When a council member almost always wins due to the voting pattern of one high-voting community, other communities often do not receive the attention from that council member that they deserve. That is what may be happening to this far northside community since Adrian Garcia represented City Council District H. The District H council member owes their position to the Heights Community.
If Castillo had been aware of the problem with illegal dumping, he should have addressed it immediately; however, he didn’t until it was brought to the attention of the media.
From the video below, it appears that this has been an ongoing issue. If the council member cared, I am assuming he has half a brain, he would have one of his staff, or he could monitor that lot himself. But why waste time when one doesn’t depend on that community to get elected? What is the difference between that type of attitude and what Trump does or attempts by taking care of areas that support him and not the ones that don’t?
That’s when Cabrera contacted KHOU 11. After we reached out to the city and Councilman Mario Castillo’s office, a city cleanup crew arrived within 24 hours to clear some of the debris.,
But Cabrera says she’s seen this before.
“Back in 2023, they cleaned it up,” she said. “But it didn’t take more than three months before it looked just like this again.”
We asked Councilman Castillo what the city is doing to maintain the property. He acknowledged the ongoing problem and said changes are coming.
“As of January of this year, a new contractor was brought on to maintain the lot,” Castillo said. “But they’re not doing a good job either.”
Castillo says the city is now working on a more permanent solution. In the short term, they plan to install a fence around the lot to prevent illegal dumping.
In the long term, Castillo said the city is open to partnering with county or state agencies to transform the space — potentially into a park or another type of community amenity.
“We’re open to other opportunities,” he said. “We’d like to see this lot become something the community can be proud of.”
That’s exactly what Cabrera hopes for.
