Perfect Storm

Our little corner of the world has been getting a lot of attention lately. All of sudden there seems to be a "perfect storm" of initiatives, projects and renewed energy converging upon our quiet neighborhood. One initiative that has the most potential for really changing the face of the Dignowity Hill is the Eastside Reinvestment Plan. The plan is an outgrowth of a city Strategic Community Plan that was developed a few years ago. The initial focus of the reinvestment plan will be on Dignowity Hill and if this plan comes to together as envisioned our neigborhood will experience positive change like never before! This plan has the potential to bring improvements in infrastructure, better lighting, improved streets and sidwewalks, improvements to our parks, raising the awareness of the historical nature of our neigborhood and other key quality of life improvements.
The first public meeting to introduce the plan and get community input was held this past week. The attendance was incredible, 113 people signed in and the head count came in at 132! That's a good sign.....it means that folks are interested but most importantly they want to provide input. Some challenges that I see: financial resources will need to be secured, so funding sources will need to identified. We also need to overcome a healthy dose of skepticism within the community that this will actually come to fruition.
But, I'm hopeful that this initiative will eventually deliver the goods.

Finding a Balance

Sometimes it takes the wisdom of Solomon to find a balance between the greater good and the interests or concerns of individuals. Take for example the issue of serving the poor in our neighborhood. There are numerous ministries or programs in our neighborhood that provide services to folks that are homeless, dealing with addictions, unemployed or barely making a livable income. As our neighborhood has revitalized these social ministry programs have become lightning rods of concern as we all struggle to find a way to coexist and yet keep the momentum going on the road to continued renewal. There's a perception out there that these types of social outreach programs can be detrimental to the revitalization of a community. The notion here is that these types of programs attract and bring "undesirable elements" into our quiet neighborhood and that having these "elements" in our community will have a negative affect on property values, the safety of our community and feed the negative perception of the Eastside. There may be some validity to that notion yet if we look in our own backyard you're likely to see neglect in the form of empty houses and overgrown and trashy empty lots. This kind of neglect contributes to the "broken window" theory of community apathy and does nothing to improve or erase old perceptions about the Eastside.
So I get a little confused when we focus our attention on these ministries yet there seems to be little that we do or can do about absentee landlords, that we allow trash to lie along our streets, that we allow dogs to run free in the neighborhood, that houses go unpainted, that empty lots are neglected....you get the picture.

The point of this rant: The poor and the needy will always be with us so we need to be compassionate and find ways to provide dignity...that's called service. As residents of this community we can do something about maintaining our homes and our lots, we can push the city for infrastructure improvements....that's called responsibility. Finding that balance between service and community responsibility takes a relationship. And like all relationships it takes a little bit of give and take to reach a healthy balance between the visions of those that feel called to serve and those of us that feel that this community could be even better.

Some Cool Stuff

Life is interesting at times. There's lots of things going on in and around the neighborhood. At our last neighborhood association meeting we had the police chief, the Eastside substation captain and our neighborhood SAFFE cops in attendance. The meeting was well attended, lots of folks that hadn't attended a meeting in awhile showed up. The chief and his troops gave a nice talk.
Our meeting that evening was probably the safest place in San Antonio!

Activities with the neighborhood association are gaining some momentum. About a month ago we applied for a mini grant from the city for funding to do a community fair and it was approved. Then I got a call from the city planning division wanting to discuss a re-investment plan focused on Dignowity Hill. This initiative has the potential of truly revitalizing the area in terms of real investment in the neighborhood. We're also going to apply for some free trees. The city through it's neighborhood tree challenge program will give us up to 25 trees for residences or park spaces. So a little committee has formed to get this tree show on the road. Come this fall we should have several new trees in our two parks and in some of our neighbors yards

Besides the Hays Street Bridge restoration, another cool happening is the opening of the River Walk extension north of downtown. This is great because it is a literal 10-15 minute walk from our neighborhood to this wonderful extension of San Antonio's famous River Walk.















City elections were held earlier this month and our city council district race went undecided because no one received a majority of the vote. So a run off election between the two top vote getter's is scheduled for June. My hope is that whoever gets in will be more responsive to the concerns of the district neighborhoods. Things can only improve after a poor showing from the previous council person's track record and strained relationship with our neighborhood.

The economy still stinks although there are signs of improvement and many folks are still struggling to keep things together but lately things have gotten a little interesting, maybe even a little hopeful, on Dignowity Hill.

Hays Street Bridge Project Gets Going!

Finally after a few years of planning and discussion, the Hays Street Bridge restoration was initiated. On Saturday May 9th the project was kicked off with a ceremony. Within a couple of days demolition of the old approaches began. By the end of the 1st week the old planks on the bridge it self were gone! We went by to look at the progress over the weekend. It is so cool to see this actually happening. Another sign that things are beginning to change in our historic neighborhood!

Happy Birthday Rose!

Our house, Rose, yes that's her name, turned 100 years old this month! So we threw her a party. We wanted to honor her not only reaching the 100 year milestone but also honor those that help restore her. So we had a bunch of our neighbors and friends over for a little celebration. Byron, Bill and Geno the three guys who literally saved this old house from becoming a pile of rubble were toasted for their good work. We also wanted to shine a light on our neighborhood. One of the local TV news stations sent over a video guy and we made that night's news! The message we wanted to get out is that this old neighborhood is coming back! Rose: we wish you another good 100 yrs!

Nettie

I first met Nettie Hinton at a Dignowity Hill Neighborhood Association meeting about 2 years ago. When she got up and spoke she immediately made an impression on me. Well, any time that Nettie speaks she usually makes an impression! She's is one of those rare individuals that has the ability to immediately capture your attention. Undoubtedly, she also is one the most interesting people I have ever met. The great-grand daughter of a freed slave, Nettie's roots run deep in San Antonio and especially in the Eastside neighborhoods where she grew up in. After a 30 year career with the U.S. Customs that literally took her around the world, she returned to San Antonio and Dignowity Hill.
I Google'd Nettie Hinton's name and found out that she has been the recipient of numerous leadership awards such as the St. Philip’s College Artemesia Bowden Award, the Mission City Business and Professional Women’s Profiles in Leadership Award, the African-American Reflections Harriet Tubman Award of Courage, and the Bank of America Local Hero Award. Pretty good stuff. What Nettie really brings to the table is her absolute passion, courage and engagement to issues she believes in and cares about. When I've seen her tangle with city officials over neighborhood concerns or issues I always have to chuckle because she won't back down when pushed. No doubt that she can get your attention! Regardless of whether you agree with her or not she keeps you honest. And folks, we can always use a healthy dose of honesty to keep things in perspective!

Our Neighborhood Assocation

Our neighborhood association is a lively, passionate and interesting group of folks. Our meetings can be at times rewarding or frustrating events depending on the issues. As I've written before, our neighborhood is an interesting collection of professionals, artists, working folks, long time resident families, recent arrivals, black, white and otherwise. So you can imagine the diversity that shows up our meetings.
But I have to say that the folks that come to our meetings truly care about the neighborhood and I would like to think, ultimately about each other. So its going to be an interesting adventure for me as I step into the role as president of the association. I look forward to this new chapter with enthusiasm along with a healthy dose of pragmatic expectations. We also have new officers for the association. They are all great folks with good ideas and commitment to see our neighborhood continue to move in a positive direction. So thank you Liz, Kate and Hector for agreeing to serve! It should be an interesting and fun rest of the year!