Will $3 million bring new vitality to this south Fort Worth neighborhood?
Rosemont, an aging neighborhood dotted with small homes south of Ryan Place, is the latest Fort Worth neighborhood to receive a $3 million boost for revitalization.
Residents welcomed the infusion of municipal dollars, which the City Council approved Tuesday. The money comes from a half cent municipal property tax used for capital improvement projects and follows similar projects in Stop Six, Ash Crescent and Northside. Through a series of bilingual neighborhood meetings, the city and Rosemont residents will decide how to spend the money. It will likely be used for sidewalks, street lights, cleanup and other improvements.
Speaking to the council Tuesday, Phillip Breedlove described Rosemont as one, massive family. On his block, he said, at least six homes are owned by one extended family. Neighbors are always willing to help each other, he said, and there is sense of community pride.
“It’s a wonderful place,” Breedlove said of Rosemont.
But Rosemont, a predominantly Hispanic community south of West Berry Street and north of Seminary Drive, is plagued with few curbs, causing water to pool in cracked streets. Many streets are dark at night and sidewalks often lead to nowhere.
The neighborhood is in a similar place to other communities in Fort Worth’s core, including those chosen to receive investment in previous years.
More than 30% of Rosemont’s population is below the poverty line, meaning a third of families likely lack the money to fix their homes. The median household income is about $36,000. Most of the homes for sale are between 700 and 1,200 square feet and are listed below $200,000, even with improvements, according to realtor.com. The neighborhood ranks high in number of dangerous or substandard buildings, according to a city assessment.
The city will concentrate the $3.1 million investment in a small portion of Rosemont — Biddison Street south to Seminary and Granbury east to the BNSF railroad tracks.
Fernando Peralta Berrios, president of the Las Familias De Rosemont neighborhood association, said the improvements offered the neighborhood a chance to come together and imagine Rosemont’s future.
“I do want to be real,” he said. “This project will not totally solve all our problems or issues, but I do strongly believe that it will start something great within our community.”
Councilwoman Ann Zadeh said earlier this month she hoped the city would reach the point where this type of investment is no longer needed. On Tuesday she applauded the Rosemont neighborhood for their engagement and leadership.
Other neighborhoods where the city has made investment have seen significant advances.
The number of new construction permit applications has risen nearly 45% in Stop Six, Councilwoman Gyna Bivens said. Stop Six was the first chosen for the city’s Neighborhood Improvement Program.
In Ash Crescent, the neighborhood chosen in 2018, nearly 40 tons of trash and brush have been removed, 83 LED street lights have been installed and 17 dangerous buildings have been bulldozed, according the the city’s most recent assessment.
In Northside, chosen last year, 11 dangerous buildings have been torn down, 269 city-owned lots have been cleaned and 77 lights have been installed. Plans are in the works to improve sidewalks around Rufino Mendoza Elementary including 14th Street, Central, Harrington and Lagonda avenues.
There are many neighborhoods that need similar work.
The city assessed other neighborhoods before choosing Rosemont this year, including Carver Riverside, Bonnie Brae and portions of Como, Diamond Hill and the Las Vegas Trail area. When weighing factors like the number of substandard houses, poverty rate, neighborhood engagement and infrastructure needs, Rosemont came out as the neighborhood with the most need that could quickly benefit from $3 million.
Another neighborhood in need is the Seminary Hill area just south of Rosemont near Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, said resident Steve Hays. He told the city council he wasn’t against investing money in Rosemont, but he had grown frustrated with a lack of interest in his neighborhood.
He has fought the city for 15 years over a lack of curbs on his stretch of Gordon Avenue to no avail, he told the Star-Telegram before the council meeting. Rainwater runs down Gordon from the seminary campus on its way to a creek, and during heavy storms the water frequently floods property along the avenue, he said.
The city didn’t identify Gordon Avenue as one of roughly 300 dangerous high water areas, but flagged nearby James Avenue where it crosses the creek as a critical location for flash flooding. While the city may lack the funding to address the James Avenue spot, a flash flood hazard a few blocks away at 19000 Yates Avenue, also in Hays’ neighborhood, has been deemed a top priority.
“We need the curbs not for aesthetics but to protect our property,” he said.
