to Standard" program. In 1997, Gulfton received a federal designation as a National Weed & Seed site from OJJDP and TDPRS designation which provided the community with close to $ 7 million dollars in grant funding that would target criminal activity while providing social services for at-risk youth and families in the 77081 zip code. Nyelene Qasem, Gulfton Weed & Seed Coordinator, established

4018-558: The Colonial House Apartments were auctioned off to an out-of-state investment group for $ 8.9 million and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development realized a $ 42 million loss. The following year Colonial House was renamed "Lantern Village." Marketing to an influx of immigrant workers, owners abandoned "adult only" policies (prohibiting children), listed vacancies in Spanish , and reduced rents. Despite

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4116-414: The Congo and Uganda . The table below gives the consonants of Kinyarwanda. The table below gives the vowel sounds of Kinyarwanda. Kinyarwanda is a tonal language . Like many Bantu languages , it has a two-way contrast between high and low tones (low-tone syllables may be analyzed as toneless). The realization of tones in Kinyarwanda is influenced by a complex set of phonological rules . Except in

4214-606: The Gulfton Area Neighborhood Organization (GANO). In 1995, CARECEN merged with GANO as both organizations had board members and goals in common. Fisher and Taafe said in the 1997 article Public Life in Gulfton: Multiple Publics and Models of Organization that the merger into GANO made cooperation between the members of the combined "progressive" GANO and Shenandoah Civic Association with the more "conservative" GAAC unlikely. By 1993, Gulfton received 500 new street lights, paved streets, and new sidewalks as part of

4312-535: The Gulfton Community Learning Center and the Gulfton Education Center provided free computer classes to over 800 community residents. From 1998-2004, more than 3,000 children between the ages of 6 and 18 attended the free summer day camp offered at Burnett Bayland Park. The Campo del Sol After School program provided teens from Jane Long Middle School after school enrichment programming and TAKS tutorials from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Many of

4410-467: The Gulfton Community Learning Center, Campo del Sol Summer Day Camp Program, the Campo del Sol After School Program and the Gulfton Education Center, in strategically located areas of Gulfton in an attempt to provide ESL classes, Citizenship classes, gang intervention, apartment outreach/community policing efforts and Computer classes-all free of charge, to any resident interested in attending. From 1999–2004,

4508-544: The Gulfton area was designated by Houston's city council as a "Community Development Target." These provided low-income communities with increased city services supplemented with federal funding. This drew a response from the Houston Resident Citizens Participation Council (HRCPC), a citizen commission that monitored funding for low-income residents. Board members formally protested city council against diverting support funds from

4606-697: The Houston Public Library (HPL) Express Southwest library extension. The center also houses the Mayor's Office for Immigrant and Refugee Affairs and the Mayor's Citizens' Assistance Office (CAO) Southwest Satellite Office. Construction of the center was scheduled to begin in February 2005. The Mayor of Houston , Bill White and Council Member Khan dedicated the center on Monday February 19, 2007, which cost an estimated $ 4.1 million (2007 rates). The Houston Parks and Recreation Department operates

4704-577: The Houston area from advertisements featuring California promoter Michael Pollack , is an example as they faced foreclosure. DRG Funding, a mortgage lender headquartered in Washington, DC , took over the complex. On September 16, 1988, the Government National Mortgage Association took over Colonial House Apartments and other properties of DRG, after DRG fell behind on its mortgage. On Wednesday, May 11, 1989,

4802-458: The Houston area in the summer of 2014. As of 2015 countries of origins of the students included: Afghanistan , Azerbaijan , Bhutan , Burma (Myanmar), Burundi , Colombia , Chile , China , Cameroon , Congo, Cuba , El Salvador , Equatorial Guinea , Eritrea , Ethiopia , Guatemala , Honduras , Iran , Iraq , India , Kenya , Liberia , Mexico , Mozambique , Nepal , Nicaragua , Pakistan , Somalia , South Africa , Sudan (including

4900-526: The Jesse H. Jones Center for Economic and Demographic Forecasting at Rice Center, a Rice University -affiliated urban research center, the development of these apartment complexes was not well planned or coordinated. There was often little interest in building a quality product as developers were primarily concerned with generating quick revenue and capitalizing on the deregulation of financial institutions, tax laws favoring apartment construction, inflation , and

4998-452: The Latino community led to changes in area businesses as they catered to the predominant population. In 2003 Kroger remodeled its Gulfton supermarket to cater to the new demographic. In December 2010 Kroger announced that the 59,000-square-foot (5,500 m ) Kroger in Gulfton would close by the end of January, as it has been an under-performing store. Kroger owned the store location, and

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5096-572: The Rice Design Alliance describes Gulfton is an example of an "inner ring" area of Greater Houston which is located between downtown and the suburbs . Rogers states that the "outwardly conventional landscapes" of "inner ring" areas are "neither urban nor suburban, but a conglomeration of both, a hybrid condition mixed from one part global city, one part garden suburb, and one part disinvestment." Gulfton includes about 90 apartment complexes with more than 15,000 units. Lori Rodriguez of

5194-544: The Texas state performance index of early 2014 the school had a six out of 100; a 30 would be a passing score. Gulfton, Houston Gulfton is a community in Southwest Houston , Texas , United States 3.2 sq mi (8.3 km ). It is located between the 610 Loop and Beltway 8 , west of the City of Bellaire , southeast of Interstate 69 / U.S. Highway 59 , and north of Bellaire Boulevard . In

5292-413: The U.S. census. Steve Murdock, a demographer for the state of Texas, said that "[t]he major problem in an undercount is not an immigration issue. It's always difficult to count any population that is highly mobile, poor and living in a diversity of households." As of 2003 , 31% of residents in Gulfton had an annual income of less than $ 15,000 ($ 24844.43 in today's money). By January 30, 2007, some 45% of

5390-536: The United States who also work with refugee populations. Patrick Michels, a staff writer for the Texas Observer , wrote in Politico that the school "has become a model for the holistic education a large newcomer population requires, challenges cities all over the country are facing", and that Las Américas is the school that most "embodies" "That Houston is where so much of the world makes its American arrival

5488-436: The actual population was closer to 70,000. In a 2006 National Center for School Engagement report, Susana Herrera, the program coordinator for Houston's Truancy Reduction Demonstration Project, indicated that social service agencies and government officials estimated Gulfton's population to be 60,000, with 20,000 juveniles. Under-representation in the census was likely as many of the area's immigrants, especially those residing in

5586-708: The addition of a community college campus, elementary schools, public transportation routes, a park, a community center, a public library, and a juvenile detention facility.. By 2000 Gulfton was the most densely populated community in Houston, with 71 percent Hispanic residents, including many recent immigrants from Mexico and Central America . Although traditionally a Salvadoran and Mexican neighborhood, many immigrants began coming from different Latin-American countries, particularly from Venezuela , Honduras , Cuba , Guatemala and Colombia . There are also American citizens from other states and territories like Puerto Rico. Before 1950, Gulfton consisted of farm land and much of

5684-555: The apartment complex because of issues related to maintenance and management, affecting the HISD schools housed there. The district decided to vacate the property instead of appealing the decision. In summer 2007, the former Las Américas Education Center closed. The middle schools that were in the complex, Las Américas Middle School and Kaleidoscope Middle School, moved to the Long Middle School campus. Las Américas, residing on

5782-668: The apartment complexes contained seventeen swimming pools, seventeen hot tubs, seventeen laundry rooms, and two club houses. Gulfton also contains strip malls and office blocks. The complexes generally contain features catering to single adults and lack features appreciated by families, due to the initial market targeted in the 1970s. As of 2005 , Gulfton has more than one hundred semi-private swimming pools but many of them have been filled in and are no longer usable. Some apartments in Gulfton have businesses located in ground floor units. Several area tract houses are occupied by beauty salons, small stores, and tire repair shops. Rogers contends that

5880-483: The area belonged to Westmoreland Farms. In the mid-1950s, the Shenandoah subdivision was established; consisting of sixteen city blocks of ranch-style homes . Shenandoah was located adjacent to the land which would later become the site of the Gulfton apartment complexes. Decades later these communities would clash as the apartments surrounding Shenandoah deteriorated and property values became threatened. Due to

5978-698: The burgeoning oil industry. Americans came from the South, the Midwest, New York, and California to live in the area of complexes. The complexes also housed some individuals from western and eastern Europe, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, South America, Philippines, and Vietnam. Few native Houstonians lived in the housing complexes. The apartments were given names meant to be fancy, such as "Napoleon Square" and "Chateau Carmel." Some complexes gave free videocassette recorders to renters who signed leases for one year. According to Jim Gaines, director of

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6076-507: The campus of Jane Long Academy (formerly Jane Long Middle School), uses a series of temporary buildings, and will do so until it gets a permanent campus. It has been on the Long campus since 2007. As of the 2010s the school normally has around 108 students. In the 2014-2015 school year Las Américas Newcomer had 325 students, three times the normal enrollment, because 4,000 children who had fled El Salvador , Guatemala , and Honduras settled in

6174-445: The census. The super neighborhood's average family size was 3.63, compared with a city average of 3.39. The St. Luke's Episcopal Health Charities 2007 Community Health Report on Gulfton, which includes some areas north of Gulfton, notes the U.S. Census reported the area to have 60,637 people in 2000. Since 1990, that area's population has increased by 16,000 people (over 26%) and the area's Hispanic population increased by nearly 16%. In

6272-488: The chain was considering selling it to another grocery chain. Fox Sports Net technical operations were formerly located on Gulfton Drive, before it moved to Fox Network Center - Woodlands in unincorporated Montgomery County around 2008. A 2008 Houston Chronicle article described the former FSN Network Operations Center as "flood-prone." It employed around 300 staff. In 2001 a partnership formed between Ed Farris, of Farris & Associates, and U.S. Builders for

6370-510: The collaborative effort of Gulfton Weed & Seed and Gulfton Youth Development, members of the Gulfton Youth Leadership Council attended Superneighborhoood meetings to lobby for an enclosed area at Burnett Bayland Park, where many of the youth attended Campo del Sol or soccer games; they also lobbied for a multi-purpose center to be established to assist all members of the Gulfton area. Through their efforts, money

6468-486: The collaborative efforts were noted by the Houston Chronicle, Telemundo, PBS, La Voz and smaller newspapers from the area. On July 11, 1998, Houston Police Department officers acting on a tip regarding drug-related activities entered a Gulfton apartment complex and shot and killed Pedro Oregon Navarro. The circumstances of the event were disputed. By October 19 of that year, a Harris County grand jury cleared

6566-491: The complex, and most of them originated from Mexico, Central America, and South America. As of 2003 many families at Napoleon Square came from Mexico, Honduras, other Central American countries, and South America. The Napoleon Square and Lantern Village complexes have a combined total of over 1,000 units and, as of 2000 , several thousand inhabitants. Between 1980 and 2000 the population of Gulfton increased by almost 100% without significant additional residences built. Between

6664-545: The construction of Plaza de Americas, a 30,000-square-foot (2,800 m ) shopping center adjacent to the Kroger in Gulfton. The project was completed for $ 4 millionand hoped to attract retailers catering to Hispanic clients. Lane Design Group designed the center with a "Hispanic flavor." The developers believed that the Hispanic buying power in the Gulfton area would generate profits. Kinyarwanda Kinyarwanda , Rwandan or Rwanda , officially known as Ikinyarwanda ,

6762-507: The country illegally, may have been distrustful of the government's attempt to obtain personal information. Jaime de la Isla, the assistant superintendent of the Houston Independent School District , said in 2000 that it was possible that the district lost significant amounts of money because residents of Gulfton were not counted in the 1990 United States Census , and that the district receives federal funds for bilingual programs, free and reduced lunch, and special education based on numbers in

6860-453: The empty units to newly arrived immigrants and Gulfton became a predominantly immigrant community. In the 1980s, the community of Gulfton experienced a surge in crime and a significant increase in student enrollment, leading Houston citizens to dub it the "Gulfton Ghetto." In response, the city and school district took action, increasing police presence and opening new schools. Since then, the community has undergone positive changes, including

6958-461: The families included small children. By that same date, many Gulfton families earned less than $ 25,000 U.S. dollars ($ 36735.68 in today's money) per year and were dependent on public assistance. By 2006, the median family income in Gulfton was $ 18,733 ($ 28312.87 in today's money) or 30% less than the city of Houston's median income level. By 2000, many Gulfton residents had recently immigrated from Mexico or other Latin American countries. In 2000

7056-457: The habitual or gnomic tense. Simple tense/mood markers include the following: Object affixes corresponding to the noun classes of an object may be placed after the tense marker and before the verb stem: The personal object affixes are as follows: Kinyarwanda employs the use of periphrastic causatives , in addition to morphological causatives. The periphrastic causatives use the verbs -teer- and -tum- , which mean cause . With -teer- ,

7154-422: The households did not own cars. Starting in the mid-1980s, the Gulfton population experienced increases in female and children populations. Peg Purser, an urban planner who directed a 1991 University of Houston Center for Public Policy study commissioned by the Houston Chronicle , identified that the Hispanic population growth in the Gulfton area was almost entirely from Central American countries. According to

7252-581: The inclusion of Gulfton in Whitmire's district would dilute Hispanic voting strength, since many Gulfton residents are not eligible to vote due to a lack of citizenship. A May 15, 1991 Houston Chronicle article reported that some people did not want to see Gulfton included in a mostly Hispanic Texas Senate district citing fears that the residents might not vote. During the afternoon of May 1, 2010, 7,000 people protested Arizona 's SB 1070 bill along Bellaire Boulevard and Chimney Rock in Gulfton. Gulfton

7350-566: The large parcels of land available and the grid road pattern, Gulfton was well-suited for the construction of large apartment complexes. In the 1960s, a number of large apartment buildings were built. More complexes were added during the 1970s as Houston prospered from the oil boom . These apartments catered to young, predominantly Caucasian workers from the Rust Belt regions of the Northeastern and Midwestern United States employed in

7448-489: The late 1980s, the Southwest Houston Task Force was established as a coalition of representatives from the City of Houston government, health and human services organizations, businesses, schools, religious organizations, and Gulfton-area residents. The Task Force held two meetings related to the proposal for the establishment of a municipal health clinic in Gulfton. The organization's meetings led to

7546-629: The low-income apartments would be bulldozed. During his time city council member Goodner lobbied for a satellite health department clinic for apartment renters. Robert Fisher, professor and chair of Political Social Work at the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Houston , and Lisa Taaffe, a project manager for Houston's "Communities in Schools," stated in "Public Life in Gulfton: Multiple Publics and Models of Organization,"

7644-495: The mixed-use adaptation, "has occurred spontaneously from the bottom up, indicative of the entrepreneurial spirit of residents and their need to adapt existing space for new uses." A 2000s City of Houston report on Study Area 8, which includes Gulfton and surrounding areas, states that Gulfton's "large apartment complexes dominate the area's landscape." John Nova Lomax of the Houston Press described Gulfton as "uglier" than

7742-490: The office moved and no longer resides in the Gulfton area. Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas (METRO) operates passenger bus services in Gulfton. Bus lines serving the area include 2 Bellaire, 9 Gulfton/Holman, 32 Renwick/San Felipe, 33 Post Oak, 47 Hillcroft, 49 Chimney Rock/South Post Oak and 65 Bissonnet. The Gulfton Area Neighborhood Organization successfully lobbied for increased METRO bus routes in Gulfton. In 2019 Begley stated that "Gulfton remains

7840-448: The officers of charges related to the incident. Nestor Rodriguez, a professor of sociology at the University of Houston , described Gulfton as "a place where people are just struggling to get by." Consequently, there were fewer "displays of outrage" than would have been expected if the incident had occurred in one of the "older, well-established Latino communities." Oregon's killing was controversial because illicit drugs were not found on

7938-506: The opening in 1991 of the Sisters of Charity Southwest Health Clinic , the Gulfton area's first major health clinic. Jointly operated by the GAAC and the City of Houston, the clinic provided pre-natal and child care services. Fisher and Taafe state that the organization "lost its focal issue" after the clinic opened. After performing a "community needs assessment" and identifying "local leaders",

8036-400: The organization Together for Safer Roads planned to fund a study on Hillcroft Road, discussing ways of making pedestrians there safer, with $ 150,000; it plans to work with the municipal government. One complex, Napoleon Square, was built in 1971 for $ 22 million; the 1,884 unit complex, owned by real estate figure Harold Farb, included a $ 400,000 disco and many swimming pools. In 1977 it had

8134-476: The organization disbanded in early 1992. During the same year the Salvadoran Civil War ended but CARECEN continued to provide legal services, publications, and advocacy for Central American immigrants. They also began campaigning the federal government to provide permanent legal residency to the Salvadoran refugees. In August 1992, Mike McMahon of the GAAC and Francisco Lopez of CARECEN founded

8232-563: The original subject becomes the object of the main clause, leaving the original verb in the infinitive (just like in English): Ábáana children b-a-gii-ye . they- PST -go- ASP Ábáana b-a-gii-ye . children they-PST-go-ASP "The children left ." Umugabo man y-a-tee-ye he- PST -cause- ASP ábáana children ku-geend-a . INF -go- ASP Umugabo y-a-tee-ye ábáana ku-geend-a . man he-PST-cause-ASP children INF-go-ASP "The man caused

8330-483: The portion of [METRO's] service area with the greatest demand for bus service." In 2021 METRO had plans to begin a circulator service around Gulfton to service families without cars and to compensate for long distances between landmarks. At the same time the city planned to give more room to pedestrians on Hillcroft Avenue by removing one lane of traffic. As part of the METRORail light rail network, METRO proposed

8428-491: The possibility of serving Gulfton on the University Line. In July 2008, METRO indicated a "Gulfton Station" as a "potential" station on the University Line in its modified Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) plan. As of 2010 METRO has proposed the construction of a Gulfton Station as part of the University Line. Gulfton includes several scattered areas of commercial and light industrial properties. Gulfton gained

8526-566: The property. Oregon's family sued the City of Houston arguing that the raid was inappropriate. The city countered that its officers acted in an appropriate manner. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit in 2000. Beatrice Marquez, a Houston Independent School District (HISD) parent involvement specialist for the Gulfton area, stated in a 2004 Education Week article that members of the Central American communities specifically identify themselves with Gulfton rather than Houston. In

8624-500: The rent payments were made. Landlords had difficulty filling apartment complexes even if they did not require background checks. Many banks and lending institutions owned foreclosed apartments and failed to properly maintain them, considering it "pouring money down a perceived rat hole." Gaines added that many complexes deferred maintenance. Many of the new Gulfton residents found limited access to government services such as food stamps and municipal and county health care. By July 1989,

8722-406: The rent reduction, a July 17, 1988, Houston Chronicle article stated that rates for poorly maintained apartments in Gulfton and other Houston areas were comparable to well-maintained apartments in other parts of the city. According to Gaines, complexes in Gulfton began to cater to illegal immigrants and landlords allowed renters to "double-up" housing (several individuals and/or families living in

8820-468: The residents, the median income was $ 26,042, and the average life expectancy of Gulfton was about 75.9. Of the residents, 95% rented their residences. Rose-Ann Aragon of KPRC-TV wrote that "The culture of the neighborhood is rich but it’s [ sic ] dwindling in economic wealth." By 2005, 60% of Gulfton residents were not native born and represented citizenship from forty-two countries. Many residents were illegal immigrants . More than 20% of

8918-412: The same word are included in the same class. The table below shows the 16 noun classes and how they are paired in two commonly used systems. All Kinyarwanda verb infinitives begin with ku- (morphed into k(w)- before vowels, and into gu- before stems beginning with a voiceless consonant due to Dahl's Law ). To conjugate , the infinitive prefix is removed and replaced with a prefix agreeing with

9016-601: The study, between the 1980 and 1990 U.S. Censuses, Hispanic population density increased by 3,500 persons per square mile. Between 1990 and 2000, the population of the area within the Gulfton Super Neighborhood increased by 13,347, from 33,022 residents to 46,369 residents or 40%. The 2000 census identifies Gulfton as a "hard to enumerate" tract with the densest neighborhood in the City of Houston, estimated at 45,000 people in approximately 3 square miles (7.8 km ). Some community leaders believed that

9114-647: The summer of 1990 with the City of Houston paying one dollar a month to the real estate company managing the complex. The Gulfton Area Action Council paid the utility bills, estimated at $ 5,000 per month in 1990. The Civic Association of Shenandoah also provides support for the establishment of the sub-station. By 1998 the Fondren Patrol division was established with responsibility for the area. The storefront moved to its current location in 2017. The Houston Fire Department provides fire protection services. Its Fire District 68 Primary Run Area covers Gulfton and

9212-399: The super neighborhood reported a population of 46,369 people, of whom 34,410 (74%) were Hispanic , 5,029 were white , 4,047 were black, 2,081 were Asian, 61 were Native American , 13 were Native Hawaiian, and 97 were of other races and were not Hispanic. 631 were of two or more races. As of 2010 , Gulfton has citizens of 82 countries, and 16 languages are spoken in the community. Gulfton had

9310-544: The symptoms of poverty instead of removing its causes. Representative Goodner, described as "conservative" by Fisher and Taafe, organized a March 3, 1989, town hall meeting which sparked the creation of an organization called the Gulfton Area Action Council (GAAC). The GAAC was made up of business owners who advocated the reduction of recreational drug use, local crime, and the improvement of the neighborhood, in an effort to restore property values. In

9408-706: The time. Harris County Precinct Three serves Gulfton, while Harris County Constable Precinct Five and Constable Precinct One also provide services. The County has offices in Gulfton and provides the Bellaire Tax Office Branch and the Harris County Youth Services Center services. The Harris County Child Protective Services (CPS) operates the TRIAD program from this center aimed at preventing juvenile crime. One of their programs focused on decreasing juvenile crime

9506-475: Was allocated for Burnett Bayland to be rebuilt with an enclosed community center as well as money being allocated for a multipurpose center to be built. Many of these youngsters were previously gang involved youth who were headed to a juvenile delinquency center prior to their involvement with Weed & Seed and Gulfton Youth Development. Many of the participants graduated from high school and many began taking classes at HCC, something many never thought possible at

9604-622: Was established with funds from the "Weed and Seed" program established by City of Houston officials. In 2000, the center moved into the Las Américas Apartments in Gulfton. In October 2006, Michael Marquez, president of the Hispanic Housing and Education Corporation, which operated the Las Américas apartments, announced to HISD in a letter that the organization would terminate the lease agreement between HISD and

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