Link Valley is a community in southwestern Houston, Texas that consists of many apartment complexes. In the late 1980s it was nicknamed "Death Valley" due to high levels of drug-related and violent crime. Since a 1989 raid Link Valley has not had significant criminal activity.
History The apartments were developed in the 1960s, when the area was considered to be suburban. Originally athletes, medical students,Kunerth, Jeff. "." Orlando Sentinel. February 5, 1989. A1. Retrieved on January 7, 2012. Clipping of first and of second page at Newspapers.com. airline employees, local people,Sparrow, Malcolm K. Imposing Duties: Government's Changing Approach to Compliance. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994. 87. Retrieved from Google Books on January 8, 2012. , . and young professionals lived there. At the time the 610 Loop had been newly constructed. At one time 5,000 people lived in the apartments. Robert Cullick, a member of the Houston Chronicle Austin bureau, said that as the apartments were built, residents of nearby residential subdivisions shunned them because the apartment residents were transient and of a lower socioeconomic status. The residential neighborhoods were deed restricted, preventing rental units from being built within. This caused apartments to be concentrated in the same areas. The apartments did not have recreational facilities. Cullick believed that the isolation caused Link Valley to become a crime-ridden area in the 1980s.Cullick, Robert. "Was Death Valley inevitable?" Houston Chronicle. Saturday October 22, 1988. page B13. Retrieved on January 7, 2012. Available on NewsBank, record# 10*22*578566. Accessible from the Houston Public Library website, with a library card number and password. In the 1970s through the mid-1980s Link Valley remained middle class.
As Greater Houston developed, newer and more luxurious apartment complexes further away from the city core opened. Gradually the Link Valley apartments lost favor. The large number of apartments in Greater Houston caused prices of renting apartments in Link Valley to decrease. As a result of the 1980s oil glut, Houston's real estate market declined. The landlords were forced to further reduce rents, but there were insufficient tenants to keep the apartments profitable. In Link Valley many of the apartments were bankrupt and foreclosed. Jeff Kunerth of the Orlando Sentinel said that a "general abandonment" occurred. The apartments became known for drug dealing and vagrancy. After an elderly woman in a nearby community was murdered by residents of the area, homeowners put pressure on the city to clean up the community. A 1989 raid removed many drug dealers, vandals, vagrants, and drug addicts from the Link Valley community.
In 1991 the City of Houston financed the demolition of several derelict structures in Link Valley.Liebrum, Jennifer. "Former `Death Valley' area on its way back." Houston Chronicle. Friday January 18, 1991. p. A22. Retrieved on January 7, 2012. Available from NewsBank, record# 01*18*757826. Accessible from the Houston Public Library website with a library card number and password. In 1993 a developer offered to buy of vacant land south of the apartments, near West Bellfort Road, and also to buy out some of the old apartments, so residential and commercial projects could be built. The developers hoped to obtain around of land.Bivins, Ralph. "Will Death Valley return to life?" Houston Chronicle. Monday September 27, 1993. Business 1. Retrieved on January 7, 2011. Available from NewsBank, record # 09*27*1155983, Accessible from the Houston Public Library website with a library card number and password. By 2004 several streets near Link Valley had townhouses each worth around $200,000.Sarnoff, Nancy. "Stubborn South Loop area primed to develop." Houston Chronicle. Sunday December 5, 2004. Retrieved on January 7, 2012.
Cityscape Link Valley is in southwestern Houston, located off of Stella Link Road,Stanton, Robert. "'Death Valley' coming back to life." Houston Chronicle. Thursday July 19, 2001. Retrieved on January 7, 2012. and south of and along the 610 Loop. It consists of apartments centered on Link Valley Drive.Staff. "Life is cheap in city's `Death Valley'." Houston Chronicle. Sunday October 16, 1988. p. A1. Retrieved on January 7, 2011. Available from NewsBank, record# 10*16*577362, Accessible from the Houston Public Library website with a library card number and password. The development is west of the Reliant Astrodome and is about a 10-minute driving distance to Downtown Houston. Link Valley is also in proximity to the Texas Medical Center and Hobby Airport. The Link Valley area is the size of Eola Park in Downtown Orlando, Florida. The community has six city blocks.Murphy, Dean E. "When Cops Go Back on the Beat Houston has pioneered community-based policing, a practice now urged for Los Angeles. While some see benefits, many officers are skeptical. And crime there keeps rising. Series: FIRST OF TWO PARTS. Next: The obstacles to community policing in Los Angeles.." (Alternate link) Los Angeles Times at The Bulletin. September 15, 1991. B-3 (originally in the LA Times Part A Metro Desk on August 17, 1991). Retrieved from Google News (8 of 45) on January 5, 2012. Link Valley was adjacent to a community of brick houses. That community was originally Jewish, but in 1989 it was a racially mixed community.
The apartments were clustered together, and had over 3,000 units.Curtis, Gregory. "Behind the Lines." Texas Monthly. Emmis Communications, Vol. 17, No. 4. 5. Retrieved from Google Books on January 8, 2012. ISSN 0148-7736. The apartments had brick façades, colonial style pillars, hardwood floors, and balconies made of wrought iron. Apartment dining rooms had chandeliers. Names of complexes included Alsace, Chez Charme, Provence, Royale, and Starlight Arms. In the late 1980s, when Link Valley became a center for drug dealing, many of the apartments had no appliances, plumbing, and wiring. Trash was a common feature in Link Valley.Sparrow, Malcolm K. Imposing Duties: Government's Changing Approach to Compliance. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994. 86. Retrieved from Google Books on January 8, 2012. , . Gregory Curtis of Texas Monthly said that, after the police raid in 1989, the names of the apartments sounded like "cynical jokes". Curtis added that, in 1989, the apartments had "disintegrated to the point where restoration seems impossible and their demolition would be a blessing."
Government and infrastructure The community has been served by the Houston Police Department Southwest (Beechnut) Patrol Division.
The Houston City Council District K serves Link Valley.City of Houston, Council District Maps, District K ." City of Houston. Retrieved on November 5, 2011. During the 2000s and prior to 2011 it was a part of city council district C."City of Houston Council District "C"." City of Houston. April 3, 2003. Retrieved on November 7, 2011. In the 1980s and 1990s it was in District D.Cobb, Kim. "HPD to seal off drug-infested area." Houston Chronicle. Tuesday January 24, 1989. p. A2. Available from NewsBank, Record Number: 01*24*598651. Available from the Houston Public Library website with a library card. "The area is in Councilman Rodney Ellis' District D, while the complaining civic clubs are in the adjoining District C represented by Vince Ryan. The two have worked with the civic clubs for several months to prepare for this effort. " and "The civic clubs pushing the crackdown are Braeswood Place, Knollwood Village, Linkwood, Townhouse Manor, Westridge, Westwood, Willow Meadows, Woodshire and Woodside. The police task force is working out of the Beechnut Substation.""map3.gif." City of Houston. February 11, 1997. Retrieved on January 8, 2012.
Crime In the late 1980s the community was known for having an abundance of drug-related criminal activity. Houstonians (Houston citizens) nicknamed it "Death Valley" because many drug-related homicides occurred there. In a period over 10 years ending in 1989, many drug dealers and prostitutes operated in the area. Kim Cobb of the Houston Chronicle said that Link Valley's apartments, which were mostly vacant, appeared "like a war zone, buildings with broken windows, high weeds, boarded up buildings and an assortment of prostitutes and junkies."Cobb, Kim. "Zeroing in on `Death Valley`/Shocked neighbors turning up heat on drug nest" (). Houston Chronicle. Sunday October 16, 1988. C1. Retrieved on January 7, 2011. Gregory Curtis of the Texas Monthly said that Link Valley was "the closest we come in Texas to the total, bombed out devastation one sees in Newark or the South Bronx." Malcolm K. Sparrow, an author of Beyond 911: A New Era For Policing, said that Link Valley had "more in common with Beirut and Medellín than with the calm, landscaped residential neighborhoods that surround it."Sparrow, Malcolm K., Mark H. Moore, and David M. Kennedy. Beyond 911: A New Era For Policing. Basic Books, June 23, 1992. 4. Retrieved from Google Books on January 8, 2012. , Police believed that some apartments were used as crack houses. Cocaine traffickers drove away landlords who tried to board windows or make other improvements to the complexes. One drug establishment used flashlights to manage traffic of people intending to buy drugs. The Police arrested hundreds of people at Link Valley on a yearly basis. Due to overcrowding in Houston jails, many of those caught served shorter sentences than they otherwise would, and many drug dealers arrested by police were replaced by other dealers.
Sergeant J. W. Collins of the Houston Police Department Southwest Patrol Division said that the factor that aggravated the trade was that Link Valley was in close proximity to the 610 Loop. Many drug customers from across Houston traveled to Link Valley to buy drugs. They used the 610 Loop to quickly enter and exit the Link Valley area. A customer would take the Stella Link exit off of 610, then drive down Link Valley Drive and receive his or her drugs. After the drug purchase, the customer would travel to the 610 Loop feeder roads via a side street, and quickly leave Link Valley. Collins said that many of the drug customers were White Americans who were casual drug users, and he recalled that powdered cocaine, rather than crack cocaine, was the main drug purchased at the complex. Collins added that, while many White casual drug consumers would feel nervous entering a black neighborhood, where they would more easily stand out and attract attention of law enforcement and violent criminals, in Link Valley they could easily enter and leave the community, so they felt more confident in buying drugs there. Link Valley was so popular that it frequently drew faraway visitors; some patrol officers said that vehicles with Louisiana license plates frequently appeared at Link Valley.
History of criminal activity
Collins said that the drug trade appeared in early 1986, spreading from one complex to another within a space of several month. Collins said that, by 1987, his station's officers had visited the complexes on a daily basis. In 1988 the police forces made 200 drug-related arrests in Link Valley. Jeff Kunerth of the Orlando Sentinel said "[w]ith the crime had come a Wild West lawlessness. The utility company stopped replacing street lights because the bulbs were constantly being shot out. Police responding to reports of gunshots, drug deals and dead bodies entered Death Valley with guns drawn." From January 1, 1988, until mid-December 1988, the Houston Police Department received 825 emergency calls, made hundreds of narcotic-related arrests. During the same period, six murders occurred in the complex.