Resident Noelia Fadic grew up in the Gulfton neighborhood and shared how the community was heavily impacted by gang-related activities in the late 1990s. She said it would be dangerous to walk to the corner store or go to school most times. Things started to shift due a couple of factors, she said, including more bright LED lights being installed along dark residential areas, police beginning to intervene with the gangs and businesses being able to renovate safely, which also meant improving the parking lot area.

Fadic pointed to an area gated off by a fence and vast amounts of high grass. In the dark, people in cars likely see the tree next to it, but Fadic said a different green space opportunity is possible.

“We’re trying to bring back the community garden,” she said.

The bigger picture

Harris County commissioners have until the end of 2024 to approve and designate the remainder of its $272 million balance in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding. In 2021, the U.S. Treasury first allocated $915 million in ARPA funding to the county to assist in recovery from the economic and public health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Officials from the county administration office announced in September that $8 million will be split among four neighborhoods in precincts 3 and 4 for the Clean Streets, Safe Neighborhoods program that will support streetlight, sidewalk and green space investments. The program uses data to target neighborhoods where decay and abandonment could be driving violent crime, and Gulfton in southwest Houston was one of the four neighborhoods identified. Commissioners approved $4 million in ARPA funding for infrastructure improvements.

To engage with community members about lighting and other possible urban design improvements, Precinct 4 officials invited the public and other community stakeholders for a walk along a 2-mile journey—at night.

Digging deeper

With a bright flashlight attached to a headpiece, Fadic walked north along the sidewalks on Glenmont Drive and Westward Street. A new, wider sidewalk along Westward Street was installed within the past year, according to a Precinct 4 official. But that wasn’t the case for the next sidewalk section, which was narrower and overwhelmed by unkept grass.

Sandra Rodríguez is president of the Gulfton Super Neighborhood Council. She said the community members who are able to advocate for change are active and collaborating together.

“Prior to the event last night, we had a working session where community members came together to prioritize needs and areas of Gulfton for this project. After the first working session, the group decided Glenmont was a priority, which is where we walked,” Rodríguez said.

One of the last stopping points for the evening was in the parking lot of an empty building on Westward and Gulfton Streets. There, Precinct 4 officials handed out three different colored sheets of plastic in blue, red and yellow to demonstrate an exercise on how various colors of lighting in a neighborhood are impacted by color.

Quan Xiao, a public health professor at The University of Texas, said smart lighting is important in communities because of how it affects people’s health.

“Not all lighting is created equal,” Xiao said.

She said blue light is the most disruptive to people’s bodies and to opt for a more warmer light color.

“When we walk in this neighborhood, when you see people's windows, pay attention to their window treatment, and you can see their blinds are really thin, so they don't have blackout curtains. This is the place where public lighting and external lighting is extremely important because it will get into people's bedrooms, disrupt their sleep and do bad things to their house,” Xiao said.

After the final debrief close to 9 p.m., most people left in cars from the parking lot. Some walked home, illuminated by only a few wooden light posts on the street.