Shantytowns Migrate Far North of the Border in Texas
Weak County Laws Tied to the Spread of Squalid Developments

By Sylvia Moreno
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 2, 2004; Page A03

CORPUS CHRISTI, Tex. -- Far from the Mexican border and just outside one
of Texas's major tourist destinations, with its popular nearby beach and
bustling port, a string of shantytowns thrives.

Hidden behind acres of tall grain sorghum live some of the area's
poorest residents. They 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 residents of the colonia known as Tierra Grande, eight miles
southwest of Corpus Christi, have survived their latest nightma two
months of heavy rains that caused massive flooding. The development sits
in a flood plain, atop a maze of underground ethylene, methanol and
natural gas pipelines that feed into Corpus Christi's nearby refineries.
The development has no drainage system, and the homes have only septic
tanks to handle solid waste. So bad was the recent flooding that septic
tanks overflowed, and human waste saturated the floodwaters inside and
outside the ramshackle houses. Snakes slithered into homes, and huge
water beetles that look like leeches crawled out of the flooded
vegetation and into residents' damp mattresses. Parents carried their
children on flooded roads out to a county highway to catch the school
bus because the vehicle could not enter the community. Mail was not
delivered for a month.

Furniture, cars and trucks were ruined. Wells, which many residents
depend on for cooking, washing and bathing, were tested and found to
have three times the amount of acceptable E. coli bacteria for human
contact and an unacceptable level of dissolved solids for human
consumption, said Rick Hay, a research associate with the Center for
Water Supply Studies at Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi. The
roads were rutted, the mosquitoes flourished, and some of the ditches
along the roads held opaque, larvae-laden water a month after the last
rains. A few years ago, the several hundred residents of Tierra Grande
experienced the same type of flooding.

"If I had money to move to Corpus Christi, I'd be living over there,"
said Zulema Tovar, 40, as she sat outside her corrugated tin house,
holding her 5-month-old daughter, Yesenia. Tovar has lived in Tierra
Grande six years. Her two daughters contracted bronchitis during the
worst of the flooding, and her 24-year-old nephew was hospitalized after
a leg cut became infected from the contaminated water around their home.
Other relatives suffered diarrhea and fever. Several of Tovar's toenails
softened and fell off. She believes that happened because of the
contaminated floodwater she had to walk through for days.

"Nobody ever told us anything about anything, about the flooding," Tovar
said. "I guess people would say [about us], 'They should have known
better.' But us being poor Mexicans, too, we're trying to do the best we
can."

Texas legislators who represent the areas north of the border where the
colonias are growing say they want to stop development of the
subdivisions and provide state aid to residents.

"You've got people living in these Third-World conditions. . . . It is a
serious problem in urban counties," said state Rep. Dora Olivo, a
Democrat whose district just outside Houston, which includes four
colonias, overlaps with the congressional district represented by House
Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.). "People move out there because it's
too expensive to live in the city, into areas that aren't regulated. . .
.. Unscrupulous developers come in and do the wrong thing. But how do we
prevent proliferation of colonias? It's an expensive proposition."

Today, an estimated 1 million Texans live in these unregulated
subdivisions that have sprung up far from the border and lack adequate
water or wastewater service, according to the Texas Water Development
Board. The cost for providing such services would be huge.

"The total needs are $1.82 billion to bring water . . . and there's
$1.95 billion in wastewater needs," said Jonathan Steinberg, the board's
deputy counsel. "We've got a problem here."

Since the late 1980s, the Texas Legislature and various state agencies
have focused on border colonias, passing strict state laws at the end of
the last decade to prohibit further development. Border counties and
counties 50 miles inland from the border were given the power to require
developers to provide water and wastewater services in new residential
subdivisions. In 2001 Texas voters passed a $175 million bond issue to
improve existing colonia conditions by funding water, sewage and
drainage systems. Millions in federal funds also were earmarked to help.

More recently, the legislature began focusing on the "urban colonias" by
targeting certain urban counties and their neighboring counties and
giving them limited power to regulate rural subdivisions. However,
counties still have no zoning authority.

These urban counties now "have a vague authority to ensure that moral,
orderly and healthful development -- that's the key phrase -- occurs,"
said Jeff Barton, a land-use and planning consultant who is a former
commissioner in Hays County, just south of Austin. Barton was a
commissioner in 1998 when Hays County had to approve a special budget
appropriation to provide emergency hepatitis shots to hundreds of
residents in a substandard rural subdivision called Green Pastures. The
residents' septic tanks had failed. During heavy rains, the houses and
dirt roads were flooded with human waste that children and adults waded
through daily -- 22 miles south of the state capitol. President Bush,
who was governor of Texas at the time, never visited a colonia but
supported and signed a dozen bills to help them.

Barton said counties, a weak form of government as prescribed in the
Texas Constitution of 1870, are not accustomed to exercising authority
over development and land use.

"They've been very skeptical and very cautious and maybe even overly
cautious about moving into this territory," he said. "There is some room
for counties to be aggressive and more proactive in addressing growth
issues. . . . We are a different state than we were 150 years ago, and
it's time that we recognize that."

© 2004 The Washington Post Company

---------------------------------------------------------------------

While he was governor of Texas, Bush refused to visit the colonias. He
didn't want to confront the reality of poverty, one supposes.


--
"There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in
Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me -
you can't get fooled again." -George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Sept.
17, 2002

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Shantytowns Migrate Far North of the Border in Texas
Weak County Laws Tied to the Spread of Squalid Developments

By Sylvia Moreno
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 2, 2004; Page A03

CORPUS CHRISTI, Tex. -- Far from the Mexican border and just outside one
of Texas's major tourist destinations, with its popular nearby beach and
bustling port, a string of shantytowns thrives.

Hidden behind acres of tall grain sorghum live some of the area's
poorest residents. They 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 snip

So are you and the other thieves at Ullico donating all the money you guys
stole from hard working union members to improve the living conditions of
these folks?

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
jim-- wrote:

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Shantytowns Migrate Far North of the Border in Texas
Weak County Laws Tied to the Spread of Squalid Developments

By Sylvia Moreno
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 2, 2004; Page A03

CORPUS CHRISTI, Tex. -- Far from the Mexican border and just outside
one
of Texas's major tourist destinations, with its popular nearby beach
and
bustling port, a string of shantytowns thrives.

Hidden behind acres of tall grain sorghum live some of the area's
poorest residents. They 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 snip

So are you and the other thieves at Ullico donating all the money you
guys
stole from hard working union members to improve the living conditions
of
these folks?



Uh, as a matter of fact, the U.S. labor movement is involved in cleaning
up the colonias, bringing in fresh water and sewage treatment, builidng
modest homes, and so forth, and has been for many, many years. We tried
to get Dubya involved when he was Governor of Texas, and so did others,
but he didn't give a damn.

Sorry, but I don't know of any "thieves" at ULLICO. Earlier this year,
the Republican-dominated Senate committee investigating the company
concluded on Page 4 of its report: "Under O'Sullivan's leadership,
ULLICO Inc.'s new board quickly adopted all of the Thompson Report's
recommendations, sent demand letters seeking repayment of the illicit
profits, and suspended all representational activities of Sidley Austin
Brown and Wood [law firm]. Under O'Sullivan, ULLICO Inc. also fired
[former General Counsel] Joseph Carabillo for cause, froze all
retirement and deferred compensation accounts, and appointed Federal
Judge Abner Mikva to head a special committee of directors to examine
matters of impropriety even beyond those detailed in the Thompson
Report. ULLICO Inc. has sued a number of former officers and directors
over disputed claims to compensation, benefits and profits from these
improper stock transactions.

The company is still shakey, but it is honestly run.

I won't bother to correct the other major factual error in your post. It
serves my purpose to let dumbasses like you remain dumbasses.



Perhaps you can also summarize pages 1-3 of the report? :-)

For those who don't know what I am referring to (Ullico stealing from the
union members they call customers), here are the links:

http://www.labornotes.org/archives/2003/01/c.html

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/au...ulli-a29.shtml

There are plenty of more links to the story if you do a google search of
"Ullico".

jim-- wrote:

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
jim-- wrote:

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Shantytowns Migrate Far North of the Border in Texas
Weak County Laws Tied to the Spread of Squalid Developments

By Sylvia Moreno
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 2, 2004; Page A03

CORPUS CHRISTI, Tex. -- Far from the Mexican border and just outside
one
of Texas's major tourist destinations, with its popular nearby beach
and
bustling port, a string of shantytowns thrives.

Hidden behind acres of tall grain sorghum live some of the area's
poorest residents. They 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 snip

So are you and the other thieves at Ullico donating all the money you
guys
stole from hard working union members to improve the living conditions
of
these folks?



Uh, as a matter of fact, the U.S. labor movement is involved in cleaning
up the colonias, bringing in fresh water and sewage treatment, builidng
modest homes, and so forth, and has been for many, many years. We tried
to get Dubya involved when he was Governor of Texas, and so did others,
but he didn't give a damn.

Sorry, but I don't know of any "thieves" at ULLICO. Earlier this year,
the Republican-dominated Senate committee investigating the company
concluded on Page 4 of its report: "Under O'Sullivan's leadership,
ULLICO Inc.'s new board quickly adopted all of the Thompson Report's
recommendations, sent demand letters seeking repayment of the illicit
profits, and suspended all representational activities of Sidley Austin
Brown and Wood [law firm]. Under O'Sullivan, ULLICO Inc. also fired
[former General Counsel] Joseph Carabillo for cause, froze all
retirement and deferred compensation accounts, and appointed Federal
Judge Abner Mikva to head a special committee of directors to examine
matters of impropriety even beyond those detailed in the Thompson
Report. ULLICO Inc. has sued a number of former officers and directors
over disputed claims to compensation, benefits and profits from these
improper stock transactions.

The company is still shakey, but it is honestly run.

I won't bother to correct the other major factual error in your post. It
serves my purpose to let dumbasses like you remain dumbasses.



Perhaps you can also summarize pages 1-3 of the report? :-)

For those who don't know what I am referring to (Ullico stealing from the
union members they call customers), here are the links:

http://www.labornotes.org/archives/2003/01/c.html

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/au...ulli-a29.shtml

There are plenty of more links to the story if you do a google search of
"Ullico".


You're citing the mess, dummy...the old news. The cite I referenced was
earlier this year, after Labor cleaned house. D'oh.

--
"There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in
Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me -
you can't get fooled again." -George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Sept.
17, 2002

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
jim-- wrote:

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
jim-- wrote:

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Shantytowns Migrate Far North of the Border in Texas
Weak County Laws Tied to the Spread of Squalid Developments

By Sylvia Moreno
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 2, 2004; Page A03

CORPUS CHRISTI, Tex. -- Far from the Mexican border and just outside
one
of Texas's major tourist destinations, with its popular nearby beach
and
bustling port, a string of shantytowns thrives.

Hidden behind acres of tall grain sorghum live some of the area's
poorest residents. They 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 snip

So are you and the other thieves at Ullico donating all the money you
guys
stole from hard working union members to improve the living
conditions
of
these folks?



Uh, as a matter of fact, the U.S. labor movement is involved in
cleaning
up the colonias, bringing in fresh water and sewage treatment, builidng
modest homes, and so forth, and has been for many, many years. We tried
to get Dubya involved when he was Governor of Texas, and so did others,
but he didn't give a damn.

Sorry, but I don't know of any "thieves" at ULLICO. Earlier this year,
the Republican-dominated Senate committee investigating the company
concluded on Page 4 of its report: "Under O'Sullivan's leadership,
ULLICO Inc.'s new board quickly adopted all of the Thompson Report's
recommendations, sent demand letters seeking repayment of the illicit
profits, and suspended all representational activities of Sidley Austin
Brown and Wood [law firm]. Under O'Sullivan, ULLICO Inc. also fired
[former General Counsel] Joseph Carabillo for cause, froze all
retirement and deferred compensation accounts, and appointed Federal
Judge Abner Mikva to head a special committee of directors to examine
matters of impropriety even beyond those detailed in the Thompson
Report. ULLICO Inc. has sued a number of former officers and directors
over disputed claims to compensation, benefits and profits from these
improper stock transactions.

The company is still shakey, but it is honestly run.

I won't bother to correct the other major factual error in your post.
It
serves my purpose to let dumbasses like you remain dumbasses.



Perhaps you can also summarize pages 1-3 of the report? :-)

For those who don't know what I am referring to (Ullico stealing from
the
union members they call customers), here are the links:

http://www.labornotes.org/archives/2003/01/c.html

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/au...ulli-a29.shtml

There are plenty of more links to the story if you do a google search of
"Ullico".


You're citing the mess, dummy...the old news. The cite I referenced was
earlier this year, after Labor cleaned house. D'oh.



How about a link then? D'oh.

jim-- wrote:

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
jim-- wrote:

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
jim-- wrote:

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Shantytowns Migrate Far North of the Border in Texas
Weak County Laws Tied to the Spread of Squalid Developments

By Sylvia Moreno
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 2, 2004; Page A03

CORPUS CHRISTI, Tex. -- Far from the Mexican border and just outside
one
of Texas's major tourist destinations, with its popular nearby beach
and
bustling port, a string of shantytowns thrives.

Hidden behind acres of tall grain sorghum live some of the area's
poorest residents. They 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 snip

So are you and the other thieves at Ullico donating all the money you
guys
stole from hard working union members to improve the living
conditions
of
these folks?



Uh, as a matter of fact, the U.S. labor movement is involved in
cleaning
up the colonias, bringing in fresh water and sewage treatment, builidng
modest homes, and so forth, and has been for many, many years. We tried
to get Dubya involved when he was Governor of Texas, and so did others,
but he didn't give a damn.

Sorry, but I don't know of any "thieves" at ULLICO. Earlier this year,
the Republican-dominated Senate committee investigating the company
concluded on Page 4 of its report: "Under O'Sullivan's leadership,
ULLICO Inc.'s new board quickly adopted all of the Thompson Report's
recommendations, sent demand letters seeking repayment of the illicit
profits, and suspended all representational activities of Sidley Austin
Brown and Wood [law firm]. Under O'Sullivan, ULLICO Inc. also fired
[former General Counsel] Joseph Carabillo for cause, froze all
retirement and deferred compensation accounts, and appointed Federal
Judge Abner Mikva to head a special committee of directors to examine
matters of impropriety even beyond those detailed in the Thompson
Report. ULLICO Inc. has sued a number of former officers and directors
over disputed claims to compensation, benefits and profits from these
improper stock transactions.

The company is still shakey, but it is honestly run.

I won't bother to correct the other major factual error in your post.
It
serves my purpose to let dumbasses like you remain dumbasses.



Perhaps you can also summarize pages 1-3 of the report? :-)

For those who don't know what I am referring to (Ullico stealing from
the
union members they call customers), here are the links:

http://www.labornotes.org/archives/2003/01/c.html

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/au...ulli-a29.shtml

There are plenty of more links to the story if you do a google search of
"Ullico".


You're citing the mess, dummy...the old news. The cite I referenced was
earlier this year, after Labor cleaned house. D'oh.



How about a link then? D'oh.


You pretend to be educated. Go look for it. Here's a hint: Business Week
ran a piece earlier this year.

--
"There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in
Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me -
you can't get fooled again." -George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Sept.
17, 2002

In article , says...

So are you and the other thieves at Ullico donating all the money you guys
stole from hard working union members to improve the living conditions of
these folks?

You're such as dumbass Dennis. You have no basis upon which to accuse
Harry.

jps wrote:

In article , says...

So are you and the other thieves at Ullico donating all the money you guys
stole from hard working union members to improve the living conditions of
these folks?

You're such as dumbass Dennis. You have no basis upon which to accuse
Harry.


Calling Dennis a dumbass is an insult to honest dumbasses everywhere.


--
"There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in
Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me -
you can't get fooled again." -George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Sept.
17, 2002