A Toxic Time Bomb
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In a city with a history of cancer clusters we’re stunned neither the Biden Administration, or Houston City Hall, has put the brakes on a 146 million dollar housing project on 800 Middle Street. We’ve already shown that it’s a fountain of fraud – wasted tax dollars!
We can only pray that it’s not also a… TOXIC TIME BOMB!
One of Houston’s biggest TV reporters called it a toxic surprise, but we were not surprised at all.
We had warned Houston City Hall for year four years that the dirt in EADO near 800 Middle Street project was dangerous. The Turner Administration ignored us, they lied to HUD who trusted the mayor to watchdog the project. That was a mistake.
When do the lies stop? The Houston Housing Authority has mortgaged all of our futures with these politically corrupt insider real estate deals. When is someone going to pay the price for this fountain of fraud?
Our latest investigation documenting this politically corrupt real estate deal has already been seen by over 185,000 people on our growing social media pages.
And just hours before the new and supposedly improved Housing Authority Board met, we had already sent pictures of the newly found ash to the new HHA chairman, Jody Proler.
He didn’t say a word when the meeting started about the new potential dangers for the little children who will live on the land taxpayers were repeatedly told was clean.
Instead, he bragged about a tour he took along with other city leaders of the 800 Middle Street property the other day.
Our warning apparently fell on deaf ears.
“I’ve had numerous calls from city council members as well as the mayor’s office that just were absolutely moved by the quality, the environment, and the fact that folks here really get to benefit from that,” said Jody Proler.
Wait a second. Did Proler really just boast about the quality of the environment at this place, just hours after he knew of new ash? Repeated discoveries of toxic dirt in a place we were told was clean years ago? All of us were lied to.
And just weeks after Mayor John Whitmire said this.
“I don’t know why they would ever occupy the building because it will set you up for every lawsuit you can imagine,” said Whitmire.
“I got pictures today and video by that chain link fence that will show you in cinerator ash and glass and all kinds of bottles oozing up from the ground,” said Dolcefino.
In fact, it was Jody Proler who resigned from this very same board four years ago, quitting after he questioned why we were buying this land in the first place. Anyone on the HHA board who questioned this deal back then was quickly replaced.
“They’re not thinking about the health of the residents, fourteen fifteen years down the line. If that soil is contaminated those people are going to be sick,” said Phillis Wilson
Instead of halting construction until all the ash is found and remediated, the HHA board simply ignored the environmental threat.
Instead voting to add another $12,000,000 in public debt to an already exorbitant public housing project, now at $146,000,000.
These apartments are costing $336,000 a piece, Houston taxpayers are getting played.
“800 Middle, 400 low-income apartments built in the shadow of a radio tower. Which could fall down,” said Greg Groogan.
Today we filed a criminal complaint with the Texas Rangers, alleging NRP, top officials of the Houston Housing Authority, and the housing agencies environmental consultant filed false government documents as part of a conspiracy to hide environmental dangers. Dangers which would have likely stopped the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs from ever approving taxpayer financed bonds for this construction.
“It’s very personal because I put my heart and soul into this neighborhood for 27 years,” expressed Alan Atkinson.
We based our complaint, in part on research provided to us by East End developer Alan Atkinson, who has been warning about this project for half a decade.
“They lied so they could sneak the application through the TDHCA and the state under the radar, “ said Atkinson.
A key piece of evidence, this application for government bonds. Signed by five present and former HHA officials, including a current board member and the current real estate director Jay Mason.
To get approved by the TDHCA, NRP and its government partner had to answer a few key questions. It was the chance to tell the truth about any environmental on or near the property they wanted to build.
The sworn statement said there weren’t any, and that was a lie.
Look around, the Velasco Incinerator next door. Hard to miss don’t you think?
Or that giant 1000-foot-long radio tower, even harder to miss.
Or that old superfund site and lead plant right next door.
“That’s why the attorney general should investigate the fraud that has occurred for this $80 million of tax credit applications that led to the issuance of $80 million of bonds,” said Atkinson.
Five days after that lie, the Housing Authority hired a new environmental consultant named Mike Marcon. Maybe that was a way to make sure the truth about this place remained hidden under ground.
Marcon was actually the consultant for the people who sold this land to NRP and then taxpayers in the first place. The family of Ernie Cockrell, Pinto Realty.
It was represented the property was clean, today that might be called real estate fraud.
For years. InControl had provided these annual reports required by the TCEQ as part of the voluntary cleanup program, assuring there was no exposed toxic ash on this property.
The TCEQ had been given pictures instead of lush green fields.
They never expected, but if they had they would’ve seen mounds of toxic ash. When it rained the toxic brew oozed into Buffalo Bayou.
As early as 2019 the HHA knew there was contamination, it was Alan Atkinson who brought them the pictures.
In January of 2021, Atkinson warned the TCEQ of new areas of exposed toxic ash.
HHA claimed vegetation covering the ash had been frozen by winter storm Uri.
Great story, but bullshit. There are photos of the ash even before the storm.
Since then, the HHA has been hit with multiple criminal citations for failing to report the discovery of all this ash in 2023.
Why aren’t we making NRP pay for this? They are responsible for developing this property, they will make millions if its allowed to open.
Why aren’t we delaying any opening until the entire site is remediated?
Sophia Martinez and another neighbor had to sue and get a judge to order a cleanup . NRP tried to literally coverup the exposed ash with dirt.
Claiming it wasn’t toxic when construction exposed it. Tests later proved it was six times the legal limit for lead.
“When it started it went so fast they didn’t have time to do any real remediation, lord only knows what they built on top of,” said Casey Ostera.
Cary Ostera owns lead products, right next door to this new public housing project.
These markers, the site of the old superfund site. A legacy of the nasty way they used to make the lead pipes back in the day.
The lead business is a lot cleaner these days, but before Ostera bought lead products seven years ago, he was worried about who lived next door.
Possible liability from what has happened here before.
“We did a lot of due diligence checking out the land. He told us very clearly that he knew this area very well,” said Ostera.
Right next door to lead products was 800 Middle Street. Then just a big empty field, listen to what this environmental expert supposedly told Ostera.
“That land will never be developed on in our lifetime. Well so then at that point I felt like this area was going to stay industrial,” said Ostera.
Funny, Marcon was working as the consultant for the folks who were selling the land to the housing authority for a housing project. And now he’s the consultant for the Housing Authority. This guy is full of conflicts.
Here’s something frightening Marcon’s LinkedIn says he not only works for HHA, but also is an environmental consultant for Harris County, the flood control district, and the Port of Houston.
Makes you wonder who else is this guy lying to, how many other environmental time bombs is he covering up.
Two state agencies are now investigating this environmental deception. The TDHCA ordered new testing, but not by Marcon.
But only a few samples inches deep were drilled in two small corners of the 22-acre property. That’s not enough.
We say shut it down until all the ground is thoroughly tested and remediated, what a concept.
How long will the mayor let HHA president David Northern keep his job?
He approved dozens of suspect real estate deals over the last few years.
And a new HUD audit slammed the failure of HHA to properly auditing the use of all the federal tax money that pours into this place.
The mishandling of federal vouchers for section 8 families.
These folks can’t even do their original mission right, they never had any business becoming real estate entrepreneurs. But to hear David Northern at the last meeting everything is peachy, HUD loves us.
“It’s just amazing when we can have this type of progress with the housing authority,” said Northern.
But when you think about it, HUD is a federal agency with a history of putting poor people where they could get sick.
After the corruption in the Turner years thank goodness for mayor Whitmire, but his promised transparency at HHA will fail if their meetings continue to devolve into some sort of love fest. Where only good news is shared.
We watched their high price PR lady Toni Harrison brag about an award they got the other day.
She should have been fired years ago. She helped peddle those false videos denying the land at 800 Middle Street was contaminated at all when we first warned you it was. Long before we spent $54,000,000 on this East End dirt.
It was a lie, HUD paid $13,000,000 for contaminated land that could never be used for public housing, in clear violation of federal law.
The Biden Administration has been silent on this housing scandal, but the office of inspector general says it is now investigating. Kind of late,
But I ask the Texas attorney general, governor, the mayor, are we really going to let little children play in that dirt before the entire place is remediated? When more signs of the danger and the lies are exposed every day.
“It’s just amazing,” said David Northern.
Amazing that none of our politicians seem to have the guts to say what’s right. I think we should be suing to get our money back, but hey why stop another government gravy train.
Ostera is worried about the next few years in this section of the East End. A massive cleanup is planned of the poison in the Velasco incinerator site.
“Especially when they start the cleanup of what type of ash plumes is going to be generated,” said Ostera.
Wayne Dolcefino asked, “You worry about it?”
Ostera replied, “I do, especially knowing now what I know. Yeah. Yeah.”
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