Files
Collection
COPS/Metro
Contributor
Neal, Sarah; Castro, Christina; Zapata, Juan P.
Publication Date
Spring 2024
Description
Christina talks about a man who died in a house fire because he had no city services (water, electricity, etc.) She mentioned how sewers would back up into people's kitchens during major rain events. Christina talks about how COPS mentored one woman, Julia Sanchez, in particular so that she could present at City Hall. This lady told her story which helped pass a bond to get the flooding and sewers fixed. Christina also talked about the need for Senior Housing and the building of “market rate” apartments which did not help the seniors because they could not afford the market rate apartments.
Biography
Born and raised on San Antonio’s Westside, Christina Castro has lived in the same house 77 out of her 81 years. She was part of COPS and focused on getting housing for seniors and as well as working on flooding issues in her neighborhood. Christina was able to help with millions of dollars worth of bonds for housing and flooding abatement on the Westside of San Antonio.
Interview Index
01:08 Substandard housing and death of elderly man in a fire.
04:20 Flooding and sewers backing up into kitchen sinks
08:23 Slumlords and inadequate housing
09:40 KIPP School on the westside
19:17 Seniors Housing and Seniors Housing Co-Chair for COPS
Keywords
Senior Housing, Flooding, COPS, COPS leaders, Parishes, Fire, Death, City Hall, Housing, Fire Hydrants
Size or Duration
15 pages; 29 minutes, 13 seconds
Format
MP3, PDF
Disciplines
Oral History | Social Justice
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Neal, Sarah, "COPS/Metro Alliance-StMU Oral Histories with Christina Castro" (2024). COPS/Metro. 19.
https://commons.stmarytx.edu/copsmetro/19