By New Liberty Road Community Development Corporation
HOUSTON, TX — The Nickel Transit Signal Cabinet, our neighborhood’s five-cent monument to pride, art, and survival, was gentrified. The City of Houston took it — no check, no apology. Just a blank corner where our story used to stand.
The Nickel Transit Signal Cabinet — painted to honor the Nickel, to honor Fifth Ward — got dragged off our corner and dumped in Rice Village traffic like a Craigslist couch. No warning, no community say-so, no compensation for a piece of art worth thousands.
Hide Yo’ Kids, Hide Yo’ Wife.
UP Art Studio, who helped Fifth Ward put color and dignity on that box? Well their artists lost their canvas. The neighborhood lost its voice. Everyone lost something that mattered — except the City and Rice Village. In the words of Antoine Dodson: “Hide yo’ kids, hide yo’ wife.” Matter fact, hide yo’ cabinets, hide yo’ art — ‘cause Houston out here relocating everything like it’s a yard sale.
The City’s Excuse
When pressed, 311 said, “Due to the intersection upgrade at Lyons @ Waco, another cabinet was needed due to an emergency, and the Fifth Ward cabinet was selected because it was the same type of cabinet.” (COH Case 2500220229) So boom, there it is. Fifth Ward lost its art not because of a community decision, not because of respect, but because our cabinet just happened to “match the type.”
Energy Capital? More Like Hot Girl Theft Capital.
Houston loves to brand itself the Energy Capital of the World. But out here, it feels like the Nickel-and-Dime Capital. They didn’t just remove a mural — they snatched a piece of Fifth Ward’s value, and left nothing in return.
In the words of @RichDame, #onmymama The City snatched that Nickel mural like a thief snatching copper in the middle of the day. They hauled it clean out the Nickel, and dropped it off in Rice Village. You don’t just move a whole piece of Fifth Ward art like it’s a Dollar General folding chair and not say nothing. And the excuse given, “we couldn’t find one that fit in all the City of Houston except the one in Fifth Ward.”
Our Demands: Respect the Nickel.
Until the Nickel comes home, here’s what we in the Nickel expect:
- Run the Nickel Back — don’t park our pride in another zip code — put the cabinet back on its corner, untouched.
- Cut the Check — art has value, and so does Fifth Ward. Actual $$ investment in a new cabinet at the City’s cost with an APOLOGY. Fifth Ward deserves better.
- Respect the Process — community culture ain’t “same type equipment” to swap in and out. Fifth Ward is worth more than five cents. #Periodt.
The Last Word.
Fifth Ward has carried this city on its back for generations. We fight floods, cancer clusters, illegal dumping, and trains that block our streets – with few allies. And now, apparently, we fight to keep our own murals from being stolen.
Bring the Nickel home. Quit playing furniture mover with our culture. Fifth Ward ain’t a showroom, and we d@mn sure ain’t giving Rice Village art on layaway.
At least be honest: the City didn’t remove art — it removed our worth. Provide the box or the funding we lost for our box to be repainted in Fifth Ward.
The City hauled off a whole symbol of Fifth Ward, and redeployed it in Rice Village, downgrade/upgrade. That’s not an emergency move — that’s Houston treating Fifth Ward like spare parts — let’s not forget the on-going cancer cluster issue.
