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Revisit
homeless center plans
01:55 PM CST Sat 02/28/04 |
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Sharon Boyd,
NW Dallas Homeowner
Oh,my! Ms. Sturrock is frustrated because she spent a few months to come up with
a plan to destroy my community. What about the years of
hard work and investment, NW Dallas homeowners and business owners
devoted to making our area viable again?
Apparently, Steve Blow thinks
the hundreds of families who live 1 mile south
of the Harry Hines site (behind Gruywler Park
and Rec Center) aren't important because they are low income to moderate
income. Not hip and happening like the people Belo and
Our Downtown Betters want to move into downtown housing!
Does he
not understand there are thousands of children within a 2 mile
circumference of the HH site? Or should
poor and moderate income children expect to have the city's problems
dumped on them?
The HH site is less than 1 mile
north of Shorecrest which goes directly into Bachman Lake, where hundreds
of taxpayers walk and run for exercise every day.
The bond program Our Mayor sold to us
last year was for $3 million to do a homeless shelter.
Why isn't Sturrock trying to get her
"private sector" friends to do something for Dallas parks used
by poor
families? And who are her "private sector" friends? What
you want to bet they are Downtown property owners?
The HH site is within blocks of where hundreds of poor Hispanic
families struggle to keep things together in over-crowded apartment
complexes. Not to mention all the elementary schools in the area.
Excuse me? What's the point of
building a facility to get the bums out of Downtown if we are going to bus
them back everyday? And what about the liability of the city
operating a shuttle system for vagrants? What if one of them attacks
the driver? Will the shuttles need armed guards? What if
the city-run shuttle hits someone?
Shuttles and annual operational costs, plus facility
maintenance and Our Mayor's proposed tent city next to the site. We can't
pay our police and firefighters competitive pay. Where do we get this
extra money?
"We can't afford to have it downtown ? not if
downtown, Deep Ellum and the Fair Park area are going to thrive."
Sturrock and Blow must not expect NW Dallas to thrive.
They may be unaware NW Dallas is the
#1 crime area in the nation's
#1 crime city. Our police officers are already overwhelmed. What
happens when hordes of street
bums are dumped on us?
The arrangement between the
Weisfeld brothers and City Hall is proof positive this is a sweetheart
real estate deal.
Blow never contacted one of many NW Dallas
community groups for a tour from our perspective.
Unlike
the transients who move in and out of hot new apartments,
NW Dallas homeowners have made a commitment to
the city and are working hard to overcome past neglect and abuse by City
Hall, which apparently was at the instigation of Belo
and the ODB.
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Robert Owen,
NW Dallas Homeowner
Letter to Steve Blow
The
Harry
Hines
site
you
recommend
for the homeless shelter is near the highest crime section of Dallas and
would be terrible
for
that area.
*
Assn For Retarded Citizens,
*
Assn For Independent Living and
*
Storey Ln
Independent Living
are all nearby.
There
are
enough problems for the handicapped in that part of town without adding fuel
to the fire.
We've had
some success cleaning up the Bachman area, but
having
homeless wandering the area is just not a good thing.
Please look at crime data in that area,
and maybe you
will
understand why more
harm
might result from the addition of the shelter. |
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By STEVE BLOW / The Dallas
Morning News
Judith Anne Sturrock is mighty
perturbed.
She devoted a good chunk of time to
the city of Dallas last year. She served as head of the site-selection
committee for the city's new homeless-assistance center.
... It looks like all that work is down the drain.
The City Council seems ready to start all over again.
... Ms. Sturrock seems ready to set her hair on
fire to keep that from happening. "This is so frustrating!"
... She's doing everything she can to call
attention to one of the three proposed sites. And at her urging, I took a
tour of it last week.
I have to say I'm impressed.
It's the former Dallas Rehabilitation
Institute ? a hospital and medical office complex that sits between Harry
Hines Boulevard and Stemmons Freeway, a mile or so south of Northwest
Highway.
... And the price is $5.5 million.
So why isn't the city jumping on this
deal? That's what Ms. Sturrock wonders.
To sweeten the pot even more, she
said, she has investors ready to put up the money to buy the property and
place it in a trust for the city to use as a homeless center.
"The private sector is willing to
come to the table and do that. ...
It's hard to tell exactly what the hesitancy is. There is
opposition, of course, from residents of northwest Dallas.
... no location would have less impact on its
neighbors. It backs up to Stemmons Freeway. ...
There is opposition because the site is not downtown, ...
Ms. Sturrock said a shuttle system could move people between locations.
The Union Gospel Mission does that
now ? housing about 235 people a night and shuttling many downtown each day.
... Ms. Sturrock ... "We
can't afford to have it downtown ? not if downtown, Deep Ellum and the Fair
Park area are going to thrive," she said.
Some are disturbed that Herschel Weisfeld
has pushed the site. His brother, Ronald, is part owner of the property.
... Ms. Sturrock said she wonders if the city is
balking for lack of funds to run such a sizable homeless center. But she
said it could be operated as a public-private partnership.
I don't pretend to be an expert on
any of this ? real estate or homelessness. But I agree with Ms. Sturrock
about one thing.
This property sure deserves a serious
look before we start all over again. |
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