Houston approves $5M to relocate residents living near polluted Union Pacific rail yard
Houston approves $5M to relocate residents living near polluted Union Pacific rail yard
Houston officials have approved $5 million for a fund to help relocate residents from neighborhoods located near a rail yard polluted by a cancer-linked wood preservative that has been blamed for an increase in cancer cases.
Residents and local officials have long blamed the high number of cancer cases on contamination from a rail yard originally owned by Southern Pacific and later bought by Union Pacific near two historically Black neighborhoods, Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens. The wood preservative creosote, which has been associated with an increased risk of contracting cancer, was used for more than 80 years at the site until the 1980s. City officials say the contamination has reached the groundwater in the neighborhoods.
During a city council meeting in which the funding was approved, Mayor Sylvester Turner said Houston “has a moral obligation” to help relocate residents away from the four different cancer clusters that have been identified in recent years. Health officials have found higher rates of respiratory cancers as well as childhood cancers, including acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
That's not very much money at all to relocate people. This is maybe enough for 25 households.
The article says, "relocating families from among the 100 properties that have been affected by the contamination could cost up to $35 million. The city is looking at other sources, including federal funding, to help pay for the relocation program."
I'm all for reperarions, but in what world does it take an average family $200,000 to move? Maybe if you're extremely rich, or relocating to Beverly Hills on a new mortgage, MAYBE you'll need 200k, but I highly doubt most people are spending 4-5x a yearly median wage at moving.
If you own a home in the area any equity you have there has probably been made pretty worthless. It would make it pretty hard to move if you couldn't sell your home to afford another.
The fuck you gonna buy house for <175K plus moving expenses? Not like you're gonna be able to easily sell your house in THE CANCER ZONE.
Of course it just so happens they'll be moving people from some of the poorest neighborhoods breaking up the community and diluting their votes elsewhere. It's not specifically the reason for doing this, but is definitely a side effect