Since transferring to a house close to the Columbia Faucet Path greater than a decade in the past, Ed Pettitt stated he has utilized it on an virtually day by day foundation. He takes his bicycle or scooter on the path to run errands and commute to close by Texas Southern College, the place he’s a doctoral pupil and in addition works as a graduate analysis assistant.
Currently, although, Pettitt has been hesitant to make use of the well-worn hike-and-bike path that cuts by means of Houston’s Third Ward neighborhood. It has been the positioning of 5 violent assaults towards cyclists over the last two weeks, with 4 folks having been robbed and one other having been shot throughout an obvious tried theft, based on Assistant Chief Larry Satterwhite of the Houston Police Division.
“The previous few days, I’ve been cautious to keep away from it for lengthy stretches,” Pettitt stated Tuesday. “I’ve type of zig-zagged throughout it to see if there’s something suspicious. I by no means noticed any police patrols.”
There was a police presence Tuesday afternoon on the path’s intersection with Anita Avenue, the place Satterwhite and different HPD officers gathered for an impromptu information convention with Houston Metropolis Council member Carolyn Evans-Shabazz, who represents the Third Ward as a part of District D. And there’ll proceed to be a police presence alongside that a part of the 4-mile path, based on Satterwhite, who stated his division is devoting further assets to the realm, together with the deployment of undercover officers.
Evans-Shabazz additionally vowed to assist fight crime alongside the Columbia Faucet Path, the place she and the Houston Housing Authority introduced final fall they had been spending a mixed $150,000 on enhancements to the path, which runs alongside a former railway. These upgrades embrace safety features equivalent to surveillance cameras, emergency name containers and higher lighting, however Shabazz stated Tuesday there isn’t any actual timeline for after they is perhaps carried out, including that she hoped such a undertaking may start throughout the subsequent few months.
“I’m steering this ship, and I’m going to attempt to propel it to go as quick as we are able to,” she stated.
Pettitt, the vp of the Third Ward Tremendous Neighborhood Council and a founding father of the Associates of Columbia Faucet, stated the latter group was shaped partly in response to a string of violent incidents alongside the path in 2013. He stated the issue at the moment was resolved when these accountable had been apprehended by legislation enforcement, and that there had solely been remoted incidents within the years that adopted.
A brand new wave of crime alongside the path emerged on Could 16, based on Satterwhite, who stated most of the 5 current assaults on cyclists have concerned a bunch of between three to 6 younger males or boys who’re Black. In every of the final two incidents, on Saturday afternoon and Monday night time, the victims had been hospitalized, he stated.
Satterwhite stated HPD is investigating the assaults and has some leads, though no arrests had been made as of Tuesday. Deploying officers with all-terrain autos is a part of the division’s technique for patrolling the path, he stated.
“We consider it’s most likely the identical very small group of people,” Satterwhite stated. “That’s our purpose is to attempt to determine them. If we are able to get them recognized and charged, then possibly that may convey some peace again to this path for everybody to make use of it with the boldness they need.”
BikeHouston government director Joe Cutrufo, whose nonprofit advocates for native cyclists and biking infrastructure, referred to as it “devastating” to see a string of crimes on the Columbia Faucet Path, which he described as an asset by way of Houston’s infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians. A number of folks on bikes, on scooters or on foot had been utilizing the path within the Third Ward space on Tuesday afternoon.
Cutrufo stated BikeHouston advises cyclists to “select the route that you simply really feel most secure on,” including that some may keep away from the path due to the current assaults. The incidents converse to the necessity for on-street bike paths, along with off-street trails, based on Cutrufo.
“Some folks could really feel much less secure utilizing protected bike lanes and safer utilizing devoted off-street bike paths,” he stated. “However as we’ve seen within the final week, some persons are making the most of the isolation on these trails. Individuals are going to keep away from the path now as a result of they heard about this crime, and that makes it much more remoted.”
Pettitt stated he just lately started “sounding the alarm” about unsafe situations on the Columbia Faucet Path, talking in regards to the problem through the metropolis council assembly on Could 16 – the identical day the current crime spree began. Pettitt stated he additionally reached out to HPD final week and requested for patrols alongside the path.
The 2 subsequent assaults over the vacation weekend escalated the difficulty, which is now being addressed, based on Evans-Shabazz and Satterwhite.
“I like this path,” stated Bonnie Nelson, a bicycle owner and Third Ward resident. “I’ll all the time love this path, and I need everybody to have the ability to really feel secure, welcome and in a position to make use of this path. The folks and the locations that this path connects will not be a luxurious. It’s a necessity.”
