Homeowner Carmen Martinez (center) cuts the ceremonial red ribbon with Assistant City Manager Collette Jamison, Community Initiatives Program Administrator Aaron Harris, City Council member Saul Gonzalez and Mayor Jane Hughson to officially open her home, which flooded twice in 2015. Daily Record photos by Denise Cathey
Home For Christmas
Her home got flooded not once, but twice, in 2015. But now, Carmen Martinez has a brand new elevated house on Conway Drive.
“I’m excited,” Martinez said before the ribbon cutting at her new home Monday morning.
The house is the first home rebuilt in San Marcos with funds from Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded San Marcos a total of almost $34 million in funding after the Memorial Day Weekend and October floods of 2015.
Martinez was surrounded by friends, family, neighbors and numerous city officials and staff for the official ribbon cutting ceremony. City Housing and Community Development Manager Stacy Brown made the introductory remarks at the event, thanking all of the people who put in work to get Martinez’s new house built, including city staff and the city council who supported efforts to get the funding.
“We have every department in our city working on this project,” Brown said.
Assistant City Manager Collette Jamison praised the city council’s work in securing the funds for the housing rebuilds.
“The council went up to Washington, D.C., and really sought out these funds for our citizens,” she said.
Martinez said a few words as well, thanking the city, the contractor and the workers who she said were out there rain or shine getting her new home ready.
“I feel safer now, and I’ll be able to sleep at night without worrying about any floods,” she said.
In her new bedroom, Martinez demonstrates for a news crew where she intents to put her bed once she officially moves in.
After the ribbon cutting, attendees were invited in to Martinez’s new home to look around. The house is energy efficient and wheelchair accessible. The yard has been enhanced with new pallets of grass and shrubbery.
Four more homes being rebuilt with CDBG-DR funds are anticipated to be finished by the end of the year: two on Barbara Drive, one on Sturgeon Drive and another on Conway Drive, the city has stated. The city is also expected to break ground on three new homes in early 2019.
City staff have received 75 applications for assistance through the CDBG-DR program. For more information, residents can contact Brown at 512-805-2604 or sbrown@sanmarcostx.gov.
