CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The city of Robstown began demolishing abandoned homes Wednesday morning in order to try and improve the quality of life for its citizens.
The demolitions are part of the city's project: Restoration Robstown. City secretary Beatriz Charo said the project required lots of preparation in order to finally be able to demolish the unused homes.
"The mayor and council are excited to clean out these lots," she said. "It's been a long time coming and we finally have the right people in place to get this done, so the quality of life for the city of Robstown is going to improve."
Mayor Gilbert Gomez said demolishing run-down homes gets rid of safety hazards, while also sprucing up the city.
"We're planning to do this all over town," he said. "Right now, we have a list of about eight or 10 homes that we plan on demolishing."
Gomez said that some of the homes that are set to be demolished have sat empty for years, attracting criminal activity.
"Some of them are being used for drug activity," he said. "Some of them are just . . . homes that have just been vacant for so many years, because of the weather and inclement times that have happened. And time has passed."
City councilmember Joe "J.C." Carrion said that he's looking forward to seeing what this project will do for the city and its residents, whom have been wanting to see change for some time.
"It's taking a while to get this done," he said. "It just doesn't happen overnight. It's a lot of legal process, so I'm happy that this is getting done. I know a lot of people here in Robstown are gonna like it too because it's going to beautify the city."
Gomez said the project is a step in the right direction when it comes to attracting people to Robstown and making sure those that live there love where they live.
"We want people that come into Robstown," he said. "With the industry that we have coming in here, we want them to realize that not only are we welcoming them to a new neighborhood, but we're also cleaning our neighborhoods. We're fixing our streets; we're doing everything to make the quality of life better for the people of Robstown."
He said if a citizen has a home they feel qualifies for demolition, to call city hall and give them the address so they can determine whether it meets the criteria.
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