Wedgwood Square Neighborhood Association
To: Fort Worth City council
From: Tolli Thomas, President of WSNA and the WSNA's Residents
Date: 08/28/03
Re: CIP / Improvements to WSNA
Regarding A New Park:
Wedgwood Square Neighborhood Association requests a new park be built within our boundaries in the following area and for the following reasons:
The Park Hill Apartments are located on Wedgway, between Trail Lake Drive and Wonder Drive.
These apartments offer, in connection with the Catholic Charities, spaces to persons relocating to the USA from other countries such as Bosnia and Africa. These apartments also offer spaces set aside as affordable housing. These apartments are home to many children. Unfortunately, the charities, which assist some of these new residents in reaching the USA and in locating housing, do not seem to have any further involvement in providing recreational space. Additionally, no space has been provided for them to congregate or socialize. Therefore, the streets have become their playground and their "territory". These children come often from highly oppressive environments and are now relocated where there is little or no supervision. In combination with this, there is a complete lack of essential social and extracurricular common space. Because they have no suitable location for exerting their energies they are instead acting out in the following ways:
Refusing to move for cars attempting to pass them
Setting up destructive traps for cars using these streets that are designed to destroy tires
Throwing things at cars traveling on these streets, such as rocks and other items
Reacting belligerently to drivers using these streets, often yelling, cursing, and using other abrasive body language
Walking door to door on nearby streets and asking for money
Walking up to parked cars and looking into parked car windows one by one as they walk to and from their apartments.
Illegally or without consent, entering business properties, running up and down halls, vandalizing restrooms, disturbing business practice, and loitering in parking lots and atop dirty dumpsters.
Loitering in homeowner's yards looking around homeowner's properties and looking for "entertainment"
Our area is currently experiencing issues of high speed or speeding traffic, this is true for the streets that these children are playing in.
A park should not only be considered as a necessity for these and all children in our neighborhood for play, socialization, congregation, and free entertainment, but also as necessary to prevent possible tragedy in our streets. This location must be in walking distance, as many of these persons or families cannot afford more than one car to drive to a nice park and as it is too hot in Texas much of the year to walk a good distance. Our neighborhood has been and remains a highly taxed but low in public amenities area and this should not be so. A park would greatly assist in reduction of this general feeling.
There are several nearby locations, which may be suitable.