Historic Oaks of Allen Parkway Village
Historic Oaks of Allen Parkway Village, formerly Allen Parkway Village (APV) and San Felipe Courts Apartments, is a public housing complex in the northern Fourth Ward, Houston, Texas,[1] operated by the Houston Housing Authority (HHA).
[4] The construction of Allen Parkway Village, originally known as San Felipe Courts Apartments,[5] was completed in 1944,[6] with 963 units built.
Mike Snyder of the Houston Chronicle said that local historians indicated the development of the complex as a factor that lead to the decline of the Fourth Ward.
Brian Wallstin of the Houston Press stated that at the time APV "was considered the best of the city's public housing complexes.
[11] Starting in the 1970s the HACH wanted to demolish Allen Parkway Village while residents fought to have the entire structure remain.
[12] In 1977 Robert Wood, the director of the Housing Authority of the City of Houston, wrote a letter proposing that Allen Parkway Village be demolished.
Jim Sherman of the Houston Press stated in 1993 that in addition to the practical desire for redevelopment, much of the impetus was a determination of the politically connected to get the complex demolished after initially running into roadblocks against the goal.
According to press reports, HACH had sent secret requests for razing the complex in 1977, which employees of the federal housing authority at the time disapproved of, and in 1981.
[15] The Handbook of Texas said "In the 1980s and 1990s the continued future of the Fourth Ward as a black community came under serious attack" due to plans to demolish Allen Parkway Village and replace the complex with housing for high income people and office buildings.
"[10] University of Houston sociology professor Bill Simon described Johnson as "The only person among the residents who had any legal standing" to bring a challenge to its demolition.
[9] Johnson personally went to Washington, DC and met Henry Cisneros, the head of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Marvin Krislov of the Yale Law Journal noted that HUD had not at the time certified the removal of the housing property, but the population had declined anyway, reflecting how HACH was deliberately causing APV to deteriorate.
[11] In August 1990 Felton began recording footage of events related to APV, including protests and meetings that were open to the public and conducted behind closed doors.
[6] Cisneros was no longer the head of the oversight community of the HUD after the 1994 United States midterm elections, as people of the Republican Party occupied most of the Congressional seats from that point forward.
[20] In 1996 Cisneros signed an agreement to allow the City of Houston to demolish 677 of the community's 963 units as long as the site was still used for low income housing.
[2] The federal government spent $57 million in redeveloping Allen Parkway Village and improving the surrounding area.
[13] In 1998 the gravesites that were not discovered in the 1940s grave location were uncovered by excavation movements to create utility services for the new APV development.
David Ellison of the Houston Chronicle argued that the quest to preserve Allen Parkway Village was "quixotic.
