East Dallas neighborhoods are getting thousands of dollars in grant money from the city of Dallas to improve their looks.
The Lochwood neighborhood is getting $6,000 to clean up the Dixon Branch Waterway.
Promise of Peace, a group that focuses on improving the neighborhood surrounding Woodrow Wilson High School, is getting almost $10,000 for a community garden.
And the Bryan Place Neighborhood Association is getting $10,000 to beautify the underpass at Ross Avenue and Central Expressway, which separates their neighborhood from the Arts District.
Lori Beth Lemmon of Lochwood says Dixon Branch Creek, which runs behind her house, is full of debris and its banks are eroding. And the waterway is all on private land. The neighborhood is using its $6,000 grant to rent Dumpsters and hire a landscaping company to clear heavy debris.
Promie of Peace is using nearly $10,000 to create a community garden on Grand Avenue near Garland Road, on land that Jack Keller donated. Director Elizabeth Dry says Promise of Peace "is dedicated to working with families and to bridge the diversity in the community of Woodrow Wilson." The nonprofit organization works with families from Mata Elementary and aims to decrease crime in the neighborhood by promoting peace. The garden will have 20 plots, and 10 of them will be dedicated for Mata families. The other 10 will go to the Coronado and Gastonwood neighborhood associations.
And the Bryan Place Neighborhood Association is using $10,000 to make a good-looking path to walk from their neighborhood to the downtown Arts District. "I don’t know if you’ve been over there, but it’s full of weeds and it’s not very pleasant," says neighbor David Allen. The association is trying to get the Downtown Dallas group to match the grant so they can cleanup the underpass at Ross Avenue and Central Expressway and create a path and landscaping.
