east lubbock

The Lubbock Police Department increased their presence in an East Lubbock neighborhood following an uptick in gun violence earlier this year, and the data…

The Lubbock Police Department increased their presence in an East Lubbock neighborhood following an uptick in gun violence earlier this year, and the data…

S2N5: Down Parkway Drive, businesses dot the side of the road. But you also see empty buildings and shopping centers—some, in pretty rough shape. Cosby Morton said it wasn’t always like this. Money stayed within the community rather than being spent on another side of town...That changed after desegregation and urban renewal efforts led by the city that caused a shift in population, recalled Morton.

S2N4: After putting in hundreds of hours of what’s called “sweat equity,” Charlotte Ellis is now a homeowner through Lubbock Habitat for Humanity. Her home is in the Talkington addition of the Parkway-Cherry Point neighborhood. Habitat for Humanity calls it a hand up, not a handout. Aspiring homeowners have to put in the work and meet certain criteria to get the keys to a front door.

S2N3: Jafar Abdullah brought three books to read lakeside at his neighborhood park. The top about the history of Islam, the bottom about poverty. In the middle is “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander—a book that came highly recommended by one of Abdullah's mentors. The 2012 book equates the mass incarceration of Black Americans to a class system that can affect generations—an issue Abdullah thinks about often—especially when he’s working with kids through the mentorship program he started.

S2N2: On a mild Monday evening, people cast their lines into the Historic Dunbar Lake, hoping a fish will bite. At the other end of the park system, families picnic and walk the trails along Conquistador Lake. This is how Mari Huerta thinks of the Canyon Lakes system—a tranquil slice of nature. She’s enjoyed the North Lubbock lakes since she was a kid. Huerta still enjoys the lakes. But she no longer dips her toes in.“You can’t even do that now,” she said. “The water is so slimy.”

S2N1: Community advocate Natalie Miller has sounded the alarm for years now. She presented her position clearly at a recent Coffee with the Mayor event at the only grocery store in East Lubbock. This isn’t the first time Miller has talked with the mayor about the changes she wants to see in her neighborhood.

The Lubbock Police Department increased their presence in an East Lubbock neighborhood following an uptick in gun violence earlier this year, and the data…