Saturday, December 08, 2007

Turner Courts


Check out the WFAA Channel 8 news report by Craig Civale that aired last Thursday night near the top of the 10 p.m. news:

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews
/stories/wfaa071207_ac_turner.78b22795.html.

The residents of Turner Courts who were interviewed are our friends and neighbors.

The story about the extremely dark streets without working street lights and the change in DART's bus routes after 6 p.m. came to the attention of Channel 8 thanks to the efforts of our team at Turner Courts.

Janet Morrison, Wyshina Harris and Sylvia Baylor have been organizing neighbors to speak out about basic living conditions and public safety issues in the community where one of our After School Academies is located.

I say "good show" to all those involved in bringing the reality of this neighborhood to the attention of the larger community. I'm looking for future reports of progress and better communitiy services.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What are the costs of replacing the lights and generally improving the area up to DART's preferred standards?

Larry James said...

Great question. The Dallas Housing Authority has developed an aggressive and wonderful plan to remake the entire community. That runs in the millions. I applaud their vision and continue to believe that President and CEO, Ann Lott is an incredible leader here in Dallas.

But, to fix now what is broken wouldn't be much. The lights would be minor, but police action that would be required to patrol and the code enforcement to clean up area drug houses would be ongoing and more costly, but well worth the investment.

Anonymous said...

Can organizations like Central Dallas Ministries become the fiscal agents to make such repairs, or do all such funds have to go through the city?

Anonymous said...

Another example of neglect by the City of Dallas. I have street lights and police patrol in my neighborhood and these folks should have the same service I have. Wake up Dallas!

Larry James said...

CDM could make a donation to the city, I feel certain. We have a good relationship with many counsel members and the Mayor.