Childrens' feelings

"What feelings do you have when you think of Turner Courts?" I asked the question of 9 kids in the After-School Academy.

Dangerous.

Happy.

Sad.

Afraid.

Embarrassed.

Disappointed.

I've heard some of the adults in Turner Courts say some of the same things. You can see pictures below that kids and adults in Turner Courts have taken to illustrate their feelings.

From talking with some of you, I know those are not feelings you want to have in the place you call "HOME."

So what can we do?

We take our neighborhood back from the people who are making the decisions about what they think we should and shouldn't have!

How do we do that?

We speak up.

The reality is, the people who are making the decisions about Rochester Park do not live in Rochester Park. They are not around when the sun goes down. They do not know what you know. So, we need your voice to help them understand. Though some of you have told me your situation and story, I can't represent it like you can.

Come join us today (Wednesday, February 20) at 12:00 to voice your opinions and help us decide what we want the city to hear from us when we meet in our Town Hall meeting on Saturday, March 1 at 10:00.

WE NEED YOUR VOICE!!!

Let there be light!!

For the last few months, some of us here in Rochester Park have been meeting with City officials to communicate some of our frustrations (one of them being that the majority of our street lights are out!). Side note: WE INVITE AND ENCOURAGE MORE PEOPLE TO ATTEND and express your concerns as well!!!...we need all voices!

At the Thursday night Bexar St. corridor meeting at the Boys & Girls Club, many residents voiced concerns about the way things are now. The city heard your concerns! I received this email yesterday from Mr. Brad Moss, city of Dallas...

A night time survey of Bexar and Municipal streets was preformed at 6 am Friday the 8th and a list of the lights not working was sent to Oncor for repair. The lights should be repaired within 5 working days.

This is great news!

If you live in the Rochester Park neighborhood, please check out the lights. If you find that some are still not working by Wednesday, February 13, please call ONCOR or DHA (depending on where the lights are)...and let us at the After-School Academy know as well.

For STREET LIGHT concerns...
If you live on DHA property, CALL IN A WORK ORDER...THEN GO TELL MS. ARNETT in the office. All street lights in Turner Courts are now the responsibility of DHA. If they do not get fixed after you have done this, please come see us in the Community Room...6601 Bexar St.

If you live in the Rochester Park area, but not on DHA property, CALL 3-1-1 and CALL ONCOR at 1.888.313.4747.

I want to commend Dwaine Caraway, Mayor Pro Tem, for continuing to show up...and bringing out numerous city officials...to help us address our concerns.

I also want to commend Kassem Elkhalil from Public Works for working so hard to make things happen...especially getting the street lights turned back on. Without any prompting, he makes sure to email and tell me what's going on.

We are happy with the progress, but we still have a lot of work to do! The lights are just the beginning!

Please come out to help us plan the agenda for our next Town Hall meeting.

Our planning meeting will be in the Community Room at 6601 Bexar St. on February 20, 2008 from 12:00-1:30.

The Town Hall meeting with the city will be Saturday, March 1, 2008 from 10:00-11:30.

Please come to either or both!! Call Sylvia (214-928-9833) or Janet (214-498-6097) with any questions.

On Our Way!!

The meeting on Saturday went pretty good! We got to voice our concerns with Dallas Housing. They talk a good talk, but are they going to walk the walk. You know peoplle sure can speak on something that they know nothing about. I mean if you have never had to struggle or live in Turner Courts you really don't know how it feels to be neglected. There are a lot of thing that we still need to do, but you lnow what! It is going to happen. We need the support from the community to speak up, now more than ever. I know that they have said time and time again that Turner Courts would be demolished, but when and what happen until then is my question. Not one person at the meeting with the City Of Dallas or dallas Housing could answer. Why!!! Time will tell. For now we will still hold our Town Hall Meetings. Our next Community Clean Up meeting will be in the After School Academy from 12pm-2pm on February 20th, 2008. We would love to see you there. The Town Hall Meeting will be On March 1st 2008, at The Lord's Missionary Baptist Church, right across the street.