TEXAS RIOGRANDE LEGAL AID, INC.

Austin Office
4920 North IH-35
Austin, Texas 78751
November 4, 2016
Irene Rico, Acting Associate Administrator
Office of Civil Rights
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Ave SE
Washington DC 20590
Leslie Proll, Director
Departmental Office of Civil Rights
U.S. Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Ave, SE
Washington, DC 20590
Molly Moran, Acting General Counsel
Office of the General Counsel
U.S. Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Ave, SE
Washington, DC 20590
Vanita Gupta, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
950 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Office of the Assistant Attorney General, Main
Washington, DC 20530
Re: Implementation Delays and Failures with the Harbor Bridge Voluntary
Resolution Agreement between FHWA and TxDOT
Dear Acting Associate Administrator Rico, Director Proll, Acting General Counsel Moran, and
Deputy Assistant Attorney General Gupta:
Members of the Hillcrest and Washington-Coles communities were recently told that the
Texas Department of Transportation put the Harbor Bridge relocation program, and specifically
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offers to purchase individual homes, on hold. This is unacceptable under the terms of the
Harbor Bridge settlement agreement, has created a serious breach of the communitys trust, and
is creating unreasonable additional burdens for residents whose lives are being put on hold.
Last night at the monthly Community Advisory Board (CAB) meeting, community
members repeatedly voiced their frustrations and outrage after TxDOT representative
Christopher Amy and FHWA representative Al Alonzi confirmed that all offers to purchase
property under the Voluntary Relocation Program are on hold for an unknown period of time
while TxDOT and FHWA continue to meet and address the dispute over landlords.
Meanwhile, the construction of the Red Route of the new Harbor Bridge is moving
forward. Citizens Alliance co-chairs Daniel Pena, Lamont Taylor, and Rev. Adam Carrington
reasonably asked TxDOT and FHWA last night: if youre putting us on hold, why isnt the
bridge on hold?
I.

Implementation Problems
A. Long delays in addressing the ongoing dispute over Landlords
Based on the text of the Agreement and our conversations with FHWAs Office of Civil
Rights, our understanding has always been that eligible landlords, like homeowners, would
receive relocation assistance under the URA, which would allow them to purchase a comparable
home elsewhere in Corpus Christi and provide relocation assistance for renters. We have
conducted extensive community outreach to homeowners, renters, landlords, and businesses with
this information. Our support for the Agreement was based on this understanding of the options
that would be available to homeowners, landlords, and renters.
Then, in early May 2016, in response to questions we had submitted to the Port about the
relocation options and process, we learned that the Port (and thus TxDOT) was only planning to
offer appraised value to landlords. We immediately brought this issue to the attention of
FHWAs Office of Civil Rights through numerous emails and phone calls, conveying a sense of
urgency since the options under the community Agreement were set to begin on May 7. After a
conversation later that week with FHWAs Office of Civil Rights and FHWAs Texas Division,
we were told that FHWA would be investigating this issue and making a decision. After over 5
months of numerous follow-up calls, emails, and letters, we finally received FHWAs letter
confirming our understanding of the options for landlords on October 13. This lengthy delay,
however, has unfortunately caused widespread confusion over what the options are for property
owners and residents in the neighborhood.
FHWA has now clearly affirmed in its letter that relocation assistance must be offered to
all property owners, including landlords, if the agreements are to sufficiently mitigate the
adverse disparate impacts created by the Harbor Bridge. Yet community members are again
being told to wait patiently for an indefinite period of time while FHWA continues to work out
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the dispute with TxDOT. But TxDOTs position is clear they disagree with FHWA and have
put all offers on hold. In a letter to the Port dated September 23, TxDOT explains that
landlords should be offered appraised value only based on its interpretation of the Agreement.
The Ports website, ccharborbridgerelocation.com, clearly states that landlords may elect to sell
their property only for appraised value.
Shockingly, neither TxDOT nor FHWA mentioned this September 23 letter nor the
instructions stated in it to delay all offers to landlords for 21 days at the October CAB. In fact,
community members were told the opposite that the offers were very close to being ready and
would start going out in October.
FHWAs position is clear and the community has waiting long enough. If TxDOT is not
willing to sufficiently mitigate the adverse disparate impacts of its project, its bridge project must
also be put on hold. Any more delay is unwarranted and a continued violation of residents civil
rights.
B. Harms to Community Members from the Uncertainty and Delay
The uncertainty about landlords and tenants and the indefinite delay in the relocation
process only prolongs an experience that has been causing community residents anxiety for
years. Homeowners who will receive relocation assistance are going through a stressful and
uncertain time while they wait to find out how much assistance they will receive, and thus what
their options really are. For decades, Hillcrest residents have watched their once-vibrant
neighborhood deteriorate, largely because of neglect and discrimination by local government and
state agencies. Now, as Hillcrest resident Lamont Taylor expressed at last nights meeting, they
feel they are being led down the primrose path, being offered relocation assistance and then
being made to wonder if they will indeed receive that assistance. Hillcrest resident Mae Milligan
reiterated, weve been waiting a long time. Community member Barbara Major confessed, I
feel like Ive been lied to, and made a plea for the agencies to be upfront with us.
Daniel Pena pointed out that the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
released a public health assessment of Corpus Christis Refinery Row in August 2016 that found
an increased asthma and cancer risk associated with long-term exposure to the levels of air
pollutants found in the area. Hillcrest residents have a serious health interest in a timely
execution of the relocation plan. While the agencies continue to have meetings after meetings
about this, Lamont Taylor stated, people have cancer, and are dying while waiting.
Finally fed up from repeatedly hearing the response I understand from an out-of-town
consultant and agency representatives at the CAB meetings yet not seeing any results, Hillcrest
resident Janie Mumphord responded last night no, you dont live here and you dont
understand.

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II.

Oversight Issues with Implementation of the Agreement

FHWAs Office of Civil Rights assured the community it would be on the ground on a
regular basis monitoring the implementation and ensuring effective enforcement of this historic
civil rights agreement. However, despite these promises, since the Agreement was signed over
ten months ago, no one from FHWAs Office of Civil Rights in D.C. has attended a single
Community Advisory Board meeting or met with affected community members from Hillcrest or
Washington Coles to hear directly from them how the implementation is going.
Last night, several CAB members pointed out that the real decision-makers were not in
the room listening to them. Barbara Majors suggested that the higher-up decision-makers dont
want to come face us, and Juanita Cadena asked How can the CAB talk to the right people
who can make the decision? We need access. The emotional toll on the community is
horrendous. There needs to be a connection. We need direct access to a decision-maker. Daniel
Pena added, the people who made the agreement need to be here.
Instead, there has been a disconnect between who Complainants and their legal
representatives communicated with during the investigation of the Title VI Complaint and
negotiation of the Agreement FHWAs Office of Civil Rights in D.C. and the sincedesignated point person for community members in overseeing the implementation of the
Agreement Al Alonzi, FHWA Texas Division Director. The fact that Al Alonzi was the
designated point person for any implementation issues was not even made clear upfront to
Complainants; only after we had been attempting to receive an update for some time from
FHWAs Office of Civil Rights about the status of the landlords issue, did FHWAs Office of
Civil Rights inform us that we should have been directing our concerns to Al Alonzi rather than
the Office of Civil Rights in D.C.
Al Alonzi is not part of the Office of Civil Rights that investigated our Title VI
Complaint and that communicated with community members while negotiating the Agreement.
He is FHWAs representative at the CAB meetings and the point person for any implementation
concerns, yet he often does not appear to be representing FHWAs stated positions in this role or
reassuring residents of FHWAs role of enforcing this Agreement. For example, at the CAB
meeting last night, he responded to Hillcrest resident Daniel Penas assertion that the Agreement
clearly says that landlords must be treated the same as homeowners (which FHWA agreed with
in its October 13 letter), by saying that two people could disagree on an interpretation. At
previous CAB meetings, he has not given updates to community members until directly asked
during the question and answer session for an update on the landlord issue.
Furthermore, when asked in a phone call on November 2 what FHWA is waiting on, he
responded they had not received TxDOTs official position about landlords and that FHWA had
not given TxDOT a deadline to respond. He failed to mention the September 23 letter he was
ccd on explaining TxDOTs interpretation of the benefits that should be provided to landlords
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and instructing the Port to put all offers to landlords on hold for 21 days. In this call, he also
stated that while he understands the frustrations this causes community members, the residents
should not get out of hand at CAB meetings.
Without any on-the-ground presence of FHWAs Office of Civil Rights to monitor and
enforce this agreement, the Citizens Alliance, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, and the UT Law
Environmental Clinic have had to step in to provide community education and monitor the
implementation of the Agreement. We hosted a series of community workshops to educate
residents and property owners about the terms of the Agreement before implementation began in
May 2016, we attend the workshops hosted by DRA and the monthly Community Advisory
Board meetings, and we provide regular updates and compile concerns at Citizens Alliance
meetings.
Because of the notable absence of FHWAs Office of Civil Rights, we are often left to
answer the following questions from community members: Who is enforcing this Agreement?
How do we know this Agreement will actually be enforced? What happened to the Office of
Civil Rights? It has become more and more difficult to say with any confidence that the Office of
Civil Rights will diligently enforce this Agreement.
III.

Conclusion and Demands

We request your immediate attention to these concerns, including the following specific
actions:
1. FHWA should immediately issue a written acknowledgement that TxDOT through its
actions or inactions has failed to implement part of the Agreement, thus triggering the
procedures set out in Section XI of the Agreement, unless TxDOT lifts the hold on
handing out offers. All work on the new Harbor Bridge should be put on hold while any
part of the Agreement is on hold, and the time period of the Agreement should be
extended for an amount of time equal to the period of violation.
2. Appoint a designated person(s) for community members from FHWAs or DOTs
Offices of Civil Rights in D.C. who was involved in the negotiations of the Agreement to
communicate directly with community members about implementation concerns. This
person(s) should visit Corpus Christi to meet directly with residents in Hillcrest and
Washington Coles and attend the December Community Advisory Board meeting and
future CAB meetings on a regular basis.
3. Oversight of the implementation of the Agreement by DOJs Civil Rights division to
ensure that the communitys civil rights are protected.
Please dont hesitate to contact us for any additional information.

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Sincerely,
TEXAS RIOGRANDE LEGAL AID, INC.
/s/ Erin Gaines /s/ Rachel Zummo
Erin Gaines & Rachel Zummo, Attorneys
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid
egaines@trla.org
rzummo@trla.org
512-374-2739
/s/ Kelly Haragan____________
Kelly Haragan, Director
University of Texas Law Environmental Clinic
kharagan@law.utexas.edu

cc via email:
Daria Neal, Department of Justice, daria.neal@usdoj.gov
Joe Rich, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, jrich@lawyerscommittee.org

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