Sunnyside, Houston

Sunnyside is outside the 610 Loop and inside Beltway 8 off State Highway 288 south of Downtown Houston and is predominantly African American.

[5] When the community opened in the 1910s, H. H. Holmes, the founder, gave the land the name Sunny Side.

[6] By the 1940s area residents established a water district and a volunteer fire department.

[5]In the 1940s and 1950s new additions were constructed in the Sunnyside area, and local residents of nearby Mykawa, then a mostly white community, expressed dismay at this,[7] as the 1948 Shelley v. Kraemer Supreme Court decision meant that neighborhoods could no longer have rules excluding people on the basis of race.

[12] In addition, by the 1980s the imprisonment of African Americans, an increase in violence, and the proliferation of recreational drugs began to damage the neighborhood.

[15] As of January 2007, according to a Houston Chronicle article and according to residents who live(d) there, Sunnyside has many issues with recreational drug use.

Marijuana, Opioids, Benzodiazepines or benzos, Methamphetamine or commonly known as ice, shards, crystal and/or glass, 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine or MDMA, Ecstasy, E-pills and/or tabs, diacetylmorphine or heroin or brown, Crack cocaine simply called hard or rock, Cocaine or powder,snow, and/or sugar, Phencyclidine (PCP) also known as shrewm or water, is cited by the article and surveys as a popular drug choice in Sunnyside which have flooded the streets and plagued the residents.

Marlene McNeese-Ward, the Houston Health Department chief of HIV/STD and Viral Hepatitis Prevention, stated "We're really looking at Acres Homes especially, and Sunnyside, but there's not too many ZIP codes ... where we're not seeing any (cases).

"[17] The 2000s-2010s Great Recession further harmed Sunnyside particularly because many businesses had thin operating margins.

[18] A 2013 NeighborhoodScout crime study that analyzed data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) concluded that Sunnyside was #6 in its list of the 25 most dangerous neighborhoods in the United States.

[19] In 2016 the Houston City Council established a tax increment reinvestment zone (TIRZ) in western Sunnyside.

[20] In the 1970s and 1980s the area was known as "Black Wall Street" or "Baby River Oaks" due to the concentration of businesses.

[citation needed] In 2019 Kinder Institute for Urban Research of Rice University concluded that the community had a "strong" "social fabric".

[25] As of 2008 Sunnyside still has small churches, shotgun houses, horse stalls, original frame houses, open ditches, uncontrolled garbage fires, and vacant lots, features which characterize many rural areas.

Toral Sindha, a nutritionist in the City of Houston's health department and the manager of the city's Community Garden Program, stated that because of this Sunnyside was "a true food desert" and that "healthy produce in fresh fruits and vegetables is not accessible in Sunnyside.

"[26] George added that Sunnyside's neighborhood stores "offer fewer healthy options of any kind.

"[26] As of 2016 a large number of federally subsidized low income housing units are in the area.

[10] Villa Americana formerly known as the VA,[27] Wesley Square,[28] Sunflower Terrace,[29] Scott Plaza,[30] King's Row,[31] Royal Palms East,[32] Southlawn,[33] Missionary Village,[34] and the now demolished Wilmington[35] are low income housing developments located around the area.

[36] The neighborhood is within the Houston Police Department's Southeast Patrol Division,[37] headquartered at 8300 Mykawa Road.

[43] The city multi-service centers provide several services such as child care, programs for elderly residents, and rental space.

[45] In 2010 the city began to establish a community garden at the Sunnyside center to provide area residents with vegetables and other nutritious foods.

[47] Harris County Precinct One, headed by Commissioner Rodney Ellis, serves Sunnyside.

Despite the neighborhood's proximity to the Astrodome, traffic from the convention did not lead to increase of patronage of area businesses.

Young shares its campus with South Administrative Alternative Elementary and Drug-Free School.

Now since 2014 Pro-Vision welcomes female students and is now an athletic school [citation needed] Crossroads Charter is located in a four-story office building in the area.

The park and the community center include a playground, an outdoor basketball pavilion, a 0.48 miles (0.77 km) hike and bicycle trail, lighted tennis courts, an indoor gymnasium, weight rooms, meeting rooms, a lighted athletics field, and a swimming pool.

[79] The American Red Cross operates the Southeast (Sunnyside) Houston-Harris County Branch Office at 4605 Wilmington Street.