Posted on 01/05/2006 9:31:28 AM PST by SwinneySwitch
State grants allow Mission residents access to main line
MISSION — Colonia residents living just outside Mission city boundaries can stop worrying about their old septic tanks later this year, when they tie into city sewage lines — for free.
Thanks to two state grants totaling $1 million, the city of Mission is footing the bill for yard lines and sewer hook-ups in 22 of the 44 colonias lying just northwest of its boundaries.
The money, which comes from a state fund specifically designated for crowded, low-income neighborhoods in counties near the U.S.-Mexico border, comes on the heels of a smaller grant that provided sewage service to colonias near Donna last year.
It pays for 703 households to connect to city sewer lines currently under construction nearby with separate state funds.
In 2003, the city received a $15 million grant and $20 million loan from the state to expand sewer lines toward the northwest but applied for additional funds so colonia residents could tap into the lines without paying a several hundred dollar connection fee.
City officials called the overall sewer expansion project a double boon for both colonia residents and the city, which they predicted will be able to attract more development with further-reaching city services.
"It really provides the services for the colonias, but also we’re going to already have that infrastructure in place for when we annex the land," said Mission Public Works Director Ruben Diaz.
Until now, the households in the colonias have had to rely on septic tanks to store raw sewage because the city’s sewer lines did not extend into the area where the low-income subdivisions are located. But it costs at least $1,800 to install two 500-gallon tanks, a cost that may be prohibitively expensive for some low-income residents, Diaz said.
Septic tanks also have to be cleaned out once a year at additional cost, and can flood when it rains, filling yards with foul-smelling wastewater that can pose a health hazard, Diaz said. He predicted the new sewer lines and yard lines would be completed by May.
Colonia residents seem to have mostly welcomed the project, although some raised questions about the $9.25 monthly fee the city charges for service.
Emilia Ramirez, who lives in a colonia near the intersection of Mile 4 North Road and La Homa Road, said she liked the idea of not having to deal with a septic tank anymore, even though she has yet to experience problems with it.
"It’s better with the sewer," she said in Spanish. "The septic tanks are going to fill up, and then how will we empty them?"
However, Ramirez said she worries that the city will force her to commit to sewer service.
City officials said they did not know whether sewer service would be mandatory. But Chris Duque, who wrote the grant proposal, said the reaction from colonia residents has been almost all positive. He and other city workers had to go door-to-door to survey residents before they applied for the grant, so they were able to gauge residents’ reactions up close.
"These people really want to go from septic tanks to having sewer lines," Duque said. "Everyone is just real pleased with what we’re doing."
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Kaitlin Bell covers Mission, Starr County and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4446.
Poop Ping!
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off this South Texas/Mexico ping list.
"For free"!! This reporter needs a couple of economic/civics lessons. What this means is that the taxpayers of Texas and the United States have provided the developer of those colonias, and those who bought cut-rate property, with a subsidy.
About five years ago Texas issued one billion dollars in bonds to pay for colonia roads, water and sewers. The mostly illegal alien Mexicans establish these illegally zoned shanty towns, flouting all building codes, and the Texas taxpayers pick up the tab to upgrade them to first world standards
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/08/08/texas_shantytowns_migrate_farther_north_of_border/
Texas shantytowns migrate farther north of border
Floods worsen waste, disease
August 8, 2004
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- Far from the Mexican border and just outside one of the major tourist destinations in Texas, with its popular nearby beach and bustling port, a string of shantytowns thrives.
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Hidden behind acres of tall grain sorghum live some of the area's poorest residents, who bought the only piece of the American dream they could afford -- a patch of land with no running water and no sewage treatment or wastewater service. Their homes are modest, made of wood or vinyl siding. Some live in shacks made of scrap metal or in dilapidated trailers. The spring rains bring massive flooding to these low-lying areas and with that, contamination, disease, and disruption of life.
Known as colonias, these developments have existed for years along the border with Mexico. Now they have migrated north, attracting not only new immigrants but also second- and third-generation Mexican-Americans, and whites and blacks unable to find affordable housing elsewhere.
Dozens of the unregulated, rural subdivisions have sprung up deep into Texas, near Corpus Christi and outside Austin, Houston, Beaumont, San Antonio, and as far north as Dallas and Fort Worth. Officials say unscrupulous developers take advantage of weak county laws to subdivide land and sell the plots with inadequate, if any, improvements. Over the past decade, Texas lawmakers have passed tough regulations on colonias near the border. With the squalid developments spreading, lawmakers are turning their attention to the rest of the state.
"This is just like Guatemala or Africa," said Lionel Lopez, a retired Corpus Christi firefighter who organized the South Texas Colonia Initiative to bring attention to what he counts as 88 such developments in Nueces County. "You see kids with all kinds of sores on their little legs, and the dogs -- they don't even bark, and they have mange."
The cheap land -- lots can cost $30,000 to $40,000, with or without a structure -- look ideal to residents trying to escape a tough inner-city neighborhood or who cannot afford starter homes at $80,000 or $90,000 within the city limits. "Through throwing up a substandard subdivision, you can offer a segment of our society their dream," said Donald Lee, executive director of the Texas Conference of Urban Counties. "Unfortunately, what you're not telling them, and they oftentimes don't realize, is that they're buying into a nightmare."
The illegals are still going to piss on the trees and fences. Can't change a culture that isn't wanting to change.
ping
For those of us not in Texas, what exactly are "colonias?" Why/how is the city planning on annexing them?
See #5.
Colonia is Spanish for colony.
Why they would annex them is beyond me.
Hey, give em a break. We were once just a group of colonies too.
Thanks for the reference.. I'm surprised that these "communities" aren't in violation of any zoning ordinances. Does that mean that each county in Texas sets their own zoning standards, or does it mean that zoning ordinances are being selectively enforced (i.e., only being enforced on non-Mexican populations)?
mthom said:
Hey, give em a break. We were once just a group of colonies too.
That was 300 years ago. Supposedly this country has progressed from living in squalor. I don't know about you, but I have no interest in my children growing up around "little Mexico". My ancestors have bled and sweat to make this a modern America and I don't like the idea of turning it into just another 3rd world country. But, looks like we taxpayers will "fix" it.
What is a Colonia?
Among the border states, Texas has the largest number of colonias approximately 1,800 communities, with more than 500,000 residents. Sixty-five percent of all residents, and 85% of residents under the age of 18, were born in the United States. (aka Anchor babies) These Americans live in extreme poverty and often are unaware of the services that the United States and Texas can provide for them. Education is a key to addressing the problems faced by colonia residents, but reaching out to these communities poses unique challenges that require unique approaches.
Ninety-eight percent of the residents are Hispanic and speak little or no English.
(see photos - http://www-apps.niehs.nih.gov/outreach-education/News/spotarch/spot0503.cfm)
Welcome to the Colonias Home Page
"One of government’s chief responsibilities is to help Texans with the greatest needs. The Secretary of State’s Ombudsman Program is a central part of our initiatives to assist needy Texans living in colonias. The program is helping to provide better roads, bring water and wastewater infrastructure to areas that lack these basic services, and improve the quality of life for some of Texas’ neediest citizens." - Governor Rick Perry
Selective enforcement. Colonias are mostly in the Texas-Mexico border counties. The counties look the other way as these 3rd world shanty towns get established. Then every few years the Texas taxpayers shell out to upgrade roads, water, sewer to first world standards
These developments are mostly illegal aliens. Thanks Yankee suckers!!!!
I feel the same except for one thing. Colonia translates to -->
Community Resource Group Multi-State Rural Development Organization
The term colonia means neighborhood in Spanish. In the U.S./Mexico border region the term refers to low-income, unincorporated settlements. The colonias were developed as negligent developers sold plots of land that often lacked basic services such as water, sewer, and electricity, to Mexican-Americans in the expanding border region. Most of these families build their own homes.
Though in reality it is a colony as we know them!
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