109 replies to this topic

[John T Roberts]

Have you looked at Strava's Global Heatmap?  It shows the routes that most cyclists on Strava use and I feel that is a pretty good indicator of what streets are safe and what streets are not.  Here's a link to the map centered on Fort Worth.  You can pan and zoom to some extents.

 

https://www.strava.c....73472/hot/ride

[rriojas71]

Have you looked at Strava's Global Heatmap?  It shows the routes that most cyclists on Strava use and I feel that is a pretty good indicator of what streets are safe and what streets are not.  Here's a link to the map centered on Fort Worth.  You can pan and zoom to some extents.

 

https://www.strava.c....73472/hot/ride

I don't think it's much about what streets are safe as much as it is about unaware drivers.  I'm overly cautious when I ride and I'm always looking around for cars.  I have just had too many occasions where if it were not for the fact that I was paying attention I would have had an encounter/collision with a vehicle who just didn't realize I was there.

[John T Roberts]

I will agree that there are a lot of unaware drivers.  However, I do feel that the streets with the greatest number of cyclists are probably safer than some of the streets with fewer numbers.  I linked to the Strava Heatmap so you could see where other cyclists ride frequently.  Through the South Side, I feel that Fairmount and Willing are safe bicycle streets.  That street is extra wide and was once a streetcar line.

[Doohickie]

Hemphill has quickly become a favorite route for cyclists especially northbound.  It's a little tougher southbound, owing to the slight climb and prevailing southerly headwind.  One thing I've noticed is that it's not just lycra-clad racers using the route; a lot of people seem to be using it for local trips between businesses along the corridor (based on my observations.

 

It's a corridor of murals and sign art at the south end.  Here are a few:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[txbornviking]

Hemphill has quickly become a favorite route for cyclists especially northbound.  It's a little tougher southbound, owing to the slight climb and prevailing southerly headwind.  One thing I've noticed is that it's not just lycra-clad racers using the route; a lot of people seem to be using it for local trips between businesses along the corridor (based on my observations.

 

It's a corridor of murals and sign art at the south end.  Here are a few:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing!

[Jeriat]

Hemphill has quickly become a favorite route for cyclists especially northbound.  It's a little tougher southbound, owing to the slight climb and prevailing southerly headwind.  One thing I've noticed is that it's not just lycra-clad racers using the route; a lot of people seem to be using it for local trips between businesses along the corridor (based on my observations.

 

It's a corridor of murals and sign art at the south end.  Here are a few:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really hope nothing happens with these buildings and murals. 

Could create a very unique strip in this town.

[Doohickie]

I really hope nothing happens with these buildings and murals. 

Could create a very unique strip in this town.

It's already created.  I wouldn't mind seeing more though.  It's beautiful to my eyes.  I took one more picture on a recent ride:  RIP Vanessa Guillén.

 

[Austin55]

One thing the lanes have made me realize is how barren Hemphill is for a short stretch between Pennsylvania and Rosedale. Smack in the middle of Near South, this area screams potential. 

[Doohickie]

Just being able to ride the area at leisure without having to dodge cars, there is so much to take in on the 4 miles or so of bike lanes.  I did the ride last night at 8 pm and the stretch from Seminary to Berry is different at night.  More car traffic on a Friday night, all the taquerias are open, and lots of taco trucks too.  Everyone is out.

[Austin55]

The vote to rezone Hemphill is this week. Not without opposition however, a Facebook group was started by citizens concerned about gentrification, particularly among the latino owned businesses along the street. It has garnered over 1,000 follows. 

https://www.facebook.../defendhemphill

[John T Roberts]

I looked at the zoning packet online, and there are actually quite a bit of interesting cases on the docket. 

[Jeriat]

The vote to rezone Hemphill is this week. Not without opposition however, a Facebook group was started by citizens concerned about gentrification, particularly among the latino owned businesses along the street. It has garnered over 1,000 follows. 

https://www.facebook.../defendhemphill

 

I totally understand their concerns. 

That being said, I also feel like many people don't truly know what gentrification is...

[Austin55]

I see 3 outcomes,

 

1. Hemphill doesn't gentrify

2. Hemphill gentrifies without NSS zoning

 

3 Hemphill gentrifies with NSS zoning, which would at least likely result in a better design

Even if it does gentrify, I wouldn't expect it to be entirely too quick. This is a looong stretch of street with a ton of uses up and down it, and there's a lot of other areas that may be seen as more desirable pulling the focus away from the area. 

[Doohickie]

I've seen "Hemphill no se vende" (Hemphill is not for sale) signs along the street. People on Nextdoor are concerned about it too.

[Austin55]

The Weekly has an article out

 

https://www.fwweekly...phill-for-sale/

[Doohickie]

Interesting article.  Gentrification/revitalization (Ann Zadeh makes a distinction between the two, not sure all agree with that) is a complex topic.  I'll be honest, I don't really know which way I fall on this.  I tend to lean toward the sentiments of the No Se Vende crowd but at the same time I wonder if it is an over-reaction on Rudy Avitia's part, based on the displacement of his earlier barber shop on Magnolia.

[Austin55]

Spectrum News has also put out an article. 

 

https://spectrumloca...gentrification-

It's a complex issue for sure.

[John T Roberts]

The article was interesting and informative.  I will agree that it is a complex issue.

[Austin55]

The case was withdrawn by unanimous vote from the Zoning Commission. 

[Stadtplan]

Our friends pastor a congregation in this neighborhood and bought the old Family Dollar at 2606 Hemphill next to Whataburger and converted the space to a church.  Their previous building was located directly behind Paschal High School at 2832 Townsend Dr which they sold to focus on helping the underserved and marginalized parts of the community rather than being tied up maintaining an old building.  I don't know what they paid here but will be interesting to see in a few years what it is worth.  I can hardly believe the market value has literally doubled in last 5-years. 

 

Just looking at the numbers below, I feel like many of the small business operators along here are fighting an uphill battle.  Look at Singleton and Trinity Groves in Dallas.  Dealing with rent increases to cover the property taxes on top of landlords selling to the highest bidder are two factors to consider.  If you're lucky enough to own your own property, then you might have some options.  Do you think this ship has already sailed?

 

https://www.tad.org/property/40371212/

 

(I took this back in March so there's been more progress since then.)

[Doohickie]

The case was withdrawn by unanimous vote from the Zoning Commission. 

You mean.... they're not going to change the zoning?  Hemphill No Se Vende won?

[Doohickie]

Our friends pastor a congregation in this neighborhood and bought the old Family Dollar at 2606 Hemphill next to Whataburger and converted the space to a church.  Their previous building was located directly behind Paschal High School at 2832 Townsend Dr which they sold to focus on helping the underserved and marginalized parts of the community rather than being tied up maintaining an old building.  I don't know what they paid here but will be interesting to see in a few years what it is worth.  I can hardly believe the market value has literally doubled in last 5-years. 

 

Just looking at the numbers below, I feel like many of the small business operators along here are fighting an uphill battle.  Look at Singleton and Trinity Groves in Dallas.  Dealing with rent increases to cover the property taxes on top of landlords selling to the highest bidder are two factors to consider.  If you're lucky enough to own your own property, then you might have some options.  Do you think this ship has already sailed?

 

https://www.tad.org/property/40371212/

 

(I took this back in March so there's been more progress since then.)

I noticed that building is now a church.  I think I know the building the sold too... was it on Lowden?

[Austin55]

The case was withdrawn by unanimous vote from the Zoning Commission. 

You mean.... they're not going to change the zoning?  Hemphill No Se Vende won?

Basically a 90 day delay is my understanding.

[Stadtplan]

 

Our friends pastor a congregation in this neighborhood and bought the old Family Dollar at 2606 Hemphill next to Whataburger and converted the space to a church.  Their previous building was located directly behind Paschal High School at 2832 Townsend Dr which they sold to focus on helping the underserved and marginalized parts of the community rather than being tied up maintaining an old building.  I don't know what they paid here but will be interesting to see in a few years what it is worth.  I can hardly believe the market value has literally doubled in last 5-years. 

 

Just looking at the numbers below, I feel like many of the small business operators along here are fighting an uphill battle.  Look at Singleton and Trinity Groves in Dallas.  Dealing with rent increases to cover the property taxes on top of landlords selling to the highest bidder are two factors to consider.  If you're lucky enough to own your own property, then you might have some options.  Do you think this ship has already sailed?

 

https://www.tad.org/property/40371212/

 

(I took this back in March so there's been more progress since then.)

I noticed that building is now a church.  I think I know the building the sold too... was it on Lowden?

 

Yep, Lowden between Townsend / Frazier.  This article mentions they want to build some apartments here.  I haven't kept up with it to see if the new property owners have moved forward. 

https://www.star-tel...e234672182.html

[Austin55]

The old church there was torn down already.

[Stadtplan]

The old church there was torn down already.

 

Just curious, how much opposition was there to the demolition of 2100 W Lowden St?  Should there have been further discussion as far as preservation?  The larger steepled structure (marked #3) appears to have been added later sometime between 1952 and 1956 per Historic Aerials.  The main building had a small vomitory going into the sanctuary but you pretty much step right in off the sidewalk into the worship space.  These smaller neighborhood-style Baptist churches didn't especially incorporate a big narthex or fellowship hall for gatherings or transitional activities before and after service.  My theory is the 2104 building (marked #1) was the original church and the classrooms building 2828 was added directly behind it (marked #2).  I believe the housing located in the SW corner was part of the church and not entirely sure what the small wooden structure was behind it along Townsend Dr marked with a "?"

 

[John T Roberts]

I'm almost sure you are correct about 1, 2, & 3, but I don't know anything about the two smaller structures.

[roverone]

I finally made the time to read the linked articles about this.  I feel like neighborhoods always require care and feeding.  Some is inherent and related to maintenance and some is contrived and related to "valuations" and a property tax.  But they all relentlessly move forward over time.  Sometimes things grow so much that the care and feeding needs external help -- that doesn't automatically mean it is a bad thing, it just means the area has outgrown what it was.  Just like wanting to keep a cute puppy just a cute puppy is not the right thing and the dog deserves the chance to grow up, starving and stunting the growth and evolution of an area is not the right thing to do.  Although our property taxes are terribly high, they are still only a couple percent a year of the value -- surely all of the benefits of city infrastructure are worth that.

 

If there is a place to look, it is maybe to insure that current property owners are treated fairly and uniformly in seeking leveraging the value of their properties to finance maintenance and improvments.

[Doohickie]

If there is a place to look, it is maybe to insure that current property owners are treated fairly and uniformly in seeking leveraging the value of their properties to finance maintenance and improvments.

This is a double-edged sword:

• Premium valuations may help property owners when they want to sell or use their property to secure a loan, but
• The higher the valuation, the higher the taxes paid.

[elpingüino]

Luke Ranker takes a really good look at the whole situation:

As Fort Worth's Near Southside booms, this street has become a battleground over growth

Video: https://www.star-tel...e248704585.html

[Austin55]

According to the Hemphill No Se Vende...

[Austin55]

The apartment situation is in the headlines again, with WFAA highlighting the fight against gentrification. 

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/we-dont-wanna-move-latino-business-owner-hemphill-st-worries-plans-new-development/287-f592f23b-f335-4f90-a8bc-dc3c21e33038 

[Stadtplan]

The apartment situation is in the headlines again, with WFAA highlighting the fight against gentrification. 

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/we-dont-wanna-move-latino-business-owner-hemphill-st-worries-plans-new-development/287-f592f23b-f335-4f90-a8bc-dc3c21e33038 

 

Your link is dead

[JBB]

https://www.wfaa.com...bc-dc3c21e33038

 

Try this one.

[roverone]

Not trying to minimize their very real concerns, but do you think this is a factor that encourages green-field development on the outskirts and the associated sprawl, rather than increasing density in the core?

[NThomas]

Not trying to minimize their very real concerns, but do you think this is a factor that encourages green-field development on the outskirts and the associated sprawl, rather than increasing density in the core?

Any in-fill development (urban or suburban) faces that same challenge when rezoning proposals are adjacent to a larger number of stakeholders.

[JBB]

I would think we're talking about two different sets of developers.  The ones that are out in the sprawl aren't even thinking about infill in the first place.

[Austin55]

The zoning board approved the change unanimously. 

[John T Roberts]

Austin, I thought that they would approve this case.  It will be interesting how this project plays out.

[rriojas71]

As much as I understand what the barber is talking about and I can sympathize he has to understand that change happens and neighborhoods that show signs of neglect are the first ones that are targeted because of low property values and low income residents and renters.

 

I am Latino as well so I understand their concerns.  I was born and raised on the Northside and it is showing signs of that starting to happen here.  However several of us in the neighborhood (residents and business owners) are trying to create a business association here on Historic North Main to give the community a voice while also trying to encourage growth and pride in the neighborhood while promoting the change that is coming.  We want business to come to the area and to create jobs, if that means bringing in people with more financial leverage than that is what is needed to grow. 

 

Avitias talks about leaving his business to his kids but if things don't improve in the area his kids will not want to stay and live there when they grow up.  Most of the kids that grow up in the Northside leave when they become adults.  They leave because they don't see opportunity and they are looking for greener pastures and they leave to pursue the American Dream.  The American Dream to Latino Americans is to move out of the Barrio and live in the suburbs.  They feel like they have "made it out" when they are able to buy a new home in the suburbs.  We want to create a neighborhood that they want to stay in, but we can't don that with run down houses and abandoned buildings that are suffering from demolition by neglect.  Change is going to happen, we want to go with the flow of change and not fight against it.

[Doohickie]

The American Dream to Latino Americans is to move out of the Barrio and live in the suburbs.

 

I can understand this.  As a Polish American, I know that my family established themselves in the Polonia District of Buffalo, NY, including my great-great- and great-grandparents who built and shared this house a block on Sweet Avenue, a block over from Sobieski Street (at that time, every lot in that neighborhood had a house; most have since been torn down). 

 

But to their children and children's children, the American Dream was to move out to the suburbs which is what they did.  Virtually all of my family, and most of the Polish families, eventually moved out to the suburbs.  By 1960, the Sweet Avenue house was sold and no one from my family lived in that neighborhood anymore.

 

That area is becoming a vibrant immigrant community again, but now the old Catholic churches are being converted to mosques.  In a sentimental sense, it's sad that the once vibrant Polonia section is mostly devoid of Polish people, but time marches on and you can't freeze things as they are.

[John T Roberts]

Tobias Place goes before a vote at City Council on Tuesday.  Below is a link to Scott Gordon's story on Channel 5:

 

https://www.nbcdfw.c...street/2761254/

[Austin55]

Not sure if a siteplan of the project was ever posted. 

 

[Austin55]

The Tobias Place change was approved by unanimously Council.

 

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/fort-worth/article254974227.html#storylink=mainstage_lead 

[Jeriat]

The Tobias Place change was approved by unanimously Council.

 

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/fort-worth/article254974227.html#storylink=mainstage_lead 

 

Still surprised this went through...

[Stadtplan]

Drainage Study Filed:

https://accela.fortw...ShowInspection=

 

Tobias Place

505 W BIDDISON ST, Fort Worth TX 76110

 

10.8 Acres

[Stadtplan]

Drainage Study Filed:

https://accela.fortw...ShowInspection=

 

Tobias Place

505 W BIDDISON ST, Fort Worth TX 76110

 

10.8 Acres

 

Grading Permit Filed for Tobias Place:

https://accela.fortw...ShowInspection=

[Stadtplan]

https://www.tdlr.tex.../TABS2023011572

 

PROJECT

Project Name: Hemphill Road and Street A

Project Number: TABS2023011572

Facility Name: Hemphill Road and Street A

Location Address: Intersection of Hemphill Rd and Street A

Fort Worth, TX 76134

Location County: Tarrant

Start Date: 5/16/2023

Completion Date: 10/1/2023

Estimated Cost: $3,732,000

Type of Work: New Construction

Type of Funds: This project is privately funded, on private land for private use.

Scope of Work: Construction of 2 new roadways and accessible sidewalks.

Square Footage: 10,000 ft 2

[Austin55]

Tobias Place is still workings it's way through processes, now going through street vacations: https://fortworthgov...DD-6B727A83CF82

[Stadtplan]

Zoning change for used car lot denied by Fort Worth council after residents push back

https://www.star-tel...e280670180.html