Southside community leaders want to have a stronger voice in the redevelopment of the Evans and Rosedale area.
One idea, proposed at a June 22 meeting of neighborhood association representatives, is to create an economic development corporation that would guide development, seek grants for business and residential improvements, and work with developers to create redevelopment opportunities with input from the community.
“We don’t need someone from downtown telling us what to do,” said Shawn Lassiter, president and executive director of BRAVE/R Together, a group working to improve neighborhoods in the eastern portion of the 76104 ZIP code, an area that faces disparities in education, health care, housing and employment. “We have to come together — Historic Southside, Hillside, Morningside.”
An economic development corporation controlled by community leaders would ensure that redevelopment projects get input from neighborhoods east of Interstate 35W.
The proposal comes as Fort Worth searches for a master developer months after a previous developer, Hoque Global, failed to raise capital to finance a redevelopment project. City staff formally began its search for new developers in March with a request for expression of interest.
The city said at the time that it took time to look back at prior requests with input from the community to include more details in the update, according to previous Fort Worth Report coverage.
Valerie Colapret, a city spokesperson, said the request process is continuing this summer.
“It will probably be later this summer before they finish that process as they are scheduling in-person interviews with the development teams,” she said in an email.
Developers will essentially start with a blank slate, using their concepts with input from the community to create a mixed-use plan that allows for commercial and residential projects.
Community leaders said the city has not been fair to the Historic Southside, citing significant redevelopment in the Near Southside neighborhood — located in the same 76104 ZIP code, but west of I-35W.
“All the capital is on that side of the freeway,” resident Johnny Lewis said, gesturing to the west.
Neighborhood leaders said they want to see Evans and Rosedale return to its heyday, when it was known as the “Black Wall Street,” filled with grocery stores, banks, merchants and medical professionals.
Now, the area is known as a food desert with few grocery stores east of I-35W. Hospitals within the same ZIP code are separated by I-35W and railroad tracks.
“Everything we needed was right here in the neighborhood,” longtime Southside property owner Ross Haynes Jr. said.
Haynes said Fort Worth created a zone of poverty and social exclusion by allowing agencies that serve the homeless population to be located southeast of downtown.
“We didn’t have a homeless population when I moved here in 1969,” Lewis said, adding that the issue is a deterrent to redevelopment.
On June 22, the group met with representatives of architectural firm SWA Group to consider potential design options for redevelopment. Members looked at maps and renderings to give input on the designs they would like to see in the Evans and Rosedale area.
“We’re the pencil,” Hank Thomas, an SWA Group architect, said. “We just want to create a plan that’s your vision.”
The area is mostly residential with a few businesses that include restaurants, barber shops and hair salons. The proposed economic development corporation could also support and encourage Black- and Hispanic-owned businesses.
The goal, they said, is to create a redevelopment plan that includes the area south of East Rosedale Street to East Allen Avenue. They cited support from Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker.
“The mayor’s on record for supporting what we do,” Lassiter said.
Local leaders said they want to see development at in-fill properties by possibly turning them into revenue-producing community gardens that would also provide residents with fresh fruit and vegetables. They also don’t want projects to compete against each other for grants and tax dollars.
“We have to be one band, one sound,” Lassiter said. “We have to be united and have a silent rumbling.”
Lassiter said the group also plans to reach out to members of the Glencrest Neighborhood Association and increase Latino participation in their efforts.
“If we don’t come together, they will decide what happens to our neighborhood. The city will come in and eminent-domain us,” Ross said, referring to the use of government power to take private land for public use.
Eric E. Garcia is a senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org.
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