Colonias that aren't near the border struggling with basic needs
Near Robstown, residents drink Gatorade or Coke to avoid the water. (Be sure to read the READER COMMENTS.)

By Asher Price (asherprice@statesman.com; 512-445-3643), AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF, 09/23/2009
Source: http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/2009/09/23/0923colonias.html

ROBSTOWN — The water smells and tastes so bad at her family's mobile home in a colonia just west of this South Texas town, says 17-year-old Selina Jimenez, that she drinks only Gatorade.

Meanwhile, the rest of her family guts it out and sips the tap water.

"It's hard times, and it's expensive to buy bottled water," said her mother, Joann Moreno. "We make it into Kool-Aid to cover up the taste. It smells nasty and tastes weird."

Moreno says she and her family members get diarrhea and stomachaches from the water.

Twenty years after the state began to address the problems faced by colonias — a byword for poor communities that lack basic infrastructure — bad water and sewage issues continue to plague them. Roads are rutted, and some toilets are known to flush into backyards, even if a homeowner is lucky to have a septic tank instead of an outhouse. Quality drinking water can be iffy. Even as colonias along the border have received assistance from state and federal officials, colonias here — near Corpus Christi — and in other parts of the state have historically been left out by a trick of the odometer.

Certain federal and state programs require colonias to be within 62 miles (100 kilometers) of the border to receive help.

"These are the forgotten people," said Lionel Lopez, who heads the South Texas Colonia Initiative, which promotes those residents to state and federal agencies.

But that might slowly be changing. Recent changes to state law have opened up other pots of money to colonias farther from the border, and areas like this one — Robstown is about 125 miles east of the Laredo-Nuevo Laredo portion of the border — are playing catch-up.

The Texas attorney general's office has filed at least four cases against developers of colonias in Nueces County, where Robstown is located, since last fall. In the cases, the attorney general's office has applied a 2005 law that went a long way toward dismantling mileage requirements, alleging that developers have built and advertised homes without adequate water or sewage service.

In another colonia, also on the outskirts of Robstown, fines paid by polluters to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality are paying for new septic tanks. In one area, sewage was seeping into a creek that fed Oso Bay on the Gulf of Mexico.

Lopez, a retired Corpus Christi firefighter and activist, said the colonias need more aid. "They remember us only at tax time or election time," he said of the political will to help.

Texas has about 2,300 colonias, home to about 400,000 people, according to 2003 figures, the latest available, provided by the Texas secretary of state's office, which coordinates state programs for colonias. In Nueces County, there are at least 38 colonias. The secretary of state's list of colonias does not include any in Central Texas.

Colonias date to at least the 1950s, said Randall Dillard, a spokesman for the Texas secretary of state's office. Developers created unincorporated subdivisions, using rural land that was not agriculturally valuable or was in flood plains. The land was then divided into small lots with little or no infrastructure and sold to low-income individuals seeking affordable housing.

The state's Colonia Initiatives Program has seven ombudsmen serving as liaisons for colonia residents to coordinate basic services such as road paving, water and wastewater services and other basic infrastructure needs. The Texas Department of Rural Affairs is dedicating about $9 million of its current budget to improving colonias.

And that is part of a larger, 21-year-old effort. In 1989, the Legislature established the Economically Distressed Areas Program. It provides grants and loans for water and sewer services, primarily to border counties. Texas voters approved a $100 million bond issue that year and another $150 million in 1991. The Texas Water Development Board has awarded more than $500 million in state and federal money to install water and wastewater services in colonias. In 2005, lawmakers expanded the program's eligibility to the entire state. And in 2007, voters approved another $250 million in general obligation bonds so the Texas Water Development Board could provide water and wastewater infrastructure through the Economically Distressed Areas Program.

A report released by the state auditor on Tuesday found that projects funded by the program take longer and cost more than expected.

For eight contracts that auditors tested, the average original expected completion time was 3.2 years; however, the average actual completion time for the six projects that had been completed through those eight contracts was 8.4 years. The Water Development Board's budgets for the eight contracts grew by 31 percent.

In a letter to the state auditor, J. Kevin Ward, the executive administrator of the Water Development Board, said the program "has been successful in completing over 70 projects."

Bad water appears to be a way of life in this corner of Texas, where, leaving aside the pickups and SUVs in the driveways, the properties look like the ramshackle homes in photos snapped by Walker Evans during the Great Depression. Underscoring how valuable basic services are in these parts, one colonia near Robstown is called Sweet Water Estates, which has a billboard advertising "Country Living at its BEST!"

At the colonia called Cindy Park, where Moreno and her neighbor David Hawkins live, they say the water smells like mildew and tastes salty.

Hawkins, a large man who, at 43, has already suffered one heart attack, has jury-rigged electricity from his house to an abandoned well house to provide water for the families on his street. He said he drinks only Coke, orange juice and milk because he can't stand the taste and odor of the water.

In some respects, the episodes here, hapless and tinged with the grotesque, recall Flannery O'Connor short stories.

In a board outside Hawkins' home is nailed the skin of a rattlesnake that bit his wife this year.

"I promised her I'd find it, kill it, skin it, grill it and eat it," he said. Hawkins made good on his pledge, and now she has a necklace with the rattler on it.

Humidity floods the place itself, and floorboards feel soft as cardboard.

"It's not the Taj Mahal, but it's home," he said.

Across his fence sits a mobile home that belongs to Moreno and her family. They have paid almost $7,000 toward the $40,000 they owe on their property and, behind the trailer, have built the frame of a much larger home. But the water problems are giving them pause about continuing.

"It was our dream house, but what's the point if you can't drink or bathe?" she said. "You drink it, you go straight to the bathroom."

READER COMMENTS (subset of supportive comments, latest first)

Wayne Caswell wrote:

Homeowners of Texas advocates for consumers and thanks AmazonBob for comparing regulations in CA & TX and understanding the need for tough laws that prevent crooks, snakes and greedy pricks from defrauding and exploiting innocent people, hiding behind laws they got enacted, and claiming "caveat emptor." We also thank Slick Shoes, Beth Ann and NonLinearTime for citing super-Conservative pro-growth policies that don't allow Counties to regulate land use in unincorporated areas. And Monkshine, thanks for noting how developers often promise infrastructure and amenities (utilities, roads, schools, etc.) in order to sell the property and then don’t deliver. It’s not just that civilized governments have a moral and ethical responsibility protect the weakest, poorest, and most desperate people from those who would rob of all they’re worth, as RUKidding put it. Good practitioners in any profession know that tough regulations protect them from having to compete with others who are less qualified, cut corners, cheat the system and refuse to play fairly. Regulatory oversight is also good for the economy. Just look at what happened with the financial system when Congress relaxed building and lending regulations. This makes me wonder about the motives of anyone who would argue AGAINST reasonable rules and blame the victims.

Jade78741 wrote:

For those who feel these people are whining, have you been to rural South Texas? I mean beyond just driving past to go to the beaches of Port A, Corpus and South Padre? Spend some time down there. Life is not as easy as in the "big city" of Austin. I love the comment about "get a job." Easier said than done. Even in a good economy, job options in rural South Texas are few and far between. You have to hope for a Lowes, Home Depot or Wal-mart to open up to get a decent paying job. Many folks in these outlying areas have to drive to larger cities, such as Corpus Christi or Kingsville to work. Also, where are people going to move to? Colonias are basically the only other option. Go through cities like Robstown, there are some apartments, but not enough. My advice to those who constantly rant is to educate yourself about the matter-at-hand (and I mean to learn about all sides of the issue) before you spout out nonsense. --A person who grew up in a former colonia in rural South Texas.

Monkshine wrote:

These colonias are not only in Texas.. all you have to do is travel areas in Louisiana, Tennesee, Alabama, etc.. Oklahoma..and other areas.. if you think that Texas is the only one with the problem.. you are wrong.. slums are all over.. and developers that payback unscrupulous inspectors are in it for the money.. and people are vulnerable because they are looking into a better life and are taken advantage of.. day in and day out.. you see this happen.. Some have no choice but to live like this..those that don't.. sacrifice to move out..and seek a better way of life..but not everyone can afford to do so.. that is life in the the U.S. some can afford to better themselves while others have no choice to but continue living day to day..you can look at some areas in Austin and there are people here living in the same conditons as such..and in some cases have to buy bottled water.. to survive..it is called making ends meet!!! It is called "poverty"..

bottlander wrote:

RUKidding! For a civilized government to just allow any immoral and unethical people to rob the weakest, poorest, and desperate people for all the money they can is not acceptable. There are all sorts of laws protecting the wealthiest from each other, they will sue in the wink of an eye. A good society will protect the weakest from the sharks. Payday loans is another business that should be cleaned up, but it would not be fair to stop the loan sharks from making a profit, but social Darwinism is best for the economy, we can't compete if we are decent. That is the political mantra, the Zeitgeist.

nonlineartime wrote:

Sooo, let me get this right. The state doesn't allow counties to regulate their land as closely as cities. The state picks up the bill for providing basic needs to people living in colonias built by unscrupulous developers, not to mention paying for all the health care these people are going to require if they are only drinking soda and gatorade. Sounds like the state is subsidizing these developers to build substandard housing. Do the developers really have so much power in state government that the Texas congress can't just say no and make them pay for water and sewage service rather than passing bond measures and creating new state agencies to administer to what are essentially large scale cons? The developers are defrauding these people and getting away it with a shrug and a "caveat emptor." The entire point of state and county governments is prevent this type of thing and protect communities from outright fraud, not to let anything go and pick up the pieces afterward.

bottlander wrote:

When the developers sold the land and made money there were no laws to stop it? Some people always find a way to convince themselves that the people like to live like that. They have all the expensive cars and jewelry and like to live like that? What does it take to say that? Yes it is not nice to look in the mirror to see the image of Texas. The Colonias should have never been allowed to happen, they should be bulldozed, no money should be invested for infrastructure, the Colonias are not livable even with the best of infrastructure. Time for the Texas legislature to the job it is supposed to do. No more millions of $$$ to feed the corrupt construction industry. Bulldoze the places and provide decent housing for the people where people can live.

Monkshine wrote:

Developers always get you to buy., not matter what.. they will tell you that the roads, schools, etc are coming..only to get you to buy.. hindsight is better for many, but many of these people.. are good hard working people..

Amazonbob wrote:

Just some food for thought. I’ve done real estate in California and Texas and the differences are quite amazing. California is the most heavily regulated state in the union and it is a giant pain. Just the contract process alone is so monumental it’ll choke an elephant. In Texas I have bought land with a handshake and a single sheet of paper. Love Texas for that. However, in the two years I’ve been doing real estate in Texas I have found more crooks, snakes, and dirty dealing than I dreamed was possible…and all of it, 100% of it was fleecing Mexicans. The most common is owner financing of land and then the owner not paying the mortgage with the money. I come in and foreclose and find that some poor Mexican family has been paying their mortgage regularly to the owner for years and have absolutely nothing to show for it. I’ve seen it now at least 40 or 50 times in the Austin area. This never happens in California because the process is so heavily regulated that it’s just not possible to do it. It is a prime example of why the government, state and federal, eventually has to come in with laws and regulations…all the things people complain about (including me). The problem with true free markets is that there is always some greedy prick who is willing to do anything, absolutely anything for a buck. As much as I hate California real estate regulations…I get the necessity of them. Law came into creation for a reason…left to their own devices, people are pigs.

beth ann wrote:

Counties MUST be given power to regulate subdivisions and homes outside of the city jurisdictions. Decent water and sewage MUST be available and used by all tenants. If people can't afford the water and sewage charges they should not be allowed to purchase the land. Counties MUST be able to enforce laws that require yards to be cleaned up that are used as junk yards, year round garage sales and are just plain filthy. Look at any nearby county and you will see roads with some nice site built homes surrounded by trashed out mobiles and shacks. Counties MUST make this a priority - you want to sell property for people to live on - it must have a minimum of a working sewer or septic and decent water to drink and be kept up to a certain standard.

Slick Shoes wrote:

The reason colonias like these happen are because of the super-Conservative pro-growth policies from Texas that don't allow Counties to regulate land use in unincorporated areas. The same people responsible for those laws are the same people put into office by the hicks who sit around and scapegoat illegal immigrants for every problem in their lives.

Monkshine wrote:

This has nothing to do with illegals..it is the developers that did not follow proper guidelines.. and build their housing in areas that they were not able to furnish the basic needs of the people..for the Rednecks..I want them to go to Tennessee and see what conditons some of the people live there..worse than this..and I don't see them blaming it on illegals..why> Cause those people in the mountains of Tennessee can't spell their name..much less.. speak in a complete sentence.. and they are legal..!!! What a hypocrasy.. but they live off their home based..meth labs.. The developers that scammed this people are the ones at fault.. they changed their business name several times a year and or declare bankruptcy..

pjb_aus wrote:

Here comes the rednecks again saying this is all because of the illegals, drug dealers and criminals. I'm sure it has nothing to do with people willing to do anything to own their own piece of property. And it has nothing to do with criminal "developers" who scam these people into buying pieces of land and sucking the money out of them while providing no services. I didn't see a word about that in the article or comments.

I'm sure there are some illegals and criminal in these colonias just as I'm sure there are some "christian" KKK-type racists living in nice homes eating 5 meals a day saying "I got mine!"