Sunnyside, Houston, Texas
Encyclopedia
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, south of Downtown Houston
Downtown Houston
Downtown Houston is the largest business district of Houston, Texas, United States. Downtown Houston, the city's central business district, contains the headquarters of many prominent companies. There is an extensive network of pedestrian tunnels and skywalks connecting the buildings of the district...
.
Sunnyside is outside of the 610 Loop and inside Beltway 8 off State Highway 288
State Highway 288 (Texas)
State Highway 288, or SH 288, is a north–south highway in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Texas, between I-45 in downtown Houston and Freeport, where it terminates on FM 1495...
south of Downtown Houston
Downtown Houston
Downtown Houston is the largest business district of Houston, Texas, United States. Downtown Houston, the city's central business district, contains the headquarters of many prominent companies. There is an extensive network of pedestrian tunnels and skywalks connecting the buildings of the district...
and is predominantly African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
. The community's slogan is "Sunnyside Pride." Sunnyside included a landfill
Landfill
A landfill site , is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial and is the oldest form of waste treatment...
, an adjacent garbage incinerator, and several salvage yards; the incinerator has closed. The city of Houston describes Sunnyside's housing as "suburban-style." As of 2007 Sandra Massie-Hines is the honorary mayor of Sunnyside.
History
Sunnyside, the oldest African-American community in southern Houston, was first platted in 1912. When the community opened in the 1910s, H. H. Holmes, the founder, gave the land the name Sunny Side. By the 1940s area residents established a water district and a volunteer fire department. The City of Houston annexed Sunnyside in 1956.From the 1980 U.S. Census to the 1990 Census, many African-Americans left traditional African-American neighborhoods like Sunnyside and entered parts of Southwest Houston. Sunnyside lost 30% of its population in the decade prior to August 20, 1992.
Between 1990 and 2000 the Hispanic
Hispanic and Latino Americans
Hispanic or Latino Americans are Americans with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, and in general all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.1990 Census of Population and Housing: A self-designated classification for people whose origins...
population of Sunnyside increased by between 5 and 10 percent. As of January 2007, according to a Houston Chronicle
Houston Chronicle
The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Texas, USA, headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building in Downtown Houston. , it is the ninth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States...
article, Sunnyside has many issues with recreational drug use. Phencyclidine
Phencyclidine
Phencyclidine , commonly initialized as PCP and known colloquially as angel dust, is a recreational dissociative drug...
(PCP) is cited by the article as a drug popular in Sunnyside.
On August 30, 2007, the Houston Chronicle published an article about a syphilis
Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
outbreak in Houston. Marlene McNeese-Ward, the Houston Health Department chief of HIV/STD and Viral Hepatitis Prevention, stated "We're really looking at Acres Homes
Acres Homes, Houston, Texas
Acres Homes is a community in northwest Houston, Texas, United States north of the 610 loop. Nicknamed the 44, Acres Homes is located in the northwest portion of the city, the area is loosely bound by Pinemont Drive to the south, North Shepherd Drive to the East, Gulf Bank to the north, and...
especially, and Sunnyside, but there's not too many ZIP codes ... where we're not seeing any (cases)."
In 2010 a zip code including much of the Sunnyside area had 118 registered sex offenders; it has the highest concentration of sex offenders of any zip code without facilities designed to house registered sex offenders. While some other Houston areas have higher concentrations of sex offenders than Sunnyside, those areas have specific facilities housing sex offenders. Travis McGee, the president of the Sunnyside Civic Association, said that the Sunnyside area was "dumping field for anything that’s negative" and that he felt fear for area children.
Demographics
According to the 1990 Census Sunnyside had 3,484 residents. 93.8% of them were African-American, 4.2% were Hispanic, and 2% were White, Asian, or other. The median household income was $12,477, compared to the City of Houston median of $26,621. 38.6% of Sunnyside residents lived below the poverty line.Cityscape
Rafael Longoria and Susan Rogers of the Rice Design Alliance said that Sunnyside could be described as "rurban," a word coined in 1918 which describes an area with a mix of urban and rural characteristics. By 2007 new houses began to appear in the area. As of 2008 Sunnyside still has small churches, horse stalls, original frame houses, open ditches, and vacant lots, features which characterize many rural areas. By 2008 a major landfill and incinerator in the area had been converted into a park.As of 2010 Sunnyside has two grocery stores within its area, which serve a regional population of 22,000. Toral Sindha, a nutritionist in the City of Houston's health department and the manager of the city's Community Garden Program, stated that because of this Sunnyside was "a true food desert" and that "healthy produce in fresh fruits and vegetables is not accessible in Sunnyside." Cindy George of the Houston Chronicle
Houston Chronicle
The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Texas, USA, headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building in Downtown Houston. , it is the ninth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States...
said during that year that in Sunnyside and several other communities in Houston, "an abundance of drive-throughs and convenience stores offer processed, fatty foods to residents." George added that Sunnyside's neighborhood stores "offer fewer healthy options of any kind."
Local government
Houston Police Department
The Houston Police Department is the primary law enforcement agency serving the City of Houston, Texas, United States and some surrounding areas. Its headquarters are in 1200 Travis in Downtown Houston....
's Southeast Patrol Division, headquartered at 8300 Mykawa Road. The Sunnyside Storefront Station is located at 3511 Reed Road.
The Houston Fire Department
Houston Fire Department
City of Houston Fire Department is the agency that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for the city of Houston, Texas, United States, the fourth largest city in the United States...
Station 55 Sunnyside is near Sunnyside at 11212 Cullen Boulevard at Selinsky Road. The station is within Fire District 46. The station opened in 1963 in what was then the southeasternmost area in the Houston city limits. The station had two facelifts and reopened in June 2000.
Houston City Council
Houston City Council
The Houston City Council is a city council for the city of Houston in the U.S. state of Texas.Currently, there are fourteen members, nine elected from council districts and five at-large. The members of the Council are elected every two years, in odd-numbered years...
District D covers Sunnyside. As of 2008 Wanda Adams represents the district. The city operates the Sunnyside Multi-Service Center at 4605 Wilmington Street. The city multi-service centers provide several services such as child care, programs for elderly residents, and rental space. The multi-service center received damage from Hurricane Ike
Hurricane Ike
Hurricane Ike was the second-costliest hurricane ever to make landfall in the United States, the costliest hurricane ever to impact Cuba and the second most active hurricane to reach the Canadian mainland in the Great Lakes Region after Hurricane Hazel in 1954...
. In 2010 the city began to establish a community garden at the Sunnyside center to provide area residents with vegetables and other nutritious foods.
During the 1997 Mayor of Houston election, 99% of Sunnyside voters voted for Lee P. Brown
Lee P. Brown
Lee Patrick Brown had a long-time career in law enforcement, leading police departments in Atlanta, Houston and New York over the course of nearly four decades. During this time he helped to implement a number of techniques in community policing that appeared to result in substantial decreases in...
.
County, state, and federal representation
Harris CountyHarris County, Texas
As of the 2010 Census, the population of the county was 4,092,459, White Americans made up 56.6% of Harris County's population; non-Hispanic whites represented 33.0% of the population. Black Americans made up 18.9% of the population. Native Americans made up 0.7% of Harris County's population...
Precinct One, headed by El Franco Lee as of 2008, serves Sunnyside.
Sunnyside is located in District 146 of the Texas House of Representatives
Texas House of Representatives
The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Texas Legislature. The House is composed of 150 members elected from single-member districts across the state. The average district has about 150,000 people. Representatives are elected to two-year terms with no term limits...
. As of 2008, Borris L. Miles represents the district. Sunnyside is within District 13
Texas Senate, District 13
District 13 of the Texas Senate is a senatorial district that currently serves portions of Fort Bend and Harris counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The current Senator from District 13 is Rodney Ellis.-2006:-2002:-1998:-1994:...
of the Texas Senate
Texas Senate
The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing 31 single-member districts across the state with populations of approximately 672,000 per constituency. There are no term limits, and each term is four years long. The Senate meets at the...
; as of 2008 Rodney Ellis
Rodney Ellis
Rodney Glenn Ellis is an African-American politician from the state of Texas. He has served on the Texas State Senate since 1990, representing Texas Senate District 13.Senator Rodney Ellis was elected to the Texas Senate in 1990...
represents that district.
Sunnyside is in Texas's 9th congressional district
Texas's 9th congressional district
-References:*...
. As of 2008, Al Green
Al Green
Albert Greene , better known as Al Green, is an American gospel and soul music singer. He reached the peak of his popularity in the 1970s, with hit singles such as "You Oughta Be With Me", "I'm Still In Love With You", "Love and Happiness", and "Let's Stay Together"...
represents the district. The closest United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
post office is the Martin Luther King Post Office at 9444 Cullen Boulevard.
Sunnyside residents expressed apathy towards the 1992 Republican National Convention, which was held in the Houston Astrodome; residents believed that it did not address issues pertinent to Sunnyside residents. Despite the neighborhood's proximity to the Astrodome, traffic from the convention did not lead to increase of patronage of area businesses.
Public schools
Houston Independent School District
The Houston Independent School District is the largest public school system in Texas and the seventh-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby and insular municipalities...
(HISD) schools. The community is within Trustee District IV, represented by Paula M. Harris as of 2008.
The schools serving Sunnyside proper include Young Elementary School, Attucks Middle School, and Worthing High School
Worthing High School (Houston)
Evan Edward Worthing High School is a secondary school located in the Sunnyside area of Houston, Texas, United States.Worthing serves grades 9 through 12 and is a part of the Houston Independent School District....
. Worthing is located in Sunnyside.
Young Elementary opened as Sunny Side Elementary School in 1918; HISD renamed the school in June 1999 after Sunnyside residents petitioned for a renaming of the school. Young shares its campus with South Administrative Alternative Elementary and Drug-Free School. Worthing was built in 1958, and it opened on January 27, 1958. Prior to the opening of Yates, students went to Miller Junior High School and Yates High School
Yates High School
Jack Yates Senior High School is a secondary school located at 3703 Sampson in the Third Ward in Houston, Texas with a zip code of 77004. Yates High School handles grades nine through twelve and is part of the Houston Independent School District ....
. After Worthing received a new campus in 1962, Worthing moved out of its former campus, where Attucks opened.
Carnegie Vanguard High School
Carnegie Vanguard High School
Andrew Carnegie Vanguard High School is a public secondary school in Houston, Texas, United States.Carnegie Vanguard High School, which serves grades 9-12, is a part of the Houston Independent School District...
, an HISD magnet school
Magnet school
In education in the United States, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities as school zones that feed into certain schools.There are magnet schools at the...
, is near Sunnyside. In 2008 Carnegie Vanguard was chosen as a National Blue Ribbon School. Carnegie is scheduled to move to the Fourth Ward in the future.