Streets improves streets of Kilgore

Kilgore is a city with a small-town feel that many often talk about. Mable Streets remembers Kilgore as a child and has chosen to move back after staying away for so many years. And when she comes home, she brings a hammer.

She is building affordable - $75,000 to $80,000 - houses for low-income families.

"I slept in a bed with my sister when we were growing up. Our house was old and it leaked," Streets said. "When it would rain we would cover the bed in plastic and sleep with a bucket between us."

Streets said she can remember the shame and embarrassment of growing up so poor and her new effort here is in part to heal her heart's painful past. In part, though, it's to give something back to a community she remembers so fondly.

"I want every child to go to sleep at night knowing if rain falls and wind blows they are safe in the walls of their home," Streets said.

Street's childhood home still stands vacant at 214 Alexander Street, off of Martin Luther King Street.

"My mother, Ora Smith, was a survivor," Streets said. "That is how she raised seven children on her own."

While living in Kilgore, Streets worked at Clara's Malt Shop and the Dollar Store.

After graduating High School in 1977, Streets went to San Francisco to live with a relative. There she attended San Francisco City College working toward a degree in accounting and education.

Streets has worked the last 25 years in the banking and finance industry.

Back home in Kilgore, Streets has been working with Carol Windham, Kilgore director of planning and zoning, as well as with Jeff Howell, city manager, to find lots in the city that are suitable for building. Streets just closed on the sale of her first build, a four-bedroom house on Duncan Street, last week.

"I feel such a sense of accomplishment, having that house behind me," Streets said. "I am finally able to see my vision."

The vision to which she refers includes building and beautification as well as strengthening her family's roots through selflessness.

Streets said others have shared in her vision also, including her three sons, Allen, David and Samori.

Allen is an engineer at Vertex; David - who still lives in San Francisco - works in marketing and the music industry; and Samori works as a builder and consults on Streets' properties.

Streets is currently working on a house on Laird Street and has two more set for construction on Alexander and one on Florey. She will go before city council August in an effort to obtain tax resale properties in the Pentecost Addition for future development.

The house on Duncan Street has four bedrooms and two baths. Future builds are slated to include three bedrooms and two baths.

Streets' vision took more than 30 years to come to fruition; however she said she never lost sight of her dream.

"I held on to my dream and I carried my past in my heart. I look at my vision from a child's point of view," she said. "A child needs a home they can be safe in and a home they can be proud of. I remember needing that in my life and I can make that possible for someone else's children."

Streets said her sons understand and are supportive of her efforts.

"My vision and dreams are theirs too," she said. "It took a lot of planning, but we're here now and most importantly, I'm home."

Streets goes before city council 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, August 14 during a regularly scheduled meeting.