'Every community should have safe streets': Texas Southern University hosts ribbon-cutting ceremony for Cleburne Street

Texas Southern University recently organized a ribbon-cutting ceremony to honor the completion of a restructuring project for the nearby Cleburne Street. 

"All roads lead to Texas Southern, so TSU was proud to host a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the beautification and enhancement of Cleburne Street – a true team effort, as President Lesia Crumpton-Young eloquently put it,” Texas Southern University tweeted. “Special thanks to Commissioner @RodneyEllis & @SylvesterTurner!"

The $12 million construction project, located between Ennis and Scott streets, which neighbor the institution, serves as the first of a series of street improvements in Houston's Third Ward neighborhood. It is said to target the overall neglected areas of the city to minimize dangers on the road.

“What you have done is fundamentally transform this community,” said former Houston Councilman Carroll Robinson, a professor at TSU’s Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs. 

The modifications, monetarily supported by Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis', are also intended to ensure safer, smoother and flood-proof roads amid storms. It is one of many investments deriving from a total $43.1 million commitment to five streets in the Third Ward.   

Construction began a few days before the global COVID-19 pandemic was declared, initially projected to take only 12 months before experiencing various delays, the Houston Chronicle notes.

Both Houston and Harris county officials joined members of the school to celebrate the milestone, the Houston Chronicle reports.

“Every community should have safe streets,” Ellis said.