Pushcart Derby

Well, another successful Pushcart Derby took place this past Saturday. The year's event was by far the biggest so far with double the number of entries from last year. Mucho thanks to Cruz and Rina Ortiz for their vision and tireless efforts in organizing what has become a great event for the neighborhood.

Progress on the Hays Street Bridge

We went by the Hays Street Bridge the other evening to check out the progress on the restoration work. It's coming along nicely. The word is that it should be finished sometime this summer or early fall.

An Old Church

There's an abandoned old church building on the corner of Hackberry and Burnett. According to county property records it was built in 1940. Like many of the old buildings and houses in our neighborhood I'm drawn to it. I was poking around it the other day and I was surprised to see the pews were still in there.The building has simple lines and from the outside it looks to be in relatively decent shape. It could be rehabbed into a nice functional space. During windy days the loose metal roof will flap in the wind and I'm sure rain gets into the inside as some of the windows are broken. I get a excited when I think of the possibilities for buildings like these that are scattered around the Eastside.

The other night I was on my way home from the airport and I happen to come up to the corner where this old church is located. I noticed someone bedding down for the night on one of the small porches of the church building, no doubt a homeless person. I couldn't help but think that the vacant old church is at least serving the time honored function of providing sanctuary.