A cyclist travels north up the Columbia Tap Rail-Trail past the "Sacred Struggles/Vibrant Justice" mural honoring Houston civil rights leaders on Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021.

It’s been a year shaped by both triumphs and challenges, from the joy of uncovering the long-lost history of Houston’s historic Riverside Terrace neighborhood to the weight of confronting the city’s most critical problems, including bar nuisances, bodies in our bayou and the growing homelessness crisis pressing deeper in Third Ward and beyond.

I write a lot about Third Ward, and specifically Riverside Terrace, a neighborhood that partly sits within its boundaries, because it’s my home.

It is where I’m raising a family, surrounded by a tight community of creatives, entrepreneurs, educators and longtime residents whose roots stretch back generations. They are working with care and conviction to make life better. It is a neighborhood rich with soul and history that refuses to fade in Houston’s constant pursuit of shiny newness.

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HISTORY REVEALED: The untold segregation story of Riverside Terrace hits a nerve for my neighbors, past and present

Third Ward also reflects Houston’s promises and pain. A condensed version of everything the city gets right and wrong, but sometimes the line between the two is difficult to see.

For those unfamiliar with the Third Ward, the boundaries vary depending on........

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