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Saturday, Saturday,January January23, 23,2016 2016••Vol. Vol.62 62••No. No.XX 4
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Yale Street Green Corridor may have challenges taking root By Jonathan Garris jgarris@theleadernews.com
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INSIDE.
By all measures, the Houston Heights Association will be doing their best to make history this year as the group works to establish the first “Green Corridor” in Houston. However, petition and ordinance requirements from the city might complicate the green initiative. Urban Forestry Committee member Jonathan Smulian said the community has fought for years to preserve the area. In the 1980s, over $90,000 was raised to fund Trees for Yale with the help of the Greater Heights Area Chamber of Commerce. Volunteers planted and nurtured approximately 500 trees on both sides of the street in the
area stretching from Interstate 10 to Loop 610. Now, Smulian said he and others in the area are hoping to establish a Green Corridor from around West 5th Street to West 24th Street. Originally starting from a small group of HHA members and gradually expanding, Smulian said he now has unanimous support from the association and has been working for about a month on the initiative. “About a month ago we sent out a packet to property owners along the stretch of Yale Street which explained to them why were doing this and what had happened in the past,” Smulian said. “It included a form which the owners could sign if they supSee Green P. 2A
Photo by Jonathan Garris The Houston Heights Association is facing the unknown when it comes to establishing a Green Corridor along Yale Street.
Trash Treasure
Reagan HS name change postponed
into
What’s all the ‘Raven’ about? The tall, lightly colored tower standing near the soon-to-be White Oak Music Hall is getting a second life in a somewhat unconventional way. Find out what’s happening at the Raven Tower in this week’s edition of Leader Listings.
By Jonathan Garris jgarris@theleadernews.com John H. Reagan High School will keep its name for the time being. At the HISD Board of Trustees meeting Jan. 14, a resolution to rename schools currently named after prominent Confederate leaders passed by a vote of 5-4; however HISD trustee Anna Eastman successfully passed an amendment removing both Jefferson Davis High School and John H. Reagan High School from the list of schools, citing the desire to meet with the community to continue open discussions about the potential change. Albert Johnston Middle School and Sidney Lanier Middle School were also removed from the list; however Richard Dowling Middle School, Henry Grady Middle School, Lee High School and Thomas Jackson Middle School remained as part of the resolution.
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INSIDE.
See Reagan P. 6A
Bitten by the STEM bug Stevens Elementary will become a STEM magnet school next year, joining Harvard and Sinclair Elementary schools in The Leader area. Find out what this means for the school and also how it is responding to an edict for improvement from the Texas Education Agency.
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Photos by Betsy Denson Where it’s sign letters, skeletons or license plates, Kiki Neumann provides a home for it all.
Local relics get new life on property of N. Shepherd artist
INSIDE.
By Betsy Denson betsy@theleadernews.com
Living History Are you a World War II veteran or know someone who is? The local American Legion Post would love to document the memories and events that shaped your experiences.
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The INDEX. Church
5A
Classifieds
4B
Coupons
6A
Food/Drink/Art Opinion
7A 3A
Public Information Puzzles
2A 3A
Houston folk artist Kiki Neumann didn’t coin the idiom ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure’ but she might as well have. Neumann, who lives on two acres off of North Shepherd near Pinemont, has a thing for license plates, and sign letters, and signs and really anything that is found material, cast off by others who no longer see a use for it. She remembers the start of her passion for sign letters well. “I had sold a piece of art and had the money in my pocket,” she said. “I was driving home behind a truck with sign letters in the back and followed it to the scrap yard. I bought them off the truck.” Now the sign companies bring their old letters to Neumann, who in turn sells some of them at the Round Top market to recoup costs and then gives the rest away. She’s given letters to the City of Houston’s Green Building Resource Center, which is part of the permitting office, and also recently to the new Smither Park, located down the street from the Orange Show in southeast Houston. Neumann plans another gift to the city’s Reuse Warehouse on North Main. When she acquires something, Neumann says there’s no immediate purpose for it other than enjoyment. Such is the
case with her most recent acquisition, the metal sign from the Busy Bee Furniture store on N. Shepherd. For years, she’d driven past the Busy Bee Furniture store and “coveted” the handmade sign. When Neumann saw that the store was going out of business she made her move. The sign was easily acquired, but not so easily moved to the ground for transport. Neumann had to hire a crane. “None of it matters when obsession comes into play,” she said. The sign now sits on her property, appropriately enough near the six apiaries maintained by bee keeper Shelley Rice. Neumann might turn the sign into a table. She might even See Treasure P. 6A
Photo by Kim Hogstrom Benjamin Sackett stands proud as he officially receives his title of Eagle Scout.
Scout with rare heart condition becomes Eagle By Kim Hogstrom For The Leader On the evening of Jan. 16, about 50 people from Garden Oaks and Oak Forest gathered at St. Stephen’s United Methodist Church on W. 43rd St. to recognize an exceptional teen as he assumed the title of “Eagle Scout,” with the Boy Scouts of America, Michael Benjamin Sackett. Michael, who is 17, has earned a remarkable 57 scouting merit badges, exceeding the 21 required by 36. On the path to Eagle Scout, he has also earned many friends. While that in itself is admirable, it is made all the more so by the fact that young Sackett was born with only two of the four chambers comprising a normal, healthy human heart. See Scout P. 6A
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