Veronica Chapa Gorczynski | President of The East End District

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's great to talk to Veronica ChoppaGorzinsky. She's in charge of the East
End District. But more importantly,I said, if you haven't been to
the East End, what's the firstplace you want us to go to?
Wait until you hear about the restaurants. Check it out. Veronica Choppa Gorzinsky.
She is my guest on my DanaTyson podcast Delighting the Community. And

(00:20):
thank you mattress Mack for always sponsoringour podcast. Well, Veronica, I
had the delightful experience of going toEast River nine lat was it last weekend
And I'm just thinking what you guyshave done to the East End is absolutely
phenomenal. How did all this begina quiet, little sleepy area where a

(00:44):
lot of I note restaurant tours camefrom. They grew up here and then
it's just developing like crazy. It'sbeautiful. Well, good morning. You
know. I wish I could takecredit for all of this, but this
has been a twenty year journey,and I remind board members and staff that
this is more of like a marathonand not just a sprint. And so

(01:06):
just a lot of gratitude because partnerslike Midway, they had the vision for
you know, how do we redevelopEast River, how do we get the
golf course? And I'm really gratefulthat we got a Part three golf course
because I think we needed one inHouston in addition to restaurant tours coming back
and giving us such great food we'vegot, you know, we've got James

(01:26):
Beard Award winning food, which whichI love, because we started with such
humble beginnings, right and it startedwith just something so like, something seemingly
so simple, but it is justit has all come together. And so
we're excited about all of the greatwork in the East End that's happening with
with all of our partners, thepickle ball, the golf course, looking

(01:49):
out at the city at night withthat fool Breeze live entertainment. I mean,
I'm just looking around, going,this is amazing what you guys have
added to our city in that area. And I know Nancy's Hustle, isn't
that justin Verlander's wife's favorite restaurant inthe whole wide world. I haven't kept
up on that past, it's true. I mean, we got so much

(02:12):
great food to be grateful for.Because even if you go to the far
deep side of the East End.I was gonna have. You haven't gone
to Hoots Barbecue. You gotta putthat on your list. Okay, it's
barbecue, Hugh's Barbecue. It's familyowned. The food is fantastic. If
they have the cobbler, don't sucondguess yourself, just get it. It
is fantastic. Yeah, but it'slike when you get that, you know

(02:36):
you want brisket, You want thoseburnins, you want maybe they have a
been a really good turkey sandwich.On days where I'm like, oh,
I can't go you can't eat apound of brisket today, I'm gonna be
a little bit lighter. But Ithink it's part of the charm of this
neighborhood. Right. Oh, andmemos, you have to know where you're
going, like the neighborhoods Oh memo? Am I am? Oh? Oh

(02:57):
memo? Okay, yeah, okay, So if you go to Pocket Pocket
Market where we used to have akind of the wand off a telemin road
the Kenawan Ti restaurant. I'm hopingI'm saying that correctly. A lot of
people call it telephone tie. Right, it's in the same location. Okay,
you have to put it on yourlist. Okay, the food is
fantastic. They have a really wellcreated wine list. But it's this hidden

(03:20):
gem in that if you you haveto know where you're going to find it,
but it's totally worthwhile when you getthere. That is amazing. I
have to ask you, how didyou I mean, you're you're in charge.
You've got a huge budget, lotsof employees, this area is just
growing by leaps and bounds. You'vegot all these new people coming in.
Was this always your dream to belike a planner of an area like this

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or did you just kind of happeninto it. Yeah, that's a I'm
really gratefully you asked that question.So my official title as president of the
East End District, which is themanagement District. It's not something that you
grow up and say this is whenI want to be when I grow up.
I'm from South Texas. I grewup. I'm an eighties gen xer

(04:06):
kid, and you know, thebig dream for me growing up in Cell
Texas at the time was if Igot to call it education like that was
going to be the win. SoI really wanted to be a teacher.
And life presents you all sorts ofopportunities. I was really grateful because the
University of Texas I will forever bleedOrange paid for two master's degrees for me

(04:28):
to just let me focus on studies. So I have a master's degree in
Latin American Studies and Master of Scienceand Urban Planning. And right when I
graduated is when Hurricane Katrina happened,and that really shifted the nature of how
we thought about building and rebuilding communities. I'm really grateful to be in the
East End because it lets me workwith mission, work with a clear vision

(04:53):
from the board of directors in thecommunity. It also helps me be a
little less homesick because I missed thefood and I missed speaking Spanish and I
miss you know, I get hugswhen I go to restaurants and stuff here,
and I've lived in other markets too, Like I did not get a
lot of hugs in DC when Iwalk into a restaurant. Not the same
feeling of warmth. Right, Sopart of why I live that you said

(05:17):
is we have neighbors like you thatare in the neighborhood doing good for the
neighborhood and introducing me to other neighbors. And there's just this great history,
this really tight knit community, andit's not where I plan to be,
but I have no regrets of beinghere, and I'm so grateful every day
for the opportunity to serve and putmy work in this neighborhood. What is

(05:41):
it that Keith? First of all, how long have you been doing this?
Oh, roughly since about two thousandand five in different forms? Long
time either long time? Yeah,And I always like, because I've been
at Sunny for thirty two years,and You're going, how do you get
yours out? Like? Do youreinvent yourself? How do you get yourself
motive? Every motivated? What wouldit be for you? Is it an

(06:02):
amazing cup of coffee, your favoritecoffee shop? What what is your happy
place or your mental state that getsyou motivated to do this day in and
day out? Because every day isin a perfect day. You're right,
every day isn't the perfect day.And you know, as a as a
woman, later we all try tolike give ourselves a little pet talks in
the rearview and the way to thework, you know, as we're driving

(06:23):
there or walking around. I think, for me, where I'm most comfortable.
Frankly, I'm a South Texas girl. So people tease me, I'll
be wearing my jeans and boots.I'm walking around the neighborhood. Sometimes you
want to let the fresh air hityou. You want to feel the ground
underneath your feet, that crunch evenof a boot on gravel. It's just

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this grounding sense. And then I'dlike to walk around and look at stuff
that need improvements, to think,Okay, how do I get how do
we get funding to make this better? How do we get community collaboration and
improve this? And so that's partof the drives that there's always work to
do right, but it's work thatis different and vary. And part of
why I've been in this career aslong as i have is I've done place

(07:06):
based investment with community development block grantfunds. We've looked at how do we
get State Housing Trust fund to thecolonials. It's just very types of specific
work. Often it was in responseto crisis, and it's something I'm trying
to coach myself out of because whenyou're in response to something, you can't
think about the future or move forward. You're just trying to handle the business

(07:27):
for today right. And so Ithink part of being motivated is giving yourself
a time to breathe, to vision, to look around you and say,
what do you want to do different? Because very often we get to make
the determination of how we want tochange the world. And if I remind
myself of that, no matter howbad the day is, no matter how
heavy the problems are, tomorrow weget a do over and we just start

(07:49):
a game that is so wise Ronicaall right. For someone who hasn't been
to the East End, but they'vebeen hearing about it, what's the first
place you recommend and they go to? So right now? The easiest place
that I recommend is probably seven elevenMilbe. It's the old Camera and Ironworks
building. The reason that is significant, it's got a lot of entrepreneurs housed

(08:13):
inside. I go there when Ineed a quick bite or when I need
a gift because we have incredibly thoughtfulretailers. It's all micro It's awesome.
All microbuilders are part of me,all micro entrepreneurs. They are in essentially
metal containers that separate their shops.I really have found the most thoughtful gifts
in there. If you want toget coffee that's different. I really recommend

(08:37):
people going and hanging out at alsocoffee shop on navigation, there's all sorts
of great restaurants, but sometimes theydo a Mexican fundance on top of an
orchata latte that is really good andyeah, like it's clearly you're gonna need
a little bit of insulin afterwards.You know, it's high on the sugar,
but it is delicious. I alsorecommend, and someone laughed at me

(09:03):
earlier I have. I've had alot of out of towners. I've had
Canadians and people from DC recently comingand visiting the East End a lot to
talk about our infrastructure problems. SoI've been taking them to Magnolia's ice Cream
Shop, which is this great icecream shop. I only go for like
the mango ice cream that to meis a taste of home. But if
there's a way to go extra onwhat you do on your ice cream,

(09:24):
this place is it. It alsohas really well curated Mexican snacks, and
so I have friends that will buya stuff to stick in the plane and
take back with them either the DCor you know, wherever they're going back.
So it's kind of like half icecream shop, half the FISCITTI.
Yeah, if you want an authentic, like just an extra snow cone with
a lot of stuff on it.This place is fabulous. It's got seating,

(09:46):
it's hidden. It's like you haveto go look for it to find
it. But I tell people,once you get there, it's really well
worth a visit. That sounds Imean, that sounds fantastic. You're an
excellent ambassador. How can people reachout to you or get in touch with
you if maybe they want to helpout? What what could people do?
Sure? So the easiest way isto send me an email Veronica at east

(10:09):
End District dot com. If youwant to know more about the services that
we offer, you can visit eastEnd District dot com. We also have
a B side for those of youthat know what the B side is that
eastaid Houston dot com. Okay,what is that? So you know,
back in the day when we hadto flip a record or filiba cassette tape,

(10:31):
you had the side on the Bside, Well, the A side
the B side. I should knowthat, So this is the B side.
But I said that to a groupof early young folks and they kind
of looked at me and I waslike, oh, yeah, do we
what's the equivalent of like a zenielb side. I don't know. You
are a delight. I love what'sbeen happening in our city. Any opportunity

(10:52):
I can to peep to highlight peoplewho delight us, That's what I try
to do, and you certainly didgreat recommendations on the places I thought I
knew the East End until I spokewith you. So we gotta get busy.
We got we gotta get, wegotta go out, we eat,
get some margaritas, get some bicycles. That is awesome, Veronica, you
are the best, and I appreciategetting to know you and sharing a little

(11:16):
bit more about what this city hasto offer. The East End is an
incredible place. If you haven't beenthere, now's the time, the weather's
cooling off. You've got that theall along the Esplanade on navigation. It
is navigation that opens up for you'vegot the the It's not really food,
it's kind of food and everything.Food and crafts. Every weekend, every

(11:39):
Sunday, the market is up andfrom ten to two. We also have
a Cultural District is giving residencies tolocal artists. So if you want to
come and watch a local artist andsupport them like that is also welcome.
And of course you know, everytime you buy something in the East End
you're probably paying for someone's dance classesor singing classes, or you know,
supporting a local family and entrepreneur.So please keep doing that. Absolutely,

(12:03):
thank you, and right around theholiday's unique gift ideas, right here in
the East End we always say,shop small, shop local, East End
is the way to do it.Veronica, thank you for your time today.
I truly appreciate you. Thank you, and I appreciate you