On Feb. 8, a Fort Worth neighborhood group pushed the latest effort at revitalization of the Near Southeast Side a little closer to reality. (“Tough Nut to Crack,” Feb. 3, 2010). The Historic Southside Neighborhood Association voted 13-3 in favor of a plan to build 54 rent-to-own homes there over the next year – with a couple of caveats.
The vote came with the understanding that the developer, the new-in-town NRP Group, will have to address several outstanding issues that have troubled many of the residents since NRP first set its sights on the deeply depressed inner-city neighborhood last year.
According to association president Al Piper, company reps agreed to sign a “memorandum of understanding” promising that there will be significant participation in the project by the residents, including the involvement of a local nonprofit organization in providing social services at a new community center. The group also wants a clarification as to “whether ex-felons of any type” would be allowed to rent and then buy one of the homes, he said. (Some residents worry that otherwise stable families, with one member who has a record, might be barred.) Piper called the vote a “win” for everyone involved, not only because it could bring a significant number of new houses to the area but also because the project could become, at long last, “a real catalyst for commercial development as we replace empty lots with people.”
Troop Lift
For those of you who’d like to keep up with Alpha Company, the Army unit over in Baghdad whose soldiers have become avid (hey, we have pictures to prove it) readers of the Weekly, here’s the latest: Sgt. Paul Acosta reports that “everything over here is going great” – other than the occasional rocket and mortar attacks, and car bombs going off outside the base every few days, of course. Kind of puts life in perspective, doesn’t it?
On a lighter note, seven members of the company took on a power-lifting challenge at their gym and came out victorious. What did they win? Dinner with the commander. (Geez, in Static’s world, dinner with the boss is punishment, not a prize … unless it’s a really groovy place and the boss is paying, of course.) Static should sign off now, while it still has a job. For more pictures of the Alpha Company troops, check out “Over There”, Jan 20, 2010.
Correction
Static has fake-whined recently about having to host corrections on stories from other parts of the paper, on weeks when there is not a Letters page. Discretion would have been the better part of valor, it seems, because now it’s Static’s turn to wipe egg off its face. Or in this case, drilling mud. On Jan. 20, Static wrote that Texas Railroad Commission spokeswoman Ramona Nye had told environmental researchers that her agency does not believe the federal Safe Water Drinking Act applies to the use of diesel in fraccing gas wells. In fact, her e-mail to the Environmental Working Group said just the opposite. She did say that the Railroad Commission does not monitor the industry’s use of frac fluids. Static – and Fort Worth Weekly— regret the error.
